apple pickin'

Oh, how I love fall and fun family activities.  Family traditions are my most favorite thing and apple picking is one of our favorites.  As we were walking down the path today, Bryce told Jason that he loved apple picking with just the four of us!  I'm glad he will have so many fun memories from his childhood.

 

 

We each had our little walking buddy.

 

Emmy ate apples along the way!

 

There were actually apples low enough for the kids to pick this year.  Of course we never seem to go when they're picking the apples we want (Fuji and Granny Smith), but I don't really think we go for the apples.

 

I go for the photo ops!

 

Jason goes for the warm apple cider donuts.

 

How can you not be happy after a delicious treat like that?!?

 

It's not a trip to Carter Mountain without a worm picture.

 

More photo ops.

 

I cherish these days with my sweet family.

 

how has it been four days since I last posted

Today was one of those days.  One where I totally lost my cool by the end of the day.  It's not good that it happened, but it did.  Now we just go to bed and pray that tomorrow is better.  It has to be, right?!?

 

I took this sweet picture of Emmy and her friend Avery last week at a birthday dinner for one of my good friends.  Bryce's photo bomb in the back is lovely!

 

 

I worked on getting the porch ready for fall this week.  We have a MOPS event and a preschool field trip at a local vegetable farm in the coming weeks so I'm sure we'll pick up a few more small pumpkins to add to the mix.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I thought about putting mums in my planters, but I'm not quite ready to get rid of my geraniums yet!

 

Emmy had a fun play date with the girls on Wednesday while Bryce was at school.  Don't worry, Bryce got to go home from school with a friend for a play date, too! 

 

The girls had a great time in the playhouse.  We're considering getting the kids a playhouse for Christmas because they both enjoy playing in them.

 

Emmy loves to take books to bed.  When I checked the monitor last night and saw that Emmy had fallen asleep like this, I had to go up and take a picture (and move the book). 

 

Thank goodness tomorrow is a new day and Friday at that!! 

these two

Bryce and Emmy have gotten to the age where they don't play so nicely together anymore.  Things always start off well.  How can you go wrong when they both have the "same" toy?!?

 

 

Emmy eventually gets bored and does her own thing.

 

Bryce likes to torture his sister so he goes straight to her bike (his old bike) when she leaves it alone.

 

Emmy immediately sees what he's doing and runs after him to tell him "NO".  How cute is that outfit?!?

 

After he gets a turn, he gives Emmy the bike back and returns to his own.  Happy all the while that he messed with his sister.  He's a stinker! 

 

I look forward to when they play well together again.  It may never happen again!

fall fun

We headed to a local produce stand this morning for a few pumpkins and a couple of trips through the hay maze.  We met our buddy Keagan and his mom Melissa there.

 

 

Oh Bryce!  I can always count on you for the smile.  I finally get one from Emmy and you are looking silly!

 

Much better!

 

Emmy went through the hay maze in her stroller last year.  What a difference a year makes!

 

Bryce was so excited about taking a picture with the enormous pumpkins.  So excited that he smiled.  And so did Emmy!

 

Happy Fall Y'all

5 on friday

I thought that I was about done with five on Friday last week when I lazily came up with five of my favorite pumpkin foods.  However, I actually came up with some things this week that you all might enjoy!

 

 

 ONE: One of the great things about fall is the return of all of my favorite shows.  I'm looking forward to the premiere of these shows next week!!  We've been watching How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory since they started.  I was a little late catching onto Modern Family, but it seriously is the funniest show!!  How I Met Your Mother has gotten kind of silly over the years, but I've got to stick with it for this last season to find out who Ted marries!

 

 

 

TWO: Since my favorite shows have been on reruns or summer specials have been on, and we don't have cable, I've found myself reading quite a bit more than I usually do.  I have to admit, I don't really choose books that will teach me something or make more intelligent.  I tend to stick to chick "flick" type books.  I read Spring Fever early in the summer and then just finished Summer Rental this week.  I've really enjoyed Mary Kay Andrews so I picked up Ladies' Night while we were at the library the other day!



 

THREE: Ever since the temperatures have dipped, I've been burning my pumpkin pie candle.  I've never actually eaten pumpkin pie, but the smell of this candle is perfect for fall.

FOUR: My mission this weekend is to decorate the porch for fall.  This is one of my most favorite things about fall.  I just love mums and pumpkins.  I try to decorate the steps and the porch around the door, but I always get so overwhelmed.  I can never decide how many mums, how many pumpkins of each size and color, and whether or not to use hay and corn stalks.  This gorgeous house and porch gave me a little inspiration.

 

source

 

FIVE: Another one of my fall favorites is wine tasting.  We typically go to the mountains because they're the perfect backdrop to the vineyards there, but this year we're going somewhere more local.  Saturday we're taking a good friend to Saude Creek for her birthday and this picture has me really excited!  It looks like a fun place. 

 

Happy Friday Y'all.  Have a great weekend!  I'm excited about our fun fall weekend!

catching up

Last week I confessed that I had been horrible about taking pictures with an actual camera and vowed to do better.  I had also hoped to do better about posting said pictures.  However, I have not taken any pictures on a camera other than my phone since then and this is my first post since Friday.  Major Fail.  Well, the picture taking may have been a fail, but the blogging not so much.  I took a break from the computer some this week and it was nice!  At any rate, I decided to pop in and play a little catch up.

 

 

Emmy enjoys playing in the dryer. 

 

I had gotten Bryce dressed and ready for school the other day and then after breakfast he went back upstairs and came down dressed like this.  A completely different outfit from head to toe.  The tie is a nice addition don't you think?

We have been outside every chance we get to take advantage of this gorgeous fall weather.  Emmy loves Bryce's old bike and Bryce is loving his big boy bike.  He looks really big on it, but I think it's just the angle.

 

The kids spent a lot of time at my parents' house last week while we all took turns at doctors appointments.  Emmy enjoyed reading and napping with Nanny.  Nanny really enjoyed it!

5 on Friday

If you've found me through the link up today, I linked up from my phone because our internet wasn't working and for some reason when my picture was cropped, only my feet showed up and it posted my mobile version so it's a little blury. Oh well.

I'm linking up with Darci and the girls again this week for five on Friday.  We've been super busy this week with doctors appointments, Tuesday night church starting back up and baseball practice so I was kind of lazy with my 5.  I kept it simple and went with all things pumpkin.  I've already shared my love of the Krispy Kreme pumpkin spice donut and the pumpkin cheesecake cookies I found from Pepperidge Farm, but I have a few more pumpkin favorites.  And since I'm not a coffee drinker, I'm not including the infamous PSL from Starbucks!  I wish I liked coffee because I so want to try it.  Maybe there's a way to add the pumpkin spice to their hot chocolate.  However,  I'm not sure how that would taste. 

ONE

I love this Weight Watchers pumpkin muffin recipe I've been using for years.  All you need is a box of cake mix (I always use spice cake), one can of pumpkin, and one cup of water.  I know that some people don't add the water, but I think it makes the cake more moist. 



I came across this pumpkin cake mix yesterday at Target and thought it would be perfect for the pumpkin muffins.  I might have to make these this weekend since the temperature might finally be below 80.  That counts as fall, right?! 

TWO

I LOVE ice cream.  And I really love this Edy's pumpkin ice cream.  I had forgotten all about it until I was trying to think of 5 pumpkin things to post.  I can't wait to go back to the store and see if they have stocked it yet.

THREE

Pumpkin Pancakes!  I'm not actually sure I've had IHOP's pumpkin pancakes, but when I saw them advertised last year, I searched for a pumpkin pancake recipe and we made them a few times at home.  YUM!!

FOUR

Another Target find yesterday.  These pumpkin cereal bars (with vanilla filling) sounded kind of yummy.  I can't wait for breakfast! 

FIVE

Target had these pumpkin spice M&Ms advertised in the Sunday paper this past weekend and I've been on the hunt ever since.  I haven't found any yet, but I've got my eyes peeled.  I got the candy corn M&Ms last year and the white chocolate was just too sweet for me.  I'm worried the pumpkin spice flavor might be too strong. 

Do you have any other pumpkin favorites I need to know about?  Did you get tired of reading the work pumpkin?  I sure did!  I ended up going back and counting how many times I typed it (19) since it sounded so repetitive.  I just wanted to express my love of pumpkin (20)!!

from my phone

I feel like I've been slacking in the picture taking/blogging department lately.  With the ease of sharing pictures on facebook and instagram from my phone, I feel like I've been neglecting my cameras and the blog.  Maybe I haven't, but it sure feels like it.   I'm slowly trying to get caught up.  With Emmy's 19 month post, and race track fun, I think these last few pictures from my phone should do it. 

 

 

Emmy used to be terrified of the carousel, but now she gets pretty excited about it.  Who knows though, her opinion may change if I were to take the paci, ha!

 

Bryce joined Jason on opening day of dove season.  As in to hunting as Jason is, I always find it comical how unprepared Bryce is when it comes to attire for the hunt.  I guess that's because I'm not pushing hunting so I'm not buying camo, ha!

 

So much fun in store in the future for these two hunters. 

A typical morning around here.  Bryce gets in Emmy's bed every morning when she gets up.

 

Not sure what was going on here, but I do know they were both happy (Bryce just looks upset).

 

Jason did bath duty the other night so I could get the house picked up a little.  Bryce has always balled up in a ball on the bathroom floor after a bath.  Emmy has learned to follow his lead!

 

I took Bryce to a pediatric dentist on Tuesday to have some cavities filled.  My dentist had found two.  The new dentist did x-rays and found a third.  He ended up having two small cavities filled and then a much larger one ended up needing a mini root canal and crown.  The office was very kid friendly, the staff were amazing, and best of all, my little man was PERFECT.  The ladies couldn't get over how well behaved and brave he was.  Nana and I thought he deserved a treat for his bravery so she got him this Planes track he has been eying!  This thing has already proven to be hours of entertainment.

 

Poor little Emmy had an appointment with the allergy doctor today.  When Emmy had peanut butter for the first time, she broke out in hives on the back of her neck.  The second time she had it, she got hives around her mouth.  The third and final time she had peanut butter, she was scratching at her tongue.  The doctor confirmed today that she is in fact allergic to peanuts. 

 

Happy hump day, y'all.