The place that has the sunflowers in the summer also does a corn maze and hay ride in the fall. I talked my friends into dragging their toddlers out into the cold evening for some ice cream (obviously the snack of choice when it’s 50 degrees out) and some fall fun and ended up having pretty much the best night I’ve had since having kids. Or at least right up until my friend Jessica lost her engagement ring in the GIANT CORN PIT. Her yellow gold engagement ring. (Spoiler alert: they found it!) But even sifting through a literally ton of corn kernels couldn’t ruin the rest of it.

Here’s the rest of it:

I totally forgot to get a steppin’ out picture until AFTER I’d been rolling around in the corn for an hour, so I am FILTHY with corn starch.

On Caroline: Head to toe hand-me-downs
Pumpkin hat seen in other photos hand-knit by me
(Although it’s really too small already. I’m making her another one & need to find someone with a small-headed baby for this one. Or at least a slightly younger baby. Do YOU have a 4 or 5 month old who needs a hat?)

On Me:
Fake fake Uggs – Walmart, at least 2 years ago and damn do I love them
Jeans – Old Navy
Shirt – Target
Hoodie – Target (half of a very sexy sweat suit set)
Necklace – Lisa Leonard swag from The Creative Connection last year

p.s. Every time I start to feel really good about the quality of my photos I end up lost in a Pinterest wormhole of truly gorgeous and professional pictures and realize I know NOTHING about photography. All the fancy lenses in the world aren’t going to make me a better photographer until I sit down and actually LEARN THE BASICS that my brain seems so reluctant to absorb. Plus even if I DID learn all the things, there’s a level of natural talent involved that I just don’t think I have.  My only consolation is that on a night like this one I was having too much fun participating to stop and set up every shot I wanted to capture. I’m just a MWAC (mom with a camera), and I’m mostly OK with that.

p.p.s. It also helps that E has finally gotten on board with playing assistant photographer, which is why I’m actually IN half of these shots. If only he understood how to take a more flattering photo of my double chin I’d be golden.

E had this past week off, but instead of doing tons of super fun stuff I made a list of every single I-should-really-get-that-done-but-I’m-exhausted-from-chasing-the-kids chore I’ve been putting off for the past 3 years and started crossing them off. Hang pictures! Sort clothes! Organize the attic AND the basement! Get a new eyeglasses prescription! Wind and store all the yarn I’ve been hiding behind the elliptical trainer in the guest room! Do ALL the laundry!

I’ve got today and tomorrow to finish the rest of the list plus give the house a once-over cleaning, decorate for Halloween and finally make the loaf of almond bread and the pear-gorgonzola tart I’ve had bookmarked for weeks.

Sunday:

What do you MEAN this is the only picture you took all day? I'm freakin' ADORABLE!

Monday:

Friends who hold your baby enough that your baby likes them are the best friends

Dino nuggets taste way better than regular nuggets. Just ask my toddler.

I restarted C25K and felt like I was going to die

Tuesday:

Second to last CSA pick up makes me a sad panda

Giant carrot for lunch. Gotta keep that hair orange.

Obviously, she's mine

Day 1 of act like a grown up and take care of my skin. I even bought EYE CREAM.

Wednesday:

Breakfast of Champions: egg wrap-up with hot sauce, banana, Diet Dr. Pepper

Sleepy girl

Epic Michael's trip for Halloween decor. I decided the terrifying skeletons would be a poor choice for a kid's party.

Thursday:

I patched, sanded, and painted the walls going up the stairs.

Pair on the left cost $300. Pair on the right was free. I got both.

Picture gallery on the upstairs stairs

Friday:

I thought this baby looked like Caroline so I bought this book. I'm going to knit the crap out of that sweater.

Chilling at the yarn store

The ice cream stand was shockingly uncrowded on a Friday night. Maybe because it was only 60 degrees out.

Saturday:

Stop lookin' at my waffles like that.

My friend from @CostaFarms sent me a giant box of houseplants because she thought I'd like them. My goal is to keep them alive at least a week.

Bye-bye Back-yard-gans! Sing song! Bye-bye!

Time to go finish knitting Caroline’s fall coat, bake, mop the floors, play legos with my kid, catch up on this week’s TV and read all my friend’s blogs that I’ve been neglecting all week. I’m looking forward to all of it.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

From Wikipedia: The Big E, also known as The Eastern States Exposition, is billed as “New England’s Great State fair”. The Big E serves as the de facto state fair for all six of the New England states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Each of the New England states is prominently represented at the fair. The Big E is the sixth largest agricultural fair in the country, and the largest in New England.

From my experience: A huge ass fair where people lose their damn minds and stand in line for hours for a baked potato. Also, giant slurpies, beer, fried things, horses, crazy people, rides of questionable safety, good times.

We went on Friday, which was a Good Idea because although it was busy it wasn’t unable-to-move busy like it was last year on a Saturday. The weather was fantastic and the kids were 99% angels and even Mr. I Don’t Wanna Go There Are People There And I Hate People had a pretty good time.

Each state has a building showcasing the best stuff from their area. Maple things and seafood are in all of them.

What is this, a carousel for ANTS?

Best baby ever. We just fed her kettle corn the whole time and she barely made a peep.

No corndog no!!! Oh wait, that looks delicious. NOM NOM NOM.

I had the veggie platter for lunch and called it a healthy choice because it wasn't fried butter.

Duck Quack Quack

To make the day even more extra awesome, we met up with one of my long-time internet friends Leah (long time meaning since before I had any kids at all and her oldest kid was only a teeny weeny baby), who normally lives in Chicago but was visiting her family in Massachusetts. Little Evan immediately decided her son Calder was his new best friend, which meant he was allowed to borrow his dinosaur toy. Calder was too busy feeding popcorn to Caroline and sucking down the rest of my slurpie to care, so they got along GREAT.

Dinosaur RAWR

Driving buddies

This ride went WAY TOO FAST around the corners. Obviously Evan is terrified.

Choo choo train

Hey girl.

The boys practically mowed down the ticket taker carnie to be the first ones on and secure their spot in the engine. Calder then invited a cute little girl to sit with them. Mad skills for a 3 1/2 year old.

Hands up the whole time. This kid is fearless.

Isn't it nice when people you know online turn out to be awesome in real life too?

At one point, Leah had to go get some poutine (because, obviously) and I watched her sleeping baby and Calder. When he asked where his mom went I said “To get some food. You just stay here with the random person your mama met on the interet.” “Ok” said Calder. The people in line with us looked a little more concerned, but they must have thought I was joking. AHAHAHA jokes on them!

I love you Big E. See you next year!

So I was just linking to last year’s post about our trip and awwwwwwing over Baby Evan looking like a baby when I noticed I wore the same boots last time. I wonder if I came home and thought “Wow, those were a POOR CHOICE. Next year I’m wearing sneakers!” Because that’s what I thought this year. I win at forgetting things. Wait, what was I saying?

I know I posted this picture three days ago but it really is my favorite from September.