"FALL" in love!

It is no secret that fall is my favorite time of year.  I love it for many reasons: the color palette, the smells, the temperatures, football, bonfires, leaves, scarves, and many more!  But the main reason it is my favorite season is because of the first weekend in October...our annual pumpkin patch trip and fall decor addition to our house.  This is a tradition that Mike & I have had since we moved into our very first home and one that we have continued with each move and have happily included our little girl in!

Our first home all decorated with pumpkin patch finds!

House #2!  Our cute little pumpkin gets added to the decor!

The first weekend in October had finally arrived!  It was a cool day, so we got all layered up to go pumpkin pickin'!  We couldn't leave the house without a mini photo shoot (Lila is a fan of the camera)!

Pumpkin patch style!

Posing for a picture by the big tree!

Each year we go to a local farm called Bart's to get our pumpkins and have a little bit of fall fun!  Bart's is great because it isn't overdone like some of the more commercial pumpkin patches.  While those are fun, we like the more intimate vibe that Bart's gives off.  There isn't a fee to get in, you come in, you enjoy, and you pay for your pumpkins and off you go!

We've arrived at our favorite spot! BRRRR!!!!  It's cold!

Staking her claim on the pumpkins at Bart's!

It didn't take long and we were off and running!  It isn't unusual for us to have several wagons full of goodies to take home with us!  Mike is such a good sport running stuff back to the truck as we collect.

Taking our loot to the truck!

One of Lila's favorite activities (and the original reason she started taking riding lessons) is the pony rides out at the farm!  This year the pony's name was Ned!

Lila & Ned

Enjoying the ride!

She looks so big up there vs. how little she looks on a big horse!

A quick photo op before loading up the final bits!

A full load!

I have to admit that I was super nervous this year for this tradition.  I wasn't nervous about going to Bart's and having fun, that is a guarantee!  I was nervous about decorating a new porch.  I didn't know how it was going to play out, what would it look like?  Would it look as good as our last house did?  It was like the old house was made for fall decor with the bigger porch!  I truly stressed about this more than I care to admit!  I wanted to be sure that I felt as good about it in the new house as I have in our other homes -- it is my favorite tradition, after all!

Helping Mom place the pumpkins

Poser!

It wasn't too long after we started placing the straw and the pumpkins that it all really started to come together!  We got into a quick rhythm and before we knew it the porch was starting to look like a cozy fall scene -- exactly what I was hoping for!

Including the most important pumpkin of them all!

Welcome fall!

"Fall"-ing in LOVE!

It wasn't until late this summer that I really started to relax and embrace our move.  The moving process was far more stressful than I could have ever imagined, which didn't allow me to really enjoy this beautiful house we had moved into.  In fact, if anything, it really deterred me and made me a bit skeptical.  I have finally had moments where I find myself loving it here the way I envisioned loving it here all those months ago!  Continuing our pumpkin patch tradition and seeing the porch come together so beautifully has only made me FALL more in LOVE!

Officially Fall!

Not only has the weather finally started to feel like fall, we marked our family fall tradition of going to Bart's Farm on the 5th of October!  This tradition was something Mike and I did even before Lila was born and one we plan on carrying out as long as the Gingrich family owns the farm and opens their home up to visitors who are in search of their fall treasures! 

 



Where the tradition began...our first house!



For those of you that don't know about Bart's Farm, it is a cute little farm off of Alburnett Rd.  The Gingrich family started the pumpkin patch to raise money for their kids and their college tuitions!  It has a lot of the fun amenities of the bigger pumpkin patch options, but it has a family feel that isn't commercialized.  We highly recommend going!

 

 

Welcome to the farm!

We started the adventure with a trip into the barn to see all of the animals!  The barn is the home to cows, horses, kitties, and other livestock!  After the trip to the barn we moved on to start our pumpkin gathering!

Daddy & his girl in the barn!

 

 

Lila amongst the pumpkins!

After gathering up all of our pumpkins we headed home to put our very tired girl down for a nap with promises of decorating when she woke up!  We didn't waste much time diving right in when she woke up.  Even the puppies enjoyed helping us put the display together this year.

Lila picks out a "baby" pumpkin each year!

Tag posing for a picture! 

 

The finished product!

 

 

Wait!!! Something was missing!  Oh, Lila & puppy, it's now perfect!

While putting the porch together the temperature had dropped a bit and it had started to drizzle.  We decided to go inside and warm up and bake a batch of my Grandma Harvey's delicious chocolate chip cookies.  I had shared in a recent post how much Lila is enjoying helping out in the kitchen...she is really quite the helper (she is a certified taste tester)!

I love carrying on the tradition of family recipes!

Why is it that the dough tastes so darn good?!  YUM!

Another fall tradition I love is the Saturday that I spend with my girlfriends doing our annual fall shopping & lunch trip!  We take a Saturday and start in Mount Vernon making sure to hit our favorite spots and have lunch at the Lincoln Café.  After we wrap up in Mount Vernon we pick different destinations to visit to round out our shopping and fall leaves tour!  This year we picked Independence and Vinton stopping at many of their stores and picking up items here and there!  Whether we walk away with a car full or not, it is the time spent together each fall that really kicks off the season!

A very large metal "E" that had to come home with me!

Every year I pray that we have a longer fall than the next!  The weather stayed rather warm longer this year, so I keep hoping that our fall weather will extend well into November...here is to wishful thinking! 

We {heart} Fall!



Nothing says fall quite like a trip to the Pumpkin Patch!!!  It seems as if each year I am able to get this tradition in earlier and earlier!  We generally visit Bart's Farm the first weekend in October, but this year the weather permitted and our scheduled allowed us to get there just a smidge early!  

 

I have to admit, I am not sure who is more excited about this tradition at this point, me or Lila?!  She is completely aware that this is something we do every year and has not stopped talking about Princess the pony she road last year, so no doubt, she was excited to visit again this year!  But, there truly aren't many things that top this experience for me.  I love driving down Alburnett Road and seeing the field full of bright orange pumpkins, I love the smell of fall as you drive with your windows down, the gravel driveway as you pull in looking for a spot to park, knowing that when you venture back you will have a wagon full of goodies!!!!  And knowing that each pumpkin, gourd, cornstalk, and bail of straw we pick will be on display ever so perfectly on our front porch through Thanksgiving!!!  I love it!

 

We met Jason, Jen, Celia & Ruby at Bart's and we weren't going to get far without getting those girls on the horses!  So, the first stop was to get a ride! 

 

Lila was thrilled to be at the farm!

The first up on the horses was Celia.  She opted to get on one of the big horses this year vs. riding one of the ponies!  She is such a big girl, yet when she climbed up onto the big horse, it seemed like she was so small!!!  She did such a great job riding!

Next up was Lila!  She was almost floating over to Princess due to her sheer excitement!  Too cute!  She walked right up to her, put out her hand to give her a pat, and up in the saddle she went!

 

"Hi, Princess!  Do you remember me?  I remember you!!!"

This year she didn't need Daddy to walk her around, she took off with the girls working the rides and rode Princess so confidently.  It was so cute!  Mike and I have actually looked around at riding lessons and hope to get her some for her birthday in April!!!

 

Miss Ruby was up next!  Just like her big sister, she wasn't up for riding a pony this year...she wanted a big horse!  Talk about a confident little girl, hopping right up there and off she went!  It was actually kind of fun, we saw a friend of ours Justin helping out at the farm, so he guided Ruby as she took her spin!

 

Lila & Ruby on their rides!

Our little cowgirl!

What a difference from last year to this year!!!



After the rides were over it was time to check out all the pumpkins!  Bart's has so many pumpkins to choose from, even really big ones!   Lila wasted no time going over to the huge ones to pose!!





This one makes a very nice stool!

 

It didn't take long and we had a wagon full!  We walked up and down the rows of pumpkins trying to decide which ones would go home with us?!  Lila picked a very special pumpkin to call her own!  A little white pumpkin that she named Mooma and she carries her around with her like she is a living, breathing thing!  

 

We've got quite the collection!

It is a tradition to get your picture taken on the straw bails that Bart's has all put together for the perfect photo opportunity!

The girls!

The Smith Family

The Eddins Family

We loaded up the truck and headed home!  Lila was anxious to help us get the porch started!  After her nap we all headed back outside to decorate the porch!

Lila was sure to make sure that Mooma, the white pumpkin, was right by her side until the very end when we finally picked the perfect spot for her to live on the porch!

Lila and Mooma!

Where will we put all these pumpkins?!

It doesn't take long and voila! we have a beautifully decorated porch and fall has officially arrived at the Eddins house!  As I said above, the house stays deocrated this way until Thanksgiving and then we tear it down for the year and say goodbye to fall as we start to welcome in the winter months and string the lights for Christmas!    But not too fast...we have a lot of fall fun ahead of us in the next couple of months!!!

Our cute little pumpkin(s)!

Fall Into It!

I love fall!  The colors, the smells, the weather, it can't be beat! Today is one of my most FAVORITE fall traditions...our visit to the Pumpkin Patch!  Lila got all geared up in her boots and her fall sweater and off we went!



Mike and I have been going to Bart's Farm (ran by the Gingrich family) for a lot of years and it is so much fun to share in this tradition with Lila!  We normally go, just the three of us, but today was different...we had more people to share the experience with: Jason, Jen, Celia, Ruby, my Dad, Laura and Carson!

Our first stop at the pumpkin patch was the barn!  They have goats, cows and horses!  Today they even had a baby cow named  Barney...Lila wanted to know where Baby Bop and BJ were?!  HA!

Barney!



After the barn it was pumpkin picking time!  They have so many pumpkins to choose from at the farm, from the very smallest pumpkin you can imagine to very large pumpkins that were difficult for most to pick up.  Thank goodness for the wagons!



Grandpa found two of the cutest pumpkins!



What did you find out in the patch?!



After all of our pumpkins were picked Lila got an extra special treat this year...a ride on a pony!!!  She was so excited she was hollering at the top of her lungs before getting in line!  Her pony's name was Princess and she was the perfect size for the little cowgirl!  She saddled up and didn't look back, she even rode one handed a few times to give everyone a wave!  



Look Ma, one hand!!!



A very happy little girl!

After the pony ride all we had left to do was pay for all of our treasures, load up the truck and take a few more pictures to remember the fun we had!



Eddins Family - Fall 2011

We brought home all of our fall findings, unloaded them and voila! our fall decor is in full swing!  It wouldn't be tradition without a picture of Lila with the pumpkins on the porch!  You will see that she has a good friend with her nestled amongst the straw this year!





A good little helper!



When we asked Lila if she wanted to go to the pumpkin patch she said "yes!" and we asked her what we do there and she said "sit in the pumpkins!"  We looked at each other in amazement...she was right, the first two years she was patiently nestled amongst the pumpkins!  This year we could barely get her to sit long enough to get a picture taken!  What fun!!!