Birthdays and a Field Trip

The Field Trip

We went on a field trip this past Thursday with our home school co-op group. We loaded up and all met at Welford's Farm Pumpkin Patch that morning. The boys were so excited! It was a beautiful Fall morning here in South Mississippi. All the kids had a good time running around and playing. It was our first field trip this year and it was very successful. They grabbed a few goodies from the General Store and then took a hay ride ( By the way, I can't believe how big my boys are getting and how independent they're becoming). Around noon all the families laid out blankets and had lunch in the pumpkin patch. It's such a blessing to have wonderful families to gather with and have a good time with. We're so thankful for our group, though we don't know them all that well.

Pumpkin Patch fun.

 

Hayride time!

Johnathan in the corn crib.

Tabitha enjoying lunch.

Telling a few jokes while eating our picnic lunch.

Birthdays

This past week my middle son, Aaron, turned five years old. It's hard to believe that it's been five years since I gave birth to him. Thursday was his official birthday. We celebrated with his brothers and Daddy with just some cupcakes and a gift. He is such a sweet little boy. He is tenderhearted, kind, thoughtful, funny, and loves to serve. We're so blessed to call him our son.

Michael Aaron turns 5.

We pray every day for God's will to be done in his life. We desire to see God do great things in him every day of his life. He still has a ways to go obviously because he's only five years old, but we cover him in prayer daily.

We also celebrated my oldest nieces birthday that evening. Tabitha turns 13 November 1st. It's hard to believe she is a teenager. She's a lovely young lady that we love very much. We had a great time with my brother and his family, my sister and her family, and my parents.

Tabitha the birthday girl.

What fun things does your family and friends do this time of the year? We're eagerly waiting for Thanksgiving. We love to gather with our family and friends to give thanks for the years harvest. Have a blessed weekend!

Happy Birthday Daniel!

My oldest at Bass Pro. I caught this moment and it's priceless.

Today my oldest son turns 6. Wow. That's hard to believe for me. It was bitter cold and rainy the day I went to have him at the hospital. I was in labor for 2 days almost before he decided to make his appearance. He was a whopping 9lbs 30z and about 21 inches long. He had a head full of black,thick hair. He had a good pair of lungs too. I thought parenting was going to be very easy,but I quickly found out otherwise. Sleepless nights,exhaustion,not having my routine,and many other things showed me that this was an adventure to say the least.

We've been through some rough patches,but we have also been through some awesome times. Daniel Paul is spirited,energetic,strong willed,determined,competitive,and very talkative. He loves sports,army men,police,and hunting. He keeps me on my toes and finally,yes I said finally, sleeps through the night. He is in Kindergarten (we home school remember?) and is learning to read. He's smart as a whip,but likes to be hands on instead of in the books. I love him more than he knows. He brings me a lot of joy. He loves his Daddy and that is is hero. He has a lot of leadership qualities and I know God has great things in store for him. We cannot wait to see where God leads him in life.

Daniel Paul only a day old here.

Games anyone?

I have always loved to play board games and nothing has changed. Though I am 30 years old, I am still a sucker for board games. My husband on the other hand is not that crazy about them. He plays because he likes to spend the time with me,but he would rather be doing something else. I don't force him that much,only a little.

When we had our children, one thing I could not wait for was to play board games with them. Is that crazy? I had no idea what all I would go through before getting them to that stage,but hey we survived! So now my two oldest are big enough to understand some of them and it's been really fun! I taught them how to play Uno,which we play a lot. I also like to look online to find fun games I can print out. I particularly like one site called Free Homeschool Deals. It is such a great place for educational and fun resources. Jamerrill has all kinds of neat stuff,including a list of free ebooks for the day. You can go to the site and just search for any of the three games.

A few months back I found 2 bingo games and 1 memory game. I was so excited! It's hard to find these in stores anymore. Everyone plays them on the tablets or computer I assume. I love technology,but I love playing actual board games. It is so much funner!

The ABC Memory game.

My boys have enjoyed this one. It has helped my oldest recognize his letters more. I love how colorful it is! I took postal tape and laminated the boards and calling cards. I wanted them to last and we all know with kids that is hard to do.

We first used play coins,but needed more. So Daniel picked out the patriotic buttons for us to use.

States Bingo game.

I almost flipped out,okay, I did flip out when I saw this on her site! I had been looking for a way to teach them the states,but in a fun way. My boys loved this game the best! My middle son recognizes each state by site,and he can put some states with the right names. I did the same thing with the postal tape and laminated these boards and cards.

Aaron playing states bingo. He is a smarty pants!

Daniel playing states bingo. He really loves this one.

ABC Memory game.

We have not played this one yet. I have 3 more cards to laminate. I ran out of postal tape and have totally forgot to buy more! So typical of a busy Mom right? It matches the upper case letter to the lower case letter. It should be fun when we play it!


Don't forget to check out Jamerrill's site where she has tons of free stuff to help educate while having fun! That was a goal for mine this year in home schooling: make learning fun! I have suceeded so far!

Linking up with The Better Mom today.

Our Fall Trip- Pumpkin Patch

Fall is my favorite season of the year. I love the coolness of the air,college football,and the beautiful scenery. We usually don't have a long Fall,but we have had some Fall days already here in Alabama. It's been so wonderful!

Last Monday I took my 2 oldest boys on a field trip with our home school group to a pumpkin patch. We don't celebrate Halloween,so I wasn't sure if the farm would incorporate that into the patch. I was very pleased that it did not! It was just Fall decor and pumpkins. There were about 50 kids there with our group. My boys had SO much fun too. I even had fun just watching all the kids. It wasn't far from our home here in Alabama,just across the state line into Mississippi.

They had some neat things the kids could do. The funnest for the kids was just running around in the patch, I think.

The kids loved playing on the old time hay stack. They had bells up there and the kids raced to the top.

My second son,Aaron,loved it.
 

Daniel and Jachin,our Pastor's youngest son.

The kids loved the corn crib. It was my first time to see one.

Aaron got on the metal horse to try it out. This was so cute!

They had it decorated so good! An outhouse for us to take pictures in.

Seth and Aaron playing on the wagon. Seth is one of their friends we go to church with also.

Kaleb and Daniel playing checkers. Kaleb is our Pastor's oldest son.

They had a general store where they sold snow cones and popcorn for a $1. It was so cute! The kids ran around and played on all the stuff they had set out in the patch. They had a hay maze,tire swing,wagon to get in,a checker board,and a fun house. That isn't all either. We also went on a hay ride through the nursery part of the farm. My boys really loved that!

So cute! Aaron isn't as social as Daniel. He just kind of played by himself a lot. So I followed him around taking pictures. :)

Enjoying a snow cone and popcorn before the hay ride. Another Mom snapped this photo.

Aaron in the hay maze. It had already been kind of messed with by the big kids.

Riding the tire hose swing. So cute!

Seth,Aaron,and Daniel having fun. Such a neat idea!

Another snapped by a Mom there. Aaron decided to push the truck ha!

My big boys playing with the checker board.

Our home school group. This isn't all of them either. So blessed!

The people that were running everything were so nice! We knew some of them from teaching at elementary schools that a lot of us Mom's attended when we were younger. It was nice to be around such friendly faces. I really want to take them back before they take the Fall decorations down for Christmas decorations. If not it was such a fun experience for them and the rest of us.

We ended the time there by having a picnic lunch in the patch. This was our view. Such a beautiful Fall day!

 We usually don't do much until November for Thanksgiving,then December for Christmas. This was something new for us.  What Fall activities have you done this October so far?