Corn Maze

We finally made it to the Corn Maze last Wednesday night. We picked Andrew up from school and headed there. We got there and it was already dark. It was the last warm day we have had in a week so I am glad we chose to go then. We went on a good night it wasn't busy which made it easy to let the kids do their own thing. We passed a group of youth and one of them kept yelling Bishop, I guess there was a ward mutual there and that was pretty much the only people we saw. It's funny because Andrew said it was mutual night and it might be busy and I had to remind him we were in Memphis and that the chances of that are slim to none, funny how that is who ended up being there.

 

We started with pictures and then started to walk in and they had a strobe light which Ella instantly freaked out at. It took about ten more feet and she was fine.

We showed them our Groupon and they didn't even take it or care, good thing I'm honest or we could have gone back another day!

We tried to get a picture of the two of us. We took 5 and 4 of them his eyes were closed and then this one, I told him it is to funny to not post! ha ha :)

Ella wouldn't let anyone else touch the flashlight

Ella loves to dance with Easton, they had a lot of fun just dancing!

Routine

The kids have certain things they "have" to do every time we leave or come home. It is always Ella who has to open the door when we leave, if she doesn't get to it takes us ten minutes to get in the car after we calm down. She will literally be running and knock anyone over in her way to get to the door to open it first. When we get home it is the same story except now Easton wants to open the door. So one of them opens it and closes it so the other can open it and close it. Sometimes it is quite the battle. Easton now doesn't care about the door sometimes he just wants to push the button to shut the garage. Ella always has to run in and turn on the light over the kitchen table. I don't know why but she does and she will stand there with her hand on the light until I am there to ask if I want it turned on. They make me laugh all their little things. They are so particular sometimes and I learn more patience every second.

Family Night

Last Monday for Family Night I thought it would be a good night to use our Groupon for the Corn Maze. Well the corn maze isn't open on Mondays but I didn't know that until we were almost there (all the way in East Memphis)! Luckily I had some stuff to return to a store up there and they just opened their first Panda Express in Memphis and I had a secret shop to do there so we enjoyed dinner there! We had dinner before I knew the maze wasn't open so we figured it out and decided to make another stop somewhere and then get some frozen yogurt. We had one more buy one get one free coupon at Gracie Bleu so we went and found the one in Germantown. Well we ended having a free one on our account as well so all 4 of us ate Yogurt for $3 total! It ended up being a fun night despite. The kids loved the yogurt and picking their own toppings and were wired for the ride home!

Easton found their drinking fountain and now has an obsession with any drinking fountain he sees! 

Botanic Gardens

Last Monday we needed to get out. We knew it was going to be getting really cold by the end of the week and so we headed to the Botanic Gardens. It was a perfect morning! We enjoyed playing and it was nice there wasn't hardly a soul there (except the bus of retired folk on a guided tour)! The kids always request to go to the life size dog house first which is where the slide is and sand. I said no to the sand this time I didn't feel like dealing with it that day!

They wanted to go down together. I love Easton's faces in these two pictures! He certainly loves life and his joy is contagious!

They love (and I love) that they can run free at the gardens! They love running up this ramp all the way to the top to a big tree house!

This is where we saw the bus load of people, they all walked by and took a picture of the perfect posing kids!

Hopefully it warms up again, which I'm sure it will so we can enjoy a few more trips to the gardens before we move!

Favorite Things Party

Last weekend I hosted a Favorite Things party! I had a couple friends that had done similar parties. I had an idea for something a little bit different but ended up doing something else and taking most of my ideas from my friends! I love that I could do it here before we left so that I can do it again in Utah someday as well! Thanks to my friends for letting me steal ideas off your blogs :). Our Mothers group had decided that we wanted to start a Girls Night out every month with different people hosting or planning. I was assigned October! I decided to invite everyone weather they were moms or not because I felt that every one should be included even if they don't have kids yet. The idea was basically to bring 3 $5 gifts and we draw names to exchange them. We all brought a favorite treat to share and snacked while we waited for everyone to arrive. We sat around and talked for a while and then we all went around in a circle and told what our favorite things were. Everyone was so creative and there were so many fun things. In my favorite things gifts I did a few things that added up to $5. Each one of mine had a Bath and Body works hand soap, nail polish, and microwave popcorn, and thanks to all the great deals I got I spent exactly $5 per gift! In our exchange I received 3 pairs of earrings, another pair of earrings with a target reusable bag, and a aromatherapy face mask with bath salts. It was a lot of fun to see what people brought! It was such a fun night and I am grateful for the friends I have made while living here, I will miss it here a lot but it is nice to know we can all keep in touch (some already live far away and we do our best to keep in contact), we are already planning a girls getaway weekend someday right?!? Thanks to everyone who came!

 

I totally forgot to take out my camera until close to the end but got a couple shots of everyone who came. We had a couple last minute cancels due to sickness but still had a great time.

LtoR: Marci, Kate, Kami, Lauren, Amy, and BreeAnn

 

Luna, Thia, Aliesha, and Diedre

Vision Walk

This was our third time doing the Vision Walk. SCO is there biggest sponsor and so they encourage the students to do it. We enjoy the pretty walk. It goes through a park by the Zoo and walks along the back of it. We had a few people from our ward that were there as well. It was such a nice morning!

 I love this picture! Ella loves her dad so much! She had to go potty mid walk of course but held it and insisted on walking and as Andrew said stepping and crunching every leaf in her path!

 She wanted to get her face painted and wanted a pink flower! Easton sat there and then decided he didn't want anything to do with this!

 After the walk they provided Pizza and the kids enjoyed playing on the playground until we decided it was time to head home for naps and Ella really had to go by then!

Mickey Mouse

We were at Costco the other day and I had to run Ella to the bathroom. I came back and Andrew, Easton, and Mickey Mouse were having a photo shoot. Easton has a love for Mickey. He saw me and kept saying "ma, mmm mouse" it is so cute how he says it and he doesn't call me mom he always call me Ma!

Zoo

Once a week Andrew has a three hour break in the afternoon between patients. We have tried to find things to do with him during those three hours since he is gone long hours right now. We figured since the zoo is about a mile away from his school it works out perfect. Last week we picked him up and headed to the zoo. They have it set up for the Zoo Boo and it is fun to see. We had a picnic lunch of PB and honey and Andrew and I had Tuna. We had some yummy apples and green peppers and then finished off our sugar cookies from Monday. We then enjoyed just walking around the zoo. We had had severe weather the night before and a ton of rain so it was a little cool but warmed up quickly! When I told Ella we were going to the zoo she requested that the first thing we see is the crocodile. So we went over to where they keep it and the snakes and other reptiles. They enjoyed walking around in there, it creeps me out to see big snakes! We enjoyed seeing the hippos, elephants, monkeys, and giraffes and then it was time to get dad back to school! It was so fun to get out and spend time with Andrew we feel like we never get to do anything with him and we haven't had a Saturday in the last two months free to do anything so it was a real treat!

You can see the crocodile if you zoom in I think!

The hippos was right up against the fence and eating all the leaves in sight. It was fun to see it so up close!