what fall should be

We went to Curry Farm again this year for our pumpkin patch trip.  I want to tell you something.  I do believe that this little farm may be the happiest place on Earth.  I know Disneyworld usually takes that spot; but I think the world is wrong on this and let me tell you why.  At Curry Farms, the people are friendly.  And happy.  And there are hay bales with happy faces on them.  And little goats that stand on the roof of their little goat house and smile at you.  And there is a pillow you can bounce on, a corn maze the shape of Abraham Lincoln's head, and cute misshaped pumpkins of all shapes and sizes that are actually in a real live pumpkin patch.  And when you go, no one is rushing you or herding you from one station to the next.  You just go, and enjoy and relax.  It is EXACTLY what a pumpkin patch should be.  Here in the south, so many of our fall experiences are contrived and somewhat of a sad attempt of what it should be. But at Curry Farm, it actually FEELS like fall, even when the weather is warm.  It's quite lovely.  I wish I would have taken some more pictures, but I was too busy playing to do so....maybe I should come back without the kids;0.

the littlest masons can get away with a lot...see photos

the little bits

Just a few pictures...

The last one is from when we went to the new children's museum in Jackson a few weeks ago.  I didn't get any good pictures because we were too busy having FUN.  If you haven't been yet, I encourage you to go.  There was so much for little hands to get play with and explore.  I was very impressed!  I may post a few more from the trip to give you a better idea if I get a chance.

What I have learned

1. 4 feet somehow make more than twice the mess as 2 feet do.  This was the first time I have done floor painting since I had 4 little feet walking around.  I ended up mopping the whole kitchen...and den....and bathroom twice to get up all the paint!

2. Paint flies.  There was paint on our ceiling fan.

3.  Its okay to dress your kids in Christmas clothes in January....or to let them stay in the pajamas all day.

4. A week locked in the house because its too cold to go anywhere gets boring.  And messy. It forces you to be very creative and very patient!

5.  The kids love floor painting together.  Must forget mess more and smile more and love those little years more because its totally worth it!

time suck

look how big she is!

usually a white blur when I try to capture him

one of her favorite things to do in the backyard



wants to play soccer ever since he saw his big (AWESOME COOL) cousin Eli play a game



sweetness

edited to add the above- I think I like this second one better.

Hazel and her best friend

just love the way she loves him

(straight out of camera)

outside

So, I am really playing with the exposure (and by playing, I mean learning through some massive fails!) because I can not wrap my little brain around the fundamentals here. I am finding that even though I am a very new beginner, I really like taking my pictures in manual. I feel like once I finally get it, I am going to love having the control over the look of the picture. Anyway, as I was playing today outside with the camera, I took these over-exposed pictures. I can't make myself trash them though, my untrained eye likes them for some reason.

and ps- no editing on these. I desperately need my "Missing Manual..." book on photoshop elements to get here asap.

love them

I am trying to figure out my camera and am having some problems with exposure. I attempted to fix these in photoshop but didn't really correct the problem and managed to lose some of the softness of the pictures too; but either way, I love my subjects (even Adler's silly face he insists on making).

favorites of the day

halfway decorated

I'm just saying...

I realize that my blogging has dramatically decreased over the past few months. I looked back in my archives recently to see how long it had been since I had been consistently blogging. It was in April, coincidentally, the same month that my youngest started walking....Now, I am not putting the blame on anyone, just saying....

This littlest of mine is CARAZY. She is always on the brink of needing a trip to the ER. She pushes her toys up to the coffee table to climb on top of it. She has learned to climb up on the couch by herself, and just for funsies, free fall backwards off of it...wheeeee. She is so different from Adler at this age. He kept me busy, but more from just cleaning up behind him, and less from saving his life all day long. Where he would knock off all the cans from the pantry shelf if the door was left open, Hazel will grab hold of the cans and climb the shelves to the top of the pantry to throw the cans at us. Where Adler would pull all the books of the bookshelves and tear the pages, Hazel fashions the books into a device to catapult her way across a room. Just today in church nursery, she climbed onto the arm of the rocking chair, standing position, and then dive bombed headfirst into a nearby crib. The girl is fearless, and thinks she can do EVERYTHING her brother can do, maybe even more than he can do. If adler rolls down a hill, she is right before him, rolling down. She has already learned that the best way to go down a slide is headfirst, and that swings are made for jumping out. And look out if you are on the floor, because at any given time, she will come barrelling towards you, head first, to give you a big headbutt in the side of your head. It will make you see stars.

She is a tough little girl, a pistol; and even though I am absolutely exhausted from keeping her alive all day, it is so much fun!