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And That's a Wrap on October 2019...

  • Nov 3, 2019

Updated: Jan 27, 2020

The thing I look forward to the most when Fall rolls around each year is Halloween... and ALL the Fall things leading up to it.


Last year we started a tradition of going up to the apple orchards in Oak Glen to hand pick our own apples. I don't know why but I always envision my girls and I picking a crap load of apples to bake some homemade apple pies... even though I've never baked an apple pie in my entire life. Instead, we just picked enough to last us a couple of days. So I guess you could say, we really just go for the experience and the photos. What can I say? I'm just your typical #instamom through and through.




 

Then the next weekend after, we hit up our first and last pumpkin patch of the season. We've all been kinda busy this year so we waited till the last minute to go. And this is a tradition that we started waaaay back before Ella + Everly were even thought of. We made sure to get there at least an hour or 2 before the sun set to get a lot of pictures in (of course) and then we waited till the rest of Daniel's family joined us for more fun. If you haven't been to Live Oak Canyon Pumpkin Patch in Yucaipa/Redlands, you have to go. They've got a corn maze, zip lining, games, rides, FOOD, live entertainment... it's just a whole lotta fun for the family. We stayed till they closed at 10pm on a Saturday night and it was SO much fun.



 

And then came my favorite -- Halloween! We do this thing where we go to my Brother-in-law's house to be a part of his "haunted house" crew. He's got his entire front lawn and porch all decked out with all kinds of scary-ish decor. His garage is where the candy's at. And the trick-or-treaters need to make their way up the driveway and past all the scary creatures (us) that are lurking around. But before we get all dressed up in our scary costumes, we take the little kids trick-or-treating around the block just before it gets dark. So for that, Ella chose our family themed costumes. Can you guess the theme?



 

So now that all of THAT is over (still kinda sad about it), we get to look forward to all the Thanksgiving grub and CHRISTMAS!!! I'm already planning all the Christmas things (actually started a couple of weeks ago).


How was your Halloween? What are your plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas? Tell me ALLLL the things!!!!

 

Why We LOVE Halloween

  • Nov 2, 2018

Oh my gosh it's been SUCH a crazy busy week! I cannot believe how fast October flew by. Halloween came and went and now it's November. And I don't know about you, but even though I love a good Thanksgiving dinner with all the turkey, stuffing and pies, I'm actually kinda already looking forward to Christmas.


Before my posts start shifting into all things Christmas, I wanted to just recap the end of our October and all the fun stuff we did since my last post. I didn't think we'd have time to visit any more pumpkin patches before the month ended, but we managed to squeeze in a last minute family adventure at Live Oak Canyon Pumpkin Patch in Yucaipa, CA this past Saturday. It's a huge family affair that we do every year (with the exception of last year because I just didn't have the energy to go - Everly was a newborn at the time). We always have a great time and I'm just so glad we were able to continue with this tradition.


This pumpkin house may or may not be the main reason why I really wanted to go this year...


AND because I wanted to make sure I got to take the obligatory "cutest pumpkin in the patch" picture...


But seriously.... other than taking pics for the gram (and the blog), we were there for the memories and the rides.



On Monday we went over to my brother-in-law's house so my girls could carve pumpkins with my nieces.


My nieces London and Paris were all about gutting the pumpkins and playing with the seeds. Ella and Everly, on the other hand, were all about running around chasing the dog. And then maybe 15 minutes into it, London and Paris abandoned their pumpkins for the parentals to do all the carving.


We've carved pumpkins every year for the last 5 years or so and I noticed our designs have been getting more and more "simple"... because it's so time consuming and sometimes too dang hard. I think maybe next year, we'll just paint pumpkins instead. Or at least until our girls are older and can carve the pumpkins themselves.


And then came Halloween. The holiday we love so much... because we get to dress up, eat candy, and scare the bajeezus out of the kiddies. And adults, too.


Ella wanted to be a pink cat. And she wanted Baby to be a black cat. And because my child is the boss around here... we had no choice but to be Daddy Cat + Mommy Cat.



My brother-in-law always hosts a Haunted House at his house and family + friends show up to join in on the fun. But because Halloween was on a weekday and not the weekend, only a few showed up this year.



After we took the kids trick-or-treating around the block, we came back and changed into something a little bit more scary... well, Daddy Cat did. Mommy Cat had to keep Princess Cat and Baby Cat company because they just weren't interested in taking part in it. So we sat on the sidelines and watched all the Halloween fun happen.


Halloween is something we look forward to every year. Because it's not just a day where we get to dress up as whatever we want. Or that we get to indulge in our favorite candies - chocolates for me. We look forward to October and Halloween because it's the kickoff to a season of family bonding + adventures. Life can get so busy all year round for everyone, and the holidays kinda helps make quality time more of a priority... even though we should be making it a priority always.


Tell me what you love (or don't love) about Halloween and the Fall/Holiday season? I'd love to hear from you!


Pumpkin Patchin' and All Things Fall

  • Oct 24, 2018


It's Fall Ya'll!


Well, it was for like 2 seconds but Mother Nature has a thing about teasing us Southern Californians with a brief taste of Fall - you know, she lets the weather cool down enough for us to break out the sweaters and beanies so we can FINALLY enjoy some Fall goodness and then a day or 2 later she's all like "just kidding, girl!"


Yup. True story!


The first weekend of October, we got the cool crisp air and temps dipped down into the 60s, which was PERFECT because we were eager to start crossing things off our Fall Bucket List. We went to Riley's Apple Farm up at Oak Glen in Redlands, CA with my brother-in-law, his wife, and 2 girls (London & Paris). I've never been actual apple picking before. And as you can probably imagine, I was beyond ecstatic to be able to experience it for the first time with my girls.



Restaurant + Bakery at Riley's Apple Farm

So I had this idea that we'd pick a whole bucket full of apples and then we'd be able to bring them home and bake all kinds of pies and stuff! Because that's what you do in the Fall, right? First off, I've NEVER baked an apple pie in my life so it was highly unlikely that I would have really made one. But the thought itself was ambitious enough to drive all the way to an apple orchard. And second, we didn't pick enough apples. They were gone by the time we left the farm because my husband and 2 babes ate them all up. Go figure.





Ella chillin' in her Baby Jogger City Select stroller

Riley's Apple Farm also had a pumpkin patch up at the top of the hill so we got to do some pumpkin patching there, too! Both our girls picked their pumpkins, this mama blogger got her fair share of photos, and everyone enjoyed themselves! It turned out to be a great start to Fall!




Or what we thought was the start of Fall here in Sunny Southern California.


Summer came back and the "All Things Fall"-ish feeling kinda went away. We were hoping to hit up more Pumpkin Patches: Peltzer Pumpkin Farm in Temecula and Live Oak Canyon Pumpkin Patch in Yucaipa (which is a family tradition and we usually go every year) but it just didn't happen. The hubby has had to work a lot and we've been kinda busy doing other things that we didn't get a chance to.


But hey, 1 more weekend left before Halloween and still a few more things to do like Pumpkin Carving at my sister-in-law's house (which has been another family tradition for like the last 5 years), finishing up Halloween costumes and then some major trick-or-treating to wrap up the month of October!!! Can't wait to show you more Fall goodness so stay tuned!



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Do you have a Fall Bucket List? What have you accomplished thus far?

Share in the comments below!



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