Holley Farm

Posing for a picture
Mooing like a cow - Carson that is

At the corn box

In the Pumpkin Patch

Just being a boy

Madelyn, Jackson, Carson & Emilia at the entrance to Holley Farm

Last week we took a fall field trip to Holley Farm in Tremont, MS. For the past several years we have gone to the pumpkin patch in Blue Mountain and the the Corn Maze at Wish Farms in Ecru. We really enjoy both but to keep some excitement in the trip, I had heard about Holley Farm this year from a friend of mine who is from Tremont and so we decided to check it out. It is really a neat place. The day we happened to go there were about six kindergarten classes from Saltillo there as well on field trips. This would have been where Carson was if he had gone to public school this year and so he had a chance to run into some of his buddies from church and his classes at Calvary.
We had a GREAT time, went through the corn maze, picked pumpkins from the patch, played in the play area, went on a wagon ride, rode in the barrels, and played in corn. We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed eating under a huge tree at a picnic table.

We are really having a fun year and are enjoying our trips from time to time.

That following Friday we had a small, homeschool fall party at Angie's house. There ended up being 15 kids there!!! Not bad for a made up yourself homeschool group! Angie was so sweet to have pumpkin bowling, make your own carmel apples and make your own pumpkin craft which is now the centerpiece on my kitchen table! And then we had pizza and cupcakes! Yummy.

Thank goodness for all the fun last week b/c this week we have had an unplanned, unexpected break from school at at house due to strep throat!

Alma Pearl...

Week before last at school we had been talking about goats and learned lots of interesting things about them, from Billy's to Nannies to them being offered for sacrifices in the Bible.
A nurse that I work with, who is a newlywed, still in my opinion and her husband have a pet goat, Alma Pearl, who they keep in their back yard, with dog harness, leash and all. I had asked Stephanie if we could come visit Alma Pearl and she greatly (I think) agreed. Today was the first time we got an opportunity around Stephanie's work schedule and the rain.
Her husband Ryan got Alma Pearl out and let us feed her some goat food, which made her really happy. And then he was gracious enough to take some pictures for us.
We also made a couple by Stephanie's cute porch/Halloween decorations. Emilia especially liked the little ghost.

Thanks Ryan and Stephanie for letting us visit Alma Pearl!! She's a sweet goat. :)

The Ants have arrived...

First let me say, we did get our dinosaurs painted and so I've posted a few of those pictures. They have now moved on to our little homeschool corner in the dining room.

But... today, our ants arrived!!!! I'm not sure who was more excited, me, Carson or Emilia. When we got home from picking Emilia up from Calvary, I saw the mailman at the end of our street so I hung around at the door until he came by our house. I don't know why the mailman coming is still so exciting to me, but I just enjoy getting mail!! Anyway, there was a small brown envelope with Carson's name on it and I couldn't figure out what it might be until I noticed, "LIVE ANTS" on it. So we brought them in and found our instructions for preparing our ant hill. I remembered there were several IMPORTANT instructions and wanted to make sure we did it right. I knew one was putting the ants in the fridge to "make them sleepy" so you could easily transfer them from the tube to the hill without any escaping, so Carson placed them there, while I set the timer for the instructed 10 minutes.

While the ants were literally chilling, I prepared the sand in the hill with the water. Finishing just when the timer went off! Carson got the ants and indeed they were asleep or dead one, I wasn't sure at the time but trusted the instructions were right. So we gently tapped the tube and dumped our 25 ants in the top of the hill. Then we all three hoovered around to watch and slowly, one by one, we saw little legs wiggle and then yes, the bigger ones first, the ants started moving around with the smallest ones being the last to wake up. We got a very small piece of carrot to feed our ants and dropped that in as well, not knowing when they last ate and again, just watched! You can only feed them and water them every 3 days b/c of overfeeding, watering them and their favorite foods are carrots, celery and apples!! Healthy eaters aren't they?

I'm happy to say that all of our ants are awake and have even started working! I'm excited about our lessons next week when we will learn all kinds of neat things about ants. Hopefully we can share some with you!

Dinosaurs at the Langford House!!!

Carson & Emilia with their dinosaurs!
Carson's Dinosaur

Emilia's Dinosaur

This week at "school" we are studying about dinosaurs and, today, we made dinosaurs out of clay. It was really fun but I must say MESSY!! I got several dinosaur books out and let Carson & Emilia pick out which dinosaur they wanted to make and these are the ones they chose. I have to admit, they did more of the playing in the clay and I did more of the constructing the dinosaurs but they still belong to them. We added the extras with a toothpick. Now, our dinosaurs are drying and then in a couple of days we /they will be able to paint them. I'll try to post the finished project when we get it done!

A Flower Girl...

Dancing with the bridesmaids
With the groom, our cousin Matthew

Me & Vince

Chelsea & Matthew

Dancing with her Daddy

Matthew (the ring bearer) & Emilia

walking down the isle

Matthew & Emilia

Emilia & Carson

Our Family

With Matthew before the wedding

Emilia and Me

Just looking beautiful!!

On her way to the church,

my favorite picture!

With Chelsea before the wedding

Well, as you can see from all the pictures, Emilia was the flower girl in my first cousins wedding this past weekend in Gloster, MS. It was the first time we had been back since our grandmother passed away last August but thankfully, this time it was for a joyous occasion.

Matthew is about 28 and is the sweetest man. Chelsea is a lucky girl to have him and now that we've met her, Matthew's even a lucker man to have her!! They are the sweetest couple and we wish them the best.

Emilia was honored to have been a part of their wedding and she was so beautiful.

Thank you Chelsea and Matthew for including her/us in your special day!!!

First Day at Calvary for Emilia

Last Tuesday was Emilia's first day to be a "Calvary Kid". It was nothing new for her to pull up in the car pool line except instead of Carson being the one to get out like the past three years, it was finally her turn. I can't believe it's gotten here so fast. She is a precious little school girl and is loving being there!

Happy 4th Birthday Emilia

Friday, August 28 was Emilia's 4th birthday and Vince's birthday as well, I won't share his age for his sake! On Friday Carson, Emilia and I were here most of the day, Carson gave Emilia her presents from him, a princess thermos and an ice cream cone lip gloss she had picked out and then Vince had left her FJ Cruiser in the garage from us and nannie/papa and others that had given her money for her birthday. I did go to the church to decorate for her Tea Party, which was Saturday, while she and Carson played at a friends house. Then Friday night, Vince picked Taylor's in New Albany to eat, since that is his favorite. My parents and some friends also met us there to eat. We had a really good time and I did take time Friday to make "Angie's Chocolate Chip Pound Cake" another one of his favorites. I didn't want him to feel left out since he and Emilia share a birthday.
Then on Saturday morning, we had an all girls party - a tea party and it was the sweetest thing. Carson of course, had to be included so he was the host/server. The "ladies" wore dresses, decorated hats, had eye shadow and lip gloss put on and then went through the buffet for their food. After they ate their heart shaped peanut/butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit, Carson served each one of them their own individual cakes - strawberry of course, Emilia's favorite.

We had a great time and I think the little ladies and their moms did too!