Fall Bucket List Update

 We have a little more time to complete Fall Bucket Lists here in Texas than people up North have but since fall is finally, slowly fading into winter, I thought I'd give you an update on the items we completed & the items we have yet to complete. :) 
Texas State Fair September 25 – October 15
  Went! You can read about it here! :) We had such a great time!  
  Pumpkin Picking at a Pumpkin Patch (like a real one, not one in a Church parking lot)
Basically a church parking lot. But it was a patch.  
  Carve our pumpkins that we got at said awesome pumpkin patch
Carved! I carved Sophie & Sebastian's pumpkins into a bat & a cat. They loved them once we lit them all up. We bought two big pumpkins but Zachary ended up just scooping them out & not carving them.  
  Make some Pumpkin Butter. Nope. One day. I'm still set on making some.
Make an Apple Pie It was an apple pie, made from a box but it was made nonetheless & it was delicious.  
Make Pumpkin Bread.
Made! And it's amazing. Make it!  
Decorate our back porch
We decorated our front porch, sort of, does that count? See our scooped out but un-carved pumpkins below?
    Wear something plaid because I'm trendy
I have nothing plaid. I guess I'm not trendy. Oh! I did just get plaid plates from the $1/$3 Target aisle. They're amazing.
Go Camping
Nope but Zachary's asking for some camping gear for Christmas so maybe camping will be on our winter or spring bucket list. 
Pick Persimmons & Make something Persimmony
I haven't seen any. I really should of made something with persimmons when we were in China last year. There's an abundance of them in Qingdao.
Pick Pecans
Haven't seen a place to pick them! 
Have a Bonfire
Yes! We had one! 

Roast Marshmallows

Yes! At Jacob & Lauren's wedding.   
Go to a Football game (It doesn't matter what kind! College, Pro, (<ya, right! We can't afford either of those tickets) high school, Little league, whatever, as long as it's football!)
Nope. And I guess I'm okay with it.
Make popcorn Balls
Nope. Ate a million other things this fall though. ;)
Find a favorite fall candle
So many favorites. My all time favorite is the Red Velvet Candle which isn't fall per say. I have a variety of candles around the house that all smell amazing! I'm kind of digging an espresso candle my brother got me for my birthday right now. 
Make hand print turkeys with Sophie
Nope. Completely forgot!
Go to a Corn Maze
Yes! Checkity Check.  
  Hike Enchanted Rock
Nope.
Host a Soup Party Sharing our Laoshan New Spring tradition!
Yes! It was a great time! I'll blog about it soon. :) You should host a soup party if you haven't!  

Maybe Wurstfest November 6-15 Nope   And there's an update folks! I may not have completed every task on this fall bucket list but we still had a fun-filled fall. It was one for the books. Now on to all the fun winter activities (which are very few in Texas but we'll find time!) ! 

Fall Photo Scavenger Hunt Update

   A few months ago I posted this fun Fall Photo Scavenger Hunt. I challenged my Readers to take the photos on the list while enjoying & being intentional with the fall season. I loved this past fall season! It was filled with so much goodness! Here's a few pictures from our fall:   leaf shaped like a heart Found this little odd-ball, almost a leaf shaped heart leaf  in Central Park. I love it for that.      leaves falling These leaves, while technically not fall-ing, are fallen. Does that count? More leaves in Central Park. These were on the Harlem side in the Conservatory Gardens.      a warm drink Weirdly, I'm not drinking so many warm drinks these days. I'm still craving iced drinks. But I have enjoyed several morning cups of hot coffee, a pumpkin spice or 2 & an egg nog latte or 2 this season.       favorite sweater I'm LOVING this Stitch Fix Sweater.   

Just Kidding. That's not my sweater. But I don't have a photo of it right now so cat sweater picture it is.

  tall boots Obsessed with these new fringe boots I got for my birthday from my grandparents! It's a phone photo, so not that great, but you can still see that glorious fringe!      a fall sunset Two fall sunsets. The first was taken while walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. The second was taken from the Belvedere Castle in Central Park.       a fall run a sunset on a fall run taken in front of our apartment complex      Pumpkins So many pumpkins this year! I was so impressed to see America's big & plump pumpkins. ;)      jack-o-lantern I carved little pumpkin pie pumpkins this year from the farm we went to for the corn maze. Zachary scooped out two huge ones for us but we ended up leaving them whole, without faces.        a Halloween costume We had so much fun this year dressing as a family.         fall baked good   I made a delicious pumpkin turtle cheesecake for our Soup Party this year.   

fall soup   Lots of soups at our churches Soup Party this year.      favorite scarf Just got a new favorite scarf for $5 at Charming Charlies in the season's favorite color, burgundy. But don't have a picture.    leaf pile   Sadly, I haven't seen any life piles this year. The trees are full of leaves still here in Texas.  Thus, no picture. fall veggies These blurry veggies were found near the Brooklyn Bridge.      fall activity Photos in the pumpkin patch-a favorite fall activity.       Thanksgiving meal We had two big Thanksgiving meals this year which is routine for us when in Texas. We're blessed to have most of our family pretty close together.      a get together We had another Murder Mystery Party this year, which I can't wait to share with you. It was the best kind of get together! :)      candle burning Spooky candles from our Murder Mystery Party.    something warm and cozy Always warm, always cozy, always the freakin' cutest.

 

  thankful for All the love that went into celebrating my birthday at the Mosby's (Sr.) this year.     trick or treat The cutest like trick or treating Minion there ever was. ;)  

 

  I love all the celebratory moments that fill the fall season. It's this beautiful time of the year where excitement builds leading into the Christmas season. I love it. And have loved being in America for it. I love all these special moments & memories we've had with our family. I'm feeling so very thankful when I look back on it. Fitting as thanksgiving is one of the main themes of the fall season.   

Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch

 

In an effort to complete items on my Fall Bucket List & Fall Photo Scavenger Hunt I googled corn mazes in Texas & it just so happened that just 45 minutes away was a huge corn maze AND pumpkin patch! So, I got some of the family motivated to join & we headed there one Sunday after church. That weekend my parents were babysitting Sebastian, my nephew, so he got to join in on the fun, too.  

The corn maze & pumpkin patch were located at Barton Hills Farm. They had tons of activities for the kids & adults to enjoy. They had slides, bounce bags, roping, hay rides, pumpkin painting & more. :)  

We got there slightly late, with only an hour before the Farm closed, so we decided to do the corn maze first. They had all different 'passports' to choose from. They had super easy to super hard passports. Each had 10 themed questions on them that had directions based on your answer. We picked the Corny Passport as it was a medium level & we had limited time.  

One super obvious thing that I didn't realize when making my Fall Bucket List was that a corn maze is a maze of corn. Ha! I mean, I knew this but I didn't think through what that meant. It sounds all romantic, running through cornfields, but actually, once you get in there, it's just the same view. Corn stalk after cornstalk. Had the stalks still been filled with ears of corn that we got to pick or something, it would have been more interesting. After a few minutes in the maze, you kind of start wishing you could get out & go to the beer stand & listen to that great music you hear in the distance. You know?  

But anyways, all that matters is that we did one & made it out with in a reasonable amount of time.  

The property was gorgeous. The corn fields were on the left & a river was on the right. Between was beautiful rolling (slightly rolling) hills (slight inclines of land), green grass & beautiful oak trees.  

Coming out of the cornfield by black ankle boots (so fall trendy, I know) were covered in dust.  

Sebastian & Sophie had fun playing on all the little toys they had. Well, Sebastian had fun escaping.

 

Freedom!!
 

This was Jeff's experience most of the day. Chasing after an escaped & adventurous Sebastian!  

Sophie & Mommy on a "baby & mommy horse." Such cuties! 

We really liked this game! 

Two photos because it's not that often that you get this little bugger to smile! 

Even Brother "Ack" got in on the fun. 

After the corn maze & games, we made our way to the little pumpkin patch. Technically, I don't think this counts as a "real" patch as I think I was imaging pumpkins still on vines or something, but I'm checking it off anyways. :)  

Sophie was all kinds of cooperative this day with photos! Which was wonderful. Sebastian on the other hand was a little too sleepy & fascinated with the pumpkins to smile. But they're still precious, smiles or no smiles.  

After we got home we carved our little pumpkins. We bought three. One for Zachary & I, one for Sophie & one for Sebastian.  

As I'm sure you all know, kids don't really pumpkin carve. They basically just hold a spoon that they occasionally stick inside the pumpkin & pick up a seed or two with. My mom & I ended up doing all the carving. She did the scooping & I did the 'designing." :) We made Sebastian's a bat & Sophie's a cat. By the time I got to Zachary & I's pumpkin I was feeling pretty confident in my pumpkin carving skills so I tried to carve Dwight Schrute's face. Ya. That didn't work out so well! I ended up having a to create a huge hole in the back of the pumpkin & a normal triangle eye face on the front.
  I sort of loved carving the pumpkins with those amazing pumpkin carving kits you can get here in the States. I can't believe we carved 15+ pumpkins last year with kitchen knives. Our hands were calloused & raw at the end of it. Thankful for the little conveniences. :)