High Rock Pumpkin Patch & A Birthday Celebration

Before I begin with some pictures of our weekend fun yesterday, here are a few pictures of Silas and Luke being mesmerized by their fascination of a cricket.  Luke and I went over to the Lohr's house last Sunday night and cooked dinner and let the boys play. It was a nice evening - the toddlers and the grown-ups enjoyed our time together.  Here are the only two pictures I took....

In this picture, the cricket is on the ground....

In this picture, the cricket is in the bucket....Luke is actually looking at me because he knows I am taking a picture....Silas is still loving the view of the cricket.  :)

Yesterday was a super fun day for us, and, of course, especially for Luke.  Unlike today, the weather was absolutely gorgeous so we took advantage of it and headed to the High Rock Nursery pumpkin patch and Corn Maze in Lexington.  It is owned by the Penninger family - my friend, Jennifer, that I met at Welcome several years ago, is a member of this wonderful, kind, Christian family. This is the 2nd year that Luke and I have visited their farm and both times have been a blast! This year, Heather and Silas met us there so the boys had an extra fun time playing with each other.

For the most part, I will let the pictures tell the highlights....

The boys loved the corn pile. There were buckets and shovels for digging and filling and dumping and Mommy's legs and toddler legs for covering.  :)  The corn pile was the first and last place the boys visited...here is their first visit to the corn!

Next, we headed to the corn maze. On the way to the pumpkin patch, Luke told me and Landis that there was a corn maze wolf and he was going to find him.  Well, just in case he saw him, Luke carried around the piece of corn stalk you see him carrying in this picture almost the whole walk through....

Here you see, he continues to look for that big bad wolf...

And, here, he has forgotten about the big bad wolf and is now worried more about the mud that is on his shoe. In this picture, he stops to show Silas how muddy his shoes are....Silas doesn't seem too concerned (or even interested)....LOL!

Continuing through the maze....

Thinking about getting into something....

These are some serious faces....

This is his mad face....I have no idea what he was mad about....he was having a great time and was content as could be....maybe he saw the wolf after all.

When we finally made it out of the maze (which, by the way, we went all the way to the end and back again, my friend, Jennifer asked Luke if he found the maze wolf and Luke said that, yes, he did. He said he put him inside the little wooden house (that you will see pictures of in a minute).

After the maze, we rode the pumpkin train. On the train ride, we saw baby pigs and baby cows.  Luke loves baby anything so when we passed the baby cows, he said, "Mommy, are those baby cows?" I said, "Yes, sweetheart, they are. Aren't they cute?"  Luke sighed, "Ohhhh!" and grinned.  :)

After the train ride, the boys drank some delicious apple cider, kicked a soccer ball up a tube and sat on the seesaw for a minute and then we took a lunch break. We ate some pizza and popcorn! Yummy!

After lunch, we rode the hayride to the pumpkin patch.  We were the only people on the hayride - me, Landis, Heather, and Silas.  Luke was finishing his popcorn.  Here are a few cute pictures of the hayride...

Luke loves tiny pumpkins so he had a blast picking out tiny pumpkins for me, him, and Daddy. Here are the pumpkins he picked....

Before leaving, the boys played in the tiny wooden house.  This ended up being one of their favorite parts.  Luke told us that the three little pigs built this wooden house and this was the house that the "tiny wolf" was in.  Here are some pictures of the boys' fun in the house....

They took a quick break from the house for more fun in the corn pile...by this point, Luke was very silly!  :)

More fun in the house....

Do you see Silas peeking out the window????

Luke had an awesome time and Landis and I enjoyed watching him have so much fun! He passed out in the car and took a short nap.

After his nap, Landis mowed our yard and the field.  Luke followed Landis around (behind the big lawn mower) while Landis mowed the field.  It was so cute watching the big lawn mower go by with Daddy on it and then seeing the little tiny Luke on his small lawn mower right behind him.  I didn't have a camera with me to catch the cute moment! After Landis was done mowing, he pretended to chase Luke on his lawn mower around the field and the backyard. Luke laughed out loud saying, "This is like the lawn mower races."  (Luke loves to watch lawn mower races on You Tube with Daddy at night time.)  I'm telling you - the child is obsessed with lawn mowers!  :)

After much, much lawn mowing, Luke and I did a quick change of clothes and headed to Wallburg for a birthday party of a friend in Luke's preschool class. Gabriel was turning 3!  We arrived on time to an AMAZING SET UP!  I bet this family spent $500 and many hours preparing this party. It was set up like a carnival - there was a huge prize table (with a ton of goodies on it), a goldfish throw, a punch board, a ring toss, a ball toss, a knock the cans down game, bowling, and fish for duckies!  The food table was unbelievable - there was a real popcorn maker, a cotton candy machine, and the cupcakes were displayed on a ferris wheel. These cupcakes were not your regular cupcakes - they were made to look like popcorn boxes with popcorn coming out of the top. I have no idea how they made them but they were delicious!  Luke had a blast playing all the games, eating pizza, popcorn, and cotton candy.  Luke loved doing the punch board - when he punched, he got a little, stuffed bear (and you know how much he loves tiny stuffed animals) - he was so satisfied with his tiny bear!  Luke and the other boys at the party ran around (thanks to the sugar highs) and chased each other all over the room.

One of the cutest moments ever came when Gabriel opened the present that Luke gave him - Gabriel's mom told Gabriel to go give Luke a hug so Gabriel walked over to us, but, instead of the boys hugging,  they gave each other a high 5 and a fist bump - it was absolutely adorable! :) I guess they truly are buds!  :)  Another cute moment was when Gabriel's grandma asked Luke - "How do you know Gabriel?"  Luke's response, "He lives at my school."  :)

Here are some pictures...

Before leaving the party, Gabriel's mom gave us Luke's goody bag-it was unbelievable how many things were inside this bag!  I bet Luke went home with $15 worth of toys and candy.  Crazy! :)  Needless to say, it will be hard for us to go to a birthday party anytime soon that tops that - I guarantee you that Luke's birthday party will be nowhere close to that one as far as details and planning. I'm a working mom on a budget so I will go for easy, cheap, and FUN!!! I appreciate Gabriel's family letting us join them at this special occasion - his family was super sweet and Gabriel is a cutie!  :) 

On the way home from the birthday party, Luke and I were talking and all of a sudden Luke said, "Mommy, Jerry lives with Geraldine." I said, "Yes, that's because they are married."  Luke followed with - "Yeah, they match."  I asked, "Who do I match?"  Luke answered, "You match Daddy."  I asked, "Who do you match?"  Luke said, "I match Daddy. You match me. We all match together."  Ohhhh!!  That's sweet!  (Yes, buddy, we all match together - thank the Lord for family!) 

Before I go, here's another cute story - almost every night, I read Luke the Bible while he's in the bathtub. His bath is right before bedtime so it's a great way to start settling him down.  He plays with his cups and balls while I read.  I'm never quite sure if he's listening or not, but, the other night, he proved to me that he must listen to me more than I think.  I was reading out of the book of John and I stopped reading for a minute to watch Luke pour some water in his cups. Luke said, "Mommy, keep reading."  I said, "Why? Are you really listening?  What have I been reading about?" Luke's response, "Jesus is the light."  WOW!  The WORD is getting inside of him already! AWESOME!  My response, "Yes, baby, Jesus is the light - even in a dark world - we have the hope of the light and warmth of Jesus Christ as our savior!" Gang, my prayer is that all children get that opportunity to hear the Word and learn that Jesus is their light! 

And...one final rambling....yesterday began the 1 month countdown of election day.  I am continuing to pray that there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit across the United States and that hearts are open to it so that during early voting and on election day, the people in this country will make a choice to choose a leader that knows God and follows God's principles (Mitt Romney) and will choose NOT to re-elect a leader who is anti-Christ and focused on his own agenda and bringing our country down (Barack Obama).  Gang, let me tell you this - if you think Barack Obama will move our country "Forward" - you are blind and deceived - Obama wants big government because he wants the people dependent on the government to the point that the government can control us-they already are - Obamacare is a great example and that is only the beginning.  If Obama has 4 more years of control, there will be no end to what bad decisions he will make and what beliefs of his will be shoved down our throats! I believe that if Americans choose an ungodly leader like Obama AGAIN, this country will face God's judgment VERY SOON! I'm praying everyday that hearts are changed and Godly choices are made!  

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!  Have a great week! 

Toddy