Tellus Museum, Apple Picking, Sloan Turns 3, Pumpkin Carving and Costumes

Grant loves dinosaurs so I took the kids to the Tellus museum where they have lots of dinosaur skeletons.  He loved the gigantic TRex and the Megalodon shark jaws.  They got to pan for gemstones and dig for fossils too.  It was a pretty fun time. 

 

We went to an apple farm for the first time and we all had a great experience!  There were multiple types of apples and you could try them as you picked them to see what you like.  Grant and Sloan tried a ton of apples and Sloan has my taste in apples, Golden Delicious all the way.  There was also a petting zoo with baby goats and pony rides.  Sloan loved riding the ponies this time and almost had a fit when she had to get off.  They also got to milk a real cow which was kind of gross. 

 

Sloan is now 3 years old!  Her doctor's visit went well.  She is 23lbs (less than 1%) and 35 inches tall (10th percentile).  She also received 2 vaccines (Chicken Pox and HepA) and is now all caught up.  She is definitely a light weight but is growing at her own pace so all is well.  Her personality continues to grow more independent and she is very bossy these days.  She wants to do everything herself and then dictate what we all do at the same time, lol.  Chocolate continues to be her favorite thing so we got her a big chocolate cake.

 

We got a chance to get the kids in their costumes and take a few pictures at my parent's house.  Grant is a transformer, Sloan is a witch and Jon Walter is a UPS man.

 

We went and got a pumpkin and they had a great time carving it together.  Grant asked to cook the seeds so we did that and he ate enough to grow a pumpkin in his stomach!

 

We just got the kids a new swingset and they absolutely love it!  The hard part now is getting them to come inside.  We got Sloan a toddler swing and she demanded to use a regular swing.  We didn't think she could really swing in a real swing since Grant just learned to really do it by himself.  Ahhh but every child is different and she is sooooo independent and stubborn.  She watched Grant and then got right on the swing and started kicking her legs the right way......and she was swinging herself.  She promptly says, "see, I can do it, I can swing myself!".  She never ceases to surprise us.

 

 

Apple Picking and Eating!

 

Panning for gemstones at the museum



 

Grant's favorite was the huge TRex

Petting some goats and one was a precious baby

 

Milking a Cow

 

Milking a Cow

 

Riding Ponies

 

Sloan did not want to get off this time!

 

Luke made a friend...

 

Happy 3rd Birthday to Sloan!

 

 

Halloween Costumes

 Pumpkin Carving!

 Lots of decorations around here

 Our new Swingset

Grant's School Picture

We just got Grant's Kindergarten picture that will go in his first school yearbook. It turned out pretty good! He is growing up so fast!

Soccer, Michael's Wedding, the Jeep and Kindergarten!

Grant started Kindergarten in early August and he loves it! The main reason we moved was for the schools and he has a fantastic elementary school. He has to be there by 7:50am each day so he is suffering a bit on waking up so early. That is the hardest part for him and he wants to pick out his clothes which can cause some issues. He has a couple of favorite shirts and shorts and would wear them 7 days a week if I would let him. He is learning to read more and more words every week. He got his first report card and did really well.  Sloan was very confused the first week when Grant was not there to eat breakfast with her everyday.  She would ask where he was all the time.  He leaves before she wakes up now.

Both kids also got to be a part of Michael and Sarah's wedding. They had a great time and still talk about it. I was worried about Sloan but she did a great job overall.

Now that we have a yard again and live in a culdesac, the kids are enjoying riding their bikes and toys. We got the Power Wheels Jeep out and opened Pandora's box! Sloan wants to live outside now just to drive that jeep and I said "drive"....here lies the issue. Sloan does NOT want to "ride", she wants to "drive"! So she and Grant fight over who gets to drive. Sloan is really good at maneuvering it too....she can put it in reverse and back out of the garage and then put it in forward and take off with the biggest smile, so funny! She will say, "Grant get in, let's go" and pat the passenger seat. They drive around and pick up rocks and sticks.

Grant just started soccer again too. His team is the Hurricanes and he has really improved from last year. He is much more aggressive and confident in the game.

Grant continues to love dinosaurs and sharks and he is quite a collector of all things (little bit of his mama in him). But his collections are not of much value, lol. He loves to collect rocks, sticks, and those junk toys from the machines outside of restaurants. Borderline hoarder so I have to take a few at a time and throw them away so he won't notice. If not, his room would be a disaster!

Sloan continues to be extremely independent. She rarely wants help with anything and won't accept help even when she needs it. She now even wants to dress herself but still has trouble with shirts. She is impatient too! She will ask you a question and then if you don't respond quick enough, she will say "yes or no, yes or no". She is also very smart and intuitive....Grant is all about having "clean plate club" and getting a high five for it. So, Sloan wants praise too but rarely finishes her plate of food. So, one night she had 2 plates for some reason (one with her fruit and the other with the rest of the meal). She proclaims, "I am going to have clean plate club on this plate!" and she proceeded to move all of her fruit to the other plate. And she yelled "see, I have clean plate club, yay!". We had to laugh at the creativity on that one! And she got her high five. She can now get on the big potty all buy herself. She will drag the stool over and then pull her seat down and get up there all by herself.

Both kids are very excited about Halloween too! Grant is going to be a Transformer and I think Sloan will be a cute witch. The older they get, the more fun these holidays are getting.

 Go Gamecocks!

 Soccer Time....his team is the Hurricanes!

Enjoying the Home Depot car buggy 

 

Grant and Jon Walter at the wedding

Sloan loves to hang out in Grant's bed now....she brings her blankets and books

Our little flower girl

At the Rehearsal Dinner

Sloan followed Rhett everywhere at the Rehearsal Dinner

Luke and Grant at Michael and Sarah's rehearsal dinner

The Aquarium again!

Ice Cream! 

Sloan LOVES to drive the jeep....she doesn't want to be a passenger though, lol

First Day of Kindergarten!

Other Beach Pictures

Whew, I am playing major catch up now on this blog!  It has been a couple of months but I am going through pictures and will start where I left off....the beach trip.  Here are some pictures of all the fun things we did at the beach this year....

Everyone got a water gun!

Taking turns jumping in and making big splashes

Playing with Grant's goggles

Sloan was obsessed with the phone since we don't have one.  She kept dialing real numbers though so we ended up having to disconnect it. 

They loved the golf cart!  We were not directly on the beach this year so it came in handy to have it!