Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Tis the season

Fall is my FAVORITE time of the year! Although I must admit I am a little disgusted with Mother Nature this fall. I feel like we have been jipped this year!! For example, this is what we woke up to on October 10th..yes October 1oth!

I was completely unprepared! Carter was dying to go outside but I had no hat, mittens or boots for him yet so we had to dig into the depths of the closet for his rain boots, one of Jeremy's hats and some mittens I had gotten at a garage sale that would likely fit a 10 year old! Luckily my 4 year old doesn't have a fashion sense yet! We had plans that morning to hit the Covered Bridge Festival in Winterset and then Howell's Pumpkin Patch but got a rude awakening instead. The weekend before the snow hit we did visit another one of our favorite spots, Center Grove Orchard. They had a new attraction this year, a GIGANTIC slide that you rode down on in a sled. I lost count how many times Carter hoofed it up that hill dragging that sled behind him.




We attempted the corn maze this year and were bound determined to find all 10 hidden things in the corn maze. After a little over an hour of looking and still missing one item we threw in the towel. Carter wanted to keep looking but I bribed him with something sweet from the gift shop so I could get him out of the maze.



Come on mom..I KNOW it is this way!


To top off the maze from HELL Claire fell asleep while I was carrying her. Nothing like lugging a 20 lb kid around lost in a corn maze! Oh yeah, did I mention it had rained for 3 days straight before that so we were covered in mud too! Poor Claire toughed it out even with double ear infection and 6 new teeth...the pictures say it all!











I can FINALLY reach the pedals this year!


Jumping pillow


Apple sling shot


Last Monday we finally got a nice fall day and the kids and I hit Howell's pumpkin patch with the Rhodes family. This is such a great place! We took a hayrack ride to the pumpkin patch, played in the corn pit, rode the wiggle cars, petted some animals, and climbed the huge hay bale stack.





Claire's pink wiggle car!

This pumpkin is heavy!

We are gearing up for Halloween. I have been busy working Carter's costume. He decided a long time ago he wanted to be a mummy. I did some research and many websites suggested staining ripped sheets in tea to give it a "old" look. Well, as I didn't have any tea, I soaked the rags in coffee. BIG mistake! After washing them and drying them with numerous dryer sheets they still REAK like coffee! Obviously there is a reason for using tea! I tried to wrap him up in the rags to try out the look and he plugged his nose the entire time! So, I may be starting over! I am hoping airing them out will do the trick. This "easy" costume has eaten up way too much of my time! Claire is wearing Carter's hand me down monkey costume. I'll post some pictures of my little ghouls next week! Happy Halloween everyone!