Help Me, Obi-Won Kenobi, You're My Only Hope (in summing Autumn up in a nutshell)

Here's what happened this Autumn, and if I get really ambitious, I'll do a seperate post about some of these...but don't hold your breath. ;)

Rigby Study Club started back up again, with some "sweet" reminders of why being a girly girl has no generation gap.

We went on a hayride (here's mom, also a Study Club member) enjoying the beautiful outdoors.

Ridin' the haybales, Idaho-style, until reminders of why I would never live on a farm kicked in with hay allergies.

Just a snippet of Idaho's grandeur, just a few miles from home. So, I can get the best of both worlds with the beautiful country at my doorstep but allergy medication in my medicine cabinet back home in town.

Seth is also continuing to grow up, despite my requests that he slow down a little:
He is quickly beginning to get sucked into the technology world, courtesy of people like his Uncle Brandon. Ugh.

We also spent time with family (while only a few *cough*Chris*cough* were sucked into the technology world):

We took advantage of some sweet end o' the season discounts at Yellowstone Bear World with the family and loaded into my parents van like sardines. Literally.


Seth and Eliza were in absolute heaven on the rides at Bear World (they were FREE with admittance so they went on the cute rides over and over and over again)

Eliza loved feeding the goats in the petting zoo (like her tie-dyed shirt we made over the summer?!)

Seth loved to pet the animals...as long as they stood perfectly still.

And then we got ready for Halloween:

Riding the train while picking out pumpkins at our favorite pumpkin patch with Chris's family.

And then Halloween!

Halloween was Star Wars to the max, baby! I have never had SO much fun figuring out costumes for the family (like my high school graduation robe turned into Princess Leaia robe?!)

Yoda had enough with Storytime (and you can see Darth Vader's helmet in the background, so he wasn't the only one)

Darth Vader (minus the helmet) enjoying our Halloween Storytime

Miss Holly's Storytime is the best! She went all out for Halloween, with a magic pumpkin patch in the hall where the previous week kids sprinkled pumpkin seeds (Eliza ate hers) and the next week they "grew" into pumpkin treat bags. SO cute!
Princess Leia enjoying her cupcake at our Halloween playgroup!

And what's Halloween without Mr. Clean?! My brother Matt really didn't have to do much to pull this household name off. He was so proud of himself.

Thanksgiving suddenly sprung upon us and I forgot to take pictures. Food was delicious though, which I'll be posting more about soon.

So there's my pretty big nutshell of Autumn and I have some exciting ideas for posts to come forthwith.

Glad to be back!

ADD leaf raking

Wednesday was one of those gorgeous fall days that I could not stay inside, so I took advantage of the kiddies nap time and decided to rake some leaves.

I happily started a pile, only to see in my peripheral a better grouping of leaves to rake, so I'd start on that one, then get distracted again in sweeping leaves off with my big broom onto the sidewalk into the lawn to then rake up, etc, etc, etc....

I've concluded that I get ADD when I rake leaves.

Once the kiddies woke up from their naps, they thought my ADD piles were just for them, so who am I to burst their bubbles?!

Eliza enjoying her very own leaf pile...which she then "blended" in to "Seth's" after running back and forth between them.

Since the last post on the tree , I've had a neighbor fill 4 big bags full to spread as compost on their garden, gave juevenile detention kids something to do by raking our leaves and our widow neighbor's, and had the kiddies test out the piles. It's pretty easy to figure out which group had the most fun.

It's raining leaves, hallelujah, it's raining leaves!

Seth's display of sweet karate moves to prove to the leaves who's boss. And yes, that's the broom in the background I used during the ADD raking.

Scooping up the leaves like big brother!

Seth thought it would be cool to bury Eliza, and not suprisingly, she was all for it!

The funnel of leaves in our driveway even brought over one of the neighbor kiddies because it's so fun! Our neighbor friend calls it the "swimming pool" and informed me not to rake it up...yeah, it's still there.

With all the volunteer work, one could conclude that the leaves are almost off the tree and the fun is nearly done. Nope. Still lots of potential leaf piles, service projects, and compost for gardens left to be had!

The Great Pumpkin Patch...and a Red Barn

Though it's been there for years, we discovered an adorable u-pick pumpkin patch that had a hay maze, little train (that wasn't working) and a hay ride through the expansive pumpkin patch. Even better than last year's pumpkin picking excursion. Cute little kodak moments were everywhere!

We still got pics of the kiddies on the train, but at least I didn't have to worry about a motion picture! We may go back because it's that cool of a place.

Inside the barn they had tons of photo opportunities to pose next to symbols of Autumn. It took a few tries to get everyone (cough-Chris-cough) to smile, but that's the joys of digital cameras!

I just loved that this punkin was the size of my punkins!

We had to keep the babies distracted to take the pictures (which is why they aren't looking at me) because it was SO cool in there!
Right outside the back of the barn they had a maze for the kiddies to go on. Seth took off in excitement before Nana realized it.

Eliza kept getting lost so she stayed right on Nana's heels. I don't think she cared much for the maze.
Instead, Eliza decided to make her own trail and took off in the cornstalks at the end of the maze which were nice and straight.

Chris grabbed her before she went too far, but they decided to take the time to make silly faces before coming back, the weirdos.
Seth, however, emerged victorious! That maze had nothing on him.
After the maze we took off in search of the perfect pumpkin while the kiddies rode on the pumpkin cart.

Denise did her auntly duties and pulled the tots while we looked over the field to make sure we got just the right one.

Back in the barn, we rang up the purchases before we took off for sandwiches and apple streusel with Chris's brother and family.

Loved their pumpkin art. Had to capture it while Chris was chasing the kids.

Yay for pumpkins during the Autumn Season! Off to get warmed up!

It has begun...

These are images of our widow neighbor's gargantuan tree and all the leaves that will soon be dropping.

I had to get an image of the lawn before the downpour of leaves causes me to forget it exists.

My little cottage's roof is dwarfed by the tree's limbs (bottom left). I'm just glad we have homeowner's insurance!

Leaves completely cover our whole lot about 4 inches deep (at least, I plan on measuring this year!), some of which are so large they had to have been mutated by some vengeful autumn sprite. It makes keeping the house clean super awesome until the snow covers up any piles we forgot about.

One thing's for sure, the kiddies will have the COOLEST leaf pile to jump into!

Pun'kin Patch Time

Talk about a perfect photo opportunity! Chris, Seth, Eliza and I all went to the U-Pick Pumpkin Patch today to find some pumpkins with Chris's family. It was SO fun, as you can tell from the pictures! It's VERY family oriented and kid-friendly. I highly recommend it to anyone that is looking for a little family time during the Harvest Season, though it's a bit out of the way to get to it (if you're familiar with Taylor Mountain, it's like, right in its shadows).

Seth did NOT want to sit on the haybales for the picture and was saying, "Down" as he pointed with his finger where he preferred to be.


Chris's little sister Denise took Seth through the hay maze that's just perfect for toddlers.


Denise was helping me "distract" Seth into looking at the camera by wiggling her fingers around behind me, which Seth got a big kick out of while he was sitting on the porch of the little barn they have set up to pay in.


I just loved this picture of Seth following behind Chris with another cart to load the pumpkins in. Like father like son!


Finding our pumpkins! (l-r: Chris, Michael, Stephanie, Denise holding Eliza, Natalie holding Seth *who did not want to take another stinkin' picture* and Kathy)

If you want to take the family, just travel down Ammon Road, past the little Speedi Mart there and keep going until you get to 97th South. Take a right and you'll see the big field on your left. Let me know how it went!