A Night at the Farm

Over the weekend, we went to a wedding.  An outdoor wedding, at a pumpkin farm.  Unusual to say the least, and yet, full of exploration opportunities for Ava.  I'm not sure what we were thinking, bringing her to a wedding at almost 18 months??  Although she was invited, it would have been a better experience for us all if we would have gotten a baby-sitter :) Lesson learned.  Carter will soon be able to be taken anywhere, but Ava....not so much.  Unless it's totally acceptable for her to run, climb, chatter/yell, dance, and possibly undress herself.  Those are her new criteria for public outings. 

She did look totally adorable however and her sweet little face, more than made up for her wild behavior!  At least she's got that going for her...

We spent much of the evening, passing her back and forth, just trying to keep her clean and out of trouble!  Wood chips, animals, tables, benches, and stairs were working against us however.  It was not necessarily a "dress and tights" kinda place :) 

But not that she cared!  

She and her handsome Daddy were easy on my eyes :) 

She wore her new owl dress from Texie.  Isn't it cute??

She was apparently striking her "serious" pose here.  

Before the ceremony even began, Ava made it clear that she was not interested in being still or quiet.  Travis had a small part in the ceremony, so that meant that I got to be the babysitter.  I missed the entire wedding, but we spent lots of time watching these little goats and feeding them grass.  

I was dying from the standing/squatting required for an hour, while 9 months pregnant, but Ava was thrilled.  We saw goats, mini horses, sheep, and lots of farm cats.  We also played with mini pumpkins and listened to lots of scarecrows playing banjos and singing country music.  Odd, but totally fun for her.  She had the farm staff in stitches as she danced and grinned all by herself.  I was hoping to take lots of pictures of all of this, but I stupidly left my purse inside the barn with Travis, which also had my camera inside it.  Not to mention everything else that would have been helpful for an hour's worth of entertainment!  

Oh well, it was an interesting night to say the least!  We capped it off with a trip to Dairy Queen on the way home, which sort of made up for the fact that I missed the whole wedding :) 

I can't imagine trying to take 2 little ones to events in the future!  Right now this one is such a handful, she's about all we can sanely take!  It's a good thing the Lord gives them to us as tiny babies first...Or else you'd never survive!!  We love this little monkey so much, but my goodness she's in a stage that requires our complete attention and demands all of our energy and patience.  It's a full-time job just keeping her out of danger!

  

And she's going through it just in time for her baby brother to join us and add to the chaos :) 

Sigh...Is it any wonder I'm completely exhausted day and night now???

I think I've decided that parenthood (of toddlers) is not for wimps!!