Stoney Ridge 2014

We did our annual trek out to Stoney Ridge Farm a little early this year since we looked at the October schedule and realized that it would be the only weekend Collin would be home this month.

 

We started with the corn maze, and actually made it from beginning to end!  Usually we end up leaving the same way we came in. 



Ronan was our navigator, and he did a great job!



My men



Next was the barrel car ride.

 

This is one of the boys' favorite things to do at Stoney Ridge. 



Vaughn and I waited on the sidelines.

 

We did the photos in the cut-outs like we always do...



...and fed the goat at the top of the high pole. 



The lucky goat

 

I was extremely happy to get this picture of all four boys; photos of all boys looking reasonably well are few and far between.  This is a contender for the Christmas letter, for sure! 



Ronan - 8 years old now and in 3rd grade. 



Boys #3 and #4 (Finnian and Vaughn)



Boy #2 (Latham)



Collin and Latham feeding a cow.



Of course we stopped for pumpkin donuts... 

 

...which is another of the boys' favorite things at Stoney Ridge. 



Finnian

 

Latham 

 

And a walk through the pumpkin patch,

 

Finnian was on a serious mission! 



Picking the perfect pumpkin 



The middles (Latham and Finnian)

 

It was an unseasonably warm day, with only a 5-minute rain shower, so it was the perfect day to go.  Latham is going there for a field trip later this month with his Kindergarten class.

 



Vaughn's First Haircut!

Yes, the curls were cute, but the mullet shape...not so much.  After dropping off Finnian at preschool one morning, Vaughn and I headed (pun intended!) off to Great Clips.

 

The "before" photo



I came prepared with what the brothers call the "secret weapon" - Vaughn's bottle.



Vaughn was as cool as a cucumber - he had absolutely no problem during the haircut.

.

And the "after" photo - so much older looking!



Back to School!

I love September!  September means that school starts again. We did our family trek to the end of the driveway on the first day of school to take some pictures while waiting for the bus.  This year Ronan is in 3rd grade and Latham is in kindergarten, but kindergarten started a week later, so the first few pictures are of Ronan's first day.

 

Daddy and his boys.



Mom and Boy #1 excited for school to start again.



Boys #1, 2 and 4



The bus!





Off to school for the first day!



Latham started a week later.  The first two days I had to drive him and pick him up.



Notice the "thumbs up" - priceless!



Finnian started preschool this year at our church two mornings a week.  He wouldn't stop playing long enough to have his picture taken, and after half a dozen tries, he exasperatingly said, "Bye, Mom!!!"  He loves it and was definitely ready for school.

Mowing the lawn, again...

Collin spends a lot of time on the lawn mower cutting the grass.  We have a shy acre, so it's a good thing that we have a ride-on mower.  I looked out the window a few weeks ago, and this is what I saw.... 



 

Vaughn looked a little unsure at first, but he loved it!  I'm impressed that he kept the ear protection on the whole time!

 

Odds 'n Ends II

 There are always pictures that I would love to share that don't necessarily "fit" with other pictures, so I'll lump them all together to create a blog post.  Here they are: the Odds 'n Ends of mid-2014.

 

When the weather got nicer out, the middles (Finnian and Latham) enjoyed picnics out on the patio.  These promptly stopped when Collin voiced concern regarding food on the patio equaling ants on the patio.

 Finnian is Daddy's special helper when it comes to lawn care and maintenance.

 

 He has, on several occasions, fallen asleep while helping, and I've seen Collin continue mowing with a sleeping Finnian laid over his lap.

 

 Finnian tuckered out, unable to keep his eyes open while having a nebulizer treatment.  His asthma flares up several times a year.

 

 Latham takes the prize for being the first brother to need a cast!  How special.  He broke his foot jumping off our bed, while Collin was out of town (of course).  It happened at bedtime, and I could tell by his scream that he had really hurt himself, but told him to go to sleep, thinking it would be better in the morning.  When he couldn't put weight on it the next morning, I took him to the doctor, and, after x-rays, he was casted up.  I'm sure we'll have several casts before the boys reach adulthood.

 

 I took the boys for ice cream one day (Latham is okay with it if he takes a Lactaid pill).  I snapped some pictures of them eating their treats, and the results were quite humorous, in my opinion.  They were like vultures, and totally unaware of how they looked devouring their cones.  Ronan had chocolate all over his face...

 

 ...Finnian's eyes were huge...

 

 ...and Latham couldn't get it into his mouth fast enough!

 

 Poor Finnian ended up in the ER again - this time it was croup.  He was given a popsicle after taking some medicine.  He thought that was a pretty good deal!

 

I laughed out loud when I found Finnian looking like such a rough-and-tumble little boy, with mis-matched pjs and the ear protection still on after helping Daddy mow the lawn.  It's exhausting being a 3-year-old!

 



Vaughn's Weird Walk

I just have to share these four pictures of Vaughn during his pre-walking days.  He could get around pretty fast by crawling, and when the weather got nice the back door was opened and he was allowed out onto the patio.  He quickly figured out that the textured surface of the patio hurt his little knees.  His solution - to walk on all fours, with his little butt up in the air!

 

Watch out - Baby on the move!

 

Better Late than Never - Ronan's 8th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Ronan!

 

Ronan turned 8 years old in the middle of June!  We celebrated with a family party, and he had a party at the local bowling alley for his friends from school.