Willard Farms Pumpkin Pickin'

It's October....so it's pumpkin pickin' time at Willard Farms.  We went again this year with my MOPS group.  It was a beautiful Fall day and M&M always love it!  They insisted on wearing their cowboy boots.  I guess they thought it was appropriate since we were going to a farm!

I was pleasantly surprised how much Mary Ellen did this year that she wouldn't last year.  She loved the big trampoline and last year she would only get on it with me holding on.  Michael loved going really high with Daddy.

The best way to get off the big trampoline...SLIDE!

This was the most fun of the day.  This big tunnel slide goes through a big mountain of dirt.  They wouldn't do it at all last year.  This year they could have done it for hours.  Mary Ellen was surprisingly fearless climbing up the big hill to get to the top of the slide.

Michael saw the dump truck right when we walked in and kept asking to go back to it. 

 My little Mary Ellen loves to swing!

The cow train is always fun and they love to do it all by themselves.  Mary Ellen always picks the last cow in the train.  Must be the best ride!

The big tractor pulled us over to the pumpkin patch where we spent lots of time discussing which would be the best pumpkin...the big yellow ones or a little orange one.  We finally decided on one of each.  The pumpkin variety was much better this year and some were pretty big.  We also went through the corn maze, but I think they need to be a bit older to really understand and enjoy that.  It was a fun family day and we added to our growing pumpkin collection on the front porch.

Kingdom Kids Birthday

We had the party, opened the presents, and smashed the pinata but it still wasn't M&M's birthday yet.  Very hard to explain to a toddler that yes, we had a party but it wasn't your actual birthday.  Well the 30th of September, which is their actual birthday, was a school day.  So we put up the sign again, got out the Mickey and Minnie shirts, and baked some more cupcakes for their Kingdom Kids class and off we went!

Ms. Kristina and Ms. Dawn are great at making birthday's special in their class.  They each got a crown and had "Happy Birthday" sung to them again.

Mickey and Minnie cupcakes for each friend in their class, and their wonderful teachers!

Not only did they get a special day at school, but Ms. Kristina and Ms. Dawn gave them each a beautiful book.  They loved them!  What special 4-year-olds that get 2 weeks of Birthday fun!

Meeska, Mooska, Mickey Mouse!

MEESKA, MOOSKA, MICKEY MOUSE! 

Lots of fun to be had at Michael and Mary Ellen's clubhouse!

It was a Mickey and Minnie party this year.  And since Papa and Daddy had worked so hard on the treehouse it was a special surprise kind of day for my loves 4th birthday party!

The pinata was a special request from Michael and Mary Ellen for their party this year.  The kids really seemed to enjoy it.  And since we had so many little ones at the party it was the pull-string kind instead of the bashing-it-with-a-stick kind...seemed to work out well!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...times 2!

Great friends, lots of fun, and two very happy 4 year olds!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY M&M!!

Treehouse

We were determined to get M&M's treehouse built for their birthday party.  Papa (Andrew's Daddy) and Daddy (Andrew) spent many days planning out how they would go about it.  Andrew took off a few days from work and put the large posts in the ground and in concrete before Papa arrived to help with the build.  They spent all day Friday building for the Saturday party.

They were a well oiled machine getting it all done.  I'm afraid Andrew was a bit of a slave-driver with his Daddy.  But he really wanted it to be mostly up for the party.  He's such a hard-worker!

When Aunt Amy and Uncle Jamie arrived Friday night, it was all hands on deck to get it finished.  Even Ryals and Pryce were helping.  But it looked great for the party and even though the swings weren't in yet, that space made the perfect spot to hang the Pinata.  The kids loved it!

After the party on Saturday Andrew finished the swings and now it is the most favorite of their birthday surprises.  Thanks Daddy and Papa for our AWESOME treehouse!

The Last of Summer Fun

Summer was coming to an end and we took one last trip to Palmetto Falls Water Park at Fort Jackson.  They have such a perfect place for toddlers to play.  Michael and Mary Ellen can do all the activities independently and the toddler area is fenced off from the rest of the water park...perfect.  We went with some friends and just had a ball!  The best part is the kids were exhausted and slept like babies that night.  We will definitely spend more time next year there!

MOPS Kick-Off Party

The new year for "Mothers Of PreSchoolers" (MOPS) has begun!  We had a big kick-off and registration party to start the year.  This day is always so much fun for the kids.  They loved the Bounce House, which was the perfect size for M&M.  It was a super hot day but lots of fun was had by DOZENS of toddlers!

Mary Ellen loved the sidewalk chalk and bubbles.  Michael could have stayed in the Bounce Houses all day.  Ms. Sue did face painting and M&M both chose a ladybug.

The most amazing thing was this dragonfly that loved to sit on the kids fingers.  Mary Ellen was absolutely enthralled!  It stayed by us for at least 30 minutes sitting on the finger of any toddler that was around.  What a great start to a fun MOPS year!

My Pretty Little Dancer

I think I was more excited than Mary Ellen to have her start dance.  I loved it so much when I was younger and am hoping she does too.  She is taking a combo ballet and tap class at Miss Libby's.  She really seems to love it.  It's also interesting to see her do something without Michael.  I have been blown over at how well she's done.  And I love that she can have something that's just for her.  Being twins they have done everything together up to this point.  They even talk in "we" instead of "me".  I was concerned that Mary Ellen, being more bashful was relying on Michael too much socially.  I have been so impressed how she has taken on each new challenge this year with such confidence.  So proud of her!