Patchwork of Pumpkins

We don't go to a pumpkin 'patch' per se. We always go down to our little garden center. It is tradition now, and the kids get pretty excited.

This year, we snuck in our trip to get pumpkins between primary program practice, June's photo shoot and a date with Pearl. Saturdays can be great for getting a lot accomplished. Sadly, Tyler was not able to come with us. He was hiking around Goblin Valley. But we picked up a pumpkin for him.

Before we even got in the car, Ivory found a ladybug. It must mean good luck.

Pumpkins are such funny things. They come in so many sizes and shapes. Look at the fun curly-q stem that Robyn found on this pumpkin.

Now check out Pearl sitting on this HUGE pumpkin. I heard one kid walk by and say, "Those aren't real, are they mom?" They sure are. Some pumpkins don't know when to stop. Maybe that is why they are called 'squash.'

Let the hunt begin. Can you find the perfect pumpkin Daisy?

Robyn was looking for Dad too. His request was tall and skinny.

Some people take the picking decision pretty seriously.

My Goth girls are at it again. Remember, they are SPIES.

Pearl may look distraught in this picture, but really she is oohing and aahing over the tininess of these pumpkins.

Spy rides...the best.

Looks like everyone found something. All these pumpkins are destined for great things.

One more group photo. Despite the lack of genuine smiles, I think they all had a great time.

The Rest of Fall Break

Despite our original plans falling through, Fall Break was really fun. Tyler and I got to spend a lot of time with the kids and each other.

Some things we did:

MUSEUM OF CURIOSITY

I wanted to make sure we did something fun for the kids and since we have a membership, the museum is always a good option. Plus, the kids never seem to get bored. They had a blast and I sat and read for almost two hours. (I will probably play with them next time...I was just in a good book.) Naturally I didn't take a lot of pictures, but I did catch one of Robyn in Water Works. They had quite the geyser going and both she and June left soaked.

Gotta love these five monkeys.

ANNIVERSARY PICTURES

HOT AIR BALLOONS

FACE PAINTING

June will look for any excuse to paint faces. With Halloween coming up, the paint had been out more anyway. We had a lot of fun doing different, silly, creative designs.

I did Ivory's face.

June did mine. Thank you for the shark on my mouth.

Scariest thing I've seen in a long time. The shark is frightening as well.

Speaking of scary, Robyn looks like a sinister villain to me. She could give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money.

Robyn did June's face. Gotta love face paint.

CAR REPAIRS

We also experienced some car troubles during Fall Break. Tyler and I were coming back from running errands. I stopped to get gas and the car never started again. Turns out the battery just up and died. We called a tow and I walked home to get our other car to pick up Tyler. It was a nice 2 mile walk, even if it was unplanned.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Tyler and I went to see our one movie for the year. (Well, realistically, we go out to the theater more like twice a year.) We went to see the new Mission Impossible movie. I'm so proud of myself. I have gone to enough of these that I didn't fall for the bait when they tried to get the audience to think in one direction. I leaned over to Tyler and told him exactly what was going to happen. And I was right. Granted...I didn't guess everything, but it was a fun movie. The bad guy's voice was weird, but made him even more creepy. I like a good bad buy. (Meaning he is good at being bad, not a good guy whose is labeled bad like Wreck it Ralph.)

That about wraps up the festivities of Fall Break. In retrospect I'm glad we stayed home, although I wish it didn't come about from Grandma getting hurt.

Forget Kites...Let's Go Fly a Hot Air Balloon

In the summer, we switched rooms and painted one room sky blue. There was always the plan to add hot air balloons, but we thought it might be fun for Grandma Cazier to come paint with us. She is quite the artist.

But time kept marching on and when Grandma had her accident, we figured it was time to go ahead and use whatever talent we had on hand. Luckily, some creative genes have filtered down through both lines and we had plenty of talent to choose from.

Everyone got involved. Each person had at least one balloon, although we let June do extra balloons because it is her room and she really wanted to.

Tyler had taken time off for our anniversary (when we were still planning Mt. Rushmore) so we got to spend a relaxing day with the kids, painting away.

Ivory took this picture for me. It was my heart balloon before I outlined it. It looked better before the outlining, so in essence I took one for the team to figure that out. But sometimes you don't know until you try, right?

Look how cute the balloons turned out.

Let's get a closer look at each one. They are each labeled with their creator. I still can't decide a favorite. They are all so great.

I helped Daisy on this one. She painted everything but the petals. Oh...and the basket. I did the baskets on all the balloons at the end.

The outlined heart balloon.

Some of the balloons are smaller than others as if they are farther off in the distance. But even the small ones are super cute.

Pearl did such a great job on her balloon. I only touched up edges for her.

This one was fun to do.

Another smally, but goody.

So patriotic!!

This one is berry special. (Sorry, sometimes I can't help myself.)

Robyn spent forever on this one. It was epic. She even has some shading in the yellow area.

This one is 3D since it is painted into a corner.

Ivory wanted neon paint, but I bought metallic instead. I think it gives it a nice sheen.

Dad called this the 'Princess Balloon' since it was so fancy.

Naturally, he needed another balloon to protect his Princess Balloon. So, he made a zeppelin. (Notice the matching pennants.) I like to call it his dirigible. (The girls learned some new vocab words over Fall Break.)

Everyone did a fabulous job. Every time I walk into the room, it makes me smile. Even on a rainy day, the sun is shining and the balloons are flying at our house.

Sweet Sixteen

Happy Anniversary to Tyler and myself. You may recall that it is not our actual anniversary, but we have been celebrating in October for three years now and it was one of our better decisions.

This year, we had big plans. HUGE! We were headed to Mt. Rushmore. That was the epic plan right up until our babysitter slipped and fell, knocking herself out and lying in toxic chemicals for a good 45 minutes giving herself 2nd and 3rd degree burns up both arms. (Sheesh, the things some people will do to get out of watching our kids.)

Just kidding, Grandma Cazier obviously did not slip on purpose. She was in quite a lot of pain for a while, but having seen her just this last weekend, I can tell you that she is doing very well and her arms look wonderful. But the timing for Mt. Rushmore squelched those plans. 

So we stayed home for Fall Break and spent it with the kids. We did some fun activities that I'll blog about soon, but let's stay focused on me and Tyler for just a few more minutes. 

We did go out to take our anniversary picture. We took one last year, and we plan on keeping the picture in the picture. Like so.

There were several that didn't make the final cut, but we liked anyway. 

It is just the two of us and a tripod, so we end up with some practice pictures as we check focus and such. Don't mind some extra pictures of this handsome fellow.

The funniest picture came after we had wrapped up. We left a very shaded area and came upon a duck in the sunshine. Tyler was determined to get a stellar shot, but he forgot to change the settings so it was a little bright. I stood in the blazing sun while he took dozens of shots of this duck and none of them were good. It makes me laugh.

We didn't get out to dinner during the break, but we did manage dessert. During our outing, we planned a date for the next 12 months. Last year we focused on a different area of our marriage each month, but it got hard to keep going all month, or even to get started sometimes. We figured we can manage one date a month. We planned some fun things. I'll try to get pictures and document so we can see what we enjoyed the most during the year. Here we are enjoying our dessert. Actually, the company was much better than the dessert.

It wasn't Mt. Rushmore, but you know what? It doesn't quite matter where I am as long as Tyler is with me. I'm sure we'll get out there sometime, and maybe just take all the kids with us. 

Tyler is the best guy around. We make such a good team. Sixteen years is just the tip of the iceberg. I can't wait for all the future adventures in store for us. And I wouldn't want to have anyone else by my side.

Welcome Insanity (a.k.a. November)

Dear November,

How are you doing? Hanging in there? I wonder if you have mixed feelings about yourself. You seem to be overlooked a little. There is a huge ramp up to Halloween and the minute that is over, people start touting Christmas. Have they forgotten there is a holiday in November as well? And I believe everyone could be a little more thankful. In fact, thank YOU November for reminding everyone to be a tad more grateful.

In lieu of skipping you entirely, it seems people have decided to give you some other purpose. (As if Thanksgiving and Black Friday --not a real holiday--are not enough.) Now they designate you with weird titles like National Blog Post a Day Month. Or National Novel Writing Month. Actually, I was curious, so I looked it up. You have been labeled with 47 different things. (And NaBloPoMo wasn't even on the list!!) Can I tell you my favorites?

Green and Plantains Month (What? Why?)
National Adoption Month (Take your pick...highway, child, pet, etc.)
National Marrow Awareness Month (Please think about your bones more this month)
National Pet Cancer Awareness Month (Humans, you can have the other 11 months)
Worldwide Bereaved Siblings Month (Why is there a month for this? Isn't it more of a lifetime thing?)
NoSHAVEember/Movember -- Beard Month (Poor Tyler, he can't even participate)

The list just goes on and on (Peanut Butter, Historic Bridges, International Drums, Diabetic Eye Disease, Banana Pudding, Pepper, Scholarships, Roasting...)

Something makes me think that if I looked up the other 11 months, they would have just as many ridiculous things attached to them. Now I'm scared to check.

And that is just the 'month' items. There are weekly things like Pursuit of Happiness Week or National Fig Week. Then they have you all broken down into individual days. (National Play Monopoly Day, National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day, National Men Make Dinner Day.) How do you keep up? And what about the conflicting days? I believe the day after Thanksgiving is labeled as Black Friday, but also as Buy Nothing Day. (Take your pick world.)

I suddenly feel sorry for you November. You have more on your plate than I do. I'm sure you can relate to Nov. 20th -- National Absurdity day.

I have more respect for you. I think I will try to be a little more aware of the blessings of each day and that I don't have to box myself into eating pickles or reading Chicken Soup for the Soul.
I will happily spend my days blogging. That is my personal choice of how to spend my time and effort.

Enjoy the falling leaves as you usually do. And not too much early snow, okay?

Talk to you later,
Maleen

p.s. November, I don't mean to be cheeky about everything. I understand that Lung Cancer and Epilepsy are serious things, but I don't think you need just one month to think about them. And I will probably never be able to support National Vegan Month. I like chicken way too much.