Thank God for Leaf Blowers.

I love this house. I love its location, I love that we are in a quiet neighborhood, I love the view and for most of the summer I loved the trees. Our house that is surrounded by 5 very large, very old trees, and that's not counting the neighbors or the park, that's just in our small yard. We've debated for a few months which approach to raking is better. It seems most of neighbors fall into the category of raking once a week for many weeks. I was of the mindset that it would be better to wait for all the leaves to be off the trees before you start raking. I'm still not convinced which way is better. But let's just say I spent the better half of the last 2 weeks raking....EVERY SINGLE DAY! And on Thursday I was shoveling leaves as fast as I could before the snow fell, and so were my neighbors.

One thing is for sure. The boys loved them.
And I'm so glad to be done with it until next year.

Now my leaves are piled into 30+ bags that need to get to the dump. Good Times.

A Field Trip

Yesterday morning we had to be up, dressed, fed and out the door by 7:30am. Something that I'm not sure has ever happened around here. And guess what? It did. And, I even showered, I know I was up early! Normally I can't get anywhere before 10am. It was a record setting day. And where were we going at that ungodly hour?

Carson's class was headed on a field trip to the pumpkin patch and I had volunteered to help drive. Which I later found out meant I was responsible for any child that was in my car while were at the pumpkin patch. So, that meant I chased around 3 boys yesterday. It was a little crazy and wore me out! I'll be thinking twice on the next field trip about driving.

So we had to wake the boys up pretty early. And they both wanted to snuggle in mommy's bed where it was warm and cozy.

He had more fun then this picture portrays.

Carson was a little clingy to me at first. I think he might do better without me around. He was the only one who refused to turn around for the picture.

But after a little talking to I at least got him to turn around, not smile, but he's facing the right way.

On a wagon ride.

The place we went is actually a tree farm. So we were surrounded by 18,000 Christmas Trees. It was the best fresh air I have ever smelled. Their sign as you drive in even says, "Breathe Deep" and I sure did!

Sling shooting baby pumpkins. Yes, this farm had it all!

Especially a pretty back drop to their pumpkin patch.

Snack Time.

All the fun must have worn them out because Carson napped for 3 hours, Declan for 4 and this tired mommy for 1.

Apples, Apples, Apples!!

On Saturday we took the boys to the orchard and let them pick apples. They both had a blast.

And how many applies did we get? Well 34 pounds worth to be exact.

Holy Apples Batman! I tried convincing Trevor I needed an apple peeler but he didn't agree (mostly because it was $25). But he doesn't have to cut all these up! Should be fun!

Leaves, Leaves and more Leaves

13 Steps to Enjoying a Leaf Pile

1. First leaves must be raked into a pile. Using a rake that is 4 times your body length may make this task difficult.

2. Stand around and watch your little brother and daddy do all the work. Repeating several times, "Now mommy? Now can I jump in them?"

3. Give up on raking leaves since daddy HAD to do it his way.

4. Try and take cute pictures with your brother while we wait for daddy to make the World's Largest Leaf Pile.

5. Get rewarded with candy corn for at least sitting and trying to take pictures, smiling at the same time was apparently optional.

6. Stare in disbelief that daddy really did make the World's Largest Leaf Pile.

7. Jump in the Leaf Pile.

8. Take turns sitting in leaf pile.

9. Try not to eat the leaves.

10. Bury daddy in the leaf pile.

11. Throw leaves in the air.

12. Enjoy the leaf pile with your brother.

13. And last but not least....relax in leaf pile while mommy takes a cute picture of you.

And a video....it's a little long and the quality isn't very good. Guess that's what you get when you try and make a 6 minute video fit into 4MB, Oops.

A is for Apple Picking

I love fall! Today my MOMS Club visited the local Apple Orchard for some apple picking. It was an absolute blast. Both boys had so much fun. We had story time, snack time, played on some hay, visited the petting zoo and picked apples. We came home with a big bag of apples and Carson is so excited about them. Hopefully I can keep him eating them because he loved it today....so did Declan.

Santa Claus read us a story about apples. And just in case your wondering, Santa is from California, we saw his driver's license.

Carson enjoyed a snack of apples and apple juice. Yummy!

After snack time we visited the petting zoo. Declan loved the animals.

And I think its safe to say that they loved him!

Checking out the chickens.

And the chickens checking out Declan.

Playing on the hay.

Still climbing!

Goofy Boy!

I think he's done with the hay.

Obviously they were checking out whoever was behind me. Far more interesting then mommy with her camera.

My Silly Boys.

I thought it was tough getting 2 kids to look at the camera, try 4!

Declan waves to the camera.

Anthony just gave up and started laughing at the ridiculousness that is 4 mommies trying to take pictures.

Crazy Boys!

We're going to have to work on the looking at mommy thing. At least they are smiling!

All the munchkins

Carson and Anthony (our realtor's son) ready for the wagon ride.

Picking apples!

He loved it and had a hard time stopping when our bag was full. We'll have to go back especially since they don't take a credit card and mom had no checks or cash on her!

We topped off our afternoon with a visit to McDonalds for lunch with all the kids. Both kids are sacked out for their nap which will hopefully be a long one. Its the 3rd day that Carson has been in his big boy bed. He's done well but naptime today was a little tricky. Note to self: Make sure ALL toys have left the room or he will get up and play with them. ;-)

Also, I forgot to mention it but yesterday would have been my sister's 37th birthday. So, Happy Birthday Cari! I hope your birthday was fabulous!