Fall Festivals Around the World

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. The crisp air, the yummy smells, the beautiful colors...it all speaks to my soul. I love the freshness of the cool air, the cozy clothes, and the pumpkin spice lattes! Fall is just a magical time. One of my favorite fall traditions is to visit the pumpkin patch with my sweet family. When the kiddos get older I look forward to taking vacations during the fall (another perk of homeschooling, we can travel anytime!) For now, we'll stick to backyard camp-outs, pumpkin patch fun, and fall festivals.

 

 

Although we can't travel during this most magical time, we can enjoy learning about fall festivals around the world. A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Priority One Jets. They would soon be featuring an exciting blog post, sharing unique fall festivals from around the world, and a fun fall recipe and asked if I would share. We always love trying new recipes and going on adventures from the comfort of our home, so I was in.

Check the link below to view some exciting festivals around the world.
http://www.priorityonejets.com/blog/fall-festivals-around-world/

I love learning about the National Apple Harvest Festival, that looks fun! My girls would love to visit a real apple farm, but for now the beautiful pictures will do. And how cool would the Paris Autumn Festival be?!? Paris in the fall, magical indeed!



The girls LOVE helping out in the kitchen, so they were thrilled to try this new apple recipe. As we were slicing the apples the girls kept collecting the apple seeds and running outside to plant them. Finley kept saying she hoped they would have apple trees in the spring. They even watered the seeds...poor girls. I tried to explain that we didn't have the right soil or environment for apple trees.


So important to cook with kids and this recipe was super easy and fun.

 

 

It was so yummy! I forgot to add the honey, but after a few bites Finley reminded me and it really made the difference!

Hope you enjoy!

Little Man Party

Emerson turned one and got two parties! The first was a "Little Man" party with our sweet family, held the day after Rowynn's party. I wanted to do two separate parties this year, but since my family are all from out of town we decided to have a small family party on Sunday and a friend party the next week. That way our family didn't have to come in twice in a month, and our friends didn't have to go to 2 parties in 1 weekend.

We rented the gazebo in downtown Carrollton and hosted a little man party, with a little game, presents, smash cake, and blueberry muffins. Then we walked to Babe's for some yummy lunch, made a visit to the small candy store and then sadly said goodbye to our family. We then went to the mall to let Emerson ride the carousel for the first time (and the girls rode of course too).

 

'Stache the baby! We printed this pic of Emerson and found these cute mustache stickers for our family to have some fun with.

Party fun with some of our favorite people!

 

 

 



He loved his cake!

Poor buddy, his party wore him out!

 

So.very.yummy.

 

He slept in Mimi's arms for while we waited for our food!

Kyle & his Dad!

He loved the yummy food.

 

I brought one of his books that he got as a baby shower gift, "Fox in Socks" (his nursery features foxes) and had everyone sign it, great keepsake!

 

Riding the carousel like a big boy.

Love this guy!

Our sweet group!

 

Love my family. Can't believe we have a 4, 3, & 1 year olds!

 

 

 

Happy birthday Emerson Kyle!!!

Emerson Kyle is 1!

Four days after Rowynn turned 3, our sweet baby boy turned 1. I am not okay with this. At.all. Maybe because he is our last baby and the season of birthing babies is over, maybe because his first year was a blur, or perhaps because he my boy...but whatever it is, I'm not okay with him turning one. It went by too fast. How is he one? How is the season of my life which includes being pregnant and having babies is already over? When you start young (I was 23 when Finley was born) I guess sometimes your family is complete at  a younger age (I was 26 when Emerson was born). It's still tough to deal with. I miss the snuggly newborn stage, not so much the sleep deprivation, but the cuteness, yes.

But I digress...while I'm sad that my baby boy is already 1, I'm also pretty happy with how my family looks. Our family is complete and beautiful. I also kind of love being out of the newborn stage. It's tough and we've been in baby mode for the past several years.

This guy. Emerson. He.is.just.wonderful. The best baby, hands down. The sweetest guy around. There's definitely something about a Mom and her boy. I just love that little guy. He is a perfect mix of me and Kyle and is all boy. He is curious, loves to explore, and loves to make messes. He is so full of joy, so happy. He is sleeping through the night, with 1-2 naps daily. Usually his morning nap last about 1.5 hours and his afternoon nap 2-2.5 hours. He is eating solids and drinking whole milk. He is pulling up, but not standing or doing much crusing. That's okay. Finley was running at 12 months, but Rowynn didn't walk until around 14-15 months. And honestly, I'm going to miss having a wee one crawl around so I'm in no hurry to see him walk. He can say "Momma," "Dada," "Milk," and sometimes says "FFfff" for Finley and "RoRo." He loves to play with trucks, is usually carrying a music toy, sleeps with his little fox and glo-worm and loves to squeal and scream.

 

 

He is a great cuddle bug and loves to come in our bed most mornings to snuggle and crawl around. He shakes his leg out when he is frustrated and loves books. He is so sweet, so funny, and so happy. Love him so very much!!!

He got a small cupcake on his birthday. Clearly he didn't care for it.

He also got a small ice cream cone.

 

Can't believe a year has come and gone so quickly!

Rowynn's 3rd Birthday...Froggie & Favorites

Our sweet Rowynn Faith turned 3 and we had a Froggie & Favorites party the next day to celebrate!



For the past couple of years she has been obsessed with her frog Scentsy buddy that her Aunt Tina got her. She loves frogs and the first color she learned was "froggie" (green). So we decided to do a party around her love of Mr. Froggie and her purple Ellie, while also incorporating some of her other favorites.



Our sweet girl in her chair! They love these chairs and they make perfect birthday "thrones!" Notice the cute little froggies on her shirt.

The color scheme of the party...all her favorites! With of course polka dots, another favorite.

 The Food:

We featured all of sweet girl's favorite food! We had "hoppin' poppin' chicken" (chick-fil-a nuggets), "Frog Logs," (crescent roll hot dogs), "Fruit w/ pond dip,"Cupcakes, cookies in the shape of lily pads, frogs, and purple flowers, "Lily Pad Chips & Dip," pretzels, popcorn, and a make your own trail mix that included her favorite snacks-green M&M's, goldfish, mini marshmallows, cheerios, and green gummy bears.

 

 

First time making cupcakes for the party...usually I have a sweet friend who makes them.

One of my Mom's friends from Louisiana made these adorable cookies!

Rowynn's Trail Mix

 

 

 

 

 

To drink: Lemonade & Frog Juice (kiwi strawberry juice)
I found these mini frisbees at Party city, turned them upside down and added some plastic frogs from the dollar store.

 

 

Games/Activities:

 

Since Rowynn LOVES to cook/bake one of the activities was to have the kiddos decorate their own cupcakes. I set aside some frosting and had lots of different sprinkles on hand. They loved it! I also at frog hats (thanks Maile) and frog aprons (dollar tree) for them to wear to protect their clothing.

 

The birthday girl with her cupcake!

 

Make a wish!

 

 

 

 We also did a "Lily Pad Hop." Basically musical chairs with lily pad cut outs I got at the dollar store this past summer. I placed some lily pads on the floor in a circle and we listened to the "Frog Song" while the kids hopped around. I made some of the big kids--my sister (she's 25), my dad, and Terrance put a balloon between their knees so they had to frog hop. This was a huge hit. We played it several times and the kids loved it.

 

Swat the flies was another fun game. I found this ridiculously cute frog bubble machine at Walmart over the summer. I had no idea how I was going to use it at the party when I bought it. I just knew that it was cute, green, and a frog. And that Rowynn loves bubbles. At the same time I found green frog shaped fly swatters in two packs. Picked them up too. A few days before the party I got the idea to have the bubbles be "flies" that the kids had to swat (pop) with the fly swatter. THEY.LOVED.IT.  And the bubble machine was pretty awesome...it produced some major bubbles.

Kiss the Frog. I found this free printable online and it was simple and fun. They had to pin the lips on the frog...pretty sure we had some cheaters!

Feed the Frog. I found this frog bath toy organizer and knew I could use it for something! Well I hid plastic flies around the house and the kids could search for them throughout the party. Once found they would take it to the frog and place in the mesh pocket. They got a chocolate coin (another one of Rowynn's favorites) each time they "fed the frog."

 

 

 

Party Décor:

 

 

 

 

 

The lyrics to her favorite song, "You are my Sunshine," are in the white frame, her name canvas, Mr. Froggie & Ellie, some of her art work, green flowers, a sparkly "R," banners, and frog toys.

 

 Favors:

Each kiddo walked away with some pretty sweet favors! I'm a sucker for favors, they're my favorite part. They each got: a frog hat, a frog apron, a pink princess wand, a wooden fire truck (Rowynn has a slight obsession with fire trucks), a frog snack cup, a plastic jumping frog, and a CD with a ton of Rowynn's favorite songs (over 20 songs)!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Party pictures!

 

Aunt Tina & My Mom. They have been friends forever! Tina and her girls always make the drive from Houston to celebrate our kids and of my Mom (and family) make the long drive from Louisiana. Blessed by some awesome family!

Dad w/Myca & Courtni

Aunt Sissy & Emerson. Even Emerson had on a froggie outfit!

My precious grandparents! They make the long drive from LA every birthday too!

 

Presents!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It was a wonderful party and I'm so blessed by a sweet husband who loves planning with me and my awesome family and friends who help us celebrate our kiddos!!