A Touch of Fall

Finally, a touch of fall in the air, and a touch of decor around the outside of our house. I have had a hard time getting anything done this fall, that's for sure.

This is it for the front, my old door arrangement that I redid a little. I have had it for years, and the flowers were a little tired. So I bought 3 sunflowers at Michaels and some sticks and cattails and just fluffed it up a bit. I don't have a before pic, but it does look better and I can get a few more years out of it. Yay! I didn't do any pumpkins around my front door as my pink knock out roses are still lovely and they just don't work with pumpkins. So this is my little touch of fall for the front.

Our side entrance, with the same look as last year. I think I will look for a sitting scarecrow for the bench. I think after seeing this picture that that would be a nice touch.
Our little playhouse with a little bit of fall decor.


And the majority of the decorations went into this outdoor room we built this summer. {or had built, we didn't do any of the work:-) } We love this space, although we don't know what to call it - outdoor kitchen - outdoor living room - cabana - the thing in the yard - what do you think? Whatever it is, we love it and spend most of our evenings out here.



We sat here and had dinner with our good friends from Kansas last night. They came down on Saturday and we had a wonderful dinner out at a new to us restaurant, very nice and close to our house. On Sunday Bob and Jim went golfing and Robin and I just sat out here with our coffee until lunch time, and went to a shop or 2 and then headed home to have dinner and sit out at the fire. Very relaxing and so good to catch up. Back to reality tomorrow!

Linking to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

Pumpkin Patch Fun

What is a beautiful fall day without a trip to the Pumpkin Patch? It was hot, just like last year but the kids think it is so fun. And the grownups think it is a great opportunity for some pictures of our cute pumpkins. {couldn't resist}

Here are B and E. Ben is sporting his new haircut. Grandma and Mommy are still adjusting.
Pretty pumpkin princess.
Sporty spider?
Another scary spider and the sweetest candy corn ever. I could just eat him up!!
I think perhaps he is more like a butterball!
4 little pumpkins sitting on a bench...
And for the grand finale - the corn maze. We have not done this before, and the kids wanted to try it. So, why not? When we first started I thought we should go down each little path, to make it last longer. HA I mean how hard could it be, it was just a little patch of corn. Well, it was hard, and it was hot. There was a nice breeze that day, but not in the rows of tightly packed corn. It was HOT. Grandma doesn't like hot. But thankfully a nice farmer was in there and directed us to the way out. Next time Grandpa is coming in too.

Book Club

What if you gave a party and no one came? That was me this morning. Our October book club meeting was today and I was ready!! We were even going to sit outside and have a fire and everything.

I knew the group would be small this month as 2 of our regulars were going to be out of town. Then someone had something at a child's school and dropped out earlier this week. But there were still going to be 4 of us and that would be a cozy group. Well, one's child got sick last night and the other had to run into work today so that left Shelley and me. When she called to say she would be a little late I told her to enjoy her day and not to worry!

So instead, I will sit out by the fire by myself and read a book. Not a bad way to spend the day after all.
{and bring back all of the piles of junk that I ran around and hid last night:-) }

Collecting at the Cabin

We have closed up the cabin for the season, but I had a few pictures I still wanted to share.

When we were up for a quick visit over Labor Day we met some friends for lunch. We used to live next door to Tom and Kate when our girls were just 1 year old. Now they are all married and we each have 4 grandchildren!! They still live in Minnesota, but have place in Wisconsin about an hour or so from us. We met them for lunch at a really nice place on a lake {that narrows it down!} I didn't take any pictures, and I don't remember the name. I guess that is one good reason to take pictures of the outside of restaurants. I felt kind of silly the first time I did that, but now I can see that comes in very handy.

After our lunch they suggested that we go tour a nearby winery. They hadn't been there before either and it sounded fun to us. It is new and the people that built it wanted it to look European. They do grow grapes there and make their own wine, but they import the grapes for the wine. I think the ones they grow are for jelly. I didn't think northern Wisconsin had the climate for wine!!
Bob and Kate and Tom.
And the obligatory cask shot. It was fun to visit and try their wines. They were good and of course we bought a couple of bottles. But it was more fun to catch up with good friends. We'll see them in the spring, unless they decide to make a winter trip to Texas. HINT
The rest of the picture are of some of my shopping at the cabin. There are a few "antique" shops around and it is fun if you are actually looking for something. Our cabin is fairly well furnished, but I have nothing for the walls. So the hunt began.

Of course these aren't for the walls, but the color scheme at the cabin is black and red so these had to come home with me. I love the holder - I remember these from back in the day.
This next collection began with a church plate of my grandma's church. I thought it would be fun to see if I could find some more in black and red for the downstairs bedroom. They aren't real easy to find, but I did find several this visit at one shop.
And aren't these fun BBQ trays? Of course they are in black and red and I think they are very vintage. I have 3 so far, but I just found 2 more on E*ay. Fun!

I do like the old metal trays, I have several black tole trays at home and I just couldn't resist this one of Wisconsin. My sister collects them, and I am going to try hard not to also, but I can see where it would be fun to have ones of the states that we have lived in.
Another plate collection in the upstairs bedroom of states. Only 3 so far ~ I just want 2 more I think. Kansas and Texas.
And last but not least, I found the little red and black truck at a shop that had lots of goodies. Someone made this truck and it is so cute with my little bear board books in it. You can glimpse my little red chair collection {I have a couple more...and vintage picnic basket on the TV cabinet.} Hmm maybe I'd better stop. When I see it all together here in one post it looks like I might have a problem! It has been fun though and I think it is making the cabin just a little more interesting.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!
{Click on any picture to enlarge it}

Is That All?

Yep, this is about all the cleaning and organizing and decorating for fall that I have done. It's really disgraceful ~ except this was a bigger project that it looks. I didn't just hang up some towels and soap and call it good.

This is a Jack and Jill bath between the boys and girls bedrooms upstairs. It is nice to have but it is small. There are 5 doors in this little space and I am always bumping into one of them. When we moved here recently {ha ~ it was 3 years ago !} I set up Elizabeth's side and just put a lot of junk in the boys. {they were just babies after all } Didn't even clean out the drawers!! Anyone who knows me knows I like my drawers to be neat ~ even more so than the counter they're under. So, who knows what my problem was. {To confess, I think part of the problem is I just don't like this bathroom ~ I don't like the tile or the granite or really anything about it. And that is disgraceful because I am very lucky to have a space just for the grandchildren and I know it. Shame on me. }

Anyhoo ~ it's finally done. Drawers cleaned out, and lined with fresh paper, a trip to Target to buy drawer organizers {one of my favorite things:-) } and new toothbrushes, and princess bandaids and new black and orange towels for Halloween. All of the rugs are washed, etc, etc.

So here it is in all its glory. My camera is so messed up on color, the walls are yellow in here and those little towels are bright orange and green.

You have to have pumpkin soap ~ 1 on a rope and 1 for the tub.

This is Elizabeth's side.
There ~ all done. Now, I think I'll tackle my bathroom. Those cupboards are really yucky!!

School Days

September was such a busy month for me, and for our family. I didn't take lots of pictures, but I did have a few more to share. So many "big" things for our little ones. And I am so thrilled that we live here and are able to be a part of these special times in their lives.

Ben and Cooper are 3, and this is their year for Zoo School! Elizabeth went when she was 3, and it was so much fun. They only go 1 morning a week, which is perfect for them and for mom. They learn about the different animals and every week they go on a zoo walk and see different animals. They also have a zoo visitor each week in their classroom. Every now and then there is a day when parents {and grandparents:-) } can come along on the zoo walk. I went nearly every time with Elizabeth, because Laura was watching Cooper then and we would have both boys in the double stroller and then either Laura or I would walk with Elizabeth. This year I am not needed for "help" but I won't miss the walk if I am in town!

Here are our 2 best buddies waiting for school to start.
Wouldn't you love to have them in your class? The 2 together can get a little "crazy!"
This picture is after school - new T shirts and a back to school bag from Grandma. Of course it is a ferocious lion!! Perfect for Zoo School!
Another fun day in September was Grandparent's Day at Elizabeth's school. They just had the grandparents come for breakfast before school. Elizabeth was lucky enough to have all 4 grandparents attend.
Posing outside her classroom near her work. She is covering up her name:-)
And later that same day I went to lunch with Elizabeth. She had called and invited me and of course I couldn't say no to that invitation! We had our favorite - Subway!
Just a few more glimpses of our fun ~ I need to get going and get a few more fall decorations out! I did get a big job done yesterday, but there are several more on my list. It feels good to be back and getting back into a routine!

Finally, Home

I feel like I have been gone forever!! Our last trip was to the cabin to close it up for the winter. We will not be going back until we open it, sometime in May. We picked this week hoping to see the fall color and enjoy some cooler temps. We got the cool weather that's for sure - I think it was only in the 60's and that's a big change for us.

We were only at the cabin for a week, but I wanted some fall color for the porch. I picked up the pretty pot of mums at the grocery store and enjoyed them all week. When we left we took them to our neighbors {and high school friends} for them to enjoy. {and to thank them for watching over our place while we are so far away}
The view from the deck. I wish my camera took better pictures...the colors in all of these pictures were much more vibrant than they appear.

We spent one gorgeous day driving to some "antique" stores in the area and to enjoy the leaves on the way. The leaves were beautiful, but I had to snap my pics out the front window, as the roads were narrow and had no great place to pull over.

This last picture is our front yard, looking like it needs a little red!! Most of our trees turned shades of yellow, so I think next fall we need to plant a few red maples.
This is just a quick post, just to let you know we are still here! I have the day to myself today and plan to hit a few of the projects on my loooong list. It is a beautiful, cool day here in Texas and I need to take advantage of it and get busy!!