The Fall Round Up

Oh how I love fall in Naperville!  I know I complain with the best of them, pretty much nonstop, from January till April but there is nothing like fall in the Midwest.  Growing up in Texas there really isn't a fall or seasons for that matter and when we lived in Colorado you never really knew if it was going to be nice and sunny or a howling blizzard.  But fall in Illinois has been everything I ever thought the season should be.  Especially when it's sunny and all the trees are changing to gorgeous colors and there's a crisp in the air and all you want to do is bake apple crisps and drink cider.  So onto the documentation of how we spent my favorite season!

We have loved going to the pumpkin patch we discovered three years ago, our first fall here.  As we tried to get it on the schedule we realized that our Saturdays were crazy in the month of October and we were going to have to re-adjust.  Evan took off early from work one Friday and we picked Colton up early from school.  He had no idea we were coming and it was fun to surprise the kiddos with a trip to our favorite farm.

Hard to believe that when we visited this time last year, Delaney was a tiny little thing I was carrying around in my baby bjorn.  I don't know what it is about visiting this farm but every time I do, I decide I want to move out to the country, buy a farm, have Evan milk cows and drive around a tractor, and me make apple pies (that I've picked from my apple tree) in my farmhouse kitchen.  Strange confession, but there you have it.  If only I knew how to make an apple pie.

Cade was lucky enough to visit another pumpkin patch, this time with his preschool group.  We had a great time seeing the baby animals, taking a hay ride, and buying some apple cider donuts (yum!) with his friends from preschool.  It's been such a good year with a great group of kids and better yet, the moms rock too.

Onto Halloween night!  Evan had school that night and I was seriously bummed at the thought of doing Halloween on my own.  My mom, who was already in town for the BYU game, was nice enough to change her plane ticket so that she'd be in town for Halloween.  It was absolutely priceless having her here to help with trick or treating.  She even stayed out later with the boys so I could take Delaney home and get her into bed.

Delaney figured out pretty fast what all those strangers were giving out and went door to door as fast as her little legs could carry her.

We had a snake, a ladybug, and a grasshopper.  Ironically enough, all things I'd prefer not to encounter in real life.  Another great Halloween night, trick or treating with the leaves crunching underneath our feet, and me successfully sneaking all of the Twix out of the kids' pumpkins.