An Early Snow

Well, early for the south anyway. Since the weathermen were calling for snow flurries the first weekend of this month, we decided to head back up to our cabin in North Carolina (we had just been there the previous weekend for Thanksgiving). We knew that if we were getting flurries in our area, then most likely there would be some accumulation up in the "mountains." Sure enough, early Saturday morning this is what we woke up to.

It wasn't even more than an inch or two, but we thought it was wonderful. Tyler was especially happy since his most favorite season is winter, and his one wish each year is that it will snow! Even though the kids had only had a few hours of sleep, they were more than willing to jump out of bed and get bundled up to head outside and play in it.

They first walked up the hill with Pawpaw. That's our cabin in the background.

Then we decided to go for a drive up into the higher mountains to see if we could find even more. It was a beautiful drive!

As the sun came out and it warmed up a bit, the snow started melting rather quickly. We decided to stop and play one last time before it was completely gone.

Tyler got to make his snow angel...

And Allison was amazed with how the snow stuck to her clothes and mittens.

They spent most of their time throwing snowballs at Daddy...

And thought it was hysterical!

It was a FUN day!

Pumpkin Patch

The 2nd weekend in October we decided to make our annual trip to Bert's Pumpkin Farm. It was a super cold, windy day. Unfortunately, this meant that little Ryan couldn't be in any of the pictures. He was only 2 weeks old at the time and so we kept him nicely bundled up in his car seat while he slept. I couldn't even talk myself into taking the blanket off the top of the seat to pose him with a cute little pumkpin or anything. We also didn't get a family shot that day either. We talked about going back, but haven't made it yet. At least I got a few pictures of the kids to prove we went this year!

This picture doesn't do the cool green color of Tyler's pumpkin any justice, and actually this isn't even the one he ended up keeping, but it's quite similar.

It was a challenge to get pictures of Allison. She wanted to be bundled up in her Daddy's arms instead. But I ended up with a couple cute ones.

By the time I was able to get one of the two of them together, Allison would only give me cheese smiles...

Then Tyler wanted in on the fun...

**Keep scrolling for another catch-up post!**

North Georgia State Fair

On September 27 (the day after my due date), we made our yearly trip to the fair. We went on this specific day with intentions of putting Allison and Kayden in the Beautiful Baby Contest, but didn't get there in time. Oh well, we know they are beautiful anyway! :) Luckily, on the same night, there was a special for the kids to ride unlimited rides for $18. A GREAT deal considering you normally have to pay at least $2-3 per ride (that last MAYBE a minute at most). Of course the kids had a blast!
Here's Allison enjoying some of the rides...

And some of the ones Tyler enjoyed most...

And before we could leave that night, we HAD to win this blow-up squeaking dolphin. Tyler had his eye on it the whole night, and I kept putting it off. I hoped he would eventually forget about it and we wouldn't have to put our life savings into winning one of them. Not so much. So Billy and I took him over in an effort to prove just how UNfair these fair games are. It turned out to be one of those mallet games where you have to make the piece of metal fly up and hit the bell at the top. The guy in charge let Tyler have a trial and it BARELY left the base of the contraption. I showed him how far it really had to go in order to win, but he just KNEW he could do it. Who am I to smash all his dreams, right? So when he had his real chance (after mom and dad forked over $5 for the blasted thing), it didn't go much farther than the first time. However, the kind fair worker immediately reached down with his hand and shot it to the top making the bell ring and then yelled, "WE HAVE A WINNER!" Tyler was exstatic. Thanks for proving me wrong Mr. Kind Fair Worker Guy.

Tellus Science Museum

Back in September, the Smithsonian Magazine hosted a free museum day. Many museums chose to participate, and the Tellus Science Museum happened to be one of them. We had actually already been discussing making a trip to this museum because it has a dinosaur section with a T-Rex skeleton! Tyler would often remind us that we hadn't made a trip to the dinosaur 'moh-zee-um' yet. So, despite the massive crowds we would face and the rainy weather we would most likely encounter, we decided to go for it and take advantage of a free visit! It definitely WAS a mad house, and it DID end up pouring down rain, but we had a great time anyway. Tyler has already been asking to go back!

After taking a few pictures with the Apatasaurus at the entrance of the museum, we decided to get straight down to business and tour the fossil gallery...

Here's Tyler spotting T-Rex for the very first time!

A 4-year-old little boy's dream come true!

Allison was in need of a nap and didn't want to cooperate for a picture with Mommy and the Pteranodons.

The biggest turtle any of us had ever seen (even if it is only a skeleton)!

Here is Allison sporting her happy face, despite the huge fish swimming towards her head!

And I just liked this picture of her too much to leave it out. :)

More museum FUN...

We got to explore the green house, garage, tool shed, and garden in "The Collins Family - My Big Back Yard" area of the museum. This section was created with kids in mind, and is very hands-on. They had fun playing with magnifying glasses, mirrors, magnets, lights, and much much more!

We also toured the "Science in Motion" area of the museum that features forms of transportation throughout the years.

And last (but certainly not least), we got to dig for fossils just like real Paleontologists! This was just as important to Tyler as getting to see T-Rex. He could hardly contain his excitement as we waited our turn in line. Each child was allowed to choose one of the fossils they found to keep and take home with them. Tyler was a bit disappointed to discover that the larger fossils were permanent fixtures at the dig site, and therefore, NOT the fossils he would be allowed to take home with him. He certainly gave it his best shot to convince whoever might listen to his plea to get to keep one of the large, UNREMOVABLE fossils (not to mention that they probably wouldn't even have fit in our car), but nothing is impossible to a 4-year-old. He eventually gave in and chose a super cool shark tooth instead. Allison chose to keep a brachiopod.

It was a super fun day and we will definitely head back there sometime...on a MUCH less crowded day!