Family Fun Saturday

We had a very fun and busy day today.  Cooper and Nathan are now taking karate on Saturday mornings.  Also, Cooper and Kindle started rehearsals this morning for the Nutcracker.  They will be in the Nutcracker on December 17 & 18 at Reinhardt University.  They are really excited.  Cooper will be a soldier again this year and Kindle will be a mouse.

Cooper as a soldier last year.

Kindle as a snowflurry last year.

After rehearsals, we headed out to the land to see my parent's house.  We were curious to see the progress being made.  The kids were so tickled to discover how much had been done.

The framers were up there working on the house while we were there.  The kids were tickled about that also.  Nathan and the older 4 went inside (see photo above) and even went up the stairs to the 2nd floor.

 
Nathan wanted to check on the deer stand that he, my Dad and his brother, Michael, have been working on.

This deer stand is 15 feet tall.  He is adding a railing so it will be safer for Cooper.

Here is the view of my parent's house from the top of the deer stand.

The kids had a lot of fun throwing rocks and getting all dusty while Nathan was checking on the deer stand [no photos because Nathan obviously took the camera to get these photos].

After we went to the land, we headed to Dellinger Park in Cartersville.  The kids had a great time on the playground.  One of the great things about my kids is that they are very outgoing.  They made friends with all of the kids and played hide-n-go-seek and tag with them.

Grant counting

Kindle hiding

Celeste went on the slide over and over again.  She also figured out how to hang from the top of the slide.  She was so proud of how strong she was.  She had a wonderful time.

Gunnar hung out with me in the sling.  Nathan captured this photo of Gunnar and I.  

Cooper was too busy for a good photo of him at the park.  I *tried* to capture one, but he was always moving and never looking at the camera.  Oh well :)

We concluded the evening with Mexican for dinner and a little Super Mario Bros. on the Wii.  We had an awesome, fun-filled day together.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin Who's Got the Pumpkin?

Yesterday, we had a fun filled day at Berry Patch Farms.  We have been there several times over the years and have always had a great time.  Nathan carried Celeste around in the backpack I bought at the consignment sale.  It was her first time riding in it.  She thought it was such an adventure!

They have some farm animals.  They really like the baby cow and goats.

Next, the kids went to get their face painted.  Grant was the "brave one" that decided to go first.  It is so funny to me.  As a child, I loved to get my face painted!  Cooper and Kindle have always been hesitant to get their face painted.  They have done it in the past, but typically turn down getting their face painted.  After seeing their little brother go first, they decided they wanted their face painted too.

We then headed out to the pumpkin patch to get a pumpkin.  You get to ride on a hayride out to get a pumpkin.  The kids always love that!

Gunnar hung out in the sling the entire time.  He was so sweet.  We got lots of compliments on how cute the kids all were.  Grant and Gunnar had matching shirts.  Kindle and Celeste had matching shirts and hairbows too.

Each of the kids picked out a baby pumpkin or gourd.  We also picked out a bigger pumpkin for our front porch.  They loved walking through all of the pumpkins.  There was also some cotton plants.  We had just been discussing in Cooper's school about what clothes are made out of (cotton, wool, etc.), so it was neat to tie it all in.

 

 

We took the hayride back and headed to the playground.  The kids wanted to slide over and over.  They had a really great time!

 

Since Gunnar was in the sling, I wasn't able to get photos of his cute pumpkin shirt till later.  He looked so big in it with his jeans.

 

This post is also my submission for this week's You Capture.  The theme this week was "togetherness".  As you can see, yesterday was full of togetherness and I loved every minute!

Bike Races and Corn Mazes

This morning, we went to see Nathan and his friend, Lain, at the finishing line of a bike ride they did called the Beautiful Back Roads Century.  It was the 10th anniversary of the ride and there were around 1500 cyclists participating.  Nathan and Lain rode 50 miles today.  Last year, they participated as well and did the full century (100 miles).  The ride benefits the Hickory Log Men's Home for the mentally challenged.  The men from Hickory Log even volunteer at the event.

The kids love cheering on their Dad.  We made signs for them to hold.

Gunnar was asleep so he had to take his photo with Nathan later.

Afterwards, we headed out to Uncle Shucks Corn Maze in Dawsonville.  We decided that it would be nice to go earlier in the season to beat the crowds.  One thing we didn't think about was how hot it was today.  Ha ha.  Oh well, we had a great time in spite of the heat.

We decided to stick with the shorter route (a little over a mile long) since both Nathan and I were pushing double strollers and it was so hot.  They gave us a map, so Cooper became our navigator.

They had checkpoints throughout the maze where you could punch a hole in your map showing you had made it.  Also, it helped to give us a good idea of where we were.  I have to say that I have a horrible sense of direction.  Thank goodness, Nathan has a good sense of direction.  He ended up navigating us the rest of the way back :)

The kids thought it was tons of fun.  Grant kept talking about the "corn dogs" aka corn stalks all around us.  Celeste and Kindle were all smiles and using their maps to "navigate" us as well.  Gunnar was lulled to sleep by all of the bumping around on the cornstalks.

After the maze, we decided to shoot the corn cannon.  They had an old car with a spray painted target on it.  Cooper and Grant thought it was wonderful and they both hit the target.  Kindle gave it one try, but definitely did not want to try again.  Celeste and Gunnar didn't like it at all since it was so loud.

They had a mini maze for little kids to run through as well as some tires they could play on.  The kids thought it was great because they could do it all by themselves.

Finally, we went on a hayride.  The kids loved it since it reminded them of Grandpa's tractor (P.S. In case you read this Grandpa, they are hoping you can hook up a trailer with hay in it for hayrides too.  Ha Ha).  They had some banjo music playing while we rode around. The kids were clapping and stomping their feet along to the music.

It was a great day together as a family!