Author: mommyinthemidwest

Catch the Moment: Wk 44

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This week’s photos are a little Dexter-heavy but I swear, I love them both the same! 🙂 That’s just the way it works out sometimes. We had beautiful, unseasonably warm weather this week and I cannot believe it’s November. Today I was able to wear a sleeveless dress-it was 77 degrees. In November. In Indiana. Mind blown. CRAZY. I’ll take it! And I’m hoping for a mild winter but let’s not get greedy…here we go.

302/365: Thursday, October 29th. A long day at work and no motivation – after a month of legitimate and created excuses, it was time to get back to the gym. I didn’t want to. I got there and sat in my car. I thought about just sitting in my car for the whole hour but made myself go in. Within 2 minutes of starting Zumba, I was smiling and breathing a huge sigh of relief. Sometimes I just don’t know how bad I need to exercise until I’m doing it. Or until it’s done. Time to get back into a regular routine of 3-4 workouts per week.10-29-2015

303/365: Friday, October 30th. We met friends at Kelsay Farms to climb the hay mountain, play in the corn pit, go through the corn maze, take a hay ride, sit by a bonfire, ride the Moo Choo Express, and watch some bad, bad, bad karaoke. It was a perfect, cool autumn night and with it being the day before Halloween, I thought it would be packed. Seemed like we had the place to ourselves. Such fun. 10-30-2015

304/365: Saturday, October 31st. Halloween! My Ant-Man and Superman. Rain had been predicted but it held off until we were done trick or treating. This was the first year we didn’t let them use strollers or the wagon. They hoofed it. After hoofing and lugging their buckets for an hour, they were ready to turn around and head home. It was cute watching them interact with the neighbors. I think their favorite thing about the whole holiday is getting home, dumping their buckets, and sorting their candy. My little organizers-I couldn’t be more proud.10-31-2015

305/365: Sunday, November 1st. Spent ALL day inside cleaning, laundering, cooking, organizing, and all the other -ings we -ing on Sundays. I had been promising Dexter for hours that as soon as I was done doing one more -ing, we’d go outside. We finally made it out around 3:30 and I was shocked at how warm it was. Happily shocked. He shed his jacket within about 30 seconds and we played secret superhero games in the trees by our house.11-01-15

306/365: Monday, November 2nd. I usually have about 15 minutes to waste between dropping Theo and Dexter off at their schools so on Monday we went and got gas. While we were waiting, I decided it was a good chance for me to get my picture of the day. Dexter decided it was a good time to be super silly. 11-02-2015

307/365: Tuesday, November 3rd. It was far too nice out to go straight home after school. The boys may have played outside during school, but this mama needed some Vitamin D too.  We went to the library and the park before going home at sunset….yes, at 6pm.11-03-2015

308/365: Wednesday, November 4th. Just another gorgeous day in Central Indiana. 11-04-2015

Hope your week has been unexpectedly wonderful. xo.

~C~

Catch the Moment: Wk 43

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

This week’s photos are ALL FALL. I realized what was happening about 2 days in and just kept going with it. As much as I loved being in Oregon and Tennessee this month, we missed their peak times for changing leaves. We didn’t miss it in Indiana though; the trees are ablaze with beautiful shades of red, gold, pink, and orange. There’s still quite a bit of green as well. We’ve had gorgeous fall weather so far up until this week, when Hurricane Patricia’s remnants apparently came to stay for awhile.

295/365: Thursday, October 22nd. I was home with the boys for the remainder of their fall break and we made the most of it with lots of fun activities. Thursday we bought Halloween costumes and picked our pumpkins to carve. 10-22-2015

296/365: Friday, October 23rd. On Friday we went to a bounce house and lunch with friends then later got haircuts and went out for dinner. While we’re driving around, I always point out the prettiest trees. The boys always point out that I won’t stop talking about how pretty the prettiest trees are…haha. That’s got to be better than complaining about how ugly and dead everything looks…coming up right after Christmas. Boo.IMG_7747

297/365: Saturday, October 24th. We did some not-so-fun activities like tile shopping and worked around the house. Dexter requested the Star Wars pumpkin (Ryan carved most of it for him), mine is the bat, and Theo designed the jack-o-lantern with a silly smile. 10-24-2015

298/365: Sunday, October 25th. For this week’s instagram fun #souperbowlsundays, I made THIS Chicken Cordon Bleu soup. It was very good but very heavy. 10-25-2015

299/365: Monday, October 26th. Before the rain started, Ryan carved a final jack-o-lantern on the back porch while the boys played outside. I walked around admiring the bright colors and watched leaves falling steadily in the increasing wind.10-26-2015

300/365: Tuesday, October 27th. Yep, I stood in the falling rain to take this – I needed a pic and I never get tired of this view as we are leaving home and driving down our street.10-27-2015

301/365: Wednesday, October 28th. At one point today, I thought the rain had stopped. The sun was actually peeking through the clouds and I even saw a couple of blue patches in the sky. But as soon as I stepped out of my office to take a quick walk, it started sprinkling again. This morning on the way to school, Dexter asked what happened to our blue sky and why the clouds were covering up the sunshine. It has only been dark and cloudy for 2 days – it’s going to be a long winter!10-28-2015

It’s been a very fall-filled week! Looking forward to Trick or Treating this Saturday (hoping the weather cooperates) and then moving on towards Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yikes! I can’t believe the year is almost over.

xo,

~C~

Smoky Mountain Getaway

Gallery posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Just 2 nights after we got home from Portland, we were packing up again to head south to Tennessee. We spent Oct. 16-21 with family in the Smoky Mountains as part of the boys’ fall break from school. We’d planned this trip long before the opportunity to go to Portland came up and while it was a little tricky managing 2 trips so close together, it was soooo worth it! We had several days away from home and were home in time for the boys (and me) to unwind before returning to real life.

Friday night, Oct 16: Dexter fell asleep at his regular bedtime (around 830) and slept the rest of the way…then went right back to bed. Crazy! Theo slept for maybe an hour and was ready for bed shortly after we got to my mom’s house as well.IMG_7191

Saturday, Oct 17th. We got to Pigeon Forge around lunch time and had some time to waste afterwards so we browsed the shops at Christmas Place. The boys enjoyed some fudge, ring pops, pressing some pennies, and a free train ride. IMG_7193 IMG_7207 IMG_7210 IMG_7211 IMG_7215 IMG_7217

We got to our cabin around 3 and started settling in. My sister and her family got there a couple of hours later. The front porch with rocking chairs and a swing was a popular hang out.IMG_7245

We went to the grocery then grilled burgers and brats, then spent time just hanging out together. My mom, Ryan’s parents, and my sister and her family all stayed with us at the cabin Saturday night. My sister and her family had to go back home Sunday night because of work and school. I’m very aware of how lucky I am and how unusual it is for my family – the one I was born into and the one I married into – to get along so well and enjoy spending this time together.

Sunday, Oct 18th: A view of the beautiful cabin. We were trying to decide what to do on Sunday. Since all my family lives within an hour of Pigeon Forge, there’s not much they haven’t done. IMG_7260 IMG_7262 IMG_7268

IMG_7271After searching Google and TripAdvisor, I kept coming back to this quirky sounding attraction called Goats on the Roof that I’d never heard of and no one had been to yet. They have goats (yes, on the roof), a gift shop, a mountain coaster, gem mining, and and ice cream shop. Free to get in and look around so we gave it a shot. It was an interesting and fun place. The coaster was kind of expensive but we decided to do it anyway and we were so glad we did. It. Was. Awesome. I don’t know how to explain it any better than the internet did so go HERE if you’re interested.  All the kids enjoyed the mining too.IMG_7279 IMG_7280 IMG_7285 IMG_7288 IMG_7298 IMG_7307 IMG_7315

Did you know you can still buy candy cigarettes? Only they are called “candy sticks” and they are still disgusting. But when they come in a Batman box and cost .99, you go for it. Smoke up, Johnny!IMG_7335 IMG_7344 IMG_7345

Another new-ish place in Pigeon Forge that’s super touristy and fun (what’s not touristy and fun in PF?) is The Island. Lots of shops and restaurants and overall just a nice place to walk around on a pretty day, which is what we were dealing with. Rocking chairs all the way around a big, beautiful fountain. Unique shops. Something for everyone-I think everyone really liked it there. We ate lunch at Margaritaville, which was ridiculously overpriced (what’s not ridiculously overpriced in PF?) but good. IMG_7368 IMG_7373 IMG_7379 IMG_7382 IMG_7396

Theo did this cute ropes course for little kids and really liked it. If I’d been dressed more appropriately for the activity, I would have taken him on the big one. It looked awesome!IMG_7404 IMG_7409

He did great! IMG_7421

Penelope and Dexter were too small for the ropes so they got to ride the Ribbit thingy. Look at those little faces. Pure joy. So cute.IMG_7431

This is a stunningly good photo considering the number of people and the fact that it was taken by a stranger. To his credit though, he was carrying a camera similar to mine, which is why I trusted him in the first place to do a decent job. I love this picture and I LOVE my family!IMG_7463

Penelope, Steve, Cher, Malachi, and Isabella.IMG_7465 IMG_7467

My mom and all of her grandchildren. IMG_7473 IMG_7478

Back at the cabin, it was chili for dinner and games for fun. My sister and her family left after dinner. Early to bed for me, knowing we had a big day at Dollywood the next day. IMG_7488 IMG_7489

Monday, October 19th: Dollywood day! I was a little worried that the park had short operating hours (10-6) but that proved to be more than enough! I couldn’t believe it and I have never seen Dollywood so deserted. I’ve been to Dollywood a lot – we walked onto every ride or maybe had to wait 1 turn. It was fantastic. Dollywood is wonderfully themed and maintained which means a lot coming from someone so obsessed with Disney and their standards of excellence. Dollywood is right up there for me. IMG_7501 IMG_7503 IMG_7507 IMG_7514 IMG_7523 IMG_7534

Other than looking pretty and having cool rides, there’s even more that I love about Dollywood now that I have kids. There are a handful of rides that they are still too small to ride but Ryan and I don’t want to miss. My mom and Ryan’s dad were all about riding while Ryan’s mom browsed through Craftsmans Valley. We were able to take turns riding things while 1 or 2 people stayed with the boys at one of 4 different play areas. They also do the parent/rider switch thing (similar to Disney) but with no lines, it wasn’t necessary. It kept the kids moving and occupied so the person who stayed behind with them wasn’t getting bombarded with a million complaints about being bored. IMG_7543 IMG_7544 IMG_7558 IMG_7567 IMG_7580

We rode every ride, ate a sit-down lunch, and were basically done by 5pm. We milled around until closer to 6 just because it seemed like the right thing to do.

Tuesday, October 20th: Me, Ryan, my mom, and the boys went for a hike up to Laurel Falls in Gatlinburg while Ryan’s parents checked out the Old Mill area and restaurant. We’d planned to eat together but there was construction traffic and the 1.3 mile hike up to the Falls took longer than we thought. It was really fun – I was worried the boys would be super lazy and make it miserable for all of us but it went better than I expected. No complaints on the second half of the hike which was all downhill. If you have to take little kids hiking, that’s definitely the way to do it! Unfortunately I didn’t realize my camera battery was about to die so I only had a chance to snap a handful of photos Tuesday. IMG_7588 IMG_7590

After our hike and a late lunch, we went back to the cabin. We played games and started packing up for the trip home Wednesday.

Wednesday, Oct 21st: Packing up and moving out. When I planned this trip, I was thinking Sat-Wed in Pigeon Forge was more than long enough but there’s so much to do and our time there really went by so quickly. The end of vacation is always a little sad! IMG_7595 hIMG_7598 IMG_7601 IMG_7611 IMG_7615

Until next time, Smoky Mountains!

xoxo,

~C~