Pumpkin Patch

There are lots of things I took for granted being born and raised in Illinois--long rainy days. Grass that grows without daily watering that costs lots of money. Squirrels.

But something that it didn't even occur to me that I would have to search and scrounge to find in Colorado were apple orchards and pumpkin patches. Apparently, due to its desert like earth, apple trees and pumpkins don't grow as readily here as they do in Illinois. We found this out last year when we googled apple orchards near us and found the closest one was 1.5 hours away and only offered 4 types of apples--red and golden delicious, gala and granny smith. I can buy those at the store, thanks.

This year, however, I was determined that we do something "fall-y". Something that had been a tradition in the fall when we lived in Illinois. When my friend Rachel said she found a pumpkin patch with a corn maze, I said yes! Sign me up!

When she said it was 1.5 hours away, I told Evan that it was not a choice, we had to go. Then he grumbled and pouted and agreed to come along. He couldn't say no to my reasoning of, "But we have to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

This is what Julia chose to wear. She was channeling the 1980s.
As soon as I stepped out of the car I was hit with a smell so lovely, so intoxicating that I breathed in as deep as I could. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out what it was--corn. I was smelling corn. Fresh, sweet and so much like home. I was homesick. I grew up with that smell and didn't realize how much I miss it.

We started with the corn maze. Julia kind of hated it. She kept tripping over the rows of corn and then would whine for someone to hold her. She's not really an adventurer, our Julia.
Elisabeth, however was eager to explore the maze.



When Julia could handle the corn maze no longer, Evan and I took her to play in the pumpkin patch while Rachel, Joe and the older kids kept going through the maze.



The corn bin was very fun for Juju.
It's odd to see mountains behind the corn field. Well, at least for an Illinoisan.
Julia kept seeing other kids being buried in corn and asked Evan to do it to her. But, when he started pouring corn all over her, she seemed to be less than thrilled about it. I don't think she realized it would be kind of a messy process.


And then there's Elisabeth, who cares nothing about messes.
Corn angels.

We each got to pick a pumpkin to take home. Elisabeth found hers immediately.
Peter was next to find his. (Goodness, I love that kid)
Weirdo.

Julia was pulled around in the wagon by a Jedi master.
This is her asking me to help her after she'd fallen. This is me taking her picture instead.
We had a lot of fun. We ended up staying over 2 hours and the bigger kids went back into the maze again. Julia was fascinated by all of the pumpkins, which is exactly why I wanted to go this year. She's at that fun age where this is all new to her and I wanted to be able to share the experience of a fall tradition, even if we had to drive 1.5 hours just to get there.

Julia's pointing to the moon saying, "My moon! My moon's awake!"
This weekend, we shall be carving our pumpkins!!! My absolute favorite fall activity.

Virtual Coffee

Hello! I can't believe it's already Tuesday. I'm sorry, where did the time go again?

Well, let's link up with the lovely Amy over at Lucky Number 13 again for some virtual coffee.

If you were really coming over to my house for coffee today... I would actually want to sit outside and drink it. It is yet again another gorgeous fall day here. I am absolutely loving it.

I would tell you that we went to a pumpkin patch this weekend. I plan on posting about it later, but the girls had so much fun. We didn't go at all last year and I wanted to make sure we did this year because Julia is at that perfect age for exploring pumpkins and all kinds of fall things.
If we were really having coffee today... I would tell you that yesterday, I lost it. Again. That Julia was so overwhelming that I cried and begged Evan to come home on time. I then left for a while so I could be by myself. She is just so much sometimes. And her love language is totally touch and mine is so totally not that at times I am just on sensory overload.

Plus, she does things like this:
Oh, yeah. She's running an entire thing of yarn around my kitchen island. That was last week.

I really try to keep it together though, because, dag-nabit, the girl is so stinking lovable.
She's funny and sweet. She's just so totally two years old right now that it makes me want to pull my hair out. I keep reminding myself that I will (eventually) miss all of this. Not yesterday though.
As we sipped our coffee outside...I would tell you that I did a lot of canning this weekend. Well, I observed and helped. I've always wanted to learn and am lucky enough to be surrounded by friends here who know how and were willing to let me stand in their kitchens for a few hours and stare at them and ask lots of questions. I have some prickly pear jelly to make on my own today. I'm actually quite excited. I am such a cooking dork.

I would also mention that may cat, Roosevelt, has been escaping every day and roaming our neighborhood. He also has managed to take off his third collar and lose it somehow. I swear he is a genius.
As we were saying our goodbyes and I was thanking you for listening to me whine about the toll of parenting...I would try to sneak into your car with you. The girls can fend for themselves today, right?

No?

Oh. Well, then I guess I'll stay in the house with them. Maybe we could do some baking today. And there's always the park too. I guess I'll give the "Mommy" thing another go.

My current train of thought.

*It's just a matter of a few weeks until we know what we'll be doing for next year. A matter of weeks!! Will we be in Colorado another year? Will we be stationed to one of the places on our top ten?! I am excited and nervous and impatient and scared.

*I haven't seen my nephews since July. I am going through withdrawals.

*Oh my goodness, I had so much fun this weekend learning how to can. I'm going to talk about it more this week on my cooking blog, but I foresee lots of canning in my future.

*Elisabeth is home for another week. She told me she's ready to go back to school. I don't blame her. It's not like Julia and my's schedule is exciting for an almost 8 year old. Evan's going to take Wednesday off of work, so we'll do something fun that day. But, I will say this--Elisabeth has been playing a lot lately with her toys and books and all the things that I was thinking of getting rid of. Part of her playing might have to do with the fact that the upstairs tv is not working and I keep forgetting to see if Evan can figure out what was wrong because I tried and I don't know, but most of it is that I have been repeatedly saying, "Hey, if you're bored, you have a whole upstairs full of things to do!!" I don't feel like I should have to traipse around town going to one activity after another just because she's on fall break. I have a couple things planned this week that are fun and not in our normal routine, but otherwise we're just hanging out here. But you all know how I feel about boredom being a character builder in kids.

*I am in desperate need of new sweaters. Apparently last year I threw out a bunch that were old or worn or ruined. I still have a few but they are all black. So, I am sure a sweater shopping trip will be in order in the next couple of weeks. Ooh, which reminds me, All Kinds of Pretty (you know, the site that I occasionally throw my two bits of fashion "knowledge" in on every now and then) is back!!! After a summer hiatus, the ladies are back with lots of denim talk and more to come! I swear that that site is the only reason I branch out and try new styles of clothes.

*I bought apples yesterday. They were 57cents a pound at the Sunflower Farmers Market!!! I bought $7 worth of apples. I am thinking an apple crisp will be in order, don't you?!

*Halloween is coming up. Then Elisabeth's birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Not to mention that we have people coming to visit us and I'm starting to feel the pull of the holiday seasons. Don't worry, though, cause I've already started Christmas shopping. I'm almost done with gifts for a couple of people. I know, I'm a nerd. I don't know why I feel the need to tell you how big of a nerd I am, but I do.

*Today I have to clean. And launder. And run to the store. The girls have asked to stay home after a very busy weekend, so I'm allowing it. Julia specifically said, "I no go anywhere today, Mama." She's such a homebody.

I love you fall.

Virtual Coffee

Hi! It's Tuesday, which, of course, means it's time for our virtual coffee date. Ooh, and don't forget to check out all the other coffee dates going on over at Amy's Lucky Number 13!!

I love Tuesdays. I really do.

If we were really meeting at my house for coffee today...you'd be racing into my house to get out of that cold rain. The high today is 58 degrees and it's supposed to rain pretty much all day. I love it!!! Rain is one of my favorite things and I have missed it. Plus, it was so dark and cloudy this morning, both girls slept past 8:30. No complaints here. Then I would apologize for the state of my kitchen, but last night it was either clean the kitchen or finish my book. You can see what won.

While I poured you some coffee...I would tell you that both girls are home because Elisabeth is on her fall break. For two weeks. Her school is considered year long, so she gets a long break in October, December and March. She enjoys it and I think I have enough things planned that she won't get bored (aka: start begging for tv all day because she has nothing better to do). She's been tackling the projects in her craft drawer that she forgot were even there. She has also decided that she is going to turn the upstairs play area into a preschool for Julia. Every day, she drags Julia upstairs to learn her numbers, letters, have calendar time and a snack. Elisabeth is all business about it, to the point that sometimes Julia comes downstairs whimpering because she just wants to play and doesn't want to be in school. So, I've talked to Elisabeth about how there's a reason 2 year olds aren't in preschool and that it's okay to play school if Julia's willing (which is about 50% of the time) but that she can't make Julia play school or Julia's not going to want to play with Elisabeth at all anymore. Then, Elisabeth said, "But, Mom, I want her to be the smartest preschooler when she starts school next year." Can't argue with that logic. :)
If you were really here for coffee...I'd tell you that I'm in a bake-y mood today. I foresee banana and pumpkin bread in the near future and two little girls more than happy to sample them for me. I love the way homemade bread smells in my kitchen.
After I offered you seconds on coffee...I would tell you I'm trying to be more positive--in the way I think, the way I act, the things I do and say. Especially with this whole weight loss thing. I haven't heard back on my blood work yet (which reminds me, I should follow up on that today) and I do have my appointment in 2 weeks with the nutritionist. I'm trying to not make my unhappiness with this whole thing affect everything else in my life. I'm trying to stay positive, be positive and make positive decisions. It's hard. Surprisingly hard. It is amazing how negative thoughts can sneak in and bleed to all other thoughts. And I find that more often than not I'm just very frustrated and depressed about the whole thing.
We would chit chat about what's going on in your life. What your plans are for the week, for Halloween. We'd laugh and whisper so the girls wouldn't hear the occasional grown up topic. We'd sit long past our final sips of coffee.
As you were leaving...I'd tell you how glad I am you stopped by. Nothing's better than a friend to share coffee with on a rainy autumn morning.

Bear Creek Nature Center

In June, Rachel and I took the kids to the Bear Creek Nature Center, where the children went creeking. The kids loved it and I vowed to bring Evan the next time we went.

This weekend, I kept my word.

It was a beautiful fall weekend here in the wonderful Colorado Springs. We packed a picnic lunch and headed over to Bear Creek to do a little hiking.

I shan't lie...I was in love with the way fall had completely transformed the trails.

If I had been there on my own, I would have spent hours taking pictures of the leaves alone.
Even the grass turns fall colors here.
Evan was impressed with the scenery as I knew he would be. Julia was a tad grumpy, but that's not too out of character for her.



Look! I made it into a picture!

Julia spent a lot of time on her Daddy's shoulders. She loves it up there.

I asked Elisabeth to sit on a rock that looked like a chair for a picture. She told me she couldn't because a lizard was already sitting there.



We found the creek again, but we didn't wade in it due to the coldness.



This is a nest. Maybe for squirrels? We aren't sure, but it was soooooo cool.




It was a perfect fall day.