A (mostly) Perfect Fall Weekend

You know those rare weekends that stand out as perfect, despite nothing earth-shattering happening? That was this weekend. 

Friday was capped off with an awesome homemade butternut squash soup topped with fennel seed yogurt and pepper jam, followed by an evening stroll through our neighborhood. 

And then, when we woke up Saturday morning, the most magical thing happened. It was Autumn weather! Weather where I could put on UGGS and leggings and feel comfortable. Weather that made me actually want to go outside and bask in the cool sunshine. So I teamed up with my neighbor, and we had the most perfect morning letting the kids play out in the yard while we sipped hot tea and chatted. Then somehow the morning turned into afternoon, and half the kids ended up naked or half dressed, we rocked out to some Drive-By Truckers on the speaker, and I ended up putting a puzzle together in the driveway. Like you do. 

Bobby went into our house and came back out with an unopened bag of puzzle pieces, begging to put it together. Now, I don't like to toot my own horn, but I just happen to be something of a puzzle enthusiast; unfortunately, it's exponentially harder to put a puzzle together if you don't know what the puzzle actually is. Yeah, there was no picture or description of the puzzle that Bob brought me. I had no idea what we were working with. But that was no deterrent. A few hours later that puzzle was put together. 

Don't act like you're not impressed.

When we finally went back inside, I assumed it was noon or so, but I looked at the clock and saw that it was 3:30 in the afternoon. That's when you know it was a good afternoon. It's rare to be so relaxed and chill that you don't realize that five hours have passed you by. My neighbor and I both agreed that it was our favorite day since we've moved to our new neighborhood. 

The perfect weather continued on into Sunday, and we opened up all the windows downstairs and enjoyed the Fall breeze and sunshine while I started on a new 1,000 piece puzzle that I am determined to conquer. Side note-yes, I know I'm that cool. 

After nap time, we took the kids to what feels like our thousandth pumpkin patch, and they had the best time ever. It was a toddler heaven. Pumpkins, bouncy slides, mazes, corn boxes, and hay rides galore! Vivi especially loved the farm animals, all of whom she meowed at until nearly getting speared by an angry goat. 

(Also, whoever taught her to do that adorable little mouth stretching thing in pictures- thanks so much! It's currently her favorite go-to pose.)

Afterward, the four of us went out to eat dinner at an actual restaurant, which is something we rarely do for many reasons that I am sure you can imagine. But Alex is leaving soon for a month, and I sure as hell am not taking the two beasties out to eat by myself, so it was a good time to give it another try. Surprisingly, everyone behaved pretty well, and it was a fairly pleasant dining experience...until Vivi started dipping her macaroni and cheese in her ketchup. And then ate it. Multiple times. That was when I decided it was time to leave before I openly vomited in public. 

Hope all y'all had a pleasant Fall weekend, too! 

XO