karaspeak

It's hard to believe this was our third time to visit Gentry's Farm as a family. Aiden was only 3 months old on our first visit and it seems like just yesterday we were making him pose with us and the pumpkins in the patch. Time does fly and bring with it multitudes of change, all for which I am grateful. The awesome thing about Aiden's MDO program is it is one of two "schools" in the area that gets to use the farm for a solo visit during the October season, allowing for lots of time to enjoy the activities without fighting the crowds there during the days the farm is open to the public. It makes for a much nicer time for all. Plus, it's cute to see them acknowledging their friends and teachers in a non-school environment. Aiden was in heaven with all the pumpkins and dirt. His cup of tea for sure. Teagan wasn't quite sure what to think, but they both did amazing for me as a solo mom running this trip!

We rode the tractor hay ride and saw lots of cows, even one that was one day old! There was a rainbow in the sky right as we rode, which was fun for Aiden to pick out. He played in the corn maze and troughs of grain with all the toys. We adventured through the teepees and farm houses. Aiden loved the big wooden play set they had with the "FAST" slide and all the animals. He had a nice conversation with the roosters and goats. My two precious loves were the hit amongst all the teachers...which is to be expected. They are pretty awesome if you ask me!

What a fun time and what fun it will be next year when Teagan is 18 months and Aiden is 3! Wow. As much as I can't wait, I certainly can. Time flies too quickly these days.

We had the joy and pleasure of having a few days (three and a half, to be exact) without the kids. Our original plan was to take one last beach trip before the fall becomes winter, but we took a long look at our growing list of "todo's" around the house and decided it would be to our best advantage to knock some things off that list instead. While it might not seem all that glamorous, it was a lot more fun than either of us anticipated it would be. We took time to get things done...like hang 30 pictures up our stairwell, which may seem like an easy task, but let me be the first to tell you it's not. And we took time to do nothing but sit on the porch and talk. Amidst the flurry of getting things crossed off the list and taking time to just "be" we were able to enjoy so much of each other which is hard to do when you have kids no matter how old they are. Life gets less and less about you and more and more about the family and we love every minute of that, but also love our time together. I feel so blessed to have parents that not only support our initiative to do this, but encourage us to do it...as often as we can and more. Whether they can help watch the kids or not, they understand our need for these times. This time we were lucky enough to be able to have the kids spend time with Mimi and Pa and no matter how many times they do this we never get tired of hearing how much fun they had with them or how they wished they could go back instead of coming home. What a blessing it is to have parents that LOVE on your kids so much so that they don't want to come home! I feel loved so much more as a daughter to see the sacrifice they go through to stay up all night with them, play endlessly all day with them, and give love unconditionally. It is truly an awesome example and one I am grateful to see firsthand.

I'll post some pictures of some of our "list" we accomplished as well as some of the weekend the kiddos enjoyed with the grandparents. I so enjoyed my time as a newlywed with my hot hubby. We had three great date nights, hung out with friends, saw some live music, went on a few runs, and got caught up on life as well as talked about our next steps as a family. We hung our Halloween decor complete with 820 orange lights on our columns, corn stalks, new ribbon and bows, etc. We planted flowers and mulched. We hung the pictures up the stairwell. We hung pictures in Teagan's room. We started cleaning out our overflowing garage apartment. We set up my new desk. We picked out pictures of Teagan to order. And best of all, we did all of that together.  I love my man and am grateful we have such a deep connection, can talk about anything, and one that encourages me to be a better wife, mother, and friend every single day. Pictures to come of all our fun...thanks, babe, for a fantastic few days and thanks, Mom and Dad for a little break in the action. Now I get to jump into a week without a husband and figure that out! Not so exciting!