A party...and the farm!

I'm pretty much obsessed with fall. My mom gave me this book the year Carson was born. Its a Thankskiving book about this little mama bear telling her cubs all the things they have to be grateful for. It has the sweetest pictures. Shows the little cubs out catching the school bus with the mama waving goodbye. Shows them playing with friends outside, bundled up against the wind and jumping in piles of leaves. Shows them settled around the kitchen table, with cookies and hot chocolate working on their homework. Shows them working outside with the papa bear, raking leaves while the mama bears sweeps off the patio. Which is covered in pumpkins. Shows them at the dinner table with a hot stew in front of them and the family all laughing. In the bathtub filled with bubbles. Reading a story with the papa, all bundled in their beds, homemade quilts tucked up around them. I am in love with this book. This little bear family. It encompasses all I love about being a mama to my own little cubs. There is no other time of year where I feel the stirring of home and memories and tradition more so than the upcoming holiday months. It brings out the very best mom in me. I want so badly for the thoughts of me and their dad and their home to just fill my boys with warmth and happiness. The little things matter to me. The smell of dirt in the spring time, the sound of the sprinklers in the summer, the warmth of cozy sweaters and slippers in the fall, something warm in the oven or on the stove throughout the cold months of winter. I probably pay way too much attention to the little details. I just want to create a beautiful life for them. It gets hard and complicated soon enough. Childhood deserves to be beautiful. So I'm soaking it up with them. We are doing it all, from the parties and festivities to the cozy comfiness of home.

Documenting the big stuff, starting with our annual cousin Halloween party! Gosh I love these kids. I might be biased but I think they are the most beautiful, brilliant, funnest bunch of little people I have ever know. 9 babies between us three sisters (Boston not pictured), and in another week we make that 10. Miss Caroline is circling the neighborhood. Love the way they love each other. The way they crave each others company. The laughter and insane loudness that fills the room when they are all together. Hope they never lose that, hope they always now how lucky they are to have these little cousins.

Started with Halloween twister! We have tried this in the past and it was a big flop. They were just to little to get it. This year our oldest boys totally got it. Luke, Cars, Lance and Brev had a blast. For the little ones we just shouted out a picture and they jumped on it. No right hand/left hand, just whole body. And they loved that.

Moved on to Halloween Bingo. Every holiday includes a Bingo for these kids. It is totally their favorite. I drew these pictures a few years ago and we just reuse them. My art isn't the greatest, but the kids are so cute about it. Its so much fun!

Then we moved on to Ghost suckers.

And finally a mini trick or treating. Me, Jen and Ash stand in different rooms in the house and hand out candy. Obviously they love that.

And while they devoured candy, we ate this delicious treat. Caramel apple cider with whip cream that Jen had been simmering in the slow cooker all morning and apple sour cream pie from Marie Callendars. I had a piece or two. Or three. Oh so good!

Couple days later we headed back to Black Island Farm. This time with dad and Carson. It was packed, and always kinda pricey but I just keep going. Have to. My kids love it. Its so fun and fall and festive like. And they have kettle corn. The best kettle corn. Love it!

My three favorite little punkins out of the patch!

Just a good night!

Autumn rolls in...

Well if I had to come home from Disneyland, at least we came home to my absolute favorite time of year. I felt pretty sad for a couple of days, you know just kinda hard to come back to reality and everyday life. I allowed myself the weekend to be kinda blah, and then I made myself snap out of it. The holidays are coming....starting with Halloween. Who can be sad this time of year?

First things first...autumn decor. Forget to take pics of my front porch, I'm going to though. Cause I love it. My little blue bench is out there surrounded by white pumpkins, orange pumpkins and mums. Pretty dang cute and makes me smile every single day.

Fall is my most favorite time to be in the kitchen. Love the home cooked meals and baking. Since we have been home I've been making all my favorite soups and casseroles and slow cooker meals. Also cinnamon rolls, and rice pudding and this fun little breakfast rolls filled with apple pie filling or scrambled eggs and turkey or PB and J for Carson's lunch. Still have tons of items on my baking to do list, including pumpkin bread, frosted pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, apple crisp, peach cobbler, sugar cookies.....it goes on and on.

Wouldn't be fall without the crazy soccer schedules. Although as soon as that dies down, November picks right back up with more swim lessons for Carson and Junior Jazz.

The weather has been glorious around here. So perfectly fall. A few chilly days thrown in the mix. The kind where I dress the boys in hoodies and layers and me in my boots. We stay in on those days and sip hot chocolate and apple cider and flip on the fireplace. Those days are nice in their own little way and I always welcome them. But honestly its the days like the one above that I love. High 60's, low 70's. Sun shining. Long sleeved shirt and shorts for my boys. No jackets needed. We have had so many of these perfectly beautiful days. Has really felt like fall around here. Not going straight from summer to winter, we are actually getting an autumn. Lovely.

Soaking it up outside...who knows how long it will last.

Made our first of a couple pumpkin patch trips. We are going to go later on this week to get pumpkins for the boys to carve, this first trip was just to gather some for my decorating purposes. I just don't think there are many sights more lovely than a sea of orange pumpkins. There is a quote that keeps popping up all over the place from Anee of Green Gables. Do you all know that book/movie, one of my favorites. Anyways Anne says "so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers". Could not agree more. The month of October. A league all its own. What a perfectly beautiful month.

Carson's school had their annual school carnival last weekend. They added a new little addition this year where the kids could all bring in a painted pumpkin and enter it in a best pumpkin competition. During the costume parade the pumpkins were all lined up and given awards. We jumped on the chance to participate. Got together with a few of our friends and of course Ash and kids and had a little painting party.

Finished products...and no, Drake didn't participate. Mean mom. He didn't care, too busy on the swingset.

We also had our primary program this past Sunday. Something about a primary program. Gets me everytime. The kids start singing "A child's prayer" and I immediatly get a little weepy. Carson's line when asked about his baptism was this "lots of my family was there and I felt happy". Lincoln boy was asked about what he likes to do with his family, he answered "I like to go to the fair with my family". Shouted into the microphone. I was smiling away, just like a proud mama....love those boys!

We also had Lincoln's preschool field trip to Black Island Farms. One of my favorites. Me and Drake get to tag along.

Pumpkin picking...

Doughnut eating...

Instrument playing...

Cornboxes...

slides, petting zoo, pig races, bounce houses and so much more.

We're off to a good start......

Last 2 days!

Thursday we headed back to Disneyland. Kinda funny cause I had heard from a lot of people with younger kids that their kids actually liked California Adventure more so than Disney. Not the case with us, we loved California Adventure but there is just something about Disneyland. We ended up spending all of Thursday and half of Friday at Disney and then Friday evening back at California Adventure.

If I had to pick a favorite day of the vacation, Thursday would be it. The weather was perfect. High 70's the entire day. Monday and Tuesday were a little on the warm side. Thursday was much cooler and it was the slowest day at the park. Not nearly so many people as Monday had. We were able to hit so many of the big rides in Disneyland. We had our early morning that day, so we got there an hour before the park opened and headed straight to Space Mountain!

Holy Crap! Loved it! I had never been on that one before, when I was younger that ride had been closed for some reason. So I had no idea what to expect. And it was fun cause Linc was tall enough to go with us. So me, Thiago, Ash, Rose, Carson, Brev, Linc and Elle all got to go. Seriously a cool ride. I didnt realize however that they scaried it up for Halloween. Big zombies and skeletons looming out at you throughout the whole ride. Scared the crap out of Elle. She hated it. But my boys LOVED it. Thought Linc would be scared but he handled it just fine. Biggest smile on his face afterwards. He was my riding buddy and boy was I gripping him hard. I know it said he was tall enough but like I said roller coasters and my kids make me all kinds of nervous. My favorite thing was looking at the pictures they take while you are on the ride. Lincoln's eyes looked HUGE, like they were going to pop out of his head. Haha. So funny.

These next pictures were seriously the highlight of my trip. They do a Jedi training in Tomorrowland. I had heard if you get there early and sit your kids up front they might get picked to join. We were the first ones there, put Linc, Cars and Brev right up front. And sure enough they got picked. Well, all but Lincoln. It broke my heart, and we took him and bought him a toy right after trying to make it up to him. Nice parenting huh. I don't care. His face was heart breaking when the other two got picked and he didn't. You would have done the same thing, trust me.

To this day I don't think Carson has ever been so happy. Him and Brev were just beaming. Thought they were the coolest kids ever. They get dressed up in the robes and each get a light sabre and they teach them the correct way to fight with them.

And then out come Darth Vader and Darth Maul, and every single padowan gets to the chance to fight them. It was awesome. The details and the costumes and the music and Darth Vader was HUGE and here is my tiny boy fighting him. Seriously a dream come true for two little boys. Us adults all sat there with these huge, dorky smiles on our faces watching our boys. Best moment of the trip. But oh my poor Lincoln.

Little certificate earned at the end. Of course we instantly went right in to the Star Wars souvenier shop and bought Light Sabers for all. How could we not, after that performance and of course a little something extra for my sweet Lincoln. Poor baby.

We then headed into see the Iron Man exhibit. Where Drake stood in utter amazement at all the different Iron Man suits. So cute to see. I think Thiago liked it just as much as the boys.

So many cool little automated games and stuff they could do. Tomorrowland was by far my boys favorite.

Went on the rocket ride, and Star Tours and the Buzz Lightyear ride. Spent more than half the morning in Tomorrowland. Poor Elle, don't think she loved Thursday. Its funny cause as a young girl Tomorrowland probably would have been my last pick but being a mom to all boys, oh my heck, watching their faces and the charachters and rides that they love...well Tomorrowland became my favorite! A true mom to boys I suppose, they have all corrupted me.

My pictures really start to slow down from here on out. We jam packed Thursday. Went on Autopia, Matterhorn, the Submarine Nemo ride which was Drake's favorite. Every time the big kids went on a ride that Drake wasn't big enough for someone would take Drake back to the submarine. Probably went on that thing 15 times. He freakin loved it.

Headed over and did Pirates again and Its a Small World, and the Indiana Jones ride. Where I consumed way to much Dole Whip. Geez, I love that stuff. Headed out for a late lunch, early dinner out in Downtown Disney. They have way better food than the actual park does.

And then back to "World of Color" in California Adventure again. Loved it just as much as the first time!

And then Friday, last day. We were all a little down this day. Tried really hard not to be but we totally were. Hated that it was almost over. It was back to HOT that day. And it was the most crowded day. Probably cause it was the weekend. But yeah, the lines were long and took forever.

Tried to get a grandkid picture with my mom. Drake coorperated really well as usual. Little punk.

We kinda just wandered back to our favorites this day. Did a lot of repeats but like I say it was just crowded. Thiago, Ash, Souli and the kids all tried to do Splash Mountain. They stood in line for over an hour, got right up to the top and then the ride shut down. Poor kids, they were pretty upset. Wait in line that long and then not even get to go. While they did that I did Submarine with Drake again, Tarzan's treehouse and the Winnie the Pooh ride. Which he enjoyed all of it. Watched the Disneyland parade one more time and then headed back over to California Adventure. Cars did the roller coaster again, we all did Toy Story mania, the kids did the swing ride.

Then we headed back into Downtown Disney for dinner and a last bag of beignets at the New Orleans restaurant.

And then that was it. Drove home the next day. Kids were angels. Slept the first three hours and then woke up in happy, refreshed little moods. And just like that it was over. I still look at these pictures and my heart aches a little bit. Hate that its over, but mostly I feel so grateful for the oppurtunity we had to go. That we were able to provide that for our kids. The memories are everlasting. I once heard that no matter what the vacation is, do it. They are vital. A week away from the world. Spent with the people you love most. Doing something different, out of routine, out of the norm. Kids cramped in cars, making a million stops along the way for treats you wouldn't normally buy, having little boys "water the flowers" along the highway cause they just couldn't hold it. Gripping tiny little hands in the midst of hundreds of people, your shoulders aching so your little one could sit on top of them and see the parade. Buying souveniers, and chocolate bananas and cotton candy. Seeing your kids experience new rides for the first time, watching them laugh and giggle with their grandparents. Cousins holding hands and laughing. Cramming bags and jackets into stroller bottoms, lugging around a sleeping toddler cause he just needed to close those baby eyes. Eating pretzel-wrapped hotdogs, the sound of the ocean crashing against the shore, kissing their sand covered faces, urging them to stand really straight so they looked tall enough for the ride, buying a large coke and drinking it all within 5 minutes cause you shared it with three little boys, catching your husbands eye and smiling as your boys hugged Mickey Mouse. I hope I never forget a single moment. Every detail. It was as magical as it could get. Worth every penny and then some. Walt Disney said it correct when he called it "The Happiest Place on Earth", it is. It truly is.