Pumpkin Carving with a Toddler

Evan doesn’t like to touch the pumpkin guts but he doesn’t mind getting a little paint on his hands! So we got to do all of the dirty work this year and he just threw a candle inside at the end (literally!). I ended up just drawing a simple face myself instead of something more elaborate with a pattern to trace. Scroll down and let me know how I did!

Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin picking at it’s finest! We took a trip to the pumpkin stand to grab a few pumpkins to carve. This stand is where I found our beautiful pumpkins with muted tones last year. There weren’t as many of those this year, but we were able to find a few to decorate our front porch with.

Scroll through to check out what we didn’t bring home ◡̈ Evan chose something that we just couldn’t bring ourselves to buy. Sometimes if you love something, you let it go… right?! Enjoy!

A New Fall Family Tradition at Sky Top Orchard

Our first annual fall apple picking trip did not disappoint. Sky Top Orchard is nestled just above Flat Rock, North Carolina. The property is HUGE and so are the crowds, but we managed to sneak in right at opening. When we left, the cars were parked and in line for over a mile away from the entrance. We were glad to wake up a little early instead of sitting for hours with a 2 year old!

Here is a little glimpse into a tradition I hope to continue in the years to come! I forgot to photograph the BEST two parts of our apple adventure… the apple cider donuts and the apple cannon!!

Sky Top’s donuts are the most delicious donuts I’ve ever tasted and I have been dreaming about them ever since! I love anything with cinnamon sugar, so of course I had to try a few - or a dozen. Our other favorite part of the day was the apple cannon. It is new this year and I got a few photos on my phone, but didn’t get out the big camera because was a popular attraction with a lot of people around. We got a basket of 20 apples to shoot out of the cannon, and I was the only one out of the three of us to hit a target and earn an extra apple to shoot. Girl power!

We are into traditions that we can share with Evan, and this is one fall experience that I’d love to repeat next year. There is so much to do at the orchard, which makes Sky Top a perfect day trip with a toddler. What a fun way to kick off fall!

How We Spent Our Easter 2020 During the Coronavirus Quarantine

If you know me, you’ve probably figured out that I’m far from traditional! I love to stray outside the lines of what’s normal and comfortable. So it’s no surprise that I enjoyed this Easter holiday despite the strangeness of this pandemic!

Easter weekend was filled with family time with just the three of us. Evan did his first Easter egg hunt and ate way too many M&Ms and Skittles! He loved searching for his eggs. He just put them in a little bucket from one of my baby showers from before he was born. Why, you ask? Well, because his Easter basket was already packed and ready to put out on Easter morning. Do people still put out an empty basket on Easter Eve to have the Easter Bunny fill it? Well we didn’t stick with that tradition - oops!

That evening, we put 5 carrots out on the porch for the Easter Bunny. Evan was a little disappointed because he thought the bunny was actually going to be out there right when he opened the door! We explained that he would come in the night and he seemed to be satisfied with that response. The next morning, he ran to the front door to see how many carrots were left. Surprisingly, there was only one!

On Easter morning, we read Easter books and watched church online (thanks David Chadwick and Moments of Hope Church!) Evan doesn’t quite understand what watching church means, especially since he doesn’t watch a ton of television. He’s used to seeing other children so watching people sing songs was pretty fun to him. He really enjoyed the music but he got restless during the sermon.

We had pizza for lunch and hung out around the house the rest of the day. That night, we blew up an air mattress and put it in the den to watch a movie. Evan sat through the entire thing! We watched Monster’s Inc on Disney+ and were both hoping he’d fall asleep…but that definitely did not happen! I was thrilled that he was able to watch the whole movie, though!

While we thoroughly enjoyed our out of the ordinary Easter, we are ready to see our friends and family again!

Here’s a little video of our Easter weekend!