my favorite

hands down

fall is my favorite time of year

back to school

leaves blowing across the yard

crisp breezes

apple and pumpkin everything

these pictures don't need many words

i think they speak volumes about why this time of year

in this place

with these people

is so, so delicious

this girl has been begging to go to a pool for weeks now...

she's so desperate, she finally settled for swimming in a pile of leaves ;)

of course, babies had to join us in our leaf pile cannon balls

while the prettiest baby watched from atop the hill

this time of year

these faces

little voices squealing "more!"

its not perfect, but it IS wonderful

red wing

every year my parents give j and i the best christmas gift...a night away

y'all know we love our kids, but they're little and that makes us busy

it's a good kind of busy....

but it leaves little time for things like...oh, you know...finishing a conversation.

so, once a year, we plan a little get away and my parents stay with the kids

this year we chose red wing and it was full of good stuff

as you can see, we didn't go completely alone

sparkle is still up during the nights (i've been blessed with a lot of things, but sleeping babies is not one of them:)

but hey - when you're used to three munchkins vying for every single second of your time, taking the least mobile of the bunch makes it seem like a total parenting vactation

we walked around down town and checked out some shops, stopped for coffee and had some lunch

it was one of those beautiful, crisp, pop it in a bottle and save it 'cause its soooo good kind of fall days

we hiked barn bluff and got to see the mighty mississip' from a bird's eye view....totally worth it!

we also snuck in some swimming, a HUGE antique store, Italian for supper, farmers' market and a stop to JoAnne's for some party supplies....

we've got someone who is about to turn five in this house and she's requesting a Clifford theme this year

that's giving momma a bit of a challenge, but i'm rollin' with it

all in all, it was a fabulous trip

we 

held hands

reconnected

completed our conversations

and missed our sweet babies

our girls

ate candy

went to chucky cheese

stayed up late

and got huge light up microphones at Target

my parents

read stories

snuggled

chased little girls

and made some memories

win.win.win

fallish fun

as the cold winds start blowin', we're trying to drink every last drop of a good minnesota autumn

the pumpkin patch sounded like fun

adding grandpa, grandma, auntie H, uncle L and cousin T 

made my girls about seventy three shades of happy

 the big girls were all over the place, loving the chance to be outside and in the sunshine

our littlest took it all in from her stroller refuge with promises from grandpa that she'd get to play next year

my dad said i had a two percent chance of getting a picture of all of them looking at me....

i'm always up for a good challenge  :)

the next day the girls were anxious to get their pumpkins carved

they took great delight in pulling out the slimy seeds for grandma to take inside to roast

what's that?

you like those tattoos ALL OVER tulips arms?

talk to my mom...she can hook you up

and she won't make you stop with just one

oh no...you can have as many as you like...no matter how ridiculous it looks

you want seven tattoos??  all on the same arm??

sure, sweetheart

she'll serve them with a handful of skittles and a side order of M&Ms if you'd like

what can i say about this next picture?

fleece vikings pants and a mn gophers shirt - the man has style...

or something like that

good thing we soaked up this beautiful weekend outside

a gray rain has settled upon us and i just traded the flip flops for mittens in our coat closet

brrrr......ready or not, here it comes