"Punkins"

Project 365: Day 297- Last Sunday, my parents invited the grandkids over to paint pumpkins. They had a great time!

Tate and "Nanna" picked small pumpkins. 

 Drew and Lily chose big ones. When they were finished painting, they decided they wanted to carve some too. Last year, Tate loved cleaning out the inside of the pumpkin. This year was a different story. It was "ew!" Lily and Drew cleaned theirs out, but Julianna had the same attitude as Tate.

My sister had a book of designs to choose from and Tate wanted the ghosts. Since the kids are still too young to cut them out, it was up to my dad, my brother-in-law and me.

Tate's "punkins":

Carving the pumpkins kept Drew's attention the longest of any of the kids. He sat on his dad's lap for a while and watched. He really wanted to do it himself, but his pirate design was a little difficult.

 Order of the pumpkins: Tate, Aunt Taylor, Lily, Drew and Julianna 

 Tate and Julianna wanted to dress up in costumes like Lily.

This was after painting, carving, burying Lily and Drew in the sand pile, playing basketball, baths and orange pancakes for dinner. In case you can't tell, they were pretty tired!

 

Pumpkin Patch

Project 365: Day 290- Last weekend we visited the Harvest Farm Pumpkin Patch. We had such a great time last year, we decided to make it a tradition! We went with my parents, both my siblings and their spouses, my nieces and nephew, plus Michael's parents were in town so it really was a family affair!

Tate, Lily and Julianna feeding the goats at the petting zoo. 

"Nanna" (what Tate calls her) cheesing for Aunt Sarah. 

 Tate thought this goat was the coolest!

He talked everyone into going down the giant slide with him. 

Grandma's turn! 

Pa too! 

Way too rough for mommy, so "Mah-mah" got to ride the train with him.

Getting measured. I wish I would have taken his picture like this last year! 

Playing in the big sandbox. 

Riding the hayrack ride out to the pumpkin patch with Aunt Amy and Uncle "Wanny."  

Picking out a gourd. 

I can carry my own "punkin" Daddy! 

Ha! We took the same picture last year. 

Cowboy Tate learning to rope. 

Filling up the bucket to dump out and make a big splash! 

He loved the duck races! 

"Again! Again!" 

Papa teaching him how to shoot the duck out of the pump. 

The Johnson/ Collins family, October 2010 

Tate's "gracula punkin"

Wordless Wednesday: Big boy bed

 Day 270: September 27

Fair Fun

I grew up going to the Kansas State Fair every year. I love my fair food, people watching and concerts. Every year there are traditions that must be upheld, especially when it comes to the food. We have to have chicken and noodles and raisin cream pie from the South Hutchinson United Methodist Church and roasted corn. I feel like Templeton the rat from the original Charlotte's Web movie when he sings about the fair being a smorgasbord, but I love fair food!
I have been working the concerts in the grandstands since I was 13. The only year I have missed doing that was in 2008 because of Tate being a newborn. I have seen a lot of country acts, but also some oldies, pop and comedy. This year, I only helped at the Oak Ridge Boys, James Otto and Blake Shelton concerts. Sorry it isn't very good; I zoomed in using my phone. I didn't feel like fighting the crowd to take a better picture of Blake. (Project 365: Day 260- September 17)

We spent most of the day Saturday (Day 261) at the fair with Michael's parents. Tate got a cowboy hat, so he could be more like Woody.

 Mmm... fair food!! Eating the pup part of a Pronto Pup (corndog) and drinking a cherry limeade.

Getting ready to ride the ponies with Pa. 

 They had him take his hat off so it didn't fall off and spook the horses.

 He loved the rides!

 Driving the firetruck with Lily.

Riding the carousel horses and his hat did fall off. Poor thing didn't enjoy the ride because he was worried about his hat!

 Boats with Daddy

 Trying to get wet.

Riding the train with Grandma, while Mommy and Daddy squeezed into the seat behind.

Weekend at the farm

Days 247-249: September 4-6- Over Labor Day weekend, we visited my grandparents' farm. We all love it out there. Michael was getting things ready for hunting season and then helped my Papaw build some fence. Tate loves seeing all the animals, but especially "babies" and "bawk-bawks" aka chickens. My favorite thing is eating cooking with Mamaw and watching Tate explore.



Feeding the chickens and guineas

Playing fetch with Clancy the Austrailian Shepherd

Trying to hang the stick back on the tree

Mr. Big Stuff thinking he was going to drive the tractor!

Fell asleep taking water to Daddy. The attempted transfer to the house woke him up, so of course, this was all the nap he thought he needed.

Sitting on the horse and talking to Papaw.

He climbed up on the fence to get a better look at Papaw working with the sheep.

Eating yellow watermelon was a first for both of us.

Not too sure about the turtle Daddy and Papaw found for him.

Helping build fence

This is one reason I think of my grandparents as so young- in his 70s and he's out fixing fence all day!

Feeding the goats a tree limb. The 2 closest to Tate are the babies we saw last time we visited last month.

Helping Daddy feed.

Mesmerized by The Sound of Music. We fast-forwarded through most of the movie and just let him watch the singing. He was so tired, but he LOVED "The Lonely Goatherd."

Tate and Clancy never get tired of playing fetch.

Napping with Mamaw. Chasing a two-year old is exhausting, even when you are used to it!

This is how he fell asleep on the way home!