Emily’s first class trip was to the Museum of Appalachia. They were the only school group there, so it was easy to keep up with the kids. Keeping up with the kids was made easier as there were also a lot of parents to help with the kids. In Emily’s class alone there were 12 parents for the 17 kids, though not all of the classes had as many parents.

Emily chose to hang out with her friend Charlie for most of the morning outing. We explored the buildings, saw the wildlife, had to speak to all the kids we ran into, and bounced around quite a bit. Emily was not too interested in all the buildings and how things were done, but she picked up on a few things. Charlie was fascinated with the lady demonstrating quilting. I expect she will be asking for someone to give her a go at it herself.

Just as the morning got warm, it was time for lunch and then the return trip to school. Emily was a bit cold because she like most of the kids in her class left their coats and sweatshirts behind at school. Silly kids, maybe they will remember next time.

A warming up Emily in the big field.

The Hominy Mamas who entertained the kids with funny songs and a few fast facts about pioneer life.

This amazing Dad lifted each kid so they could ring the dinner bell. That would be 45 kids in 20 minutes. He got in today’s workout.

Emily with her friend Charlie.

Some hungry sheep out for their lunch.

We got lucky and were responsible for snacks right before Julia’s birthday at her preschool program. Julia got to pick out her party cupcakes at Sam’s. Picking out your own cupcakes for school is a girl tradition at our house. She happily picked Dora.

This is her holding her breath so she would be ready to blow the candle out.

It is always good to celebrate with your friend.

A table full of little kids enjoying snack time.

Dora celebrating Julia’s 4th!

Julia had several birthday celebrations this year. Because we were going to be traveling on her actual birthday we celebrated her birthday at home a couple of days ahead of time. It seemed fair for her to get her gifts a couple of days early so she could get some playtime with them before she had to be parted from them.

Julia picked her birthday dessert to be monster brownies and to eat at Snappy Tomato for dinner. She enjoyed the attention of the dinner, the food choice, the games we played, eating with her grandparents, and all of her gifts. It is good to turn four!

That is a lot of joy found in hitting a little yellow circle.

Fun and games with our sister.

Driving with our Daddy to help us reach the gas pedal.

Emily taking her turn at driving very seriously!

A great photo of the big sister.

The dessert display – fun faces for the family.

It is a big job to blow the candle out!

Happy Halloween from Izzy and Tink! It was a bit chilly and Tink was under the weather, but we made a go of the evening trick-or-treating. We visited our Grandparents and then a church trunk-or-treat at the end of the street. At the end of the evening we had lots of candy and had a fun time.

We joined Laurel and Shawn out at their farm for another Halloween party. We accept that they moved from our neighborhood, but only if they will continue to invite us out to celebrate Halloween each year. We have no complaints with our current neighbors, but we miss our former neighbors.

We were there early enough to get to take a ride around the yard with their horse, Letti, and pony, Chester. We like the fact that the horses keep their yard mowed for them. The girls did well with the horses. Emily was willing to try her hand at grooming, but not for long.

After the ride we carved pumpkins, had dinner, and ate lots of candy. We are looking forward to next year’s celebration.

Emily providing her grooming services.

Chester giving Emily a gentle ride.

Julia getting her ride from Chester. I love that Emily kept them company and held Laurel’s hand.

The girls with their pumpkins. They picked out a design and Laurel and Shawn each cut one out for them.

We enjoyed a pleasant fall day together with our friends at the pumpkin patch. The day was fantastic. The kids enjoyed playing and being together. For all the fun things to do at the pumpkin patch the kids seemed to enjoy a big green grassy field just as much as any of the the rest of it. This Mama loved being with both her girls and playing, it seemed just right. We enjoyed their slides, animals, climbing hill, corn maze, bouncing pillow, rolling pipe, lunch, riding a wagon, picking pumpkins, and a bit more sliding.

The girls posing for a photo in front of a real pumpkin that was over 1000 lbs. Wow!

The girls worked together to get the very large pipe to move along the track. Natalie was along for the ride and had a blast sliding along. The big girls enjoyed jumping together on the huge bouncing pillow.

The kids were playing in the field and they decided to dance a little. Julia was thrilled to get to dance with a boy. Aiden was a great sport about it.

I can’t imagine a better shirt for Natalie. She shared a lot of smiles with me. Aiden was so excited to get to drive the bike-car. He was awesome at it.

The Mama’s got into the sliding action! Julia would race around to get to slide over and over again.

The kids could have raced each other down the slide, but for the most part they went the second they got to the slide. This time they were close to the same start time. Everyone seems to have their own way to go down.

Thea was a good sport for the day. There isn’t so much for a crawler to do at the pumpkin patch. She soaked up the sun and gave away smiles. In the corn maze we had to find posts with animal prints to make rubbing of. Eventually and with the help of each other we found them all!

Seven kids standing on a pillow, one started to bounce and . . . grins spilled out!

The height photo is the best grins the girls gave me together in one photo. Julia wanted to find a pumpkin that she could pick up. She had to look a long time because they were all pretty big. All six of the bigger kids in the corn maze all spread out. They were really good to stick together this year.

Good friends hanging out by Emily’s pumpkin choice.

Maeve shared smiles too. Natalie found herself a chicken to watch. She was so intent while watching. I wonder what she was thinking?

The last laugh of the day. We tried one more photo of the kids together before leaving and got 4 kids to laugh at the same time. A great finish to a great day.