Thursday, October 3rd

Thursday morning we set off to meet up with several families from our homeschool group to tour Sweetwater Valley Pumpkin Patch in Villa Rica, GA.  I was pleasantly surprised by how well run the farm was - there were several different elements included in our tour and the pacing was done in such a way that we never felt rushed, nor were we left languishing for long periods - this despite the fact that several large school groups were also there on field trips. I would definitely go there again in future years!  

Our event started at 9:30 a.m., and was located in Villa Rica - approximately a 35-40 minute drive.  We also needed to pack a picnic lunch, which is the bane of my existence!  Fortunately, I had help in the form of Jim packing our lunch bag (thanks, babe!), Grammie getting breakfast for the kids, and Nana wrangling the baby.  Phew! I'm always very aware and appreciative of the tremendous blessing I have in family that pitches in whenever needed.  Amazingly, we made it out the door dressed in our school-group shirts and on the road right on time!

Waverly needs a tie-dyed onesie to match, I think ;-)

It's so hard to wait on friends to arrive!

A few families were later than the planned start time (some due to confusion on time, others just because... well, homeschool families are notoriously bad about arriving anywhere on time; not all, but a lot) so our schedule was bumped back a bit and we had to wait behind another tour group.  No problem - the kids were happy for some playground time :-)

So lovely, and yet so completely covered in playground sand from head to toe in the first ninety seconds....

I love how my kids disperse and play with other friends; I also love how they are somewhat magnetized to one another and always eventually wind up playing together, even if it's only for little pockets of time in and amongst playing with others.

Finally, it was our group's turn to begin the tour!  We walked down a nature trail - there were a couple of riddles along the way.  Here, the kids and Mrs. Lawson pause to read the riddle and make guesses as to what the answer could be.

Sweet friends!  N, Victoria, Olivia, Scarlett and Reegan.

At the end of one trail we came across a little seating area, where the kids sat to watch a short presentation.

This lady was a riot.  She was dressed to the hilt as a Native American and did great with the kids, engaging them, asking questions and teaching them a bit... in her full Georgian drawl.  She must have been from a southern tribe ;-)

Passing out samples of freeze dried corn - all of my kids liked it (Victoria initially declined to sample it, then changed her mind when other kids were saying it was yummy), and Lincoln asked the lady for more.

After walking the rest of the nature trail loop, we went to try our hand at panning for gemstones.  The kids had watched other groups do this as we waited to start our tour, and were very eager to get to do it themselves!  They listened attentively to the instructions...

Finally, they all got to follow the steps and see if they had any any treasure.

Lincoln's sheer excitement was awesome to watch - he was truly amazed when the dirt washed away in the stream of water and after shaking his sifter for a few moments, he discovered colored stones! :-)

Victoria was also thrilled to find lovely stones in her sifter.

They were each given bags to place their treasure rocks in so we could take them home!

Lincoln and Judd, goofing around while they wait in line for a chance to stuff a scarecrow.

Victoria and Lincoln both had the chance to help stuff hay in the scarecrow - Scarlett, however, had let a few little kids go in front of her and was essentially at the back of the line.  By the time she got up there, the scarecrow was pretty stuffed and the worker moved on to having the kids yell out name suggestions.  I was proud of Scarlett that she didn't get upset or frustrated due to missing out, instead just rolling with it.  She is growing up!

The crew!

Next, we took a hayride over to the pumpkin patch.  Waverly was having a good time, watching all of the kids and taking sporadic snoozes!

The kids each got to choose a little baby pumpkin.  Lincoln: "Mama!  This one is SO SUTE [cute]!!"

Intense pumpkin selection discussion, hehe

Victoria's winner~

Scarlett was asking my opinion about which one was more perfect.  She ended up choosing the tiniest one she could find, that had the cutest little stem :-)

All four of my pumpkins!

With the tour winding down, my crew was hungry and growing tired.  They opted out of the last stop on the tour (craft - very cute!) to instead begin pilfering the lunch bag while I changed and fed Waverly.  Then we joined our group at the picnic table area for the official lunch and I let the kids play for the better part of an hour while I chatted with some of the other moms.  Eventually, it was time for us to finish up and head home, but not before the kids wanted to stick their heads in the Sweetwater Valley Pumpkin Patch sign! (note the squinty looks from the sun shining brightly into their eyes, haha)

We had one stop on our way home from the field trip, and after we got back in the car both Lincoln and Sissy nodded off.  When we pulled in the driveway, Linc popped right up (like he always does) but Victoria was stone-cold asleep.  I was gathering up my purse, keys, diaper bag, etc., and I heard Scarlett say, "Sissy, you're so smiley" about three times and when I looked back she was making her smile... in her sleep ;-)

Wednesday, October 2nd

The kids and I headed out on Wednesday morning to attend a new show at The Center for Puppetry Arts called "Everybody Loves Pirates."  It was so, so cute!  Afterward we went to our usual - Chick Fil A, where the kids played and played for over an hour.  As we traveled here and there in the car, we listened to more of our Egyptian audiobook and the kids loved it :-)  When we got back home in the afternoon from our fun field trip and lunch with friends, the kids had a bit of downtime before becoming entrenched in a doctor game.  We were planning on going to karate, however Jim had a free chunk of time in the afternoon and Grammie and Nana kindly agreed to a spontaneous movie date - so off we went to see Rush!  

Love these kids~ they were excited to check out the new show!  We're so fortunate to get great, inexpensive ticket prices via our homeschool group, which allows us to go often and enjoy this awesome storytelling medium.

Once we made it through the whole arrival procedure (getting everyone out of the van, trekking inside, all of us need potty breaks since it's a 35 minute drive, then change the baby's diaper, consolidate a few necessities from the diaper bag into my purse, park the stroller, get seated...) and seating arrangements were hashed out, I asked Judd if he wanted to hold Waverly.  He has such a sweet disposition toward Waverly and always has!  Love it :-)  He held her for a few minutes, but girlfriend is *heavy* haha~ I took her back and she kept lunging for him.  I can already tell that she is going to be wanting to do everything the big kids are doing and won't tolerate being excluded!

Chick Fil A fun!  I so relish this stage - it's a sort of magical one wherein I'm not having to be hands-on with the three big kids while they play and have fun - I don't have to be worried about potty accidents or that they're too small to climb up the playscape successfully, they can open the doors themselves... yet they are still little enough that the play place at Chick Fil A is a fun destination and keeps them entertained for an hour or two :-)

Jim had found a great deal online for kids' cots, and ordered two - one each for Lincoln and Victoria.  It was a great purchase, as they fold up into the size of a kids camping chair and come with a little tote bag - we'll be able to use these in hotel rooms on trips, for camping, etc.  And this allows us to skip dragging around a couple of air mattresses on such trips!  Lincoln thought his was pretty swank and wanted to try it out right away while he lounged and watched a Curious George. 

While at Chick Fil A, Victoria had "doctored" Judd when he hurt himself.  She spent several minutes asking him if he was okay, putting lotion on his boo-boo and placing bandaids as needed.  This transferred home, where she and Scarlett both doctored Grammie for more time than she probably cared to be a patient, hehe.  But she was a great sport!  Then it was just Victoria doctoring up Scarlett, Lincoln and Waverly :-)  So many patients to see!

Thursday, September 19th - Hillcrest Orchards

Hillcrest Orchards is one of our favorite fall field trips!  Even though it's still quite warm here in Georgia, we can tell that fall is in the air and it's official once we've toured an orchard and secured some fresh pressed apple cider :-)  The kids had a wonderful time and despite less than ideal drives there and back, we enjoyed ourselves and our friends!

The crew!  Yes, I love my kids enough to wear tie-dye with them - they think it's amazingly awesome that we match ;-)

WaverCakes here has found her voice... and it is LOUD. I'm sure this is a surprise to absolutely no one who knows my kids that I would produce a fourth loud child, haha.  She chose the 90 minute drive up to Ellijay as prime time for practicing talking as loudly as she could sustain.  The big kids were lucky and just slid their headphones on, leaving me to enjoy the noise alone :-p  As one can imagine, she was fairly worn out by the time we arrived!

My loves~

The infamous Hillcrest Orchards bear.  Victoria, giving her best growl and bear claws~

This was our fourth year touring the orchard, so the kids are old pros by now but they still love it!  Each year they do things just *slightly* differently, and this year they started with having the kids pick dry kernels off the corn cobs.  I had to snap this picture of Victoria - the light was so lovely and she had her little smile that I love :-)

Lincoln and Judd, working on their cobs.

Scarlett and some SASCH friends working diligently.

Next, the kids all had a turn at milking Buttercup, the dairy cow.  Scarlett went first~

Followed by Victoria, who was being observed by Julia to see if she felt comfortable to take a turn (she did).

And finally, Lincoln.  In retelling this story later to Jim, he proudly declared, "Daddy, I milked a cow!  And I even touched it's PENIS!" Hmm.  It was a good opening for discussing the finer points of cow anatomy :-)

After touring the farm history house, we took a tractor ride!

Next came one of the kids' favorite parts - the petting farm.  Scarlett and Victoria crouched down and soon had a gaggle of mini-goats nibbling out of their hands.

Lincoln was nearly at the end of a long line of kids from our group, and so at first all of the goats ran to those with feed in their hands near the beginning of the line.  He waited patiently...

And was rewarded with an interested little fellow coming along to sample his snack - he had a huge smile!

Soon he was getting swarmed! But he loved it :-)

Scarlett and her (mutant-looking) chicken.

Despite their "NO CHASING ANIMALS" sign, Lincoln spent most of the time in the petting area... chasing the animals.  Namely, the chickens.  I think I just stumbled onto a fool-proof children's exercise program!  Simply fence in an acre or so of land, place 10-30 chickens of various ages in said area, then let 40 kids free inside and watch them run their guts out ;-)

He never caught one, but a sweet SASCH friend managed to snag one and handed it to Lincoln.  He clutched that chicken tightly and walked all around with it for several minutes, saying, "I love you" and "AWWWW" and "You're so SUTE [cute]" a hundred times.  Mouth to beak kisses were also given and we'll just have to hope for the best :-p

They used to let the children sit and hold the kittens, but maybe they had too many overly zealous kitten-squeezers because this year the workers held out the kittens and the kids had just a few seconds to look at it before they were taken back.  Here was Scarlett's ten seconds~

Lincoln's~

Victoria was often ahead of me and playing with other friends so I don't have as many pictures of her during the petting farm time.  Soon we regrouped and had lunch.  The baby had done so famously in the sling, but had gotten tired of being in there and wanted to stretch her legs right at the moment it was time to get lunch set out.  No problem!  I just laid her out on a mat and let her gaze about - have to take advantage of her relative lack of mobility while I can ;-)

For lunch, I mostly nibbled on that chin! hehe  She was so content to kick and look around at the pretty trees while we ate.

We finished up our tour with lots and lots of time spent on the big slides along the hill.  Victoria, doing a land and run~

Scarlett insisted on sliding down on her belly almost every time.

So, of course, Lincoln had to do it that way as well ;-)

I had to switch out from the sling to the wrap, as Waverly was all worn out from her big day and needed a little snooze!  Sadly, I misplaced my sling at this point and left it at the orchard  :-(  

Before hitting the road, we stopped in the orchard's store for apple cider sippers, hot fresh donuts and apples, too!  Yum, yum, yum!

I had woken Waverly up while the kids sat on the covered orchard store porch, happily munching on their snacks, in order to feed her and change her diaper.  Well, she was too busy smiling and coo'ing to bother with eating so we just hung out until the kids were finished.  After we made it to the car, got everyone wiped down, buckled, fresh drinks for the ride, and so forth... Waverly decided to take a major poop.  No big deal... at least we were still parked!  Got out, unbuckled her, changed her and what do you know - she was ready to eat.  So, we sat in the front seat and I fed her as she leisurely enjoyed her bottle.  At this point we had been in the parking lot for a good thirty minutes - see how the lot behind us is a ghost town?? lol  Of course just as she finished eating she thought I might be getting bored and took another poop. 

At this point, I realized that maybe she just wanted us to live in Ellijay, because we were apparently never leaving.

Forty-five minutes after we first got back to the van, we were finally ready to hit the road.  Only Waverly decided instead of loudly/yellingly talking the whole trip, she would cry.  Aye yi yi!  We tried every trick in the book (and this being the fourth kid, I have a lot of tricks!) and nothing helped.  Twenty-five minutes later (that is, for the record, a lot of wear and tear on a mama's nerves), I pulled over at the next available exit to stop and just see what on earth was going on as this was so unlike her.  As soon as I opened her door she had huge smiles.  FAKER!  I talked to her, gave her a little toy and got back in and off we went... and sure enough, the crying started back up.  Well, we made it another forty minutes and Lincoln needed to use the bathroom, so we took a sanity-saving 15-minute pause at a Dunkin Donuts, where I indulged in an iced coffee and we sat on a sofa for a few minutes and chatted.  Then we got back in the van where Scarlett offered to hold the baby for a few minutes while I got everyone situated.  When it was time to depart again, I pulled out the big guns and slid back the shade from Waverly's carseat, removed the shade from the window, and with the sun beaming into her eyes she closed them and fell fast asleep ;-)

Back home, it was late afternoon and everyone was in high spirits to be out of the car!  Better yet, there was a fun little surprise package awaiting Ms. Waverly Grace... some official Notre Dame gear!  So, so cute and courtesy of Grammie Wright.  Thanks, Grammie!

One for this year and one for next football season :-)