Pumpkin Patch and Fun Run

 Blush. Seriously?! Ok, I love pumpkin patches. Something about the fall weather, the colors, the crisp air, playing in corn mazes. Makes me giddy. The kids had their last day of Fall break on Monday. We worked hard to clean out the van (thanks to Justin and the kids), put away clothes, bags, and cleaned up our mess. The temperature was only 75 so I determined it a perfect afternoon to spend at the local pumpkin patch. We brought along Chloe and Jacob to join in our fun outing. Last year we were miserable as the temperature hovered over 100. We felt lucky to enjoy a rare cool day in the desert. The kids played and played until well after dark. Josie was obsessed with the racing duckie games, she "owned" that particular pink duck and track number 3. All the kids loved the hamster wheels, the trampolines, the slides, the animals, etc. We split into teams for the corn maze. I wisely took a photo of the map before we entered. My team got all 6 stations but we still lost since Chloe earned two 500 point scratch offs on her ticket, the other team only found 4 stations. Amelia is convinced we cheated. More like, used the brain in my head, since last time was miserable with crying kids. Josie and Evelyn loved the cow train, rode it twice, the second time illegally (only 1 ride per visit). Good thing the patch was not busy at all. The train bounced my brain too much, ouch. I can't seem to enjoy those rides anymore. I had no dinner ready at home so we stopped for cheap tacos to being home. That was a great, fun way to end fall break.

Tuesday morning I spent playing with new baby Eirene and her sister Alta. Meaning, I had a newborn session with 2 week old Eirene. She was a testy little spitfire. Pretty much only cooperated if wrapped up tightly and nursing. I loved chatting with Brooke, we seem to be bosom friends. Old ladies trapped in younger bodies, one word: lots of lace. The baby would not cooperate for some outdoor photos so I had Brooke bring her back the next afternoon since it was warmer and not breezy. Totally worked, I'm drooling over her precious face in those photos. Later that evening, Amelia held down the fort at home while Evelyn played at Alta's home. I took Everett and Josie with me to the park for an amusing photo session with Kamal and Mandeep's extended family. They somehow managed to stuff 18 people into 2 cars and one house for two weeks. I went over after lunch to help choose outfits for the kids to wear. The ladies had so many questions! I about died laughing inside when they wanted to include a photo from last year's reunion perched on a Paw Patrol easel. We settled on just the photo in a large frame and no easel. The session was a complete riot. All the little boys were either crying or running about like escaped chickens. We finally had some success before the light ran out. Ironically, it was seriously chilly outside as well. The adults were complaining and quite uncooperative.

Sonoma Ranch hosted it's Fun Run on Wednesday morning. The kids all wanted a costume or cape to wear for the event. Amelia had me write "SU" for super unicorn on a paper she pinned to a cape. A few minutes later Evelyn requested a paper with the letters "FU" for Fabulous Unicorn. Amelia blushed deep red and whispered to me, "Mom! You can't write FU, you know what that means right?" Oh gosh, I spent the morning randomly laughing out loud. We settled on "US" for unicorn sidekick. Everett wore a Power Ranger jumpsuit, those skinny legs sure looked skinny. Phillip was melting on the floor crying by the time the bus rolled around. He could not decide what to be, it's hard to be indecisive.  Each grade was assigned a different time to run starting with kindergarten-2nd grades starting out. I had Gabi strapped to my chest and Josie hanging from my other arm, she was quite out of sorts off and on all morning. Evelyn looked splendid, she fairly shone as she ran her laps. That skirt totally helped her fun faster. She ran a total of 9 laps. Everett lead the pack and earned himself a total of 13 laps! That skinny suit helped him fly like the wind. Phillip came out next to run. All the kids started out with warm ups then ran laps. The older grades had to run laps in the larger circle than the younger grades. Phillip and Amelia both ran 9 laps. The teachers marked off laps on wrist bands each kid wore. Josie melted into a sad pile of screaming toddler before Amelia's grade ran their laps. I stayed long enough to snap off a couple photos then left with two crying babies. Josie was hysterical because I put her in the stroller baby seat instead of Gabi. By that time I was just happy to be rolling my way out of the school. Everett was happy to collect his donation from our neighbors who pledged him $.50 per lap.

Spenser and Laura came over to fetch the pick up truck. They are in the midst of moving so needed the truck to sherpa stuff back and forth. It was nice to get a hug and chat for a moment. We had to explain that the truck is most certainly a farm truck with all the strange tricks those vehicles come with. To start it the truck needs to be in neutral. Sometimes the gears won't go into park without some coercion. The windows are all scratched up as well. Anna loved riding in the truck. I enjoyed the view without the truck blocking the driveway for a few days.

The mosquitoes are terrible right now. All my kids have swollen bites all over their legs and arms. Poor Josie got attacked by a swarm, she had about 25 bites on her legs. She scratches the bites until they bleed. Looks terrible. Sometimes the mosquitoes are not out and sometimes they are. I hate spraying the kids each and every time we head outside, I forget as well. Seems that straight lavender oil works better than "itch cream."

Thursday night was not so fun for Everett. His cough kept developing until he finally caught croup that night. We spent a good hour running from a hot sink of steaming water to shoving his face into the freezer. I gave him a dose of cough medicine as well to calm down his reflex. He did not really get to sleep until well after 2 am. I tried to let him sleep in but Phillip and Amelia woke him up a couple times. I let him stay home from school. Ended up being a fun day to spend with just him and Josie. We headed to Winco to stock pile some ingredients from the bins (flax, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds). As we were checking out Everett whispered to me, "Mom! That guy is rich. This IS an employee owned company. Do you think he has a million dollars? How much money does he have?!" I was a bit confused, so was the cashier. Then I noticed the cashier's name was Rich. Yes, he was rich. We all enjoyed quite a laugh!

Saturday morning Justin left the house early to go help move the Call family into their new home. They rented a large truck to ferry over all the big items and make the big move. Justin quite enjoyed helping out because he finally got to meet one of the twin's friend-boy and tease him mercilessly. I stayed home with the kids and cracked the Saturday cleaning whip. All in all the kids cleaned up quickly and were done in less than an hour. Except Phillip. Oh Phillip. His task was to have all his laundry put away before Justin got home. He did not but I forgot to alert Justin of the situation before I had to leave for the rest of the afternoon. I texted Justin about the situation and gave Phillip 1.5 hrs to get his chore completed before I returned home. Nope, not done. Phillip lost all his electronic privileges.  He did earn back a bit of time by cleaning all the toilets in the house for his stinky behavior. I spent a lovely few hours alone in the hamster wagon driving to and from Payson for some mini sessions. I had four families sign up for gorgeous photos up near Horton Creek. The leaves were turning and quite lovely. I raced to catch the last rays of light before we ran out of time.

Sunday night Amelia organized a cute tea party for the other kids and their favorite toys. They had the doll party set up with play dough food for the toys and finger foods, hot chocolate, and lemonade for the real kids. I love when Amelia organizes fun games for the kids. This week she had them all involved in a game about Greek mythology (with Jacob Godard). I thrifted her a cute Greek Goddess costume she wore for the game. I will be sad when she loses interest in organizing these games for her siblings.