Fall Time, Cozy Time Book Tag

Fall is here... and almost over according to the weather this past week, so I thought I better hurry and do the Fall Time, Cozy Time book tag. 

This tag was created by Novels and Nonsense and you can see the original video here. 

Here we go!

1. Crunching Leaves, The world is full of color: Choose a book that has reds, oranges, and yellows on the cover...

It doesn't get much more "fall" than this book. Autumn by Susan Branch. 

This book is full of recipes, ideas for fall fun, and wonderful illustrations per usual from Susan Branch. I love her artwork and her books so I love pulling out the seasonal ones each year. 

2. Cozy Sweater, It's finally cool enough to don warm cozy clothing. What book gives you the warm fuzzies? 

Obviously. Right? Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery will always make me feel happy inside. 

3. Fall Storm: The wind is howling and the rain is pounding. Choose your favorite book or genre that you like to read on a stormy day.

I think that kind of weather most often makes me want to curl up under a blanket, next to a fire with a really good Gothic Romance!

And no one does that better than the Bronte sisters. 

4. Cool Crisp Air- Who is the coolest character that you would want to trade places with?

Hermione. No question. 

5. Hot Apple Cider- What under-hyped book do you want to see become the next biggest, hottest thing? 

I am going to mention two here. 

Shannon Hale seems to be pretty well known and a few of her books get talked about quite often. However, Book of a Thousand Days is one I rarely hear anyone talk about and it is one of my two favorite books by her (along with Goose Girl). 

I have only heard one other person talk about the awesomeness that is Icefall by Matthew Kirby... and that is my mom, and I'm pretty sure I gave her the book. This is a book more people need to read. It is fantastic.

6. Coat, Scarves, and Mittens- The weather has turned cold and it is time to cover up. What is the most embarrassing book cover you own and would like to keep hidden if reading in public?

I'm going with two for this one as well. 

First, I almost didn't read The Selection series by Kiera Cass because of the cheesy covers. And that would have been sad because I really like this series. 

I hate the cover of my copy of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. I think it looks like a harlequin romance type book. I definitely need to get  new copy of this book that looks more like the actual story inside!

7. Pumpkin Spice- What's your favorite fall time comfort food? 

Hot Chocolate. It is definitely one of my very favorite things. My favorite flavor is Stephen's Chocolate Raspberry. It is so good!

That's it! 

What are your favorite fall things? 

I tag anyone that would like to do this on their blog!!

Random October

One rainy day we went to the park. 

Yeah, weird thing to do but the girls asked and I said sure. 

The leaves were gorgeous at the park that day. 

We were all getting wet but it was more of a sprinkling type of rain while we were there.

However, the slides were very wet and by the time we left, the girls were soaked. 

During fall break from school, the girls asked if we could go sleep over at my parent's house. 

We had so much fun. 

The next day we were passing the local flower shop that gives you a free flower if it says your name on the sign. And it said Maddy! We went in and they painted her flower blue for her. She was so excited. 

I had to capture this moment when I looked up from my book to see both girls reading as well.

The girls wouldn't let a little rain keep them from playing and crafting outside. 

Being the Princess in Black after reading the second book. 

An American Girl store opened up near us. It is just temporary unfortunately but we the girls really wanted to go to the grand opening. 

It was extremely crowded.

Later that day me and Abi went to see Hotel Transylvania 2 with my parents. Abi sat in for some photo ops. 

I captured so much of Maddy's personality in this little clip from the library.

Maddy has been a little obsessed with making masks. 

The girls had Reflections at their school this month. The theme was Let your imagination Soar or something like that. 

Abi painted a Hot Air Balloon. 

Maddy painted a mermaid that "dreamed of flying out of the ocean to live on an island".

Pumpkin Princess Pageant

I was thinking that we would skip the Pumpkin Princess Pageant at Cornbelly's this year, but Abi really wanted to do it. 

It was the last year that she would be young enough to be in it and every other year there has been a winner in the 9-10 age group and she thought that she would have a good chance of winning. 

Just like every other time we have done the pageant, I just dressed them in festive clothes we already had. 

 Abi wanted a bun on top of her head that would look like a pumpkin (20 minutes before time to leave) so I did my best by making a bun, wrapping some orange ribbon around it, and then dangling some green ribbons out of the bun. 

Maddy really wasn't that into it this year but then she decided that she did want to do it so she could get the free pumpkin. 

While we waited for it to start, Maddy enjoyed wandering around in the pumpkins looking for her "perfect pumpkin". 

She did end up finding one that she thought was perfect but I didn't want to have to hold it all through the pageant and then walking around Cornbelly's and the corn maze so I told her we would come back to get it before we left. 

We still had some time so they did a lot of playing in the Pumpkin Princess play area. 

When they saw these big Lego's they thought it would be fun to have Maddy get inside and build them up around her. 

I can hardly see you Maddy!

As soon as she was trapped (I love how you can only see the top of that little pumpkin headband!), she decided she had had enough and it was time to knock the thing down. 

Then the pageant started. 

This year they had two kids come on the stage at a time. 

Maddy was pretty funny being restless on the stage while the other girl was being "interviewed". 

Trivia- the girl next to her ended up winning. 

She played dress up for the rest of the pageant. 

When it was Abi's turn, she was really poised and confident. 

It surprised me how she presented herself. 

At the end all of the kids were called back up to announce the winner. 

I loved that Maddy was in a knights outfit at this point!

All of the parents were rushing the stage to get pictures so I could hardly get one of Abi, but there she is. 

I went around to the side to get a better one of Maddy in her dress up. 

Then while they announced I went back to my seat and thought I would take a picture of all the parents because, come on, this is funny.

They changed it up this year and only had the one winner. Abi was disappointed as there were only three girls in her category and she thought she would have won... but she was still happy to have been there and to be able to go have fun.

Next we hit the corn maze. 

Abi was the leader and got us to the exit!

Now it was time to go find our pumpkins. Maddy ran back to where her perfect pumpkin had been and it was still there! She was so happy.

Abi found her perfect pumpkin too.

Another fun day at Cornbelly's!