October, I Love You!

They found the perfect pumpkin!

To follow up my last post, I flew back to Illinois last weekend and stayed with my mom for four days. I was able to be with her at the hospital for two days and afterward at home. It gave my sister a break to spend the weekend having quality time with her family and gave both my mom and I boost to see each other. :) (As for an update medically, we have no diagnosis yet. They have ruled out any problems with her heart, kidneys, and reproductive organs-including cancers-so we are back to the liver. There will be another biopsy in a week and then if the liver still looks fine she will go to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for a comprehensive exam.)

I can hardly believe October is halfway over because it is my favorite month of the year and I feel like I have barely had a second to enjoy it! Because I spent last weekend in Illinois, I was looking forward to having this weekend to go to a farm and get Raine a pumpkin. (You know, these are the things that are so fun with children...) I was disappointed to find out when I came back to Oregon that they were already predicting rain for the whole weekend...and the following week. I was afraid that I had missed the last beautiful ~dry~ weekend for the season! (Dan spent it Saturday taking Raine into Portland for a special trip for an ice cream treat at Salt and Straw. So cute! And they totally remembered me and brought home a little pint of Snickerdoodle. Yum!)

However the skies cleared up yesterday afternoon and we abandoned grocery shopping for a trip to Baggenstos Farm. Raine had been a cranky mess all day while we ran errands but he cheered up right away when we got to the farm and showed him all the fun stuff! :)

So much to do! Where do we start??

C'mon, daddy! I don't have time for this. Let's catch up with those kids!

Peek a boo!

Hello goat!

Look out peeps! Here I come!!!!

It was a super fun 20 minutes. Ha! (That's actually about how long Raine lasted.) Even so, I couldn't have asked for a better fall/pumpkin purchase experience. :) He is still too young to really get into these types of things, so just to get his picture snapped a few times and see him so happy ~especially when he was having such a rotten day~ was all I could ask for and more! (You can find all of our photos from the farm here.)

Raine's favorite things at Baggenstos Farm included (in order of 1.) Most Extreme Pleasure to 5.) This is Rotten and I Hate It!) were:

1. The fence around the chickens and goats. (Literally the fence itself. But he also enjoyed the animals. LOL.)
2. The tractor, especially sitting in the driver seat. High five Grampy Jim!
3. Poking his head through the painted photo boards.
4. Picking out a pumpkin.
5. Straw bale maze. (He hated it!)

Hope you are enjoying this time of year. We have a lot to look forward to in the next couple of weeks. I have my birthday to celebrate with my boys, time with friends, and then we will be traveling to Illinois for a very fun visit including Dan attending a Bears game and celebrating Halloween week with Raine's cousins! :)

Even though I feel so busy with work, taking care of Raine (and Dan who sprained his back!) and managing this household, I am trying to slow down and stop to smell the fresh rain, admire those colorful fall leaves, and savor the seasonal brews. Why Autumn has to be the quickest season (at least in Oregon!) I don't know. But it is my favorite! And October is like, the pinnacle! Cheers!

On tap tonight! God Bless Deschutes.