Pumkin Patch(es)

I am insanely behind on everything (what else is new?) due to a crazy couple of weeks. We have been busy traveling and working on a couple of big projects and I promise a big update soon. A couple Saturdays ago we headed off to the Pumpkin Patch. The one we went to was about an hour away and was VERY crowded but we had a wonderful time. We spent a total of 6 hours there and would you believe we didn't even get to do all the activities they had?! Here are a few pictures:

Train ride:

Kiddo picture:
They had this huge bouncy bubble that was a cross between a trampoline and a bounce house. It was really fun and I had never seen anything like it:

Picking our pumpkins:
There was also a petting zoo, a huge slide (the kids went down over and over), corn maze, go carts, a giant sandbox full of dried corn where we stayed for at least an hour, a corn pyramid, hay ride and even more that we didn't get to. We also enjoyed a huge bag of kettle corn and homemade fudge from the candy store. It was a great fall day and we came home dusty and tired!

The following Monday I was able to chaperone Makenna's preschool pumpkin patch trip. She had a great time with all her friends:

Halloween Decor 09

Lots of my friends have been featuring their Halloween decor on their blogs and I decided to join the party. There is nothing that I like more than seeing the inside of my friends' homes. I'm only adding pictures if my stuff if it is new. This is the post I did on last year's decor.

Front Door {I still have the big basket of mums hung on the other side just like I did last year}:

I dream of having a front porch again like I did on my CT house. It was the cutest thing and I didn't even fully appreciate it at the time. It was so fun to decorate the porch and all the steps leading up to the house. Someday :)

Entryway:


{these houses look spectacular with little tea lights in them at night.}

Living room:
{This cloche just might be my favorite home decor item I've purchased this year! I have some big plans for it!}
Family room table {ok, I actually leave this little vignette up most of the year but add the sign and leaves. It's just a good picture}:
Kitchen table centerpiece:
{I took this awesome wooden bowl and threw in anything I had leftover from my decorating and then added the candles. It turned out surprisingly cute and it is low enough that I can leave it on the table during meals and we can still see each other over it!}

I also have other stuff up around the house and my piano is decorated but you've seen everything else before!

In case you are wondering:

Yes, the white walls are KILLING me.

No, you do not see my favorite piece of furniture to decorate in these photos (my black buffet) because it has become home to Allen's very large new TV. Sigh. I shouldn't complain, it was actually my idea as I was not about to purchase any more furniture, esp. to fit a house we don't own.

Last night I hosted book club at my house and was surprised at the number of people who mentioned they don't own any fall decorations. I was stunned! I love decorating for fall!!

The many faces of my children

Lately, I take an average of 500 pictures a week around here. Yikes. It's a lot, I know. Almost every day I pull out my camera and mess around with the settings and take pictures. Most of them never make it out of the camera onto the computer. In all my recent playing, I've noticed a couple of things about the way my kids take pictures.

Carter does not know how to do a natural smile. He is usually pulling some kind of silly or weird face unless I really beg him to do a "normal" smile. And his normal smile is completely fake and forced.

Addie will not look at me if I have the camera in my hand. No joke. I either have to catch her unaware or I get no pictures of her. It doesn't matter how silly the face or noise I make or how many times I call her name, she refuses to look at the camera.

Caught unaware, hence, no smile:I seriously love the way she is looking at M in this picture: Then there is Makenna. I promise I don't love her more than my other kidlets, but I swear there are no bad pictures of this girl. As I go through and delete, I almost always keep my pictures of her. Sigh. She is photogenic AND loves to pose for the camera. So someday, when I look back and wonder why there are a disproportionate number of pictures of Makenna, I will remember why!

I also have A LOT of pictures of Allen. He rolls his eyes a lot but is a really good sport about it. I always tell him that he is my only stationary subject so he naturally gets a lot of pictures taken.And seriously, this pictures sums up this post perfectly:

See what I mean?

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta {Part 1}

This weekend was the first weekend of the annual Albuquerque Balloon fiesta. Allen's sister Laurie came with her hubby Adam for the weekend and we had a great time. Let me tell you, I was honestly a little skeptical about dragging my kids out of bed at the crack of dawn to go see the balloons but we did it anyway. And oh my gosh, it was AMAZING. Like seriously one of the coolest things we've ever done. Pictures absolutely do it no justice.

We got to the grounds at about 6:30 a.m. {after spending an hour in traffic}, just in time to see the morning patrol. It is about 15 balloons that go up when it is still dark to test the wind and air. It's a beautiful sight as they lite up simultaneously every few minutes.

As the sun started to come up we saw just what a HUGE event it is. The grounds are huge and every square inch is covered with teams of balloonists putting up balloons. Hundreds of balloons - no joke. And then they start to ascend and it is an incredible sight. As soon as the first group is up, more teams come out and again cover every square inch of earth with balloons and put theirs up. We saw this happen a total of 4 times and by the end there are hundreds of balloons in the sky. The best part is that you can stand right there while they're putting them up. We were so close we could touch them!{first bunch of balloons starting to be inflated}

{a little more inflated}

This is the sight as we were walking back to the car. Mind you, this was only about half of the sky and you can see how many more balloons were still waiting to go up. SO AWESOME!A few of the more fun balloons we saw {there were a ton of these and the kids loved them}It was such a great morning, we can't wait to do it again next year. Part 2 will be next weekend when we go to the evening festivities. And yes, we literally stuck our kids in the car in their pjs, which is why they look so "casual." I highly recommend attending this event sometime in your life. I've never seen anything like it!

Great Deal on Snow White

Hey guys. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is being released tomorrow. A friend just told me about a $10 off coupon promotion plus a $5 rebate for the movie. Target should have it on sale for $16.99 so if you stack the coupons you should be able to get it for $1.99. Not a bad deal at all.

Go here to print off the coupon and rebate form:

Snow White Coupon

Go quick, they only let a limited number of printouts for this coupon.

Happy Shopping

Before and After

A few weeks ago my friend JJ decided to host a contest of the ugliest thing in your home. This beauty was going to be my entry {in the end I didn't get it in on time}:

This is a hope chest that my mom and dad gave me one year for Christmas. It's been sitting in storage for a long time. Don't be jealous that you don't have the late 80s chintz that was used to decorate your room still in your possession.

One of the things I love about the house we're in right now is that we have a designated guest room. So I've been sprucing it up a bit for some fall company we have planned {the first of which is coming this weekend!} I have taken a HUGE departure from my traditional color palettes and have gone really bright and funky in this room. It is turning out really, really cute. This will give you a little glimpse at the brightness of the room. Here's the after of my hope chest:

{Promise she's not so shiny IRL - bad lighting}

Stay tuned, I'm super close to having the entire room done and I can't wait!