My Dream is to Be in Commercials

When I dropped Layla off at school yesterday she turned and said to me, "Mom, something great is going to happen today, I can just feel it in my bones!" And, when I picked her up, she said something great did happen, Abbie got to be the Top Banana. That's a 5 year old for you, they can always find something GREAT!

Today, while painting Layla's fingernails, I asked her if she thought something great was going to happen today. She replied, "Well, there is something really great that I want to happen today, it's my dream."

"Your dream?" I asked.

"Yes. My dream, but not like a dream you have a night, a dream like something you really want to do."

"Really?" I said. "What is your dream Layla?" I'm a little surprised by all of this. We've never really talked about our "dreams". We've talked about what she would like to do when she grows up, but never "dreams".

"Well mom, my dream is to be on a commercial and I know I will be someday."

"What will you be doing in the commercial?"

"I will be dancing. I don't know what I'll be selling, but I'll be dancing, mom."

All I Ever Needed to Know....

...I have learned from my children! Like the fact that when I get tired I talk in a mad voice, but it's a soft mad, so that doesn't really mean I'm mad. Layla informed me of this one today. Or that I now know what my stern look actually looks like because it is reflected back to me in my son's face. Or the fact that bajillion isn't really a number because there's no number in it. But, if you say 1 bajillion, then it's a number. Yup, they are a wealth of knowledge!

Today, I received two lessons from Layla. Not necessarily new lessons, but good reminders.

We were driving to school and Layla said to me, "Hey, mom! Did you know that Adam and Eve hid from God and so did Jonah?" She is studying Genesis at school and we just read a book about Jonah at the doctor's office this morning. I could tell by the way she said it, she had been mulling those stories over in her mind and had just had that revelation!

"Very good Layla," I said. "Do you remember why they hid from God?"

"Because they disobeyed God and were scared. But you can't hide from God. He always knows where we are and what we're doing."

"You're right honey," I said.

"But when we're sorry, God will always forgive us. He loves us that much! That is really cool stuff."

Yes, it is!!!

And tonight, when saying prayers together while I tucked her in, she reminded me of another important lesson. She prayed, "Thank you God, for giving us this whole earth. You told us in Genesis 1:1 that you created the heavens and the earth. And we love you for that God."

I was so moved as I listened to her pray scripture for the first time. Not just recite a memory verse, but pray it.

Hard Stop.... Soft Open

Dave and I planned a soft opening for The Pumpkin Ranch yesterday. The goal was to have friends and family out to show them the business, thank them for their help and support, and give us and our team a chance to work through our systems and training.

Throughout this whole process, we have been continually reminded of how good God is. He has supplied all the resources we've needed and has been in every detail. Praise Him!

I was blessed to speak at this on Friday night in St. Louis and doubly blessed to have Dave accompany me. We left St. Louis at 4:50am Saturday and were out in the barn at 12:30pm Saturday. There was NOTHING in place when we started, but by 10pm Saturday night, and with the amazing help of my mom, we were able to pull our retail space together. Then, with the help of pickers and staff on Sunday, we were able to get all of the details in place for our soft opening at 2pm, which was the hard stop to all work. We had a lot of fun and were even able to get aerial photos of the 5 acres corn maze.

We hope you all come and see us this year at The Pumpkin Ranch. Go to our website for more details www.thepumpkinranch.com. We are already scouting pumpkin patches across the country for ideas to add next year....so stay tuned!

It's Go Time

Wow, we are now running a frantic pace to open The Pumpkin Ranch in a week. Crazy! The kids had another fun night outside. We picked a patch this weekend so Dave went ahead and mowed it. The kids got to run free in the 2 acres right behind the house. They haven't been able to do this since May, so they thought it was pretty cool. They loved "investigating" the "smooshed" pumpkins. Here are a few pix from the last 2 weeks. We've battle through a lot of rain, but the kids don't mind...as you can see.

I'm not sure if the kids will be relieved or disappointed when November gets here and this is all over.

Remember Me?

My name is Jennifer and I used to blog! I feel like I'm living 4 different lives and only blogging about 1...the kids!

We are just two weeks from opening The Pumpkin Ranch. It has been a ton of work, but it hasn't been unbearable or undoable. It has been challenging and hard, but it has been filled with adventure and fun for the 4 of us. Today we picked with a crew of 10 and it was the first project we did sans kids. We had their favorite babysitter out for the day and didn't tell them where Mom and Dad were going. Otherwise, we wouldn't have made it out of the house without them. Layla and Cooper love playing in the barn. We've had days that we've been out there 10 hours and they never get bored. I LOVE seeing them imagining, playing, and building. One of my greatest joys as a mom is to see them running free and joyful.

The best part of my day today was the last hour of picking when we hit the 2 acres of gourds, squash and specialties pumpkins. So fun! And tomorrow, when I'm not so tired, I will post pictures of them. But for now, I'm putting this old lady tired body to bed!

Prayers Gone Astray?

My kids' prayers keep getting longer and longer every night. To me, they are going a bit astray, but I'm sure they are music to God's ears. After all, He does care about ALL areas of our lives!

Cooper must hold my hands and prays: "Tank Jesus for Mommy, Daddy, Lolly.....dogs, tractor, pumpkins....mommy's truck, daddy's truck...trailer, mower... deer, Louis's, Gamma, Pop-pop...jammies, b (blanket)....AAAMEN!"

Layla's prayer starts the same every night. "Dear Jesus, please don't let me have bad dreams or good dreams or even think of dreams. Thank you for helping me not think of monsters, sharks, alligators or snakes."

Then, tonight, she continued with, "Thank you for Mommy, Daddy and Cooper. We love everyone Jesus, even the people who speak Spanish and French and other languages I don't understand. I still love them. Even though I can't tell them because they speak other languages. Jesus, why do they speak other languages? Well, we love them. I love you Jesus. Please let all the babies know I love them too." I love how she has her eyes closed and eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration as she prays.

A Club Chair in the Kitchen?!

Yesterday I had to face the fact that all house projects are on hold for the next 8 weeks until pumpkin season has come and gone! I'm talking all things but the necessities. One of these things that I'm letting go of is the constant picking up and reorganizing of toys. If you have little ones, you know what I'm talking about! Every week I'm taking downstairs toys back downstairs, every month I'm emptying the kid's rooms and putting sets of toys back together. It is never ending! Letting this go gives me a little anxiety, but mostly a sense of relief.

BUT, Cooper started doing something today that I just can't let go. Something that causes me to go back to my picking up, reorganizing tendencies. Cooper has started moving furniture. I don't mean shifting it. I mean moving it from room to room. Most of our first floor is an open floor plan with continuous hardwood floors. All our furniture has those felt pads on the bottom so the legs/feet don't scratch the floor. This makes moving furniture pretty simple...a little too simple.

I found a leather club chair from the living room in the kitchen, a rattan sitting chair from the living room OUT ON THE DECK, and the chairs from the kid's table in the basement in our bathroom ON A DIFFERENT FLOOR. I'm amazed at how quickly and quietly he accomplished these tasks!

And so, the reorganizing continues for this mama. I can let go of a lot of things, but a club chair in the kitchen is not one of them!

No doubt this was the mischevious little smirk on his face as he did his moving!

ISU Through and Through

Last night I wore my ISU football t-shirt to the gym. Nothing was meant by it, it was just the t-shirt at the top of the pile in the drawer. I walked out of the bedroom, Layla saw me and decided she wanted to wear her ISU jersey to the gym. Cooper saw Layla in her jersey and he decided he wanted to wear his jersey. So, off we went to the gym in our head to to ISU gear. After school today, they changed into their jerseys again. Yes, we are caught up in the excitement of this weekends game. And, we are going to enjoy the excitement and anticipation until 2:35 pm Saturday when the game begins and we get smoked! But until then.....GO CLONES!!!!

Frogs, Frogs, Frogs

We are seeing frogs everywhere these days. Don't know what that's all about, but the kids love it! We have had two tree frogs attach themselves to our windows in the last week. Makes for a fun picture. Cooper, for some reason, is convinced that frogs are stinky. Every time he sees the he says, "Oh frog. Cool. Mom, frogs stinky." Don't know what that's all about either.

Unplanned Adventure

Layla had a little unplanned adventure at school today. Her friend, Emma, left her headband out at the playground and Layla knew where it was. So, thinking the 1st grade class and teacher were still on the playground, Layla's teacher sent Emma and Layla back out to get it. Here is the rest of the story, according to Layla......

"We went out to the playground to get Emma's headband under the table. We went to the glass door and it was locked. We went to the black door and that was locked too. So Emma and I started pounding on the door and yelling, but no one heard us. Emma put her headband on and we kept on pounding. No one came. Then Emma and I looked at each other and I could tell she was about to cry and I thought, oh know, if she cries, I'm going to cry. So I told Emma to breathe in and out really slow to try to calm her down, but that Emma wouldn't have it. She started crying and I started crying and I thought we would be there the whole night. Then, Jesus gave me the idea about the gate. We ran to the gate and Emma figured out how to open it so we ran to the front of the school, went inside a lady found us and called Mrs. McGrath. Mrs. McGrath hugged us and said she was so sorry and will never send us on our own again. Mom, that was pretty scary stuff."