Halloween 2012

What a fun Fall day we had!  We started with a field trip to Patterson Farms, an over 100 year old family owned and operated farm.  We all took a long hay ride and the kids got to feed farm animals, stuff a scarecrow, and choose a pumpkin from the patch.  By evening we were Trick or Treating, our first here in North Carolina, and it was really fun.  Our neighbor even piled hay on his trailer and pulled kids all through the neighborhood for a Halloween hay ride.  People are just fun here!  Lots of fun fall activities.  Check out photos of our day.

Gracie loves dinosaurs and decided she wanted to be a T Rex this year.  Thankfully we found a costume that mommy did not have to make, only embellish.  Whew!

Our first Halloween in our new home, taken from Rob's iPhone.  We hated cutting down our tree in the front yard this summer but I think it now makes a nice pedestal, no?  

Well, Halloween is over and I for one am looking forward to Thanksgiving. 

 Hope you all had a safe and fun eve.

Fall !!!!!!

This is our first fall in North Carolina as home owners.  We've been warned by neighbors for 6 months how bad fall is here when the leaves fall.  How bad could it be?  Look at how GORGEOUS this neighborhood is!  We think the beauty of the trees is worth the work, but ask me in another 4 weeks what we truly think.

Gracie timidly walking into a leaf pile.  She doesn't understand diving in.

She did understand throwing leaves up into the air though......

and loved it........

Repeating the process over and over again.  

This is our home in mid-Fall.  Check out my very first post back in spring and you'll see the difference in shade and lighting, and LEAVES!

Rob got a new gas-powered leaf blower for his birthday.  He loves it!  That's fortunate because it took over 4 hours to make the pile below.

Oh wait, this pile was only 1 hour into the blowing process.

 THIS is the pile of leaves after 4 hours of blowing AND they run along the entire length of our curb.  This is Gracie standing in the street and I'm photographing her from the lawn.  Truly waist deep.  We're told this is only the beginning and we haven't seen nothing yet.  Oh oh.

 These Californians can't believe the amount of leaves here. 

 Keep checking back for more Fall coverage. 

Random Shots

Today I decided to post random shots I've taken in the last couple weeks.  They are shots that I like for various reasons, tell me what you think.


This is Charlotte.  Charlotte doesn't like to smile for the camera but I actually love that about her.  I love the way the sun is illuminating her head overexposing her while the richness of fall is all around her.  

This is Max, a Beagle pup.  Isn't he precious?  I just love this shot because it's of a sweet puppy, I realize there is nothing extraordinary about it other than what a great designer God is to give us puppies!!!

We have the coolest animal ranch here in NC called Lazy 5.  You ride in open wagons driven by a team of horses and feed animals.  The giraffes are my favorite!  I mean, how many people in life can say they have fed a giraffe?  This particular afternoon the giraffes where sick of the bucket food so our guide pulled maple leaves off of a tree and told us to put a leaf in our mouth and the giraffe would very gently eat from it.  What?!!!  It was AMAZING!  This guy below was coming in for a BIG ol' kiss.

Hope you enjoyed these.  I enjoyed posting them!

Five

Ethan and Jonas turned five this week and shared a joint 5th birthday party.  I couldn't help but share these photos as these little guys are so precious.  It was a fun filled afternoon at Dan Nicholas park with train rides, zoo animals, and delicious food!  Gracie and I had a blast!  

ETHAN

JONAS

Kind of makes me want a boy.

New Wood Entry Floor

When we moved into our home there was a long list of things to update and a short list of things to update IMMEDIATELY!  Our side entry floor below just about topped the list.  It's the only vinyl flooring in the house that resembles El Paso Cantina restaurant circa 1972, a very odd and curious choice for a colonial home.  For our 2011 Christmas gift, my dad bought us oak floors from Lumber Liquidators for our kitchen (see kitchen floor post) and side entry that perfectly matched the original oak throughout the first level.  He even installed it, with a little help from hubby, and he did a beautiful job!

BEFORE:  UGH!

DURING:

AFTER:

 Aren't they gorgeous?!!!!  They are not this bright or golden in person, warm overhead lighting.  I just had to brag on my dad.  He worked tirelessly on them and it really paid off.  Plus, we discovered that our stairs leading to the second level are oak as well, but that is a HUGE project for another time.  

Now to change that unsightly screen door!

Check back for updates.