Pumpkin Patch fun!

After Jared's party (and Lydia's nap, Jared did not nap, he has sort of started skipping a day or 2 between his naps this past week which I am okay with, he is five after all but man it was a good run!!) we took off for the pumpkin patch. We picked Lazy S Ranch (there are quite a few in the area) on a recommendation from my friend Laura.  We started out on the road to get there and ran into major traffic just outside of town, near the Monticello Trail exit and Carters Apple Orchard.  It was a most beautiful fall day and those are two really popular places. Carters actually had an electronic sign posted saying their parking lot was full and to please return later! Crazy! Mark quickly exited and was able to find an alternative route.  I was so impressed.  I would have just sat in the traffic.  I wasn't 100% sure how he was originally planning on going but to know a different way when we have only lived here 3 months and he isn't over there much or ever really, is really impressive. Not that surprising given his amazing sense of direction but impressive.  So we took the longer way (not by too much) and got to the pumpkin patch just in time to catch Laura and her family as they left.  It was sort of funny because they left for the pumpkin patch from Jared's party so we had already seen them that morning.

We enjoyed walking around the farm in the perfect weather and checking out the typical activities.  We played in the corn kernel bins, took a hay ride, checked out the animals, played on the hay bale pyramid, mastered the miniature corn maze and picked a pumpkin.  This particular place had a tire swing and while Jared and Lydia enjoyed all the activities the tire swing was their favorite by far.  They have both mentioned wanting one in the past.  I hope we can have one at a house with a real yard one day.

 Lydia needed a bit of coaxing from Mark to go down the slide and loved it when she did it.

 A BLUE tractor! Pretty exciting.  

 They posed themselves quite well! 

 Pumpkin Heads!

 These pumpkins/gourds were so fun and different. 

We stopped at the tire swing on our way out.  They were so happy! I love these pictures.  Lydia did sadly walk in front of it while Jared was swinging so we didn't really end on a happy note but a good time was had by all. (I did manage to slow him down a bit and she is fine it just knocked her to the ground)

Hooray for Fall fun!

Yo Ho A Pirates Life for me...

We had a lot of fun at Jared's Pirate party Saturday.  This was the first party we threw for him where we invited friends.  It was fun to pick games and food to go along with his Pirate theme.  Back in the beginning of September he decided he wanted a treasure map cake for which I was very grateful.  It was so nice to have Pinterest for all these ideas.  Everything turned out great. To quote one of Jared's friends "It was the best day ever!"

I got as much done as possible before the party.  The day of I just had to put up a few decorations and quickly frost/decorate his cake.  I am glad that Jared had such a great time. We found our Pirate names, played pirate themed games, went on a treasure hunt, ate lunch, opened presents went on an adventure down the trail behind our town home and ate cake.  Jared had three friends over which was a nice manageable amount. They all got along great and were fun to be around.

X marks the Spot!

Pirate Games:

Hook the pretzels: The Pirates tried to hook as many pretzels with the hook as they could in 30 seconds

 Cannon Ball wars: No explanation necessary. 

Crocodile Hunt: We used Jared's stuffed crocodile for this game.  Since Captain Hook is chased by the crocodile in Peter Pan we figured it worked.  One boy left the room while the others hid the crocodile.  The boy was given 2 minutes to find the stuffed crocodile while a timer tick tocked. 

Treasure Hunt Clues: 

 Black balloons = cannon balls

The final treasure in the hunt, a goody bag of Rolos, chocolate coins and whoppers (cannonballs) were buried under them. 

 Arrr! 

Peter aka Matey O'Malley

 Jared aka Moneybucket Wobbley Peg

 Benson aka Shipmate Kidd 

Joseph aka Moneybucket O'Malley

 Lunch:

Sweedish fish in blue Jello

Pirate ship hot dogs

Grapes on sword toothpicks

 The treasure:

Pirate bucket, Pirate rubber braclet (like the live strong ones), eye patch, ring pop, and bag of gold.  All the Pirates wanted to take home the ship sails and their sword toothpicks. 

 Sweetest Scallywag I know, looking so much older. We are so glad he loved his Pirate party as much as he did and were happy to put it together for him. It is nice to have it finished! 

5 years!

We had a fun time celebrating Jared yesterday.  We really love this little boy.  We have some birthday traditions that I really love and while they didn't go quite as planned yesterday Jared had a great day which is what I was going for.

 I like to go and get balloons to put into Jared's room on his birthday.  I went to get them Monday night and sadly the only person at the store who could do them was a guy who had only done them once before.  When I got up in the morning, 10 hours later only 3 balloons were floating.  It was such a bummer and really didn't start my day off well.  Jared of course loved them which made me glad but I was disappointed. Charlottesville does not have a Party City, a store I love and normally get the balloons from.  Oh well.  He was happy and that was the point. He loved seeing his door decorated and running through the streamers.

 Jared and Lydia both had a really hard time sleeping the night before and didn't fall asleep until 9:30 then they were up at like 6:30.  That didn't help the morning much either.  I put breakfast in the oven (monkey bread as requested by the birthday boy) and started my workout when they came running down the stairs.  I missed seeing Jared find the balloons and streamers and that was disappointing,  but such is life. Really Jared had a great day I was the one who was off all day.  They did save me from completing my whole Jillian Micheal's workout though so that was nice of them, kind of.  It is just hard when you have a plan and that is how you think things will occur  and how you want them too and then they don't.  Well it's hard for me at least.

We put candles in the monkey bread since we wouldn't be making his cake until his party.  It was great to sing happy birthday to him and watch him open his presents.  We got him a treasure chest and a tool box.  We had a whole work bench with tools in Colorado but he never played with it and it was taking up space so we got rid of it.  Once we did he wanted his tools all the time.  I guess that is how it works though.  He loved both of the presents which is always rewarding.

 Pirate face! 

Before we left for preschool I went out and wrote birthday messages on the car for him. I was hoping people would read them and honk to tell him happy birthday but it was a pretty rainy day and it got washed off by the afternoon.  (again, things not going as planned) Jared loved having the car decorated for him and it is a fun new tradition to start.

We made beef stroganoff for dinner with Mark's special pink smoothies (which "taste way better than the green ones!" according to Jared) and had ice cream sundaes for dessert. It was weird not having birthday cake.  I hope it turns out well Saturday. We did our birthday interview and a few new answers came up but he is still pretty consistent. I really love doing this!

What is your favorite color? Blue
What is your favorite toy? Treasure chest and tool box
What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries
What is your favorite movie? Pochantos II (we watched it last month for movie night i.e: Meeko!)
What do you do well? Cuddle my blanket
What do you like to do with Daddy? Ride bikes
What makes you happy? My blanket, toys and birthday
What is your favorite scripture story? David and Goliath
What is your favorite song? Scripture Power
What is your favorite animal? Doggy
What is your favorite book?  Pochantos and Pirate stories
Who is your best friend? Joseph and Peter (Farnsworth)
Where is your favorite place to go? Children's Museum
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride bikes
What is your favorite drink? Hot Chocolate
What is your favorite Holiday? Halloween (first he said October)
What do you like to do with Mommy? Play with my toys with her.
What is your favorite things to eat for breakfast? Monkey Bread
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Beef Stroganoff
What do you want to be when you grow up? Pilot

(Lydia's face!!)

Jared is a sweet boy.  He has grown up so nicely since last year.  He loves preschool and never has any problems.  Being the oldest in the class makes a difference, and having done it before. He knows our expectations and does very well following them. Last year at this time he would typically follow whoever was doing something that looked fun but now he knows he needs to be an example and do whats right even if he wants to do what someone else is doing.  Not that he is 100%  all the time but a huge difference then a year ago.  He is growing up so well. He definitely gets irritated with Lydia but does look out for her and help her.  He throws less and less fits (not that he was so bad last year just had more) and is doing really well not over reacting when things (mostly Lydia) don't go as he wants.

He has become really interested in our scripture reading lately. Mark can ask him questions about what we read days earlier and what is going on and he knows whats been happening.  He is doing amazing at his reading lessons.  I almost feel like I could say he knows how to read.  He sounds things out really well and gets so excited when he can look at a word and recognize it by sight.  Such as: that, cat, is, on, an, this and other words. He still enjoys our art projects and our learning times, especially patterns and can make some pretty cool ones now.  He is much more interested in drawing than he was a year ago.  He draws a lot of snowmen and recently learned how to draw houses, with fancy chimneys that have smoke coming out of them. He enjoys connecting the dots on pictures I "draw/outline" for him. He has also been interested in building with our blocks and Duplo legos lately. I can see some Legos in the near future for this kid.

A friend asked me what Jared's interests were right now so I asked him and he said  "Weapons!" which made me cringe quite a bit.  I do not think Jared is a violent kid or playing with weapons will make him one but I really don't like them.  I was pleasantly surprised they didn't show up more in his interview. He does love riding his bike and is figuring out the balance thing pretty well. He loves our family movie nights and Family Home Evenings. Both of which involve treats...   He was asked to bring in some pictures of things that were special to him for preschool and he picked the following:

 The beach

 His Blanket

 Swimming

 Camping

 Disneyland

Family

He is a happy kid and does well playing with others and by himself.  When we went to the doctor before preschool he was 43 (66th %) pounds and 42.5 inches (50th %).  We are so lucky to have Jared in our family.  He brings us so much happiness. I just want to enjoy this last year before school as much as I can! I will so miss him when he is gone.