Nov 28, 2016

Fall 2016

Oh blog, how I have missed you.  Seriously.  As grateful as I am to have a job that I love, I feel like I have given up everything I used to love to do.  I need to find that again, so here I am!

We had an amazing fall, truly!  It was CRAZY busy with the girls' activities, but we still made time to do all the fall things!  As much as I love summer, it's damn exhausting!  I love the cool evenings, especially when it gets darker earlier.  To me it's just so cozy, and I get to watch TV!!

So here are some of the things we love about fall...

*snort*

Image result for fall ecards

First off.....

Image result for pumpkin spice and everything nice

Need I say more?  I actually found a wonderful recipe for Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Iowa Girl Eats.  They were SO good and very easy to make!  And along with that was our favorite Pumpkin Scones from Damn Delicious.  I bet I made these 5 or 6 times, they are delicious!!

Second on our list is the pumpkin patch.  We have several around here that we like to visit.  They always have live music, vendors selling homemade items and lots of yummy stuff to buy.  I love that my girls still love to do this with me.


I love that they get just as excited about all the fall!!


September and October were INSANE.  Rachel started a new school this year and absolutely LOVES it!  It was the best (and most stressful) decision we made!  Her volleyball team played awesome, and they were so fun to watch.  We are so proud of this kid and how far she has come in volleyball!


Emma decided to try swimming this year and we are so glad she did!  Emma has amazed us both in how much she learned and how much she improved!  We LOVE watching her swim and I am so happy to see her be a part of a team and all the cool things they do!



Mousey joined orchestra this year and is really enjoying it!  She has graduated from plucking and is learning how to use the bow right now.  It's so fun to see how much better they get in such a short amount of time!  She is also loving 5th grade, I guess she's not such a baby anymore...


October brought Halloween...

I love that they still love to carve pumpkins!


Alayna dressed up as Meredith Grey from Grey's Anatomy and Emma dressed as a witch.  It was a gorgeous night to trick or treat!  We ordered pizzas with some friends and walked the neighborhood in town, so fun!


For the Halloween bus this year the guys dressed as Amish men and we were their hootchie mamas.  It was a ton of fun again!!


I woke up the girls super early one school morning to take them to The Local Blend for an early breakfast.  So much fun to get out of our routine and enjoy each other's company!


As crazy as fall was, we really enjoyed our time from evenings campfires to fall festivals to decorating and enjoying some of our favorite cool weather soups/stews.  
Some of our faves:






I would like to give a big shout out to all you mamas who work outside the home with littles at home.  I have NO idea how you do it!  My girls are extremely independent and older, but I still feel like a wreck most of the time trying to make that balance of working mom/mom/wife and an actual person, haha!!  I hate that I maybe don't do all the fun little crafts and things that I used to do when I was home with them.   However, I think they're growing up ok.  I hope.