Reader Rachel

Rachel loves to read and can and will read almost anywhere! We have even had to make a no book while at the table rule so she could eat all of her food.

 This might be my favorite spot (and one of the most creative)she has found to read in so far. We have a little dogwood tree in the front yard now and she loves to climb up in it and sit.

 I was outside with them yesterday afternoon and next thing I know, she has brought several of her books up into the tree with her!

So glad she has a love for reading and love her creativity too!

Happy 7 Months, Allie!

 On November 13th, our Allie turned 7 Months old!

 This time between 6 and 7 Months has been full of milestones for her! She started with vegetables for the first time after beginning cereal first. She wasn't too sure what she thought of that first taste of green beans but now she has tried carrots, sweet potatoes, pears and applesauce too.

 She also started sitting up on her own on November 2nd. She seemed very excited to be a big girl and sit up on her own!

So excited for all that Allie is learning and all the ways she is growing. Time surely does fly by!

Happy SIX months, Allie Grace ♡

 Can not believe this beauty is halfway to turning ONE already!

 Love her smile and her sweet heart! So glad God shared her with our family!
We love you, Allie Grace♡

More Fall Fun: Pumpkin Painting and Apple Picking

 One of our favorite fall fun things to do is pumpkin painting. I think this is our 4th year of pumpkin painting and a fall favorite for the girls. The middle of October arrived and the question came more and more often: "Mom, when are we going to paint our punpkins?"
So the last week of October, we made sure we painted. This girl looks excited about painting pumpkins for sure!

 Bethany loved layering (and layering some more...) all the paint colors on her pumpkin this year and it was beautiful.

 Rebekah painted her pumpkin in bright, colorful stripes.

 Rachel skipped the brush altogether and painted flowers using the her finger tips.

 

 And this little lady just painted and got her foot painted to put her footprints on her pie pumpkin.

It is so fun to watch them each be creative in their own way and another fun night of pumpkin painting

One of our other favorite fall activities is apple picking. I was thinking back and I am pretty sure we have made a trip to pick apples every fall since Rachel was born and we even took the youth to pick apples one year even before she was born. One of our favorite spots to pick apples is Carter Mountain Orchard in Virginia. We had to be in Virginia for a photography event the end of October and were able to squeeze in an hour or so of apple picking.

 We actually were able to enjoy a mountain sunrise and see a little snow(!)with the fall color in Shenandoah before we arrived at the orchard.

 This sweet baby loved her Daddy holding her up so she could see all the apples. She seemed to like her first apple picking trip!

 We were just in time to pick our favorite kind of apples, the Pink Ladies. The big girls had plenty of apples they could reach this year.

 Bethany also found "her" apple. This one didn't go in the bag with the others...it was only to be carried by Bethany.

 Here are Rachel and Bekah with our yummy apples.

We were thankful to enjoy a quick but delicious apple picking trip this year!

Hubbs Homeschool Day

Since fall arrived, I have been looking for educational and fun field trips to do with the girls in NC near where we live now. About 15 minutes from us is Hubbs Corn Maze. Neither the girls or I have ever done a corn maze so I thought this would be neat to try. I was trying to schedule a weekend time but couldn't find something that worked in our schedule, but then noticed that they offer homeschool days at times. There was one coming up on November 1st, so I quickly signed us up.

On Wednesday, we headed to Hubbs. We arrived a little before lunch, which worked out wonderfully because it gave us time for a picnic lunch and then catch the 1 o'clock tractor ride and educational tour.

We rode the tractor past the corn maze, which got the girls excited about trying the corn maze.

We arrived at the educational area to learn all about the pumpkins.

Two fun facts about pumpkins that we learned: 

It takes 85 to 125 days to grow a pumpkin

and 

80 percent of pumpkins are grown for decorative purposes 

The girls got to touch a pumpkin that was so sweet that the sugar actually forms a crust on the outside. They also got to see and touch the inside of the pumpkin.

After we finished learning about pumpkins, we headed to try the corn maze.

We tried the corn maze called the game maze and the girls marked their cards at each stop we found.

Some of their other favorites were climbing and shark tooth hunting.

The other top two favorites were the big slides

Look at that happy face!

and the jump pad!!

This happy girl had a great time watching her sisters learn and play and enjoying the beautiful day outside with them! 

We definitely had a great time at Hubbs Homeschool Day and learned lots! We look forward  to visiting Hubbs in the other seasons too!