It's the Great Pumpkin!

We ventured over to Ashland Berry farm with the kiddos after church a few weeks ago for a fun afternoon at the pumpkin patch. This and apple picking are two of my favorite fall family days and have been since I was a little girl. They are trips that I remember fondly with my family and hope that our kids will look back and enjoy it just as much! We didn't make it to the mountains for apples this year with our busy October but Grandpa was gracious enough to bring us some fresh apples back from Graves Mountain and even threw in some of our favorite- homemade applesauce!! Thanks!!!
Ashland Berry Farm is quite a popular spot around here so it was no surprise to see the LONG lines for the tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch...50 minutes total actually...

but for this little boy who is obsessed with tractors and machinery, we will gladly wait :) We found plenty to do to keep ourselves entertained....

Dig in the dirt and gravel (with one of the babies spoon) ;)

While the girls enjoyed their lunch in the comfort of their cadillac stroller

Who could ask for more?

We made it to the hayride and everyone jumped right in!

As always, the hay was a big hit!

Attempting to get a good family shot where EVERYONE is looking is near impossible these days, but some nice folks were gracious enough to attempt it and we were very grateful. This was better than me holding out the camera and trying to capture us all...

Lovin' the hayride!

picking out the perfect pumpkins for everyone, we ended up with 6- not too bad for two adults carrying babies, and a backpack, and a toddler?!?

Peyton and daddy

Kayleigh and mommy

finding the right one...

The girls were done at the end of it all, I think I took this one just in time, I'm pretty sure we had a major meltdown right afterwards. But I think they too enjoyed the outdoors and the great pumpkin adventure. :)

Another year with another great memory for the Bryant clan!

The Birthday Boy

Yes, it has been almost a full month since his 3rd birthday....guess that makes me a bad mommy :( My camera died just after people started arriving so needless to say, I hardly had any pictures of the birthday party fun! So thankfully several friends and family members donated some to us :) Note to self- always charge the camera before the big events!!!

Lucas had a wonderful 3rd birthday bash surrounded by so many family members and great friends. He is very lucky to have so many great people in his life who love him so much! The kiddos all had fun playing outside, chowing down on yummy snacks and birthday cake, and "helping" Lucas open all of his birthday presents.
Of course I am in complete disbelief that my sweet little boy is already 3. I know that EVERYONE says it but life had really flown by since he entered our lives. We are trying our best to soak it all in and enjoy every minute (yes- that includes the good and the not so good)that we are blessed to be his mommy and daddy. Here is a little look back at the last few birthdays for a good comparison followed by pictures of his special day!

Second birthday

First Birthday

Fresh out of the oven :)

His dump truck cake per his request, by far the trickiest cake i have done yet!

Ne-Ne and Peyton

Lucas' favorite big cousin Justin!

Making a wish and blowing out his candles

The girls enjoying a ride

Climbing Uncle John

Lucas and his favorite little cousin, Kellen :)

Uncle John being silly

Opening birthday presents- wow, I think even Lucas got overwhelmed with this process too! He looked at me once and frantically and asked if we were done yet. But I know he loved having everyone there, maybe we'll institute a special birthday chair next time :)

Kayleigh playing with baby Olivia

They seriously attacked the food!

Lucas taking Scarlett for a ride on his motorcycle
while Kaden pateintly waits his turn...

Hanging with his buddy Kaden :)

Thanks to everyone for helping make this such a special day for Lucas!!!

On the move....

We have a crawler! She actually started when we were at the beach the last week of September. Yeah, I am a little behind on here, nothing new! ;0

It is actually really quite a coincidence. Lucas started crawling wehn we took him to OBX as a baby. Guess she had to go for it then too! There is just something about that place...Now she is into EVERYTHING but loves being able to go where she wants, when she wants to. This all makes for a much happier Peyton, and that makes mama VERY happy! ;) She has apparently motivated Kayleigh to get rolling too, on the move that is. She has made great strides in the last two weeks but I think we still have a few more weeks to go. She gets into the right postions but then belly flops. So sweet :) Just enough time to get my hands on one more baby gate!

Here is a cute video of all of the kiddos, I was trying to catch Peyton in action but her siblings decided to "steal" the show. There is never a dull moment around here!

State Fair Fun

We ventured up the road (literally) to the state fair the day after we got home from the beach. Lucas had such a great time last year we had to go back! We spent the day with the Smith family. Lucas and Scarlett love one another and we love hanging out with them any chance we can get! Plus all of the baby girls got a "play date", if you can call it that, out of it too :)

I hoped that we might make it over to the ride side so he could try some out. But leave it to Lucas...we spent 75% of our time on the agriculture side. Looking at all of the animals and of course, "driving" all (seriously....almost all of them!) the BIG trucks (AKA farm and construction equipment). They knew what they were doing putting all of those out there....Our kiddos weren't the only ones taking advantage of the wide open tractors and combines! So we went along with the flow and enjoyed our day out in the sunshine with great friends and good fun! As for the ride side...we passed on the rides but we did enjoy some yummy fair food and watched the dog show. Guess that is why we got the passes to Busch Gardens.... There is always next year! :) We had a great day full of family fun and enjoyed our time with wonderful friends!

Vacation!

Well if you can call it that ;) We headed down to the Outer Banks of NC the last week of September for a little rest and relaxation and some quality family time. At least we were free from work, the computer, the majority of phone calls, etc. I was nervous planning this endeavor since we had three little ones under three, how in the world would we manage a trip to the beach????
Just thinking about packing for everybody- not the clothes part, but the "accessories" made me shudder...But we did it and somehow we managed to get it ALL packed into the inside of the minivan, including the five bodies!! We had bed rails, 2 pack and plays, a travel swing, toys galore- both inside and beach, floaties for all, an inflatable pool, 2 booster seats, beach chairs, beach umbrella..the list goes on....but Todd methodically packed the van with Bob precision (my dad is the ULTIMATE packer), Todd would have made him proud! ;) and we were off.
Well let's just say the only sunshine was the evening we got there and the following day, the rest of the week was rainy, windy, and chilly. But we did try to make the most of it, what else can you do? We made it to the outdoor pool once, the playground a hand full of times (this was Lucas' obsession since you could see it from our balcony- he LOVES climbing anything), and even the beach twice. The OFF season really was in full effect so lots of touristy stuff was closed- Todd was really looking forward to taking Lucas on the go-karts :(. But we did get to the aquarium, played at Kitty Hawk Kites, enjoyed the rec center and the indoor pool (when it wasn't storming), and even made it out to dinner twice! We tried to find budget friendly options. It was definitely a bummer with the weather slump but we did have fun just hanging out too. We watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (cute :)) and played Memory, took some walks, read some books, painted and colored, played with cars and trucks,and watched a little Dora and Diego :) Peyton did hit a milestone that week, she finally ventured out on her knees! I have another post about that one ;)
All in all it was a good week, I think next time we'll aim for either early summer or maybe around Labor Day ;)

And a video of Lucas loving the beach :)