Harvest PAR-TAY!!

Eva's preschool had a harvest party on Thursday, which included a parade, a tractor ride, and lots of old-fashioned fun and games for the kids. My mom joined me to help hold Sam and, of course, to "oooh" and "ahhh" at the cuteness. I love seeing Eva with her little friends; she was so excited and was BUSTING at the seams to go on the tractor ride. Here are a few pictures of the day:

The whole class being led out on a rope (how else to keep 10 two and a half year olds in a line?)

Eva was excited to be a cow

 Longingly looking at the tractor as it gave the first ride, which she wasn't on :(

Woo-hoo!!! After what seemed like forever, she and Caleb jumped in for their ride. Caleb immediately went for the steering wheel. I was anticipating a problem on the ride, so I said, "Caleb, make sure you give Eva a turn with the wheel, ok?"

Eva's classmate, Jadon (on the left), in the car behind them.

 Less than a minute after they pulled away, Eva started bawling because she wanted a turn to steer (mom intuition I suppose). I ran up and told Caleb to "let go and give her a turn, NOW!" The tractor driver had already stopped once because another kid was melting down, so I wanted to nip it in the bud 'cause lots of kids were waiting. Caleb let go and Eva recovered pretty quickly. Phew!

 The tractor dropped them off at the "pumpkin patch" and they got to choose one to take home! Eva did some serious inspecting before choosing the perfect one!

Eva's classmate, Nick (middle), and his brother, Jack, and dad who helped us out (see below).

Sam: "What exactly is going on here, mom?" He had this look most of the morning.

Pumpkin ring toss

Eva's classmate, Conner, playing one of the toss games. (His dad helped, too).

Eva was proud to show her teacher the bracelet she made. She used all sparkly beads. I was shocked.

Eva's classmate, Bella. What an adorable little pumpkin!

Lily's mom helped do face/hand painting. Eva chose a lady bug for her hand.

Eva's classmate, Lily. Such a cutie!

Showing off the finished product. She was proudly displaying it all day long & wasn't a happy cow when it got washed off.

By the time the party was ending, we were ready to leave. And by "we", I mean Sam. He needed a nap BAD and he was also hungry. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I got a frantic call from my mom that she needed me to come back and help her. She was stuck. FOR REAL?? My kids are exhausted and hungry!! I love my mom, and felt bad that she was stuck because she came to help me and see Evangeline (and also because she is a bad driver), so I turned the car around and went back to check out the situation.
Well, it was indeed a **situation**.  She had somehow managed to back over a very large curb- on the other side of the curb the ground was lower, and it was grass. She was spinning when she tried to get back over. I got in the car and backed it up a bit more and determined that the tire was not flat (she thought it was), and thought that we only needed a few strong men to get her out of the predicament. So, she stayed with the kids in my car while I went to round up some men to help my "mom who is a terrible driver"- that's what I told them all. And, it's true! I was pretty embarrassed- it's not like I actually know the kids' parents in Eva's class very well yet. But, I got 2 dads of her classmates and one dad that I knew from church whose little girl is in Eva's Sunday School class (hallelujah!).  They essentially picked up her car and lifted it over the curb. I watched the whole thing and my camera was RIGHT there, but I didn't even think to capture the funny moment. BUMMER. Here's a shout out to Nick, Conner, and Rachel's dads. They totally rule :)