Falling Short with our Fall Bucket List

Where did Fall go?  It seems like yesterday I was mourning the closing of the pool and the end of Summer.  Now Halloween has passed us and with that, all of the fun Fall activities.

Fall is always a busy time for our family.  It is also one of my favorite seasons (a close second to summer).  In Central Illinois there are so many festivals, orchards and other activities to celebrate the leaves falling, temperatures dropping and all things pumpkin.

Every Fall season I have a mental list of all of the activities I want our family to do, and places I want to visit.  Usually we are able to make a decent dent in that list; however this year we fell far short of accomplishing even half of the bucket list items.

The few places that we were able to visit, Curtis Orchard in Champaign and the Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur, were great as always.  

This year was Anderson’s first visit to Curtis Orchard, but JC and I's second visit.  We visited Curtis Orchard a few years back.  You can read about our trip, as a couple, here.  She enjoyed playing on all of the playground equipment, and really enjoyed her first ride on a pony.  We also got to explore the pumpkin patch and pick out a few pumpkins to paint.  Since we were at an apple orchard, we had to take home some apple doughnuts.  Those were a big hit with our sweet little toddler, who also has a very sweet tooth.             

Before heading home we tried to take a picture in the oversized rocking chair.  Our very stubborn two-year-old is not a fan of having her picture taken, so this was the best we could get.

The Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur is always a fun time.  JC and I have been visiting the patch every year for the past 10 years now.  We had our first date at the pumpkin patch, so it is an annual visit for us.  Over the past 10 years The Great Pumpkin Patch has gotten even more animals, attractions and people!  There was a huge crowd when we went searching for our pumpkins on Columbus Day weekend, but we were still able to explore the mazes, pumpkin patches and even check out the little old school house.  You can read about  pre-baby fun at The Great Pumpkin Patch here, a trip to the patch with our dog, Wrigley, here, and our first visit with Miss A.

Even though our Fall bucket list check list didn’t end up having many checks on it this year, we were lucky enough to get to spend time with family, celebrate friends on their wedding days, and celebrate a sixth wedding anniversary for JC and me, as well as experiencing some adult fun in Decatur through some work/fun events JC took part in.  I’ll share the rest of our Halloween fun, and the Fall adult fun events soon. 

What is your favorite Fall activity or event?  

NYE with a toddler

New Year’s Eve has never been a big event in my life, even though there are definitely some memorable celebrations.  Now that I’m a parent, the celebrations have changed even more to include sippy cups, high chairs and Disney movies. 

Since Anderson is just starting to take part and enjoy fun activities, we tried to include a few new activities as part of our New Year’s Eve celebration.  Here’s our night with our toddler:

First we made pizza.  She just wanted to eat the mozzarella cheese.  I was okay with that, less mess involved.

Then, she got to play with her new bath crayons.  She just wanted to eat the crayons.  The new bath crayon activity ended quickly.

After that, we decided to spoil our sweetie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  She just wanted one more scoop.  Mom said "no." 

Then, we picked out a Disney movie on Netflix.  She watched for maybe 10 minutes before deciding to tear into her toys and bounce on the couch.  Who knows how the movie ended….. 

And finally, bedtime!  A successful toddler New Year’s Eve night was complete with our one year old tucked in bed by nine (an hour past her bedtime).

A Christmas Season of Change

This Christmas was definitely a season of change for our family.  It was very exciting time, full of new traditions.

With JC’s work schedule we were stuck at home on Christmas Eve.  He spent most of the afternoon and evening at work; however he was able to come home for a short break for dinner.  Anderson and I spent some quality time together during our hours alone.  We popped some popcorn, watched Home Alone and played with her toys. 

When JC got home we were able to do a very quick version of a new Christmas Eve tradition.  We ate soup, let Anderson open her first gift (jammies, a new Christmas ornament and new “Twas the Night Before Christmas” book), and took a quick drive through the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. 

The Christmas light viewing was probably my favorite part of the night.  Anderson normally is not a fan of riding in the car, but she seemed to enjoy it on Christmas Eve.  We listened to Christmas tunes and claps of her hands along with squeals of delight when she saw Santa aglow in a yard. 

Later that night, we laid out cookies, milk and carrots for Santa and the reindeer.  She grabbed a handful of cookies to put on Santa’s plate, but we quickly scaled that down to three.  

Once she was fast asleep, and JC was home from work again, the two of us went to work wrapping and assembling toys in Santa’s workshop.  He was busy putting together an 80 step play kitchen, while I wrapped all of Anderson’s gifts.  We enjoyed spending a couple hours together preparing an awesome Christmas for our girl, while watching the “Christmas Story” marathon.  We don’t get a lot of alone time, or sometimes time together in general, so this was a fun tradition I know we will continue on Christmas Eve night, just like my parents did for me years ago.

On Christmas morning we woke up and Anderson explored what Santa had left her.  She was a little overwhelmed with the whole process.  She wanted to play with whatever toy was opened, and definitely did not care about any clothes in the mix.  But we still had tons of fun opening gifts and sharing this experience with her.  Even our dog, Wrigley, was in heaven with his gifts from Santa.  He didn’t try to destroy any of Anderson’s toys for at least a couple hours.

We hosted Christmas lunch/dinner for some of our family.  Thankfully nothing was burnt, or tasted too terrible to eat.  But I definitely have a new found appreciation for all of the people who do the holiday cooking on Christmas.  It’s a big job to unwrap gifts, try to clean up so people can have a place to sit, and get a nice meal together in a few hours.

The rest of Christmas weekend was spent celebrating the holiday with the rest of our families.  I’m thankful that we were able to spend time with everyone.  I know this will be a memorable holiday as it included many new, fun traditions.

Holiday Happenings: Lunch and Train Ride with Santa

Train rides + Santa = lots of holiday fun … and a train car full of screaming kids after reaching their hour long limit of holiday fun.

Since this is the first holiday season that Miss A is able to really enjoy the holiday activities, we decided to start a new tradition – taking part in the “Lunch/Train Ride with Santa” in Monticello.

This is a hugely popular event, and I was lucky enough to scoop up tickets after finding out when an extra time slot was added.  At the time, I was a little unsure if it would be an age-appropriate activity for our then almost one year old; however I knew her Dad would enjoy the train ride and visit with Santa so went ahead with purchasing the tickets.

Historic Monticello Train Depot.

On the day of our adventure we joined the crowd of people at the historic train depot to wait for the “Polar Express Train.”  We found our train car, hopped on and listened to Christmas carols while we waited for our departure.  Anderson loved looking out the window and waving at everyone.

 

 

 

Once we left the depot we slowly made our way through rural Piatt County.  Santa visited our group first.  Anderson wasn’t so sure of the jolly old man, and refused to sit on his lap.  She did give Santa a high five and blew him a kiss as he left.  Since there were no tears in this encounter I chalked it up as a success.

 

 

 

After about a half hour traveling slowly east, our train reversed directions and headed back to the depot.  Along with the ride and Santa meeting, everyone got a sack lunch.  Anderson loved the chips included in the lunch.  It may have been the highlight of her adventure.  After about 45 minutes on the hot train our toddler, along with the majority of all of the other toddlers on the train, were ready for a new adventure.

Overall, I thought the “Lunch/Train Ride with Santa” was really well organized and a fun Christmas event to do together as a family. 

Holiday Memories: A Holiday Book a Day

People always say the holidays are so much better once you have kids.  And they are completely right.  Having a child to share and celebrate the holidays with brings me back to the days when I was little and everything about Christmas time was so exciting and fun.  Since I have such amazing memories from Christmas I want to make sure Anderson has great memories as well. 

Now that she is a little older and can enjoy the holiday activities with us this year I’ve planned a few more fun traditions to start with her. 

Anderson loves books.  She will only sit still for about a minute to listen to a story, but she gets so excited to pull out books and look at them.  Since I love books as well, I decided to wrap up around 25 holiday books.  She will open one book each night to read before going to bed. 

Thankfully we had about 16 Christmas and winter books already on our book shelves.  For the rest of the pile I raided the Dollar Store for $1 books and other discount stores for books under $3 to add to our pile.

Miss A will get lots of practice opening gifts before Christmas morning through this tradition, and it will be a fun activity I hope to share with her for many years to come. 

Fall Traditions

HFall is one of my favorite times of the year.  Every time these months roll around we always have a few places that we try to visit to enjoy the season.  Due to a very busy Fall filled with lots of work obligations, wedding events and life, we had to pack pretty much all of our Fall activities into one weekend.

The Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur is always on our Fall bucket list.  I've talked about it here and here.  This place has a special memory for JC and I.  It was the place of our first date 10 years ago now.  I had never been to the pumpkin patch before, so I thought it was a fun, unusual date.  We had been talking and hanging out for a couple months before our first date.  This location totally fit us.  We walked around the patch, ventured out into the fields to find a pumpkin, carved the pumpkin at home and had take-out pizza.  Pretty much sums up our relationship then and now.  Super romantic, right?!

This years’ experience at The Great Pumpkin Patch was probably my favorite because Anderson can really enjoy the sights, tastes and sounds.  She had just woken up from a nap before entering the patch.  Our groggy baby took in the patch from the comforts of her wagon for a little while.  Then she decided she wanted to get out and explore.  We walked through the corn maze, checked out all the animals, had some yummy corndogs and pumpkin ice cream and finally picked out four pumpkins; one for all of us to carve, and another for her to carry around.

 

 

After spending a few hours relaxing at home that day Anderson got dressed up in her Halloween costume, a black cat.  This is probably one of the last years I will be able to pick out a Halloween costume for Anderson, so I spent a lot of time thinking about what she should be.  I tried to pick something that represents her, and all the things she likes.  After debate, I decided on the black cat because it was easy, we can use parts of the outfit again, and she loves animals.  Since she’s not a fan of anything on her head, I opted for just a black headband we already had.  I assumed the cat ears would be a battle that wasn’t worth fighting.  Miss A surprised us all though.  When we went out for our annual Boo at the Zoo trip at Scovill Zoo that evening she kept the headband on her head the majority of the night.  I think she was too busy checking out the animals that she loves, the hundreds of people that were at the Zoo and dancing to the jams.

Also included in our Fall extravaganza weekend was pumpkin carving, which Anderson really liked.  We let her help take the “guts” out of the pumpkin out.  Instead of being grossed out by the squishy, smelly stuff she decided to taste it and find pumpkin seeds to put in her mouth (which were quickly taken out by Mom and Dad).  We gave her a spoon and she went to town scooping out the insides, and occasionally tasting what was on her spoon.  The pumpkin insides had already been scooped out, and this job kept her occupied for at least 10 minutes (which is like a lifetime in toddler time).

Our pumpkins didn’t turn out as great as we’d hoped, but we had a wonderful weekend experiencing some of our favorite Fall activities with our favorite little girl.

Celebrating my first Mother's Day

Mother’s Day is definitely not a so-called “Hallmark holiday.”  If I’m completely honest though, I never truly understood the Mother’s Day holiday until I became a Mother, or like last year, was about to become a Mom. 

I remember asking my Mom one Mother’s Day why there was a special day for her and my Dad.  My rational was that there should also be a day dedicated to celebrating kids too.  My Mom, knowing my childhood innocence, said I would understand one day that as a child we are celebrated every day.

Best friends.  Mimi and Anderson.

Now I understand.  With that understanding comes an even deeper appreciation for my Mom.

In today’s society Moms have such a heavy burden to carry.  Media puts so much pressure on us to “do it all,” while still having an awesome post-baby body.  Then these articles touting their tips for getting your pre-baby body back asks you, “What’s your excuse” for not getting in shape or organizing and DIYing everything in your house.

Well, my excuse is that I have an 8 ½ month old at home who is crawling, climbing and standing on wobbly legs, needing my constant attention and care after I get home from working and commuting for nine hours out of the day. 

My excuse is that my husband is working six days a week (sometimes more) – meaning I’m working six days or more a week. 

My excuse is that I need sleep, more than I need my pre-baby body back. 

My excuse is that I can’t do it all, and I’ve realized that is okay.  If the house is dirty, or I don’t have the energy to do anything besides veg out on the couch watching Netflix marathons once the baby goes to bed, that is okay. 

As Mothers we need to appreciate ourselves and give ourselves a break.  We are all doing the best we can. 

Family visit to Scovill Zoo for Mother's Day.

 

First Mother's Day with Miss A.

 

As a new Mom, everything in my life has changed from the morning routine, to how I eat meals (in a rush) and how I think about things.  My daughter has taken center stage in my life.  I now put her needs and wants well ahead of mine, where her Father has stood for years now. 

Even though she is still an infant she shows me her appreciation in little ways.  The smiles and laughter at my silly faces or when I get home from work every day or the cuddles when I get her up in the morning.  I know I’m loved by Miss A completely trusting me as she begins to stand up while I stand guard, and saying “ma ma” as her first word. 

These small gestures of appreciation and love make the late nights, early mornings and other struggles so worth it as a Mother.  I know if I don’t measure up to what the media thinks is the “perfect Mom” that’s okay because I measure up to what Miss A needs in her Mommy.  And that’s what truly matters.

Thanks for letting me be your Momma Miss A!  You are truly a gift and I will do my best to follow Mimi's advice by celebrating you every day!

EIU Homecoming: Then & Now

While I was a student at Eastern Illinois University, and shortly after graduating, homecoming was always a very fun time to celebrate with friends.  It normally included an early morning college-typical breakfast of sorts, parade watching, football tailgating and then a short glimpse of the game before heading home to take a nap.  Many fun memories were made during these homecoming celebrations.

This year’s trip to EIU for the homecoming celebration was very different. 

Instead of getting up early to partake in the homecoming breakfasts we got up early to give Anderson her breakfast bottle, while we shoved some sort of breakfast type food into our mouths as we ran out the door. 

Instead of watching the parade in a “happy” state of mood, we giggled at the college students following in our alumni footsteps acting silly as they dove for beads and shot glasses.

 

EIU Tradition: Riding the Panther at Marty's

 Instead of having no idea what types of floats and groups paraded through town, despite watching the entire thing, we were surprised to see that the Homecoming parade was actually really disappointing and had very little school-related floats.

Instead of celebrating with “spirits” and friends tailgating before the game, we used the back of our SUV as a diaper changing station, went shopping for EIU baby clothes and hats and hit up the quiet alumni tents for free food.

Chugging a bottle of milk!

Instead of watching the football game, I spent the day with my baby and Mom – while Dad and Grandpa watched the game.

Instead of getting an afternoon nap, I made sure someone else took a nap.

Instead of getting dressed up for a night out, we packed up our SUV after pizza at Jerry’s and headed home around 6 o’clock.

Even though we celebrated Homecoming in a completely different way than as EIU students, it was still a great, memorable experience.  It was probably the most exhausting Homecoming as well!  If we hadn’t already realized before now, life as a parent is completely different than life as a childless couple.

Baby's First: Halloween

After two months of being a new Mommy, I’ve learned that holiday’s aren’t for children the first year – but more for the parents.  A prime example of this is Halloween.  Anderson can’t eat candy or enjoy other prizes, nor can she pick out a cute costume to wear.  Her Dad and I get the fun of doing both of those activities this first year.

With the freedom of playing dress up with my cute baby girl for Halloween we chose a sweet strawberry costume.  She didn’t hate it, but she certainly didn’t love it.  Anderson played along with us as we dressed her up – even allowing us to put the silly stem hat on her to complete the outfit.  After about an hour of visiting a few houses and looking sweetly plump in her strawberry outfit she was over Halloween.  Cries and her signature stiff legged pose came out to show her displeasure over still being dressed up in her silly Halloween costume.

JC and I loved showing her off and really relished in our new Halloween fun as parents.  We even got a Halloween treat bag sent home with us from one house and a few other adult treats at the other two stops we made. 

Even though Miss A won’t remember this holiday, and will most likely think we are so lame because we dressed her up in this costume, this Halloween was one that JC and I will always remember.

A Fall Tradition with our New Addition

Eight years ago, JC and I began our journey together on our first date at the Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur, Illinois.  Since then we've experienced moves, job changes, the addition of a puppy and now a baby.  Even though we've experienced many changes, one thing we always make sure to experience every fall is the Great Pumpkin Patch.

Great Pumpkin Patch, 2011.

Each year the Great Pumpkin Patch creates interesting new fall decorations with pumpkins, gourdes, bales of hay and plants.  Animals scurry around pens dotted throughout the grounds, and, of course, orange pumpkins cover acres of land.  Thousands of people travel to Arthur to take part in the fall fun at the Great Pumpkin Patch.

This year, one new person took part in the fall fun -- our new little girl, Anderson.  Since the Great Pumpkin Patch is so special to JC and I we wanted to make sure to take Anderson this year to celebrate our new, expanded family. 

Our family's first trip to the Great Pumpkin Patch.

Even though she slept through the majority of our visit, we still enjoyed looking at all of the fall displays and picking out pumpkins for carving. 

Our new little person has completely changed every aspect of our lives.  Because of this, I have a new-found appreciation for "family friendly" things.  Here are a few of those things at the Great Pumpkin Patch:

-Animals!  Anderson will be a "city" girl, unlike her Mom and Dad.  She won't have horses, or other animals, living across the street from her house.  Pigs, llamas, and chickens are just some of the farm animals that children get to see.
-Children have their own designated play areas with mazes, small trails and other displays to stimulate their interests.
-Food and drink!  Once Anderson starts eating adult food, she will be able to taste some fall treats that are especially good at the Great Pumpkin Patch.  Pumpkin ice cream and apple cider slushies' are just a few that will fulfill the sweet tooth.
-Sitting areas to rest and visit with family.
-Already picked pumpkins.
-Plenty of cut-out displays and other great photo locations to capture family memories.  Below is some pictures from a new display, "How Tall this Fall."  Miss Anderson doesn't measure up to much this year -- but I know next year will be another story. 

Sleeping through her measurements for "How Tall this Fall."

Happy Fall!