Fall Bucket List

The weather in Charlotte has finally cooled off!! Yesterday, it was like 73* at 5PM. I was so ridiculously excited about it! It was pretty amazing! (Granted it's supposed to get hot again this week, but don't rain on my parade, k?!)

So, with that, I thought I'd make a Fall Bucket List! We have already done some of these things, but we have at least 2 more months to get the rest completed! 

*Visit an apple orchard and go apple picking--CHECK!

*Visit a pumpkin patch

{eeeee look at that little peanut last year!}

*Make Ella's Halloween costume and go trick-or-treating

*Go to as many UNC football games as possible (and maybe even a Panthers game?!)

{There's plenty more where this came from...We skipped this past Saturday because it was so rainy, but we have wayyyyy too many UNC outfits not to go to at least a few games!}

*Have soup/chili every Sunday

{Starting with this one, I made it last night!}

*Jump in the leaves

*Go on a hayride

*Make pumpkin cookies

{this is the recipe I use and they. are. amazing.}

*Make pumpkin play dough

*Go to the hot air balloon festival

*Drink as many PSLs as possible

*Make leaf rubbings

*Go to Blakeney Boo Bash

*Go to the beach (?!)

I know, not the most fall thing to do! But we are finally going to Hilton Head in October! 

I also had "visit a corn maze" on here, but then I remember I am terrified of corn fields (too many scary movies!)!!

Any thing else I should add?!?

A trip to the apple orchard

This past Saturday, we visited Sky Top Orchard! 

We loved going here last year and decided to try it out again.

{To see last year's visit, click here}

We love going to Sky Top because it's less than 2 hours from Charlotte, and it is on top of a mountain which makes for gorgeous pictures!

However, I will say that Sky Top is ridiculously crowded, so if you plan to go, GO EARLY. We got there at 11AM this year and it was a total zoo. And it was really hot! Ugh. I think next year, I want to wait till later in September, and get up as early as possible to get there right at 9:00 when they open! 

But anyway...we still had a great time despite the crowds and heat! 

This year, we discovered they had some animals, which turned out to be Ella's favorite part! We went to check out the goats and lambs first...

...and then headed over to the duck pond.

Then it was apple picking time! 

Unfortunately, there were not very many gala apples left. Trav had to climb the trees to get the only ones left at the very top!

Ella tried to help, but there were no apples within her reach. Bless her heart.

After we somehow managed to fill up our bucket, we had to go back and see the sheep again! Which Ella kept calling "Ramses."

And then we had to take pics by the sign! The whole reason I wanted to go back to Sky Top this year was to take pictures with the sign!!

{except we probably shouldn't have stood right in front of the sign!}

After that, we went to get some donuts! We didn't have the patience to wait in the long line last year, but this year, it wasn't too bad. We still waited for a little while, but it was definitely worth it! I don't really like donuts, but these were amazing!!!

Ella liked them too :)

And she even got to eat an apple like a big girl! Yum!

Thanks for another fun time, Sky Top!!

Five on Friday

1. I had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season on Wednesday (remember, I am the quintessential #basicbitch) and it was everything I hoped it would be and more. I chugged it while walking through Target with my owl-clad toddler in the cart. Please let's not mention that it was 93 degrees out that day. I would like to pretend fall is coming and the weather will be in the 60s (or shoot, I'd take low 80s at this point!) very, very soon.

2. Also Wednesday was Bunco time again, and while I didn't come away a winner this month, I still had a blast. We surprised showered 2 of our friends who are expecting October babies. So fun!

3. Last night, Trav and I attended the embarrassment that was the UNC vs USC football game. I am so excited football is back, and I actually got really into the game....but good god, was it hot. Thankfully, our seats were in the club section, so we could go inside to the air-conditioning, which was amazing. But that didn't save us from the 3 turnovers in the end zone. Yikes!

4. Ella had her first musikgarten class yesterday and it was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. I was crying from laughing so hard. At one point, all of the moms were swaying around in a circle and the kids were in the middle just staring at us like, what the hell are you guys doing?! Ella also busted out some pretty killer dance moves, and I'm kicking myself for not getting a video, or at least a picture! Next week for sure!
Here she is after class, continuing to be crazy in our driveway. Perhaps our next class should be gymnastics?!

5. Even though it is still 2047271 degrees, we are going to continue pretending that fall is here, and head to the apple orchard this weekend! I am so excited!! Here is a little flashback from last year:

Eeeek! Look at that little peanut!

Have a great 3 day weekend!

Lately | September

Well hello, September!!! So glad to see you! 

I'm sort of obsessed with the months that end in -ber, so I am really happy that today is the first day of all that! Bring on the apple orchards, pumpkin spice lattes and cool, crisp weather. #basicbitch

Anyways, I haven't done one of these posts in a while, so here's a little snapshot of our life on this fine first day of September!

Wearing: I am SO over my summer wardrobe!!! I am currently spending at least half the week in some variation of this outfit:



Whatever, don't judge me.

Reading: Well, I read The Girl on the Train....when we went to Vegas. Six weeks ago. And that was the last book I read! Unless you count children's books. In that case, I am reading every Elmo book ever published, multiple times, everyday. 

Thinking: Why are toddlers obsessed with Elmo?!?!?

Craving: Pumpkin Spice Lattes!!! 

When does Starbucks start serving them? Anyone know?

Loving: That I sold over $100 of Ella's stuff at last weekend's consignment sale! I only picked up about 25 items (out of, I think 75?) of un-bought stuff, so I was pretty happy! It was almost $200 but by the time they take out 40% plus a $7 fee...oh well! I'll still take $100!

Watching: I'm a little embarrassed to admit this but Trav and I are probably the last 2 people on Earth who still watch Big Brother. But we are obsessed! Does anyone else watch that show? I just get excited that my husband will watch any reality TV with me! Ha!

Planning: Kathryn's baby shower!! I got the invites this weekend and I just finished addressing all 20484 of them.

{Ew, hello dirty mailbox!}

She invited the entire state of North Carolina, I'm pretty sure ;)

Happy September!

Five on Friday!

1. Well, the first day of school here in Charlotte has came and went, and I am not sad about not going back at all! Instead of stressing out, going over my lesson plans 29483 times, and trying not lose a student, we sat on our front steps and watched the school buses go by our house! 

Ella is slightly obsessed with school buses. I think she is thrilled school has started again just for this reason! 

We also celebrated the first day of school by having a play date with Mackenzie! Mackenzie's mom and I taught together at 2 different schools and now we are both home with our girls! 

Ella had a blast sharing puffs with Mackenzie, playing with all her toys (even though we have 95% of them at our house!) and sitting in her dog's bed. 

2. Y'all! So exciting! WE FINALLY HAVE BUSHES!!! This has been going on since APRIL. But they finally came on Tuesday and did a great job with everything!

Look at all that mulch!!! Ella was perplexed. 

Now...what to do with that area in front of the sidewalk?!? 

3. My friend Sarah shared this on her Facebook the other day: 

"The Asheville, North Carolina VA currently has a *homeless* veteran in hospice. He lost his leg in Vietnam, is a Purple Heart recipient, and has no known local family. The Chapter will be attending his funeral, and his last request was to be buried in his dress blues- MOPH has purchased the uniform for him (they predict he has about 2 weeks to live) in the mean time, let's flood him with cards of gratitude. This is a great activity to help your children understand patriotism and that freedom is not free!"

So of course we had to make something for him!

In case you want to send him something, too but can't see the address in the pic, here is the info:

Mr. Robert Strong

VA Hospital-Hospice

1100 Tunnel Rd.

Asheville, NC 28805

4. Charlotte friends! Come buy {some of} Ella's old clothes at the Harris Y Consignment Sale this weekend!

It doesn't look like a lot, but it's over $300 of stuff! (And girlfriend still has 3 full tubs of stuff here at our house, should she ever get a baby sister one day!) Plus there's more shoes/accessories in the bag. Oh, and this is just her fall/winter stuff...they won't accept spring items at this sale. But still, a huge chunk of her closet space is now open....so I can buy more clothes ;) I might have a problem. 

5. This weather!!! It has finally cooled off {slightly} in North Carolina and we can actually play outside without sweating our butts off. 

Can't wait for FALL!!!!

(*I know, I shouldn't be wishing the summer away, but I'm so over it. It has been too hot this year! And also, I'm getting sick of Ella's summer clothes, not to mention my own!)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Fun in Farmville!

Yes, my parents really do live in a town called Farmville. Like the Facebook game. I know. 

Anyways! They were really missing Ella so they begged me to take a little road trip up and see them last week. Unfortunately, Ella decided to share her little stomach bug (that she had 2 weeks ago) with me, so I was pretty much dying half the time we were in Farmville. But Ella had fun!

Thursday we just hung around the bathroom house, but Nay Nay introduced playdoh to Ella.

They made lots of Ella's favorite animal...turtles!

And then played with shells. Homegirl needs a beach vacay, stat!

Friday, I was feeling a little better, so we went to the zoo! We went last year when Ella was 5 months old, but she loved it so much more this time!

Too cool for school on the carousel. 

She really liked watching the prairie dogs, even though I thought they were so gross!

This monkey came right up to her (well, through the glass) and it scared the crap out of both of us!

She was looking for Daniel Tiger...she did not want to believe that this guy was a real tiger. 

Then Ella got to feed the giraffes! She was a little scared though, so I think my mom did most of the feeding. 

My dad took her in this big cage to see all the birds. 

And did you know...?!?! Apparently I gave birth to a camel. 

More animals to feed!

We also got to ride the "choo choo" this year. Ella hated it at first! What the heck. 

But thanks to my mom and some puffs, she was all good (we just couldn't get her to sit down!)!

Bye, zoo! See you next time!

But the fun did not end there!! After Ella's nap we went to my mom's friend, Pam's house to see her horses! At first Ella was scared...when the horses came up to her, she said "no no no no no" and waved her hands at them. But a few minutes later, she was a big fan and didn't want to leave them!

We went inside to see Pam's dog, Koda. Ella was OBSESSED with him! They played and played and played. She told him to sit and he sat. He loved Ella and the feeling was quite mutual!

Thanks for a fun time, Mom and Dad! Hope you don't get my stomach bug!!!