It's Autumntime, It's Autumntime...

Still haven't blogged about summer but here we are almost to Thanksgiving and who knows when I will get caught up so let's just get right into FALL!

This is my favorite season, and so even though I miss the sunshine, I love when the leaves start to change and I was so glad to be living somewhere that I got to see the colors.

We started with Braelyn going back to preschool. She has made lots of new friends and her teachers say she is just "such a cool kid." They tell me that she likes to be the caboose in their class line and that she is always sensitive to someone having a bad day. Her cooking teacher says she has the most impeccable manners and always answers with "please, thank you, and yes ma'm" Southern living has taken hold. She is even learning to read!

Next up was a visit to the pumpkin patch. I still forget about our climate so when we decided to visit a "farm" I think jeans and jackets but it was about 90 degrees that day and we were all melting. But it was not cheap to get in so we got our money's worth and did everything! Braelyn liked choosing where to go in the corn maze and even though the bigger kids shoved passed us in the start we were the first ones out, so she must have gotten her dad's sense of direction. Then we did the hay ride, petting zoo and playground and Braelyn loved the huge slide. Berkley not so much.

Kevin's parents and grandpa came to visit in October and we got to experience the "World Equestrian Games" (because they paid for the tickets!) This was a huge deal here, it is like the Olympic Games for horses and people came from all around the world. This was the first time it had ever been held outside of Europe and it was pretty exciting to get to see. We saw some beautiful animals and got to learn about lots of equine stuff. We also got to meet some former horse race champions who now live at the horse park. Kevin follows all sports pretty closely and knew about all these horses. He was so excited to be that close and Braelyn now carries her stuffed horse and calls him "Cigar" like the one we saw.

We got to do another pumpkin patch with Braelyn's preschool class. It was like official school day so there were hundreds of kids everywhere! I don't love crowds and especcially rowdy kids crowds so I was not having my best day but the worst part was when we walked to the petting zoo area. It was a tight little spot and soon I saw a herd of kid's chasing a chicken through the crowd. I have a terrible fear of farm birds and I had already spent the morning dodging a free-ranging flock of turkeys at this dang place. As I saw them herd it my way I freaked and grabbed my friend and spun her around so I could use her as a human chicken shield but my problem was there was a rooster on the other side, so I just kept running in circles and spinning this girl by the hood of her sweatshirt. I ran out as soon as I could, I am not even sure I took my kids with me but I made it without a heart attack, just in a cold sweat. Not my coolest moment. And sadly the 3rd time I have ran and hid from poultry on a children's outing (as an adult).

Whew, is anyone but my Mom still reading? On to Halloween and I have to say probably the best one ever! (Sorry to the soggy Utah people) The girls had 4 different things to dress up for and we would just go to the dress-up clothes and pick which princess they wanted to be that day. So easy! We started with costumes for dance class and then on to the church Trunk-or-treat that night. Berkley loves treats and is probably the only kid who has ever come to a trick-or-treat with candy already in her bucket. She thought she had hit pay gold when she saw me get our bowl of candy ready in the car and had 2 hands full before I turned around. Kevin had to drag her away until she saw that she got even more candy from other people. Ahhh, she was in heaven. Braelyn had her preschool party the next day, onto costume change number 3, and even got one of the boys in her class, who was dressed as a dinosaur to be her prince. For actual trick-or-treating we had been invited to a friend's house whose town had been assigned to do trick-or-treat on Saturday night. Yes the cities here assign the time (and this year because of Sunday, a day) to the different neighborhoods. I loved it!!! They go from 5pm-8pm so you don't have to wait until it's dark to get started, and they discourage anyone over 12 from going (call me a party pooper but I absolutely hate the teenagers who come at 11:00 with a pillowcase and no costume begging for candy. Seriously? Get a job and buy your own candy, I want to go to bed!) and so during that time everyone who wants to do candy sits out on their porch and the streets are swarmed with adorable little kids getting their treats. The weather is just crisp enough to be fall but not enough to have to wear a parka over your costume. Then we all met at their house for soup and bread and dessert. Perfect! I actually enjoyed this year.


And finally we rounded out the season with a trip to Shaker Village. It was beyond beautiful, I could have wandered the tree-lined streets and buildings all day. Their craftsmanship was amazing and the village was breathtaking though the religion left a little to be desired. I don't think I will be convincing Kevin to dissolve our marriage and join a communal community with 100 other men and women who all live together but I would go back just to see the farm again. They also had some animals and Braelyn had a sheep fall in love with her and follow her up and down the fence. We always tease her that the bulls at my parent's cabin have a crush on her and we call it her "bullfriend" (hahaha we are hilarious!) so it was funny to joke that she had a new animal guy. Everything I explore here in Kentucky makes me think it is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen. Thank you leaves for changing, it made me giddy for a few weeks, and now I can look forward to decorating for Christmas!