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.

Over the summer, there were a zillion of those 1,000,001 Fun Things To Do lists floating around. Go to the beach! Build a sand castle! Pick strawberries! Can your own jam! Discover cold fusion! Let the good times roll! But the truth is summer is hot and sweaty and putting sunscreen on two squirmy children is exhausting and I hate getting sand in my lady parts so I’d just be setting myself up for failure. Who wants to look at their Super! Fun! Awesometimes! list on September 1st and realize they only thing you managed to check off is “eat ice cream”?

But fall? Fall I can handle. Fall is easy and breezy and lets you wear stretchy jeans so you can eat apple cider donuts and hot cocoa after a summer of stressing about the size of your thighs in shorts. And instead of a bazillion and one things, let’s stick with a nice reasonable number so there’s still lots of time for naps with the windows open. But I still need a list because checking things off is MY FAVORITE.

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And just in case you might also want to check things off (CHECK!), you can download my list as a PDF and print it out. That’s right, I’ve popped my printable cherry, which is the first step to becoming a full-blown craft blogger. Or maybe that happened like a zillion years ago and I’ve just been in denial.

 Since now that there’s A List Of Things I Must Do, I crossed off “make a fall craft” today with a super cute, super quick leaf lantern project.

After his success in collecting pine cones, I had high hopes that Little Evan would be really into helping me find pretty colored leaves for this project, but unfortunately he thinks ALL the leaves are pretty. He’s like the Jesus of leaf collecting – every one is special and beautiful and precious in his eyes! So I threw all his in the yard (lovingly, of course) and wandered down the street to pick up a few colorful ones.

 You probably already have everything you need for this project (besides the leaves, which are out in your yard)(unless you live somewhere without autumn, in which case this would also work with flowers, ferns or other growing things). Here’s the entire supply list: wax paper, scissors, and iron and some clear tape.

 Tear off a piece of wax paper. Now you have two options – cut it in half or fold it in half. Either way, the idea is to have a wax side facing up. Arrange your leaves on the wax side.

 Then fold/lay the other part of the paper over it wax side down and press lightly with a medium-hot iron.

 If you’re lazy and have messy edges like mine, trim them up once the paper cools off a little. Then bend it into a circle and use a piece of clear tape to make it stay – I found that cutting the tape longer than the lantern and then folding the ends over made it stick really well.

 They don’t look like much now…

 …but with a little candle light, you’ve got fall magic.

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BOOM. Now take a hike. Because it’s on the list, not because I don’t like you.

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 went to bed at 9 pm twice this week but could NOT figure out why I was so exhausted. I mean, sure, the baby has been getting up twice a night while we transition her to her nursery. But why would that make me tired? I’m a stay at home mom! I obviously don’t DO anything all day. I must have gotten a super heavy box of bonbons this week.

Oh wait, or maybe I did a zillion and one things.

Sunday:

Splits!! And I just spent 15 minutes trying to remember what it's called when you do a split with your back leg bent like that. I still don't remeber.

I think he likes his hat

 Monday:

Caroline wants to know if Twist is actually ON meth or just ACTS like he's on meth

If you're wondering where I find the time to craft new decor for my upcoming Halloween party, the answer is "There's PLENTY of time in the day when the baby gets you up at 5 am"

Those are my teeths. Why does posting this x-ray feel like posting a naked picture?

Special lunch with a very handsome daddy

Tuesday:

My toddler can't hold his pee for five minutes until we get to a bathroom but he knows that Tuesdays are TRASH DAYS

I ran out of this red yarn to finish Caroline's fall coat, so let's just hope it doesn't get cold before next week.

Husband: What's for dinner? Me: I don't know. Let me go check Pinterest. Pinterest: Buffalo chicken rolls and parmesan fries.

Wednesday:

It's cute she's helping, until she grabs a knife. She ALWAYS goes for the knives.

I wore real clothes AND real bra. It gave me a mild case of mastitis. That'll teach me to be fancy.

This is the cart of groceries I had to abandon at BJ's because I forgot my wallet. AGAIN.

THE CUPCAKES.

Thursday:

And this is why my family is going to survive post-zombie apocalypse. We've got skills.

Friendly's for lunch??? NO WAY!

She plays with this toy correctly. It blows my mind that she understands it already.

 Friday:

Women's shoes and a guitar. Future rock star??

Evan almost got whiplash on this ride at the fair...and he LOVED IT.

Fair food, you are in me.

Pink cheeks from a long day of fun

Saturday:

Geez, what a lazy ass

Yes, those are my feet. Yes, I went for a run. Yes, I could have been sleeping. Yes, I am an idiot.

On my way home I found this in the trash. I carried it 5 blocks. Expect to see a LOT of play kitchen inspiration on my Pinteret boards.

And now it’s time to feed everyone lunch, read a little bit and then nap for AT LEAST three hours. Tomorrows plans are the same. You might call it boring and lazy, I call it saving up my energy so we survive the winter. IT’S SCIENCE.

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!

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