Field Trip

Chris took the day off and stayed with the Owen and Ava, so I could visit the corn maze in Billings with Lily and a whole herd of first graders. It was such a fun day. I loved every minute and was so thankful that Chris, not only arranged everything without me asking, but he practically pushed me out the door that morning assuring me that I didn't need to worry about a thing at home. I actually never really worry when I leave him home, he's pretty amazing. The only thing I really need to worry about is him doing my job better than me.

This Llama welcomed us.

I was actually a little nervous about getting my group lost for real in the corn maze. We found our way through though, and I think we only back tracked a few times. I know we made one full circle because we passed the same dead deer in the middle of the corn maze. It smelled horrid.

Once we made it out of the corn maze, the search was on for the perfect pumpkin.

On the hayride back to the buses....

Pictures from Lily's camera....

The Un-birthday

Preschool didn't start until after Owen's birthday, so we did another round of celebrating once school was in full swing for him. To say he was excited about his un-birthday, would be a considerable understatement. He's pretty even-keel and doesn't show a whole lot of excitement about things, but he was happy about being the birthday boy at school.

This is what Owen does when you tell him to smile....

There was a leftover cupcake and Ava laid claim on it. Here are nearly a dozen pictures of her eating her cupcake. She tends to steal the show around here, for obvious reasons.

This is the face Ava gives when you tell her to smile....

The Old College Try

We gave family pictures the old college try one Sunday evening after church. We met my mom at the ranch (she was going to be our photographer), the light was dreamy that night, but the children were not.

Owen tried really hard to give his best "cheese" face, while Lily kept doing a weird chin down, creepy eye pose.

We tried a different location, but Ava wasn't a fan of it and Lila barged in.

The next spot we tried was on the bridge.

By this time, Owen was getting a wee-bit antsy....

We decided this was the best shot of the night. Chris is squinting, but Owen and Emma are holding hands and Lily isn't making creepy eyes so it's a keeper. I think at this season in life, we should go for casual, candid family pictures because "1-2-3 smile" is far more complicated than it sounds.

After the the bridge pictures, we took a break to pass around a toad Lily found.

Everyone liked the toad, except Ava. She was not impressed.

We tried one last spot for pictures, but Owen picked his nose.

And apparently, we all thought it was pretty funny because we got some genuine smiles in this shot.

From the looks of this picture, it appears as though he proceeded to eat it after he picked it. Oh, lovely.

We gave up after the nose picking and let the big kids float the creek.

Ava jumped on the trampoline, and then it was time to head for home.

I took this picture as we were loading up to leave. The sun setting over the mountains was breathtaking.