Pizza at the Park

It was kind of a crazy day with appointments, talks with a lawyer about our will, packing for me and the kids, trying to get the house decent. Calvin was 20 minutes late for school, Autumn 40 minutes late, and I was an hour late for an appointment. Mariah babysat the kids while I ran around for a little bit, and when I picked them up, I invited them to go get pizza with us.  

Calvin worked hard to win a free personal pizza certificate from school for reading, and he wanted to use it before I left for Barcelona in the morning. He was so excited about his little prize:

 He kept saying how adorable it was.

I didn't realize that it was a take-out only store, so we grabbed our food and Mariah took us to their favorite park. The kids ate for about thirty seconds before they were off running to play.

 Nicky was freezing:

He was happy once we were back in the warm car:

After pizza and the park, we ran home and I spent the next few hours packing the kids' stuff. The plan was to take it all over to my mom's house so that in the morning, I would only need to drop the kids off before heading to the airport.

When we finally got to her place, it was pretty late and she suggested that they just stay there. I didn't feel ready yet to say goodbye, and I wanted one last night with them. But as we made a couple of trips back and forth to get stuff, and Jesse helped me drive the car back to leave it with my mom for the kids, I realized that they'd be better off where they could get a good night sleep and not be dragged out of bed early in the morning.

They were happy to be there and excited about the coming week with their grandparents, so I decided to leave them.

We recorded them goofing off as they sang happy birthday to their dad:

 

And then I kissed them each a dozen times and left them tucked into bed at grandma's house. It was much harder than I thought it would be.

I packed until 3am and ugly cried at least twelve times about how much I already missed my babies.

The Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to Jakers, the local pumpkin patch that we go to every year. This year they had added some new things, and it was a lot of fun. The kids had a blast. The only downside was that their dad wasn't there this year. We missed him lots, so we took a bunch of pictures.

I thought Autumn looked super cute and fall-ish for school today, so I snapped a shot:

At the entrance:

 The slides. They loved how fast these were and that they landed in a big pit of corn:

 Baby on the hay bales:

Climbing on top of the maze: 

 This year they had a big kid maze and a little kid maze. They loved both. The big kid maze was really tall, so they could run around and get lost in it. The smaller one, they could climb on top and look at it overhead. Both were a hit.

 The "climbing wall":

 Pretty view:

The big pit filled with dried corn:

 Calvin making a "corn angel"

 Then we took a hay ride. This was my favorite part of the day:

 Darling little faces that I adore.

 I LOVE this picture. After lying in the corn pit, Nicky had three kernels of corn and some straw clutched in his little fist. He would not let them go.

 View from the tractor

 See the creepy driver? He had a mask like the Scream mask, but it was made of burlap. He would follow the kids around and freak them out. After the ride, he came up to Calvin and started pulling on his face, gently stretching his eyes and cheeks, etc. Calvin looked really apprehensive, but didn't stop him. Autumn screamed and ran every time she saw him. When we were leaving, I watched him take out a pocket knife and make the throat cutting gesture at a 10/11 year old girl. I thought that was a bit much. Overall though, he was a spooky, fun addition to the pumpkin patch.

Also, see the pretty rainbow? It sprinkled the whole time we were there, and this was the lovely result.

 On top of the world:

They had a cute petting zoo with half a dozen little animals. The kids' favorite was this ginormous pig. I fear he's going to escape and eat a child:

When it was raining so much that the baby was soaked, and I was worried the kids were going to get sick, we picked out our pumpkins. Of course, as soon as we were ready to leave, the rain stopped again, but we had been there for a while and the kids were ready to go.

Calvin hauling the stash to the car:

Cute kids, proud of their pumpkins:

We were freezing, so we went to the nearby Wendy's and got warm cheeseburgers and chili to take home. The kids were excited and devoured every bite. On the way back, we passed a six-car accident that we must have barely missed. It was right by the entrance to the pumpkin patch we had left less than ten minutes earlier. I was thankful that we'd missed it.

All the way home, the kids kept saying how much fun it had been and how much they'd loved the patch and loved their pumpkins. It was one of those days that it was good to be a mom.

But then it was good to be home in the warm house, just hanging out:

Date Night

Tonight my mom watched the kids so that Andy and I could go out for our anniversary. It was equally fun to be away and stressful to leave them. But, my date was super attractive, so that helped.

We went out for sushi. There was a black hair on one of the rolls. We didn't send it back though because we were staring at the greasy guy behind the bar. He would have been the same one to remake it, so it didn't seem worth it. Besides the damper, dinner was delicious and the company was great.

Then we went and saw World War Z. Zombies and Brad Pitt? What could be better? It was a fun movie and we had a great time.

We hurried home to this sweetie:

Andy "watched" the kids for a little bit so that I could get something done. Don't you love how men babysit?

Playing Outside

We took Nick outside today for the first time. He loved it.

And that's my girl. She climbed the mountain to get a better angle for shooting her bow and arrow. She manages to look tough AND adorable.

Door Signs and Superman

One thing I love about Calvin is that he's always drawing pictures, making maps, hanging door signs, and otherwise decorating the house with his writing and artwork. Here is a sign he put on his bedroom door.

I do not understand video games, so this one is unclear to me. An "x" through Luigi, a Raving Rabbid below. He said something about his room being Luigi's mansion. It's cute though, and he is very proud of it.

This one though? This is genius:

It's a keypad. You have to "type in the code" by writing the numbers in the rectangle with the crayon that he has conveniently taped beside the code box.

His bedroom door:

 

Genius.

And more baby cuteness:

Nick loves to stretch. He regularly looks like he's doing the Superman:

Listening to Bedtime Stories