Today…

Outside my window: I see blue skies, thin white clouds and trees in every fall color you love. Reds, greens, yellows and oranges. A perfect picture of fall – and the weather has finally cooled down again which means I can start wearing my fall sweaters now! I’m sure by next week I’ll be complaining that I’m cold, but for now I’m enjoying the crisp, fall weather.

This weekend we: took the kids to a farm in Deerfield called the Schuster Playtime Farm. It boasts a small and larger corn maze, lots of cute gimmicky farm play areas for the kids (it was like a farm amusement park for little ones), pumpkin launchers, pick your own pumpkins and a bakery selling caramel apples, homemade fudge and more.

Here’s a picture from the corn maze. You can see another one at my 365 project here.

We were nice and let BB get out and wander around a bit, though she mostly just wanted to eat all the dirt she could find. There was a lot of dirt.

Here you can see the tire jungle gym, a huge slide and just behind that the pumpkin launching area. We bought the kids a pumpkin each – a medium sized for MM and a teeny tiny for BB (I’ll get pictures of them later) and spent only $1 for both! Next year when we have more space you can bet we’ll buy some larger ones as well!

We also: spent a lot of time playing with … my new Kindle! The most amazing husband in the universe apparently got tired of the begging and decided that rather than wait until Christmas / my birthday he’d surprise me with one now so we can use it for an upcoming trip. I spent the weekend downloading almost 50 free classic books onto my Kindle and have been in gadget-style literary heaven ever since!

I am reading: two books right now because both are too good to wait. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery both the paperback copy and on the Kindle, I really haven’t picked which way I prefer reading it yet – and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott on my Kindle. When I finish one of the two, I’ll move away from classics a bit and get back to the other books from my Fall Into Reading challenge.

You should check out these great links:

• I’ve been working on a digital map of our neighborhood for MM and now I’m dying to make a car playmat for him like this one at homemade by jill. If not this, I’m planning to print my digital map and have it laminated as a placemat. Pictures will of course follow!
• I love these ideas for Halloween Snack and Desserts at Blissfully Domestic – especially the little graveyard pudding cups!
• Do you know how to bake a pumpkin pie? I’ve never made one from scratch before but I’m thinking this pumpkin pie tutorial at Rich Chef, Poor Chef will come in handy!
• The Frugal Family Fun Blog is a new favorite of mine – expect to see them mentioned a lot here. They are a great resource for inexpensive but incredible projects to do with your kiddos. I’m planning to try this indoor leaf pile idea soon!
• I love this idea for making on the go baby changing kits at lovelydesign.
• This recipe for cinnamon sugar biscotti at Annie’s Eats has me drooling like mad. I need to make these SOON!

One last picture to share before I go: I may have to post more pictures from this little tutu photo shoot soon (yes again!), but here’s a little sneak peek, a taste of what’s to come…