Pumpkin Palooza

This past Saturday, Greg and I took the boys to Pumpkin Palooza at Wesley UMC. It was a free event festival that had trick or trunk, rides, face painting, crafts, etc.

It was hot and we knew the boys would be running around, so we put them in their Mario & Luigi costume because they're thinner and lighter than their "army man" and astronaut.

There were lines for everything, but it wasn't too bad. The boys picked this slide to do first. After we left, Evan said this was the best part of the whole day. Evan had an excited look on his face when he came down but Carter looked terrified. He was going so fast and looked so scared and then when he slowed down at the bottom, he started smiling and laughing and wanted to do it again. They went all the way up there and down by themselves.

Carter getting ready to come down.

Next, the boys rode this swing merry go round (or whatever you call them) They were very excited to ride this, I was a little worried that they'd get scared, but they loved it.

The boys ready for the ride to start.

The boys had a blast on this.

After the swing, we went over to the trick-or-trunk area where people had set up stations for the kids to get candy from.

People are so creative, I loved all of it, but didn't get pictures of everything. This is back of a wagon that they had set up.

A teepee.

Look how cute those Wizard of Oz pumpkins are!!

The boys wanted to ride the helicopter ride next. The boys were tall enough to ride this ride along, but while we were waiting in line, I noticed that the metal bar isn't secured to anything, you push it forward and it goes forward. So, I made Greg ride it with them. After getting in one, we saw that there was a black strap that also goes over your lap, but I still didn't feel comfortable with this ride, so Greg was a trooper and rode it with them. :)

Greg smiling for the camera.

How he really felt, haha. ;)

I was going through my pictures and saw this little gem. Haha, I love the look on Greg's face. If that ride made him make that face, its definitely not something I'd want the boys riding by themselves.

The last thing the boys went on was the bounce house slide. You can kind of tell from the picture that Evan is not touching the slide, he likes to take a running jump down the slide. No fear at all.

Carter, my little rule follower, who goes down the slide in a way that doesn't give me a heart attack.

Greg went to get some water while the boys were on the slide and realized the prices were amazing, so we decided to have a little picnic lunch there. The boys inhaled their hot dogs, so I know they worked up quite an appetite going on all the rides.

Evan was so happy, he had asked to each lunch there and we told him we were going home to eat, so he was very excited that we changed our minds.

When we got home, all 3 boys took a nice long nap. We had Parent's Night Out at the gym that night, so we let them sleep pretty late and then we woke them up and ran to Walmart really quick before dropping the boys off at the gym.

I've decided to get a "holiday" tree that I keep up year round and decorate for different holidays. I priced them out and cannot believe how expensive trees are! But, I found one on Walmart's website for cheap but wanted to see it before buying it. Greg is impressed with it, can you tell?

I really liked this one and it was a foot taller, but I wasn't paying 169.00 for a tree. I got the other one, the 6.5ft white one and went ahead and decorated it for Halloween, so I'll do a post on that later.

After I picked out my tree, we still had a little time to kill before PNO started, so we walked around the store a little bit. Greg got this spider and scared the boys with it. I thought they'd be terrified, but then they wanted to touch it.

So creepy!

We dropped the boys off and went to dinner downtown. We never go downtown on Parent's Night Out, we have plenty of time, but we just always seem to stick close to the gym. We had a great time and then on the way to pick them up, we stopped at the new Whole Foods to check on something. I had to get a picture, because I don't think we've ever gone into a store on a date night that wasn't Target.

The boys were very sad when we picked them up at 8:30-8:40, which is probably the latest we've ever picked them up. It goes until 9:30 and they wanted to stay and watch the Halloween movie with the other kids. I love how much they enjoy PNO, it makes our date nights so much more enjoyable knowing the boys are happy and well taken care of.

CFA & Shopping

This is a random post and photo dump of the past week or two. I tried the boys fall/winter clothes on at the end of the summer to see if they still fit and almost all of them did. As soon as it got cold, I pulled them out and all the pants were too short!! :( So, the boys and have been doing some serious clothes shopping lately. I had a 30% off coupon for Kohl's, but I needed to have the boys try on a couple different sizes there before buying them anything. Kohl's is already getting the toys out for the holidays and had lots of different displays set up throughout the stores, so the boys played. And played, and played. They were so content sitting their playing with a toy in the box while I picked out clothes. I promised them that they could play some more if they'd come in the dressing room and cooperate and they were angels! It was the most peaceful shopping trip ever!

They didn't even ask us to buy the toys. I wish all stores had toy displays set up in the clothing, it'd make my life so much easier!!

The boys and I also hit up Old Navy one day after school, but they do not have toys set up in the store. :( We had several things to try on and it was exhausting. It was worth it though, because I got the boys several things for fall/winter including this little shirt and one with a tie. How cute is that?!?

Last Tuesday, my mom and I took the boys to the church pumpkin patch. They have all different sizes of pumpkins and a few places set up to take pictures. We were the only ones there.

So cute.

Oh, Evan and that pout face that he does. He's such a little faker.

This is 2 seconds after the pouty face. He's such a mess!

This is Evan's new routine before bath. They take their clothes off and put them in the hamper before brushing their teeth and getting in the bath. He decided to hide and scare me one night. He had so much fun that he now climbs into this every night. Carter laughing at him like it's the most hysterical thing he's ever seen doesn't help.

Last week, the boys and I had errands to run and we invited my sister. The boys were not on their best behavior. I was so excited when we went to Chick-Fil-A, so I could get a little break while they played. Then, they did this. Haha, they came up to the glass and just started at us.

A little hard to take a break when they're just standing there staring at us. :)

Then, the boys and I went to Party City and that's when the day seemed to turn around. They were so excited about big decorations, they stopped fussing and fighting and the rest of the day went much better.

They even let me get a picture of them in their orange shirts that they wore to school for "wear orange to school" day.

We went to Target (for the 2nd time that day) and while I was checking out, Carter was using Evan's head as a drum--and Evan was fine with it. No fighting, whining, or screaming happened. It was so nice.

Happy boys= happy mama!

Tuesday, the boys wore short sleeves and shorts to the pumpkin patch and Thursday, they had to wear hoodies and pants to bible study. It was freezing. Then, the weekend was hot again.

After bible study on Thursday, we met up with some moms of multiples and let the kids play. Because of the boys school schedule being on opposite days of most of the kids in the group, I don't get to do as much with this group as I'd like, so I'm glad we were able to meet up. Plus, it was free iced coffee week at that chick-Fil-A, so the kids got to play, moms got to talk and there was free coffee!

Friday night, we went out for pizza and the boys insisted on sitting next to each other. I have to remember moments like this when they are fighting. ;)

 

 

 

Stone Mountain Pumpkin Festival

A couple weekends ago, Greg and I took the boys to Stone Mountain. We have season tickets and are trying to get there once a season. We went for "Snow Mountain" in January, we went when the weather warmed up and then we went for their Pumpkin Festival that they have for the whole month of October. We're hoping to get down there for their Christmas festival, too. It's about a 2.5 hour drive down there, which isn't too bad.

The weather was absolutely perfect when we went, sunny and in the 70's. We got there when they opened around 10.

We realized after taking these first couple pictures that Carter managed to put his jeans on backwards. Haha, so we went and changed him after these pictures.

The first thing we went to was The Barn. The boys loved this last time, so we wanted to make sure they had plenty of time to play there. There was hardly anybody in there yet, so we let the boys play awhile and then we went by there again before leaving.

It was so weird to see it so empty.

 

Next, we went to the place that the splash pad is. They had the splash pad part turned off and the kids could just climb and play around. The boys had a blast.

I feel like we were the only parents that didn't go on it with their kids, but the boys knew what they were doing.

This was the way you had to come down, which a lot of parents realized after it was too late. You should have seen all those grown adults trying to get down this, haha. It's easy for kids, not so easy for adults.

We walked through the little town and there was a guy making these enormous bubbles for the kids.

We went to the pumpkin area next. They had some fun photo places set up, a place to dress up pumpkins, coloring, etc.

The boys coloring their sheet.

Carter wanted a picture of his sheet.

We made our way up to the train and got on that next. We didn't have to wait in line, so it worked out great. It was also a nice little break after the boys had been playing for awhile. We had packed a lunch, so the boys ate it on the train.

Haha, my little goobers.

This is Evan's face anytime he knows I'm taking a picture. He is such a little stinker. He'll be smiling and happy but as soon as I say "say cheese", he does this.

Carter will still smile for me. :)

The train ride was really nice.

Next, we went to a 4D movie (3D, with special effects, like water, wind, etc) I wasn't sure how the boys would do and if it'd be too much for them. But, they ended up loving it. I think there were a few parts that would have been scary if Greg and I weren't right there with them. They LOVED the rain and getting wet, they thought that was so funny.

A picture with the pumpkin. Again, there was no line at all. We got really lucky. It started to pick up as the day went on, but getting there early worked out for us. Look at Evan's little hand on his hip.

The boys had so much fun on the top of the mountain. We were right next to the sweetest lady in the Skyride that had grandkids, so she was talking to the boys the whole way up, I think she got them even more excited than they already were.

There were tons of puddles--and of course, that was the boys favorite part. They'd find little pebbles and throw them in.

On the Skyride back down.

We had a great time. The boys really enjoyed it. We went to the Barn one more time and let the boys play for while before heading home. 2.5 hours isn't bad, but it means being in the car for at least 5 hours all together, so it makes for a long day. It's definitely worth it, though.