Potatoes, Pictures, and Pumpkins

Well.  Yesterday we had our family pictures taken by a sweet mom in my MOPS group who has a photography business.  It was, in part, a fundraiser for our MOPS group, and I had visions in my head of getting that elusive great family picture.  I hunted for good outfits, made sure the kids were prepped for picture taking and even let them pick out a "treat" (Read: candy bribe), and I thought we were ready.  Then yesterday morning we helped pick potatoes for several hours.  And it was hot. I mean  hot. Like, I felt like we were back in Mississippi hot. And Trey was miserable. He fussed and cried and wanted to be held the whole time.  (I seriously hope he's not getting sick, but he hasn't exhibited any other symptoms so far.) He finally cheered up when we let him sit on the buggy. :) Tabby, Isaac, and Collette loved sitting on the truck and helping load (and sit on) bags of potatoes.

Well, Trey's behavior should have been a clue, but I hoped getting out of the sun and into shade, having some lunch and a nap would perk him up. After naps, we got ready for pictures (we couldn't do it earlier since LL had to work), scrapped our original outfit choices since we would have sweated to death, and drove off to the picture location.  As soon as we got out of the van Trey went from a happy, cheerful little boy to a pouting, crying, whiny mess.  That boy.  NOTHING would put a smile on his face.  Our photographer was great, but Trey was determined to be miserable.  He even refused the candy bribe he helped pick out! We finally got one family picture of him not frowning and pouting (but certainly not smiling) and decided to put an end to the torture.

Toddlers.

Not for the faint of heart.

And it's a good thing the photos were for a good cause, so I didn't feel like I had wasted money.  That being said, I think I'll stick to taking my own pictures of the kids for a while. :)

After the picture debacle, we decided to take the kids to a fun Pumpkin Patch we  had never been to before.  We ended up having a really fun evening.

Hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Trey was in love with the tractor. Of course. :)

 

Clearly, they were over having their picture taken.

 

Farm animal family. :)

 

They hay bale playground was a huge hit!

 

We spent a long time playing in the corn pit.

 

Collette was eager to see how tall she was!

 

 Trey.... did I mention he was anti-picture?

 

They also had a mini-petting zoo. 

 The llamas were the biggest draw (of course).

 

Then it was time to pick our pumpkins!

Collette decided this was the perfect one, and didn't want any help carrying it. :)

 

Trey sat and watched the tractors bringing more people to the patch.

He was in his glory.

 

Like father, like son.  This face is pretty typical of what Trey looked like in pictures yesterday. HA!

 

One more attempt? Marginally better.

 

Daddy, Trey, and Collette with their pumpkins!

 

Just to prove I was there, too, LL took a picture.

This pretty much sums up how everyone felt by the end of the night!

Even with the toddler drama, we had a really nice day.  We decided we would be super brave and stop and eat pizza in a restaurant in the way home! It has been a long time since we attempted that. :) I'm proud to report that everyone did well.  The highlight of the night came when Collette attempted to tell our waitress about our upcoming trip to visit my brother, who lives in Myrtle Beach.  Collette started to tell the waitress, but she didn't hear Collette and walked away.  Collette said quite loudly, "Excuse me! Can you come back here please?" When she returned, Collette told her, with lots of enthusiasm "We are going to get up very early in the morning when it is still dark and drive for a long, long, time and when we get there, we will be at THE BEACH!" I think the waitress was impressed. :)