2010 Pumpkin Patch

15 Oct 2010

Last Saturday we decided to partake in some family fun and make a trip to the local pumpkin patch. Since our car only has 5 seats and we all agreed that the kids should be buckled in, Grandma insisted that she be the one to ride in the hatch-back cargo area. It wasn't big enough for her, but she didn't complain...much. It also turned out that the local pumpkin patch was exceptionally UN-local. It took us about an hour and a half to get there. Grandma's knees have yet to fully recover. Anyway, we got there in one piece and in fairly good spirits.

Our first activity was scarecrow building. We were supposed to stuff the clothes with the hay. Derek pulled out one handful, got poked with a sticker, and then left the rest of the job to me and Jared.
Grandma and Tyler were on the other end setting the scarecrow up on the stand.
Tyler was adamant that our scarecrow have a head so we made one out of a t-shirt. Grandma made his eyes out of balls of weeds from the grass. Tyler was so proud.
A scenic pond.

The pumpkin patch was actually not a pumpkin patch at all. They had lots of pumpkins there but they were all just shipped in and piled up on the lawn. The farm was actually an apple orchard. They grow cute little sweet Texas apples and sell them to HEB stores. We got some at the HEB later in the week and they were really really good. They are super fresh and don't have any preservatives so you have to keep them in the fridge, but it's worth it.

Here is part of a tour where the orchard owner (in the background) is showing us how they sort and grade the apples.

(Derek got that football hat from a lady that grabbed it in a claw machine arcade game at the Walmart. Tyler was really jealous.)

At the petting zoo we saw all kinds of farm animals. Tyler got to hold the new baby chick - it was only a week old.

Holly cornered an old turkey and poked it a lot.

Derek and Holly were super excited to go into this tee-pee. Tyler saw it and said, "It's probably just big and empty inside." This is him telling me that he was right.

Here is Holly.

Taking a break on the pumpkin stairs after Grandma got a little tipsy on 'Pumpkin Juice.'

The hay maze. Um...it wasn't really a maze. It was more like a hay corral with hay obstacles. Tyler walked in the entrance and out the exit in about 10 seconds. Derek ran around inside for at least 15 minutes pretending that he couldn't figure out where to go.

Yay for family fun!!

Haunted Cooper House

11 Oct 2010

Every year we like to get a couple new Halloween decorations. When I was a kid the paper cut out Halloween decorations that we put on the front window were almost as (if not more) exciting than the Christmas tree. So, I like to make a big deal of the decorations. We've got almost everything hung up inside (photos to come) and pumpkins from the Pumpkin Patch ready to carve (more photos to come) but we didn't really have anything on the outside of the house. I thought that the little alcove on our second floor would make a perfect haunted skeleton perch so I hijacked the car on the way home from work today and took Jared to the Spirit of Halloween store. We pooled all of our Halloween budget and came up with this. We thought it looked pretty good.

Later on it turned into this. We were suprised at how terribly scary it is. Um....oh well. The deed is done and we already took the ladder back to the neighbor. Hee hee. I love this time of year!

Chumps Who Pay For Their Kids To Take Rides At The Mall

28 Sep 2010

Somehow in my mind the guilt I feel for leaving my kids and going to work for 12 hours a day is mitigated by buying things for them. On some level I know it's shallow but when we're all at the mall so that we can finally use our GAP gift cards and Derek sees a train ride, it's just so so hard for me to say no. See how happy he is?!? It's just so cute.

Then, further down, when Tyler sees the trampoline rubberband thing, it's hard to tell him no when I just let Derek ride the train. He wanted to do it at first, then he got scared and then he really liked it. Actually, I think it looked kind of fun.

The Four-Winged Dinosaur

23 Sep 2010

I was looking for good stuff to watch on Hulu.com and I found a NOVA special called "The Four-Winged Dinosaur" (or something like that) and I put it on. Derek was instantly mezmerized and watched the whole entire hour-long show just like this. What a cutie.

My Cutie Kids

21 Sep 2010

A few weeks ago we went to this giant craft/furniture/decorating store called Garden Ridge. It was a crazy warehouse full of great stuff. These chairs were the kids' favorite items...well, maybe not Tyler. But Holly and Derek were sold. I love their faces in this picture. I also love how Holly and Derek are pretty much the same size.

Welcome Baby Elinor

19 Sep 2010

Joseph and Amanda have a new baby! She was born yesterday, Sep 18th (which BTW is Rebecca's birthday - Happy Birthday Rebecca!) They called and told us that her name is Elinor. She weighs 8 1/2 pounds and Joseph says that she looks a little Japanese. Oh, how cute!

Congratulations you guys. We can't wait to meet her!

Hey! Welcome Back Me!

17 Sep 2010

Thank you everyone for all the Happy Birthday cards, presents and phone calls! You guys are the best!

Where have I been?!? Oh yeah, at my job that's an hour and a half away from my house. That three hour commute really cuts into my blogging time. Not to mention the 4 different classes that I have to prep for each day. How did I end up with 4 different classes and Jared only has one. I teach Math 7, Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, and Math Applications. Jared just has 6th grade Science. Hmmm.....

So Derek is actually still sick. After the barfing, the whole family got colds. We had sore throats, sneezing, runny noses and coughing. Everyone is mostly better except for Derek. He won't stop coughing. I stayed home today to enforce a strict medication and TV watching schedule to see if we can get it cleared up by Monday. Luckily it doesn't seem like pneumonia, at least not yet.

Holly is cuter than ever! She says 'thank you', 'k', 'poop', 'blanket', 'cheese', 'more', 'ralphie', 'mommy', 'daddy', and 'waaaaaaaaaa'. Right now she is polishing off a big bowl of macaroni and cheese with a spoon! What a big girl.

Tyler LOVES his after school program. He finally has a group of boys his own age to play with on a regular basis. They have homework time, structured group games and free time. He takes his Pokemon cards and Bakugan balls to school each day to use during free time. Thanks to the bargaining skills he's learned while playing Monopoly with me, he sometimes makes fantastic trades ;)

Jared went to a training meeting last Saturday and they showed him the SNL clip below. I think that it would have been funny to me before I became a teacher but now I think it's hilarious...and a little sad.

Seinfeld History Lesson

Derek and Holly Are Sick

27 Aug 2010

My babysitter, Sara, is such an angel. Derek threw up 4 times at her house today and she wasn't upset at all (even though she's almost 5 months pregnant!). Derek is still sick. Holly threw up in her bed last night and then just went back to sleep. There was a little pile of not-chewed-up spaghetti noodles in the corner of her bed this morning. Eww.

Well, it's 9:00, I think I'm going to bed. I've got a training meeting tomorrow (Sat) and I've got to be in Dilly by 8:30. My one day off - man! At least Jared can go to the training on a different day so we don't need a babysitter.

Big Mistake

26 Aug 2010

After the first day of school I thought that maybe becoming a middle school teacher was a big mistake. But now that I've remembered how to use my "teacher" voice, everything is all better.

Don't Give Up On Me

25 Aug 2010

Don't give up on me. I know I haven't done a new post in a long time but it's because I'm really super busy. Jared and I have been gone for 12 hours each day. School is going fine. We have lots of great kids and a few that need "extra love". I'm glad that we decided to be teachers. I will make a new post soon. Love you all, Suzie.