Pumpkin Farm Fun

We made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Farm...again supporting our local Basse's Taste of Country.  We really like it there -- caramel apples, tons of pumpkins, hay rides, corn maze, petting zoo, playground, corn house, corn teepee...you name it! 

With two VERY active and busy boys....it was hard snap pictures of them in action. And, because we like to get in on the fun WITH them...sometimes it is hard to remember to take the pictures in the first place, honestly...I'd so much rather be IN the fun making the memories sometimes....

Of course, I managed to snap a few....

 

And then, because I was feeling all nostalgic,  I took a walk down memory lane...

 

Our first year at Basse's in 2008 -- Max was just under one year old...

 

 

 

We must've been too busy in 2009 to go to Basse's because our next set of pictures shows up in 2010.  Max is almost 3 and Sam is 6 months.

 

And then, 2011 -- Max is almost 4 and Sam is one and a half...

And now - 2012 - an almost FIVE year old and a two and a half year old.  Crazy how fast they grow and how fast time goes by!

Man, do I love my two little pumpkins!!!

Shutterfly Winner

Congrats to....

which would be the following comment:
 

stacey rebholz said...

sam has me thinking about it already!

October 11, 2012 2:49 AM

Stacy -- with your new baby boy...who is adorably named SAM I hope you can put this to good use! 

Plus, commenting at 2:49 AM ought to give you some advantage, LOL.

I'll contact you with the details to claim your prize.

 

Thanks everyone else for commenting/playing.  Check out Shutterfly's GREAT designs this year and don't forget

to send me a card too!  :)

 

Christmas Cards in October? ***AND A GIVEAWAY***

Have you started thinking about your Christmas cards yet?

WAIT, what?

You're too busy carving your pumpkins and raking leaves and you think it's too early to be thinking about that?  

Well,

IT'S NOT!!

I'm thinking about mine already....

• I already have a photo session booked with my favorite awesome local photographer, Shannon Wucherer Photography.
• I've also got an entire pinboard of inspiration for outfits for the photo shoot this year -- I'm thinking navy and yellow for colors this year, but I'm still figuring it out.

For me:

I mean CUTE, right??

• And Shutterfly has their Holiday Cards up already!!  

WHAT???  NO WAY!  

This means that I can scour their website for inspiration BEFORE my photoshoot -- and color coordinate my outfits WITH my card choice!  SO PERFECT for my Type A personality, don'tcha think!?!  :)

Look at some of the great layouts they have!! I'm partial to the multiple photo layout ones, but there are TONS of other ideas on their website...CHECK IT OUT!!

 

Shutterfly makes it easy for you to get quality holiday cards at a decent price.  They also offer TONS of promotions so you won't have to spend all your gift money getting cards sent out.  Check out their Special Offers for more details.  

But now the part that you've been really waiting for, right?  

Shutterfly has given me an awesome giveaway that I get to treat one lucky reader with.  Entering is simple:

Just leave me a comment below telling me if you've already started thinking about your Holiday cards and what you've done.

One lucky reader will take home a promo code for 

$50 off their total order 

(does not include shipping & cannot be combined with any other promos).  

Seriously.  How cool is that???

Comments will be closed on October 19th at midnight, so be sure to enter before then!  I'll use random number generator to pick one lucky winner and will announce the winner on October 20th.  Good luck!!!

***this is a sponsored post by Shutterfly and I am receiving compensation for it.  ***

8K -- CHECK!

This weekend, I ran my first 'official' 8K -- Al's run.  Cross another one off the goals list!! Actually, this wasn't ON the goals list, but that's OK!  10K is the official goal on the list -- and I've already run that -- just unofficially....

Laura, Max and I all ran it.  This was Max's second time running this race, and our first.  I was NERVOUS. I'm not sure exactly WHY...I think the fact that 10-15,000 people do this race (running AND walking) was most of the reason.  I do NOT like crowds.

I was super stoked to have Laura along as my running partner, though.  She really motivates me to keep going when sometimes I'd rather quit.  It is so great to have a running partner who is paced so well with me -- and we really do help keep each other going -- either for longer distance or faster speeds.  She rocks!

Do you see us up there?  1815 and 1816 overall!!  We were 104 and 105 in our age class of 246 -- which means we finished BEFORE 50% of other women our age!!  WOOT WOOT!!!  We also were averaging UNDER 10 min miles -- my goal was to average under a 10:30 mile, so I blew this one completely out of the water!!!

Max and I before the race -- I was pretending to be calm....

Laura and I after the race -- she is such a great running partner.  She really has helped motivate me to keep running and to push through a difficult run.  I know there were times during this run that we both wanted to stop.  But we just kept telling each other we could slow down if we needed to.  Funny, we actually never slowed down.  Take a look:

Check out that consistency!!

All in all, it was a great day -- I felt strong after the run.  Maybe because going into it I was still on a high from what I saw on the scale that morning:

....or that fact that earlier that week I bought a new pair of SKINNY jeans....

in a SIZE TWO!! 

 ***GASP***  

Like the bathroom shot?  I'm classy like that...

Whatever it was, I feel like I'm in a really good place with both my weight, my eating, and my time management.  Let's hope I don't start getting lazy and letting my weight creep back up or losing all the muscle I have worked so hard to build up! The last time I asked my scale to calculate my BF% -- it gave me 22.6%!!  That is down over 2% since I first started monitoring it.  I must be doing SOMETHING right!

Project 366: Week 36

 

 246 | 366 - Sept 2, 2012 -- I love getting to spend time with some of my favorite ladies.

 

 247 | 366 - Sept 3, 2012 - working on the swing set. First step, sanding it.

 

 248 | 366 - Sept 4, 2012 - the first scarf I finished crocheting that doesn't have any mistakes!

 

 249 | 366 - Sept 5, 2012 -- the new cool way to wear your flip flops!

 

 250 | 366 - Sept 6, 2012 -- I have an addiction to buying new dresses. Isn't this one adorable? 

 

 251 | 366 - Sept 7, 2012 -- look who snuck onto my camera! What a cutie!

 

 252 | 366 - Sept 8, 2012 - Sam and I found a blue grass band playing at the Zoo after Zoo class, and he was in HEAVEN listening to them play.

Project 366: Week 35

239 | 366 - Aug 26, 2012 -- almost a year in the house and I finally got up the photo wall!

 

240 | 366 - Aug 27, 2012 -- prepping tomatoes and other veggies to make some freezer tomato sauce

 

241 | 366 - Aug 28, 2012 -- Max's first day of 4K at his new school, St. Dominic's!

   

242 | 366 - Aug 29, 2012 -- Sam tries climbing with daddy at the climbing gym.

   

242 | 366 - Aug 29, 2012 - look how high my little guy made it on his own!!

   

 243 | 366 - Aug 30, 2012 - you turn your back for one minute and they grow up so fast!

 

244 | 366 - Aug 31, 2012 --someone stripped down and decided it was time to run through the sprinkler!

 

245 | 366 - Sept 1, 2012 - a swing set we get to recycle in our own yard!

Project 366: Week 34

 

 232 | 366 Aug 19, 2012 -- saying goodbye to cousin Lilly.

   

 233 | 366 Aug 20, 2012 -- this letter from Max's new 4K teacher made his night!

   

 234 | 366 Aug 21, 2012 -- Mommy and Max night brings us to Noodles after a Tux fitting for Manda's wedding!

   

 235 | 366 Aug 22, 2012 - our pepper plants are finally starting to produce!

   

 236 | 366 - Aug 23, 2012 - sunglasses and a trumpet make a mini Ray Charles

   

 237 | 366 - Aug 24, 2012 -- NEVER thought I'd see this number on my scale!!

   

 238 | 366 - Aug 25, 2012 -- date night with my hubby!

A picture is worth a thousand words....

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Or even just a few.  Shutterfly has great options to use your photos for more than...well....just photos!  

Let me tell you, I sneak peeked some of their xmax designs too, and they are looking pretty awesome for this year!  How am I going to beat lederhosen though????

Project 366: Week 33

 

 225 | 366 Aug 12, 2012 -- the sunrise over the lake I was greeted with after returning from my morning run 

   

 226 | 366 Aug 13, 2012 -- Sam and Ethan were dubbed the 'grumpy old men' of the week -- they liked to talk weather while eating goldfish.

 

227 | 366 Aug 14, 2012 -- Max stops to pose for Mom -- such a sweet boy.

   

 228 | 366 Aug 15, 2012 -- when I discovered we were only a few miles from the town of Max...of course we had to find a sign!

   

 229 | 366 Aug 16, 2012 -- Max, Maddie and Mira -- triple Ms!

 

230 | 366 Aug 17, 2012 -- Max and Sam get to 'drive' the horse carriage

   

 230 | 366 Aug 17, 2012 -- kisses

   

 231 | 366 Aug 18, 2012 -- Max never thought he'd get me on an ATV...especially not in a dress. I like to keep him guessing ;)

   

 231 | 366 Aug 18, 2012 -- acorn collecting with cousins

   

 231 | 366 Aug 18, 2012 -- she's grown so much since we last saw her. Such a sweet girl.