I guess it's time for an update on what we've been doing, lest you think we've fallen off the end of the earth.

First we have a follow-up on our girls night at the ballet. We had so much fun! Jantzen sat so still through the whole show, which lasted almost three hours. There were lots of little girls about her age there, all dressed up for a night out with their mommies. I was really impressed with all of these little girls and how well they behaved. We will definitely be going to more of these events when they come to Hermiston.

Next we have her birthday. I promise I DO HAVE other children besides Jantzen, but she's had a lot of excitement lately. We had a small party with a couple of friends and our family. I came to a new conclusion on her birthday. Kids love their birthdays! She was such a chatterbox all day long, and kept asking me jokingly, "How many sleeps until my birthday, mom?" When I would tell her none she would say, "RIGHT! THAT IS CORRECT!" And she would get all school teacher-ish on me, looking down her nose at me. It was pretty darn cute.

Last Friday was Carson's annual field trip to the corn maze and pumpkin patch. They go on this field trip EVERY YEAR, and somehow the kids never get tired of it. Carson and his buddies, Parker and Nick were so excited that they just couldn't stand still! They were determined to be the first group to make it through the maze, so we ran the whole way. I was really thankful for all the running I've done lately because that maze is kind of long. Especially when you take as many wrong turns as we did!
After the maze, we took a hay ride to the "pumpkin patch". And I use that term VERY loosely. Check it out:


Yes, they truck them in and spread them out on the ground for the kids to find. Hilarious, huh? But the kids didn't seem to care. They had a blast.