Punkin Patch

Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch. It was a little early, I know, but it wasn't raining and I just can't restrain myself when it comes to pumpkins and family outings. This year we went to our local apple farm. On the weekends the ski team from a local high school brings in pumpkins and they do activities, so we decided to try it out. We had so much fun!


Here is Sydney freaking out in the hay maze. There was a cat and she is deathly afraid of anything non-human. Judging by this pose, she must have been afraid the cat would jump six feet off the ground in a gravity defying leap and land on her head.



Whoever says the youth of America are a bunch of slackers and up to no good clearly haven't the students we encountered at the farm. They were helpful, really funny, and went out of their way to help us have a great time.



I love those new boots. You can't quite tell, but they have owls on them. Owls might be my next obsession.



Savannah was pretty content to just hang out in the baby carrier!




This is "her" pumpkin. Sydney had a great time picking it out for her. Probably the last year she'll get to do that, too. It's hard to even imagine next year at the farm Savannah will be two years old and running around, picking out her own pumpkin.



Looking for just the right one.




The girls on the hay ride.




Savannah was not really sure about sitting on the hay. I can't say that I blame her. I don't really like sitting on poky sticks, either.





The annual apple pictures.




This was the first year we carved pumpkins with Sydney. She loved it and totally thought she was helping out with her blunt IKEA knife here.

A New Find

You know I'm always on the hunt for new things with pumpkins. Today when I was out and about guess what I stumbled upon:

These little chocolate-covered pieces of heaven are the See's Candy's Pumpkin Pie Truffle. I was a little skeptical at first, because chocolate and pumpkin? It could be really good or really bad. But, for you my faithful readers, I decided to try it so I could rate it for you. Because I'm a giver. You're welcome. And the result? A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. It's pumpkin pie spices in a white chocolate center covered with milk chocolate. Oh my gosh. Perfect. So much perfection I had to get two. Now go get in your car's and go buy one right now because they're only here for a limited time.

Pumpkin Schmumpkin

If you know me at all, you know that I am obsessed with pumpkins. I love pumpkin patches, decorating with pumpkins, and eating pumpkin in anything and everything I can manage. Every fall in my house brings pumpkin scones, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin bread, and this year...PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIES!! Woo Hoo!! I am going to make some this week and I'll post the recipe and pictures. I am also recently obsessed with Etsy. If you're not familiar with Etsy (what is the MATTER with you?!), it's a website where people sell homemade goods. Melissa sells her cute party lines on etsy (click here). Etsy has these treasuries where people pick a theme, like a color or an event, and they create this group of people and items focusing on the theme. So I am going to create for you a treasury of my favorite pumpkin items this fall. Enjoy.


This darling banner was found here on Etsy. Isn't this adorable?! I could totally see this on a mantel. I love that it's made of fabric so you can really see the textures. This is actually a pattern that they send you and you make it yourself.


This too-cute-for-words coffee cozy is from my friend Jen over at The Cozy Project. I love this!! Isn't this perfect for a Pumpkin Spice Latte?


I know you're thinking, that's not a pumpkin! This is actually the cake stand that I have. Melissa has one, too, and we love how you can interchange the ribbon to match the party or decoration that you're going for. This can be purchased at Amazon. Can't you picture this with a cute autumn ribbon, set perfectly in the middle of your kitchen table, with a cute little mini pumpkin on it? Or, it could hold some PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE CUPCAKES! Say what?! Oh yes, PSL cupcakes. I'm going to make these little beauties for my halloween book club at the end of the month and I'll post the pictures then. Let's just say they sound amazing.


I love this little pumpkin hairbow! This can be found here. I have purchased many hairbows from this site, called Rosey Posey Bowtique, and they have all been super cute and they hold up really well. The little bird bow that Savannah wore at her first birthday was from this site.


And finally, here are some adorable little personalized pumpkin shirts. This store made the shirts for the girls last year at Christmas and I loved them. Aren't they adorable?

What's your favorite use for pumpkins?

First Pony Tail

A few weeks ago Savannah wore her first little pony tail! I literally had to take about 100 pictures just to get these two of her! She was determined to either crawl the other way or pull out the pony or both. But, after a lot of chasing and effort, here she it!



And here is the result of taking the pony tail out later that night!

Fall Decorating

Hello! Once again, I am back after a long blogger hiatus. Once again, our computer was in the shop. In case you're keeping track, that's four times in the last fourteen months, including twice in the last two weeks. I walked in to the shop with our hard drive and the guy just shook his head and greeted me by name. That's pathetic when the computer repair guy knows you personally. But we've been keeping busy here. Sydney and I got busy decorating the house for fall. This year I made some of the decorations which was really fun. Sydney made this really cute little wooded pumpkin but we sent it to my sister who is away at school so no picture of that. But here's what her and I put together:
On the right side of this page, there is a list of the blogs that I follow. One of my favorite is Delightfully Noted. This past week she has had cute, printable or DIY halloween crafts each day and this was from the first day. This was so easy to print out, then I added some eyelets, strung it up, and it made an instant decoration. Here's a close up.

Look at that teeny little owl! I love it! It is so cute and I absolutely love how it makes the whole kitchen/dining area feel festive.
This shelf is right above the kitchen table and this is one of my favorite decorations.

It only took me about a million and a half hours to glue all those buttons on that pumpkin (actually, it's a funkin, which is a fake pumpkin for crafts) but I really love how it turned out. Paired up with that lantern from Ikea, it totally makes the space. I'm looking for a printable raven to perch on that lantern, doesn't it make you want to go read some Poe or something looking at that? It does for me.

This is a sentimental decoration for me, which I did not make. But it was homemade about 30 years ago. When I was a baby my Aunt Joanne, who died when I was in fifth grade, made this for me and every year I set it up. Sydney loves when I put in one of those electric candles and it lights up. Truly one of my favorites and I love that my kids love it, too.



Here's some more of the decorations I made. Being fairly conservative Christians, we're not into the whole "spooky" element of halloween, but candy corn? Now that's a halloween tradition I can get behind!

I love those yarn wrapped candy corn! Totally not my idea, I found it on another crafty blog I follow. And the framed pumpkins were totally easy to make and the whole set just makes this table, which sits in our entry way. I only freaked out a teensy bit when Chris came in and casually tossed the mail on this table.


These yarn wrapped candy corns kind of make me think of that old movie, Clueless. Remember when Cher is talking about people being a "Monet?" You know, they're pretty from afar, but up close they're a mess? Totally fits these candy corns. But I kind of like that about them. And they're not really a mess, I think they turned out adorable, but up close you can see all the imperfections.

How are you decorating for fall this year? I do have to admit that as I set these decorations up and as I type this out, I am listening to Christmas music! Ha!


(And can I get a high-five for referencing Edgar Allen Poe and Clueless in the same post?!)