Louisburg Cider Mill

To make our fun Fall experience complete, we had to make a trip to Louisburg Cider Mill! I had the genius idea to go one afternoon during the week to hopefully avoid the crowds and enjoy the Cider Mill without the millions of people. Well, we definitely avoided the crowd, but we also missed out on many of the fun things the Cider Mill has to offer because we went during the week. But it was a beautiful day shared with friends, so it was all worth it!

We found a day that Christine and Ace could join us, so after a quick lunch, we headed out to the Cider Mill. I almost didn't recognize it without the millions of cars in the parking lot, so I had high hopes for a fun adventure! We saw the cider making, and took in the delicious smells!! The boys definitely had a one track mind though, so after our quick cider glimpse, we headed out to the play area. As we went to get our tickets, my heart sank as I saw the jumpy pillow was NOT inflated!! Grant was crushed!! That was really the only thing he was truly looking foward too! So we tried to make the most of it and head over to the other playscapes! 

They soon forgot their disappointment and enjoyed the things we could do! Of course, after playing for quite a while, they were ready to rest their feet on a hayride, but disappointment #2- they were only running hayrides for the field trips there! Luckily, I had one more idea in my arsenal get them over that disappointment- the BIG slide!! This kept them happily playing for quite some time!!

So after our fun play time adventures, we were all thirsty but our mouths were watering for apple cider donuts of course!! No trip to the cider mill would be complete without a dozen donuts!! 

So while we had a few disappointments, we enjoyed a fun fall experience!! Although next year, I guess I'll just have to brave the crowds because really, who doesn't love a good jumpy pillow playtime?!?

T-Rex with the Westfalls

Nothing like spending a great day with your best friends we don't get to see as often as we would like to! When we found out the Westfall family was heading our way, we were sooo excited!! They had big plans while they were here, so we were happy they were able to spend an afternoon with us! Luke just celebrated his 5th birthday, so what better place for us to celebrate together than the T-Rex Cafe!

Right after Grant got out of school, we headed up to the Legends! (I'm so thankful he's in half day K!!!) The kids all greeted each other with hugs and squeals!! Like no time had passed!! We ordered our food and then made our way around the restaurant, chatting and playing along the way! After lunch, they ran around outside like the fun and crazy children they are, and then we decided to head back in to dig for fossils and mine for gold. I'm pretty sure we were at T-Rex for 3 hours!!

We love these dear friends so much!! In Enid, we got so used to weekly (sometimes daily!) playdates, so waiting months on end to see each other is super hard! So times like this make us so thankful we have such wonderful friends to play with and chat with and make memories with!!

We love you Westfall family and can't wait to plan another adventure soon!!!

This little sweetie pie has a piece of my heart, that's for sure!!!

Trunk or Treat

We had the pleasure of taking Mason and Luke to their Trunk or Treat at Good Shepherd. It was definitely a fun experience, as we've never done a Trunk or Treat before!! We had been discussing for weeks how we wanted to decorate the car. We wanted simple and cheap, so we decided on a mouth eating all the candy! We ALL made a trip to Michael's one afternoon for supplies and we got busy! They were so excited to all go together!

So the evening of, we met at Mimi's house and the boys got all their gear on and we headed up to school!

 Luke and Grant ran off together, Mason was off with his friends, and Wyatt and I met some of our friends there and walked around together! We went to every car in the parking lot- I'm guessing over 100! Wyatt's bucket of candy was so full he couldn't even carry his bucket by himself towards the end, it was too heavy! Needless to say, we were fully stocked in the candy department before Halloween ever hit!!

 After it was all over, the boys came back to Mimi's for a sleepover. They dumped out their candy and sorted it all out and everyone got to take a heaping bucket of their favorites! Check out that stash!!! 

Gymnastic Graduates

We definitely found a sport both boys totally LOVE!! They just finished their first 8 week session of gymnastics! They loved their class and couldn't wait to go each week. 

 Grant completed Boys Gym Level I. He still has some things to master, so he's going to stay in that class for a while. But after the first day of class, and him telling me how everything was so hard, I never heard him say that again! He gained so much strength week after week! And for a kid who desperately needs some upper body strength, it was the perfect remedy!! What's better than an hour of running, jumping, flipping, and swinging?!?  Go Grant!!! You're going to rock Level I!!!

 Wyatt completed Pre-Gym Level I. In fact, he mastered everything that class and graduated up to Pre-Gym Level II. His instructor was very amazed by his coordination and agility. She said its almost unheard of to only take Level I one time- most kids do it three or four times. She said he has a very bright future!! So proud of you Wyatt!! Can't wait to see what awesome things you learn in Level II.

Halloween Playtime

I just love a good holiday!! Makes for fun crafts, fun games, and lots of playtime!! Halloween is always one of our favorites and we celebrate as long as we can- usually starting in mid-September!! Wyatt can't get enough of the learning activites I set up for him each year! And now that he's so much more capable and smarter, our activity shelf is growing and growing! (Note- you will not see Grant in any of these pictures because he has zero interest in these things. I'm happy at least one of my kids enjoys the teacher side of me!)

Our shelf is filled with Halloween erasers, pumpkin gems, spider rings, little halloween animals, and lots and lots of games!! He would literally play with these types of things all day long if I sat with him all day!! He just can't get enough! As I pulled them out, he sat like this for hours and hours throughout the week!

 I also made alot of printable games for him to do independently. I have a pocket chart hanging by the kitchen and change out the games often. He can often be found at this spot as well!

 And any game that we can play together is icing on the cake!!

 And I'm trying to squeeze in some art projects too!! I still have about 5 more I want to do with them, so hopefully we accomplish such a lofty goal! But we did make some cute spiders and webs and painted and decorated some beautiful pumpkins!! We managed to grab Grant long enough to do these projects with us!!

It is Oct. 13, so that means 18 days til Halloween!! I can't wait to see what other fun things we get done!!

Date Night with My Boys

It's rare that I get a moment with the boys on their own. It's hard when there is one of me and two of them! As I came upstairs to get ready for bed one night, I turned on the light in my room to find Grant asleep in my bed. He has NEVER EVER EVER slept in my bed, so I found it very odd. As I carried him back to his bed, he kept saying, "But I want to sleep with you!" It was definitely a cry for some special time with me! So the next day, we got to head out on a date, just the two of us! Luckily, Wyatt was happy to oblige by spending some time at Mimi and PawPaw's house! 

I let Grant choose what he wanted to do. He decided on visiting the Treasure Shop (its what he calls the antique mall) to hunt for Beanie Babies and Star Wars things. Then we went to Toys R Us for a Lego set- actually, we looked at every Lego set in the store, as well as all the Star Wars things. Ultimately, he decided on the Lego Star Wars Encyclopedia and two sets of Star Was figures. Receiving gifts is definitely Grant's love language! Then we headed over to Winsteads for dinner, with a special chocolate frosty just because!!! 

I love those special moments with Grant. He is so much more calm and precious. He opened my car door each time, opened the doors to the stores, and held my hand in his arm as we walked. He's a true gentleman when he chooses to be! :)  I just love him so and special moments with him are good for my soul!!

 And of course, our date left Wyatt wanting a date of his own! I often overlook times like that with him just because I find myself being with Wyatt alone often, because of his school schedule. I take for granted how special those moments really are- to him and me! So we set out to have our own date a week after Grant's date! I asked him if he wanted to go pick out a toy and he said, "Really, you mean it??" It was such a heartfelt response! So we left Grant to see a movie with Mimi and we headed off onto our date! He chose to go to Toys R Us to pick out a new game! We went up and down and up and down the rows of games. He finallly decided on Operation Star Wars "because Bubba will be so excited!" He's such a generous boy, always thinking about others feelings! He then wanted to go to Chick Fil A, so we enjoyed an early dinner and some fun in the playplace! And since I know he's such a go-with-the-flow kid, I asked him if it was ok if we went to HomeGoods because I had seen some frames earlier in the week and finally decided I wanted them. Of course, he happy obliged! He truly is happy going anywhere with me and I love that! So we took a spin around HomeGoods before we came home and played Operation a dozen times while munching on popcorn!

I hope these precious moments of ours will be something they remember forever! I hope I can always consciously make special moments for them, and appreciate all the moments in between! 

Pumpkin Patch

Wow, the fact that I haven't blogged in almost a month makes me want to smack my head!! I don't have any other excuse other than possibly lack of content? It's been a rather uneventful past few weeks, but no excuse nonetheless!! 

Now, onto post-worthy pictures!!!

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I was sooooo looking forward to a real pumpkin patch visit this year! We've loved the little church pumpkin patches in Florida and Oklahoma, but I couldn't wait to actually go to pumpkin farm! Although ironic- we actually bought our pumpkins first from a church pumpkin patch! We couldn't pass up rows and rows and rows of pumpkins! They were just calling our names!

But I saw my window for a perfect pumpkin patch weekend and I had to take advantage! Fall has come rather early here and the weather has definitely been hit or miss the past month. So while it was a brisk and breezy day, it was sunny and very fall like! Of course, without Levi being around, I asked my other sidekick to come along, my mom. So we set out to enjoy Powell Pumpkin Patch! 

It was a little crowded when we got there, but I kind of expected there to be a good crowd since the weather was pretty beautiful!

We started off by exploring the play area while my mom bought corn maze tickets. There was a huge slide surrounded by hay bales for climbing! It was so cute watching Grant pull Wyatt up each hay bale, as his legs were just a little too short! Such a good brother! They climbed around for a bit before we found our wagon and got pumpkin hunting!

After some wagon testing and a brief explanation to Grant that he was far too big and old to need a wagon ride, we were off to find the Perfect Pumpkin!! Wyatt loved looking at each and every pumpkin, but he couldn't ever decided if one was just perfect or not. Grant liked the odd ones, imagine that, and was drawn to the green or white ones.  The fields were pretty muddy and completely scattered with pumpkins, so we had to leave our wagon on the main strip while we went exploring. My mom, Wyatt and I had a great time looking all around! So many amazing creations out there in God's pumpkin patch! It's really miraculous to see how these humongous perfect creations are made, its kind of breath taking!  So while we were enjoying the sights, Grant enjoyed the wagon...

That boy, I tell ya!! But after searching and searching, they finally agreed on a few to take home!

 Once we found our perfect pumpkins, it was time for the corn maze! I have to say, none of us were super excited for this. All I could envision was muddy shoes and complaining children, my mom's legs were already aching, and I had a feeling Grant was going to want to be done about 2 minutes into it. But we made it into and adventure and had fun! Because of all the rain, there was a river going through the middle of the maze, which was impassable. So we turned back around and went out the way we came in. But we exited nonetheless!! A 10 minute maze was about all we could handle anyway!

 After a few more turns on the hay bale slide, we were ready to call it a day!! It was a fun day in the fall sun! There are still a few more places I'd like to check out before the weather turns really nasty for the winter, but we will see how long winter holds off. It's creeping in day by day!! 

But our fun fall day with my little pumpkins was exactly what I was wanting!!