NaBloPoMo... writing every day for a month!?

You can learn more here.

One of my favorite bloggers said she was going to participate...

I figure I can try too!

One blog every day for a whole month.

They even provide us prompts.

Should be easy enough, right?

Sad day for Gator fans

It was a sad day in Gator Nation because they lost.

Clearly we are not heartbroken.

Daddy worked the game for CSC and got to watch from the sidelines.

We had pizza for dinner and flipped between the game and Disney Junior.

It. was. awesome.

Playdate at the Park

Friday night these two love bugs had a play date in the park with their Daddy. 

They picked a GREAT day for a play date!

It was the last warm day we had. 

Saturday morning it became VERY chilly and windy thanks to Hurricane Sandy.

The kiddos appeared to have enjoyed themselves and their time with Daddy.

I know I was sad to miss it, especially after seeing their pictures!

But I was stocking up on girly time with my sisters.... and I got my hair did!

Love me some Layla and some sissy time. 

We are rapidly approaching wrestling season and we lose a lot of Daddy time for that!

I like to call it my 'wrestling season widow' time.

Four whole months without Daddy for about 6 days a week.

He gets home just in time to give them a bath and then put them to bed.

If I'm lucky (and not starving) he gets home early enough to eat dinner with me.

Sometimes I wait for him to eat dinner after the kids go to bed....

But its just me and the kids most of the time.

I'm so proud of my husband and the time he devotes to those boys, but we sure do miss him!

I eat spaghetti....see?

Dinnertime for the princess... cleanup time for the rest of us....

She clearly enjoyed her spaghetti.

There wasn't much left to clean up, and there certainly wasn't any she was going to share.

She has just learned to eat with a spoon and fork.

It takes her a good long while to actually EAT, but she loves acting like a big girl.

Most of the time she take the food and puts it on top of the utensil to EAT it.

Hilarious.

I know the pics are all sorts of blurry.

You try taking pics of a moving 1 year old with your crappy iphone camera.

Lemme know how that goes...

Look ma, spaghetti on the walls!?

I need my daddy!

Daddy left Thursday to go to Colorado Springs, CO and learn from wrestling experts.

I took the day off work and we spent the morning with the babies before Daddy left.

Early breakfast time at the Waffle House consisted of reading lessons and review of the shapes.

I think it is safe to assume that this little boy loves his Daddy.

Daryk has been gone since Thursday and Hayes is just about ready to have a break down about it.

Tonight he was really upset about having to go to bed and fought sleep for about 2 hours.

It is about 10 p.m. as I write this, and he's been in the bed for about 2 hours screaming and fussing.

He keeps telling me that he needs a bandaid...

or a little bit of milk...

 or that his toe hurts...

 or that his back hurts....

And this last time it was, 'I need my Daddy!' with real tears and a sad face.

Broke my heart!

I know he's sad and ready to see him again.

I cannot WAIT to take the kids to the airport tomorrow to pick up Daddy!

I think we'll make a poster and wait for him at baggage claim....

One day

Hayes:  Momma, take our picture!

Me:  Say cheese!

Hayes:  I saying it Momma.

Notice the cheesy grin he's giving.... he is Daryk's child.

I know this picture is blurry, but about 98% of my pictures are because they MOVE so often.

One day when they are all grown up and trying to kill each other I'm going to pull this one out of a box and show them how sweet they used to be.

I love this picture so, so, so much!

Peas, please.

Carrying on the Hobby family tradition and the love of all things PEAS.
This was her second helping of peas this night.

Hissy fits and baby goats....

Immediately after she had been informed that her plans were going to change.

Hissy fit begins.

They are always mildly entertaining.

Full fledged floor or ground fit.  

Complete with screaming and often banging head on the surface area.

Occasionally she discovers that the floor is indeed, harder than her head.

Hard to imagine, I know... but she has to learn somehow!

I typically encourage her to go ahead and throw down.

I also make sure she knows to make it a good one.

She never lets me down!

 Apparently, it is a quick recovery and back to feeding goats she goes.

Happy Birthday Pop

I haven't seen these lovely people since 2005.

I do love them so!

And aren't we all cute with our matchy stripe shirts?

I just noticed that, like, right now. 

They are some of my MOST favorite folks ever and I was SO glad I got to see them.

I was beyond excited that my babies got to meet them too!

I cannot WAIT to go see them in February on our way to and from Disney World!

I'm not sure you can see the pitiful look that Hayes has on his face...

He was less than thrilled with us singing to Pop.

He just wanted to eat the cake.

And blow out the candles two more times after the first time...

The giant pile of tires and mud and hay... Pumpkin Patch Reprise

The pumpkin patch was home to the giant pile of tires.

My babies quickly saw that as an invitation to explore.

It was a challenge for them both.

She was determined to climb just like Hayes.

Never mind that the tires were TWICE her size....

Again, challenge.

She was not going to be out done by her big brother.

Climbing attempt 1...

Doh.... try again...

She begins to climb up again.

Mind you, nothing is going to stop her.

She probably fell backwards about 5 times.

She fell forward and slid back down on her belly about 10 times.

She was not going to stop going up that mountain in front of her.

I can only hope that she tackles her life the same way!

 Meanwhile, he's busily trying to break his neck jumping from tire to tire.

Jordan and I both almost had a heart attack at one point.

I swear it looked like he jumped from one to another in a fish like attempt.

He flopped around for a minute and then got up to run around again.

She made it up after about 3 attempts to climb.

Stubborn little girl!

It was at this point that Daryk looked at me and said,

"We have an extra change of clothes in the car, right?"

I only laughed out loud!

Of course! 

A good momma knows better than to have just ONE change of clothes.

We had 3.  Just in case.
You never know when you might encounter large tires, mud, and hay!

Today was OUR day!

Pile of tires+hay+mud=slide?

Yes.  I think so.

Unfortunately, I did not get any shots of them sliding down belly first.

Elizabeth had scratches on her tummy for a few days after.

These two treated this mound of dirt like it was the set of American Gladiators.

Y'all remember that show?

She was more than pleased to be sliding down on her bottom and having a GREAT time!

She's so precious.

It was hilarious to watch her explore.

She chased Hayes everywhere.
If he was going up, she was right behind him.

If he was coming down, she was trying to catch him!

Love my messy girl and her sweet heart!

Pumpkin Patch... con't...

We started the day at the pumpkin patch by running through a corn maze.

Well, Hayes and Daddy were running.

Elizabeth, Jordan, and I were trying to catch up.

Elizabeth was quite content to be running after Hayes the entire time.

Hayes was quite content to RUN everywhere.

He doesn't ever slow down.

He wakes up in the morning YELLING at us to come get him.

And he goes to bed with the same energy!

Oh... to be an almost 3 year old with endless energy...

In the middle of the corn maze was a tower to climb.

Hayes jumped up the stairs after his Daddy.

He looks quite pleased with himself, doesn't he?

This chic was pretty happy just chilling at the bottom of the stairs.

There was a little platform she could climb up and down.

She loved it!

Jordan stood on the other side to make sure she didn't fall down and die.

I'm sorry, when did my baby girl get so big?

Who is that kid!?

Yes.

You see it.

It happened.

Daryk's cousin Jeremy (who just passed the bar in GA) informed up that peeing in public was ok.

As long as you are Hayes.

He said, "What are they gonna do, arrest HIM?"

Okay good.  Not likely.

So that makes it okay right?

She is a handful.

No smiles, but I did get the tongue stuck out.

Love this little girl.

The corn maze was super fun, even though all we did was chase the kids in circles!

Two of those mazes were over a mile long!

Thank goodness my babies have a short attention span...

or we would probably still be chasing them around!

Pumpkin Patch: Part 1

We went to Uncle Shuck's Pumpkin Patch today.  

We found all sorts of pumpkins to explore and learn about.

Fearless daughter was certainly in her element.

She touched every single pumpkin she could reach and tried to eat about 10 of them.

It was certainly funny for us to watch.

Between trying to eat the pumpkins, the mulch, the hay, and the dirt...

People probably thought she was starving.

Hayes was really into picking out a pumpkin for himself and making sure it was just right.

I think we've been reading Goldilocks and he's heard that story just a little too much.

They were all too big, too little, and then finally just right.

I am thrilled to know he's paying attention, but golly doodle... the kid is picky!

See those weird pumpkins with bumps in that picture?

I wanted to get some pictures of Hayes inspecting them and touching them.

He refused until Daddy and I demonstrated that they were not toxic or deadly or awful.

They were just bumpy and different than the other pumpkins.

I explained that God made them special so we could see how they can all be pretty.

He was busily reorganizing the pumpkins when he saw fit.

He is his mother's child.

Reorganization and ordering things by size are always okay.

He carried that pumpkin around for 20 minutes until he found the perfect spot for it.

We bought a few small pumpkins to bring home and paint.

We also got a HUGE pumpkin so we could cut it open and play in pumpkin guts.

Elizabeth was quite captivated with the white pumpkins.

I don't know how they end up white, do you?

Are they albino pumpkins with no pigment?

Do they intend on making white pumpkins?

I had no idea they were a REAL LIVE thing until today.

I thought white pumpkins only existed in craft stores, wrong.

She loved them and loved to touch them.

 The kids got to pick out their OWN little pumpkins for us to bring home to paint.

I can't wait to cut them into pieces for us to make some 'pumpkin stamps'.

We are also going to paint the outside of the pumpkins and display them on the porch.

I think we had a good time!

We explored the pumpkins, went on a hayride, ran through the corn maze, fed the goats, and played on the giant tire mountain.

Stay tuned for the rest of our Pumpkin Patch adventures!