Skeletons and Pumpkins

Today two of my favorite fall festivals fell on the same day.  Since we didn't want to miss either one, we hit the Day of the Dead Festival at Cheekwood for the morning and then headed to Franklin's Pumpkin Festival for the afternoon.  We had a lot packed into one day but it was a great time.
   The Day of the Dead Festival was just as I hoped it would be.  All the beautiful Mexican art and colors, wonderful crafts, and tasty food.  The girls decorated sugar skulls, enjoyed a Mexican lunch, made print art, tissue paper flowers, and skull masks.  Noelle loved the dancers and Natalie loved picking her favorite chalk drawing with Dada.  Afterwards, we drove to Franklin for the very crowded Pumpkin Festival.  It was fun seeing all the creative costumes but it was so busy and to our great sadness, we missed the chili tasting; our favorite from last year.  We did though get some frozen yogurt at Sweet Cici's and ran into some friends from school.

   Tonight the girls get to have a babysitter and Mom and Dad will actually attend a "grown ups only" Halloween party.  It should be awesome!  More photos to come!

Halloween Fun

We returned for the second year to Ghouls at Grassmere.  It was just as amazing as last year and the girls were just as brave.  We went on the haunted hayride and then hit all the attractions including the Mad Science Lab, the Gypsy Maze, and the Trick Or Treat Trail.  This year we all dressed up.  Dada was a scary skeleton, Natalie was a black cat, Noelle was a monkey just like last year, and Momma wore a hat covered with eyeballs.  One lady in the Mad Science Lab told Natalie that she was a vampire and Natalie promptly told her "No you are not!  Vampires don't exist!"  Very funny.

Today I took the girls to another event we did last year which was the Music and Molasses Festival.  The weather was in the 80s compared to last year in the 50s!  The girls were happy to again partake in apple bobbing and petting the animals.  They also got to play with some instruments.  This year, they were introduced to a new food; the ever popular frito chili salad.  Both girls gave it a thumbs up.  They also shared some corn on a cob.  It has simply been a perfect fall weekend.

Leaf Pile

The tree in our yard dropped all it's leaves already so I did some raking and the girls did some leaf pile jumping.  So much fun!

Welcome Fall

At last, my favorite season has returned!  I am really looking forward to cooler weather, the colors in the trees, and of course, everything Halloween related.  The girls have already started gearing up for our favorite holiday.  We creep up and down the Halloween aisles at Target and point out all our favorite things.  Our giant collection of Halloween and fall themed books is already up on the reading shelf and my Spooky Town has been established once again in a prominent place in the house.
   This morning, the ever-popular Gentry's Farm opened up for the season and you can bet that we were there.  The girls loved the hayride, seeing all the farm animals, playing on the tire swings, running through the corn maze, and of course, checking out the pumpkin patch.  Last year, we somehow missed going to Gentry's Farm since it only opens on weekends and we got busy.  I wasn't going to let that happen again this year.  The girls had a blast.  Welcome Fall...  Have a hug!  You have been missed!

Back to The Farm

Today we took a Labor Day Weekend day trip to Summertown to visit The Farm.  I had taken the girls last September along with hiking Hollows Falls on the way.  We both hiked and visited The Farm again this time but got to take Dada along.  It was a gorgeous day with perfect weather and the butterflies were all out.  The girls had no problem hiking down to the falls and back unlike last year when Natalie had some anxiety about the steep trail.   Noelle was able to tell me all day long when she needed to go potty and although there were a couple accidents, she did very well.

   We had a great time at The Farm; the old hippie commune which is now home to much fewer people than in its' hay day.  People don't live communally anymore but it is still a vegan and spiritual community.  They have their own school (solar powered) as well as a book publishing company, midwifery center,  center for green living, and soy dairy.  We visited the book store, a vehicle-graveyard of old hippie buses which originally caravanned from San Francisco to Summertown back in the early '70s, the general store, and of course the playground. Our girls found a small gang of Farm kids and attempted to immediately run off with them.  Chris had to chase the girls down and bring them back.  The Farm kids were well behaved and adorable but Natalie seemed a bit confused as the two girls had pixie haircuts and the boy had long hair!  It was fun and very interesting to learn more about The Farm and hang out there for a while.  We ended the day at Logan's Roadhouse in Springhill before returned to our regularly scheduled life.

Natalie in the Dojang

Just recently, Natalie has started tae kwon do classes at a local dojang.  Of course this tickles me pink since I have such fond memories of my own days in tae kwon do.  Since my hubby has a black belt as well, it was a no brainer that we would try the girls out in the sport.  So far, Natalie loves it!  She is so excited to be the little kid in the big kid class!  She may not be kicking with the right foot or even in the right direction but she sure has spirit!  She loves yelling out "yes sir!" A teenaged girl named Taylor who is a black belt has been helping Natalie learn the ropes.  Natalie instantly adores her.  Her buddy Reece from summer camp is new in the class as well.   I can't wait to see Natalie's progress in tae kwon do.  Meanwhile, Noelle is trying to convince me that she is almost 5 so that she can take tae kwon do too.  Sorry little girl!

Natalie's New Tree

After months of back and forth emails on etsy, I have finally received my giant wall tree decal to go on Natalie's wall in her room.  It was sent from Canada and I expected it about three months ago!  Little did I know that when it arrived, it would be in about 100 pieces!  I had to put the tree together (four pieces) and then each leaf had to be placed individually!!  Once I got the hang of it though, it went pretty fast.  The birds were a nice addition.  Natalie loves it and now Noelle is asking when she gets to have a tree in her room too!  Here are photos of the room.  With the exception of a possible daybed, her room is just the way I would like it to be right now.