It's Back.....

The rain that is!

Yes, this past Friday our seasons changed.  We left our lovely season of sunshine and entered the season of rain.  That's right.  We have two seasons here in the Pacific Northwest.  Summer and Rain.

I'm not complaining, though.  The rain came at the end of a record-breaking 81 days of very little rain.  In fact until this past Friday, October 12, we had seen only .03 inches of rain since July 23rd.  It was a fabulous summer!  And now we will just plan for a fabulous rain.

Wouldn't you know the rain showed up just in time for this....

 Kade's very first Kindergarten Field Trip.  

To the pumpkin patch, no less, where rain makes for some good mud.

 I got to go as a chaperone.  This was my group on the bus ready to go.

 As soon as we got off the bus, they all piled on the hay pyramid.

 Kade quickly made his way to the top.

 See all those rain jackets?  First time this kids had worn them since starting school.  But thankfully the rain let up and we had lots of fun.

Kade found his buddies Zach and Jourdan on the hay and they posed nicely for a pic.

He goes to school all day with these guys. They attend the Rubber Room together in the mornings and then are in the same Kindergarten class in the afternoon.  So glad he has such good buddies. 

 Here was my sweet little group of Kade, Miguel and Brynlee ready to get this pumpkin patch adventure started.

 First up, a hay ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin.

 Look at all those pumpkins!

 Kade and Brynlee on the hunt.

Miguel found a nice one.  Later he settled for the tiniest pumpkin I've ever seen.  Wish I would have gotten a pic of that.

Brynlee's treasured pumpkin.

Kade was still on the hunt.

Finally found it.

The next stop was at the barn to pet the animals.

Bunnies

Goats

Pigs

Sheep

Cows

Lining up for a head count so we could move on to our last activity.

Are those kindergarteners cute or what?

Kade and his Rubber Room buddies had to find each other to line up next to.  There are actually 4 of them in the same class all day.  See the sweet little girl in the pink polka dot kind of hidden behind Jourdan?  That's Maddison and she is also their Rubber Room buddy. Such a sweet heart. 

With all heads accounted for we were led to the hay maze!

It was super cool and just the right height...meaning the kiddos couldn't see over but the grown ups could.

Round and round we went.  Running into dead ends and turning around to choose a different path which led to another dead end and another until we finally found our way through.

Then we did it all over again!

Super enjoyed getting to spend the afternoon at the pumpkin patch with my most favorite Kindergartener!

Sign of a successful field trip....

Kiddos who fall asleep on the bus ride home!

Very thankful that I got to enjoy this field trip with Kade.  All possible because Kyle was so gracious to be home taking care of the other three kiddos.  Planning a family trip to the pumpkin patch real soon!

Another really exciting thing happened last week.  We kicked off our new semester of Life Groups for church.  We always have a group that meets at our house on Wednesdays and we love it.

This Wednesday we had an incredible time.  I have no pics of the adults having a great time digging into their study but I do have these....

Pics of an upstairs packed full of kiddos having a good time.  See our buddy Jonathan sitting on the couch?  Well he and his sweet wife Mandi and little girl Mary Beth did us a giant favor and came over to watch all the kiddos for us. Why was that a giant favor?  Well, we had 15 kiddos and that doesn't count the two babies who stayed with their mommas!  See, I told you it was a giant favor!  But it afforded us the opportunity to kick off Life Group as a whole without two of us being on kid patrol.  THANK YOU Johnny, Mandi and Mary Beth!!!

The kiddos say thanks too, because just look at the fun they had...

Love that our church is full of children.  Such an opportunity to train up the next generation in the love of Jesus.  Life Group was awesome and we are looking forward to doing it again tonight!

Had lots of things rolling around in my mind lately.  Working on how to share those things with you sometime soon.  For now, I've got to get my plan together for the grocery store.  Not my favorite but it must be done!  May you all have a fabulous not have to go to the grocery store kind of day.