Pumpkin Festival

We drove to Bradenton today for Hunsader Farm's pumpkin festival. Grandma and Grandpa joined us and we had a very fun day. The weather was gorgeous. Ben had fun playing with pumpkins and playing the charity games. He enjoyed the butterfly garden again and actually held a butterfly this year. He got picked again for the frog jumping contest. I'll try to upload the video from that in a bit. His frog was a bit jumpy and it scared him! I think the best part of Ben's day was riding the train. I enjoyed some homemade pumpkin ice cream and Ben had a candy apple and popcorn. We snacked the whole time we were there, so we had a late lunch/early supper at Cody's Roadhouse before going home.

Here are some pictures of our fun day at Hunsader Farms!

I saw this golf cart that said "Grandpa's Cart" so I made Neal stand beside it, lol!

We carved Ben's little pumpkin when we got home

Fall Carnival

Ben had so much fun at his first Fall Carnival at Babson Park Elementary today. He dressed up as Super Ben! He played lots of games, but his favorite thing was the bounce house. He won so many tickets and chose a paddle ball & whoopie cushion for his prizes. All boy for sure! Here are some pictures of our fun day!

Ninja Caleb & Super Ben!

Ben and his friend, RJ

October Randoms

We've had such a busy month already. I think we've finally settled in to our new routine with Ben's preschool. We have his first Fall Carnival coming up this Saturday and we are very excited! I ordered a cute costume for Ben and I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival in the mail. Ben is still doing very well at school. He has earned a stamp for good behavior every day of the year so far. We are so proud! He is learning so much. They study one letter and one number each week and do tons of activities to reinforce the learning. Most of the learning is through play, although we do have homework every night. Can you believe homework in preschool! Ha! The curriculum at public schools is definitely more rigorous than when we went to school. These babies are learning what we used to learn in kindergarten and they are soaking it up! I firmly believe that the students who begin school in kindergarten without any preschool are the ones who spend the rest of their lives playing catch up. Preschool is so important!

Jeremy has started conditioning with the baseball team and I started a running club at work! We worked it out where my running club meets Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays, and Jeremy's team conditions Mondays/Tuesdays/Thursdays. The only day that overlaps is Monday, but it works out because Jeremy picks Ben up from school and has him help with conditioning. Ben calls himself the "little coach" and Jeremy gives him a whistle! It is so precious to pick Ben up at the track and see him helping Daddy coach.

Here are some random pictures I've snapped the past few weeks. Enjoy!

1st School Picture

Ben's first school picture was taken in September and we got them back last week. I ordered a digital copy so I could share it with my blog readers. He is so handsome and looks so grown up in this picture!

Benjamin Avery Byrd

3 years old

Babson Park Elementary Pre-K

Mrs. Watts