{ october happenings }

We've had a fairly uneventful but fun first few weeks of October. The weather had been perfect and we got out to enjoy it as much as possible with creek adventures for O and S.

And bike adventures for me.

There was also some fall baking mixed in including Downeast Maine pumpkin bread and this super easy Apple Mosaic Tart by Smitten Kitchen.

Last weekend on Saturday we kept O and S busy in an attempt to skip naps so they would go to bed easy for a babysitter that night. First we went to a free pumpkin patch event at a nearby park in Edina. It was kid heaven with free face painting.

And free pony rides. You can guess by the smiles below how much they liked it! And guess what Stella asked for for Christmas? Yup, a pony.

We then moved on to an open house at a local fire station where O and S had plenty of fun climbing in all of the vehicles and tractors.

All of that was in an effort to tire them out so that we could go enjoy an early dinner at a "pop-up" restaurant, called UMAMI, with our friends Mark and Kate. The deal is that you buy tickets in advance but they sell out fast. So when they invited us to join them we were excited for the chance to go! It was a super yummy meal with all kinds of creative spins on Asian food. Here we are showing off part of dessert - pears that they freeze dried in front of us.

This week has brought lots of gloomy, rainy, chilly days. O and S are not used to being inside this much and every afternoon ask me "where are we going?" or "what park are we going to?". I'm wondering how long it is going to be until they realize that it isn't summer anymore.

We did manage to sneak out for a brief amount of time with their friend Lena one morning.

And a little porch time outside one night to get the crazies out. Oliver's got moves.

The weather has required me to try to get some projects planned for them. That would be an easy task if it were just Stella since she has the patience to sit down and work on things. Oliver, not so much. For example, here was a painting project that we tried. You take q-tips, dip them in paint, and use them to "dot" leaves onto a tree base. Less than two minutes in and this is what Oliver decided to do instead.

In other randomness, Stella must be getting influenced by her Olivia book in which Olivia tries brussel sprouts at a friend's house and finds out she likes them. She decided that mine looked so good at lunch one day that she was popping them in her mouth like candy!

Trying to get in as many runs as possible before surgery which means in the rain. T minus 8 days and counting!