October - the first half

My OCD is really bothered when a) my pictures are out of order with my posts, and b) my pictures do not match each other (size, style, etc.), and c) when I have to go back weeks and weeks to catch up and then I don't remember things. But apparently this is the new normal and I need to get over it!

 See somehow, I posted after Carolina's birthday and still failed to include this cute picture of her with her cake :)

 Then I went to New York City for 5 days - that was a thing! It will have to have it's own post, I already have anxiety about which pictures to include (I took somewhere around 350).

 I got school pictures back - gah! so cute! I can't stop looking at them! SO! CUTE!

 It officially looks and feels like fall here - full blown fall and it's beautiful - the view from my front door is pretty nice (just ignore my neighbors ugly car and recycling bin - that he never puts away).

 I was too stressed to figure out a a friend birthday party for Lina (her first one) before my trip so we planned it for the weekend after - it was a pajamas and pancakes party so friends came over early and ate and jumped in a bounce house we rented and then helped open presents and do crafts and ran around screaming as children are want to do. It was exactly how I hoped it would be, fun for Lina, easy and chill for me. Yay! 

One of the best parts though was that the bounce house people were supposed to pick it up at 1 and didn't get it until like 7:00pm the next day! We definitely got our moneys worth out of that thing!

 Just yesterday we made our first visit to the Farmstead, we've only been to other pumpkin patches (that name is an understatement) and this one was the winner by far! There was so much to see and do, we definitely didn't do it all in 3 hours - but it was freezing after the sun went down and it got late in a hurry. Poor Whit puked right as he walked up to the front, and I was worried it was over before the visit began but he was fine after that and the cousins had a great time together!

Liam is incapable of smiling with both eyes open.

Unless there is a giant corn dog involved?!

 Uncle Grant had to help the kids see a man kiss a pig - because... you wouldn't want to miss it? 

The kids were pumped to go through the lizard monster thingie, until we paid and got in - then Carolina freaked out and cried to leave. We are mean parents and carried her through it anyway... and now she wants to go back. 

It could not have been a more beautiful evening.

 This week I was compelled to get out my American Girl dolls and share them with Carolina - we were both in heaven. It was like Christmas! Actually I got to open something I have never even opened before! She's obsessed, but I can't play with her all the time, yet I don't want to to let her play with it without me - she's not *quite* as careful as I was with my doll... which is still pristine... but it's so fun sharing this joy with her!

 We went to Boise for errands on the weekend and were basically there all day - so car naps were in order.

It was super cold and drizzly, a very fallish day. The valley is so beautiful right now - all of the trees are bright yellow, red, orange, purple, and green, and the colorful piles of leaves on the ground are just gorgeous... but my guess is it will mostly be gone in the next week. Fall never lasts as long as I want it to.