Pumpkins at the Arboretum

The pumpkin festival at the Dallas Arboretum has become a tradition for us since we moved here 3 and a half years ago. This year the kids and I went on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. They loved running around the hay maze. And they were more interested this year in the names of the different gourds....like Monster Gourd, Peanut Pumpkin and Knucklehead Pumpkin :)

Happy Halloween!

We carved pumpkins a couple of days before Halloween. Payton wanted to have a vampire one and Ian wanted a Lego Batman one. So Payton and I decided on a design and I carved mine. Scott designed and did Ian's. I was pleasantly surprised at the Batman.

Payton decided to be a vampire this year. I think she was partially inspired when I was fixing her wet hair one day into a bun......Her very dark hair on top of her head reminded her of one, I guess....

Ian decided to be a dementor, although his costume is a Grimm Reaper costume, I think.

They both ended up looking pretty creepy.

We went to our neighbors for a pizza party before we headed out alone. Scott was working and the kids didn't want to trick or treat en masse with all the neighbor kids (which was fine by me - crowds make me a little anxious).

They were done after 45 minutes and wanted to come home to hand out candy.

Apples! In Texas?

There is exactly one apple orchard in the Dallas area. I have been stalking (well, almost) this orchard since we moved here from North Carolina in 2010.

This orchard is Henrietta Creek Orchard in Roanoke, Tx. It's about a hour from our house. The orchard only has about 500 hybrid dwarf apple trees. They mainly cater to field trips and if there happens to be apples left at the end of the season, they open it to the public to pick apples. The last three years, we've either been busy on that one golden apple picking day, or there were no more apples to pick.

Well, we lucked out this year.  Last Friday, Henrietta Creek Orchard posted on their Facebook account that they would be open to the public for apple picking - first come, first serve - till the apples were gone.

I asked the kids if they were interested and they both said they were 'in'. Dad agreed (although, I think reluctantly because of the early hour).

So Saturday, we drove and hour south west of us for some apples.

It is a small orchard - very homey. But we all got to pick apples, right off the tree.

It didn't take us long. We only picked about 10lbs, but it was a nice experience.

 Scott and I shared a fresh fried apple pie - yum!

Plano Balloon Festival

On Saturday, the kids and I met our friends, the Sandkuhlers, at the Plano Balloon Festival. Scott was working :( This seems to have become an annual event for us. We usually go on Friday night, but it was raining. The festival was PACKED. I had never seen it that busy before. 

We parked by Plano Center. There was a long line of cars and I thought I was turning into the Colin College entrance. I was wrong :( So we had about a mile walk to the festival! Payton was positive about it though, 'Walking is good exercise!' - which is true, except that it's harder when you're carrying a backpack with our blankets, and a bag with our food and drinks in it. Aaaah, the life of a pack mule...um, sorry, life of a Mom.

We were lucky to find a spot close to the balloons. The parachutist went right over us! The kids favorite balloon was the pig with glasses :)

Besides the balloons, the second highlight of our festival trip was the bicycle cart ride back towards our car. The kids thought the ride was thrilling and I thought it was wonderful not to have to pack mule it back :)

I love my sunflowers!

It's a little thing really - having a garden plot in my side yard. I love having my own garden.

About the beginning of July, I finally had a chance to breathe for a second after moving, and Disney, and an Arkansas trip. So, I decided to try planting something in my garden. I usually don't plant in the July, but it was cool for the first week, and I didn't get to plant this Spring.

I planted green beans, eggplant, squash, tomatoes, and sunflowers. Immediately, the young green bean plants started getting eaten, so I had to put up a rabbit fence. Everything grew well, but it took a long time till my beans started to produce and even now, they aren't getting very big. I've only made one eggplant, even though the bush is huge! And the squash didn't make anything. My conclusion is that it was just too hot to produce anything. I'm hoping that my fall crop will do better. A week ago, I planted lettuce, spinach, kale, and arugula.

Then there are the sunflowers. The sunflowers turned out amazing. These plants are about 9-10 feet tall. The bees LOVE them. I even saw my first green bee! Never realized they came in that color, but there he was right outside my window.

The grasshoppers seem to like the sunflowers too.

This Doesn't Happen Everyday

Two days ago, I noticed a huge wasp nest in a tree in front of our house. This tree is next to the sidewalk that young children use to walk to school everyday.

 I don't know how I've missed it. It was at least 8 inches across and had over 100 wasps clinging to it!

I was pretty intimidated by it. I've sprayed wasp nests before and haven't had any issues. But with a nest that size, I was afraid of an all-out attack right back at me, if I attempted anything.

So, I called the number of a pest control place that a neighbor of mine uses for regular pest management. For a one time wasp nest removal, this company wanted $175 because I didn't have a contract with them. I thought this number was a little high, so I searched for a company on the internet.

And I found Addison Pest Control :) They scheduled me for 1pm the same day. The person that came out was actually the owner of the company. He took one look at the nest and said, 'Sure, I can take care of that for you.' I asked him how much, and he said he didn't need anything to take care of it for me! I couldn't believe my ears. Nobody does anything gratis anymore. I showed him a couple more nests that were way up under my overhang. He said he would send someone out to knock those down for me...again for free. He wouldn't let me pay him. He gave me a nice little informative talk about wasps. It was quite educational. The guy was just super-nice.

So, if I have any other pest issues, guess who I'm calling....Addison Pest Control. Our house is still under a termite warranty, but when it expires. I'll be calling APC because they seem like an honest company. And, I guess him not charging me for something little will probably pay off for him in the end.

First Day of School

Since we moved at the beginning of the Summer, yesterday was Payton and Ian's first day at a new school -  Ashley Elementary in Frisco. They both, understandably were anxious and excited.

 Ian is in first grade and has Mrs. Shade as a teacher. He said that she is very nice. He got to play with Play-doh twice! I'm a little skeptical about Play-doh in first grade, but it was just the first day, so we'll see..... Ian was most excited that they had HOTDOGS! in the cafeteria for lunch!

Payton has Mr. Thornburg for homeroom, math and science; and Mrs. Cooksey for reading and writing. I think Payton is excited about having a male teacher. She said she had a good first day. The only real work that they did was 'power write' about a topic Mrs. Cooksey gave them.

We are all learning the ropes. It's a new school and they definitely do things differently than where we were before. I haven't decided if it's good, bad, or just different. Time will tell.

I was very excited to see my kids off to school. Don't get me wrong, we have had a great summer and I love hanging out with the kids, but they were starting to get a little tired of hanging out at home with Mom. Thus, I was getting a little tired of hanging out with the kids at home :)