New Season, Old Feelings, Current Happenings

I love the fact that in Missouri we really get to experience the change in seasons. Where other than the MidWest can you see Spring’s blooming flowers sometimes covered in snow, and Summer’s blazing heat change to a mild 70 degrees overnight, and Autumn colors starting to show during the remnants of the summer temps, or a WHITE CHRISTMAS worthy of movies? Well, Maybe in other countries, but Missouri is a prime location in the U.S.! How funny I say this when most times I’d rather live a million other places than in St. Louis.

Along with fall I change too. Each season I reminisce about last year’s holdings at this same time. Or the year before. Or ten years before.  I get flooded with so many emotions when the weather changes. It’s wonderful and heart wrenching at the same time.

I daydream about what I want to do with and without Emma this time of year, and how I’d like to decorate my house, and foods that correlate with this time of year. Of course, I get smacked down because I can’t really do a lot of the things I’d like to with Emma (Oktoberfest, bonfires, football games, tailgating, etc.), and I can’t really decorate my house because I’m still trying to make having a nosey child and 1,000 moving toys work into the household as it is! So I think about food (shocker!) and things to do with Emma.

Gene and I recently took Emma to the “Brink” family reunion. It was actually the Kaibel family reunion, I think. Some family owns the MikusFamily Farm (Pumpkin Patch called PUMPKINS GALORE) in Wright City so it was held there and I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing it was! If you’re looking for an awesome place to take the kiddos, try there first! We spent four hours there! Emma skipped a nap, and was still going strong! She met two goats, a donkey, some chickens, a bunny, some turtles and a cat. She swung on a swing, played in feed corn, see-sawed, rode a kid tractor, played in dirt and rocks, and so much more! They open this coming weekend to the public and they’ll have snacks, a bounce house, hay rides, pumpkin picking, pumpkin cannon-shooting, and lots more. I plan on taking Emma back if I can make the time!

A lot of Mommy friends took their kids to pick apples. While I decided long ago that Emma wouldn’t be too into this, and I don’t need that many apples, I think I’ve changed my mind and have decided to go ahead and take Emma. We’ll see if I ever get the time to do this or not, but I’m going to try to squeeze it in. Plus, I’m sure Gene would love some more apple crisp!

While we are skipping Oktoberfest this year because of some work issues on Gene’s end, we can now fit in Taste of St. Louis. Yum! Just what I need, more food. I WAS on a diet, you know. Haha. Well, we’ll probably hit that up on Saturday night once Gene gets home from work and hopefully it’s not too busy down there. Have you been? It’s ah-mazing! Pricey, but oh so good. FYI – it’s not very kid friendly because they do not have diaper changing stations. They do have very large handicap port-a-potties so bring a changing pad.

We have one last Cardinals game to go to as a family. The 29^th is the very last “regular” season game and we have tickets. Don’t get me wrong, I love going as a family because it’s something important to Gene and I, but we can’t really watch a game with Emma because she does not sit still for long, and we can’t all eat at the same time because she is on our laps, and then she will get cranky and/or hot and we will have to leave early. I have given up watching games at home too because one of us has to keep her entertained and I can’t half-watch. I just can’t. So I keep updated on Twitter a bit and I keep up with wins/losses, but I couldn’t tell you who’s on first (oh stop, haha) or who they even played last (okay, that’s not true, we played the Brewers… and lost last night!). So I’m anxious to get this last game over with so that next year we can start fresh with Emma being a little older and hopefully a little more into the game.

What also comes with the weather changes? The outdoor to-do list of course. So, before winter I need to weed and feed the grass again, pull the flowers from the flower bed, and paint the outside of the house. While I’d love to pay someone to paint the outside of the house (I know a good handy-man if you need any work done btw – he's a little eccentric, but an awesome person and very reliable) I just can’t do it. I hate painting the house. Yuck. I also need to put away any items that the frigid winter weather will harm. Boy, when will I ever get all that in?

Ever since the first “chilly” day, I’ve wanted to make chili. Haha, see how that works? The only reason I haven’t yet in simply because I know Emma can’t really eat chili. She can eat the meat, and some beans and crackers, but I wouldn’t feel like she would be eating a well-balanced meal. So, I need to sit down a figure out what I could do to get her veggies in as well. Carrots in the chili maybe?

I made apple crisp a couple weeks ago. It was so yummy. I used directions off the back of a bag of oatmeal cookie mix by Betty Crocker and three giant Honeycrisp apples. Speaking of Honeycrisps, did you see how much they are?!? Wow. Thank goodness Emma kept me occupied and Gene paid because I would have told them to keep those stinkin’ apples and we would have eaten oatmeal cookies instead of the yummy dessert. There truly is no better apple though.

I baked pumpkin bread last night and the house filled up with the wonderful smell of fall (pumpkin spices really, but to me, that’s fall). I kept taking in deep breaths just to savor it! The bread was okay, it turned out more like a spice cake really, but I still ate almost half of it between last night and today. Haha.

What are some other good fall foods? I’ve already eaten my fair share of Happy Apples. Haha.

I’m totally looking forward to what the rest of September, October and November have to bring! And then, best of all, we’ll be on to the most wonderful time of the year!

Do you have any exciting stories or plans for this time of year? I’d love to add some new memories to my list!