Busy times behind and ahead of us

It's already mid-December! How did that happen? 2014 is drawing to a close and it's freaking me out how fast time flies. My grandmother always told me that the older you get, the fast it goes.
She wasn't wrong.

We've been living in Tennessee for over 6 months already. When we pointed that out to the kids, they flipped out. That 6 months has gone by so quickly.

Here's a run down of what we've done and what's to come:

On Thanksgiving we had a feast! I made my cornbread dressing, baked mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and deviled eggs. My husband was in charge of the turkey which turned out great. My mom asked where the green was in the meal. I pointed out that there was celery in the dressing. (Honestly, we brain-farted on the green beans this year. Whoops.)

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I participated in my first craft fair as a vendor. It was decent but there just weren't hundreds of people in the venue.

The next day, we drove down to Duluth, GA and took the kids to see the Northeast Atlanta Ballet Company perform The Nutcracker. We all had a blast and the ballet dancers were wonderful. I thought Peanut was going to explode from excitement.
                                                                

On the way home, we hit up The Container Store since Chattanooga doesn't have one. And then we ate dinner at Buca di Beppo before heading home. Oh, Buca... how we've missed you.
                                                                

 

I turned 29 (again) on the Monday after Thanksgiving. For my 13th birthday, my parents took me and a group of friends to dinner at Kanpaii of Tokyo for a birthday dinner. We did this every year for years. Since this was my first year in Chattanooga for my birthday in over 6 years, we picked up the tradition again.
Dinner that night included myself, my husband, Peanut, Button, my mom, my step-dad, Manda, and Bug. Sadly, Noodle was at home with a crappy fever. (But we took her a to-go container full of food and even hand delivered a cupcake.)
                                                             
And of course, we've been decorating for Christmas! (I'm so far behind. We usually have it all done before Thanksgiving.... hush. Yes, I'm one of THOSE people. With all that we do, we do it early to actually enjoy it.)

I'll have a new post featuring all the decor soon!

Corn crib + kids = pure joy

Over the weekend, we went to check out Old McDonald's Farm. You can read the first two posts about our experience here and here.

Today we are going to talk corn... specifically corn kernels in a giant box.
Last year, when we still lived in Minnesota, we took the kids to the Twin Cities Harvest Festival and Maze. It was a blast and when we moved south, I was worried that we wouldn't find anything that lived up to it. (Dude, their corn maze is 16+ acres! If you are in Minnesota in the month of October, you should go.)

Although the kids had a blast last year in the corn pit, this year was better. In Minnesota, it was one giant box filled with kids. Flying feet were common and usually came within inches of your head. The corn pit at Old McDonald's Farm (Corn Crib, they call it) was SO much better. Instead of one huge area, inside the Combine Barn there were 3 smaller boxes filled with corn kernels. My girls had one entire such box all to themselves. It was nice not to have to worry about some brat kicking the snot out of my girls.

I mean, just look at the faces of these silly kids:

Peanut offering corn kernels... or finally losing what's left of her mind? You never know with her. She'll be the first to tell you that she's not quite normal. And she doesn't want to be normal. Normal is boring. And anything boring isn't worth her time.

Age is not an issue when dealing with corn cribs. Button had just as much, or more fun, than Peanut did in that corn. She kept making the silliest faces and had a look of pure happiness.

Button's face cracks me up. The thought of her sister burying her is worrisome. She loves her sister so much but there are some things that require a little more trust than others.

Again, Button making strange faces. I'm pretty sure at this point, they were both "swimming". I was thrilled because as Button has gotten older, she's gotten less vocal. I think she's part trying to live with a sister that never stops talking and part growing up and trying to figure out if some things are too 'young for her'. Luckily, jumping into a pit filled with corn kernels makes age just a number.

This child... She has that attitude of "I don't care". She loves her family and wants to be a good kid but she doesn't care what people think of her and her craziness. She's a hoot, for sure. It seems like she never stops talking and asking questions. If she's not talking, she's making strange noises or singing a silly song. Like I said, she's not boring.


If you get a chance to go to Old McDonald's Farm or any other Fall Festival that has a corn pit, go. It's a weird sensation to be surrounded by all of that corn and the kids love it.


If you have a snarky comment to add, try not posting as "Anonymous" and you'll be approved.

Location, location, location

I've lived in Minnesota for a little over 6 years now.

In that time, I've witnessed:
- temperatures that couldn't find their way above 0 with a map and a GPS unit
- a snow storm that broke our mailbox
- another storm that took out the mailbox
- ice dams 8 inches thick and icicles that look like bacon
- Chick-fil-a setting up shop in the Twin Cities

In that time, I've also:
- planned a wedding, gotten married and become a step mom
- become a mom, officially and legally
- voted to help move along Marriage Equality in MN
- become a full fledged IKEA addict
- become a pro at sanding and staining
- learned to renovate when you cannot relocate
- learned to build loft beds

And there's a lot more that I have never written about... yet.

The years have been good (throwing out those damn winters of course) and I've grown a lot living here, becoming a wife and a becoming a mom.
So next month will bring a lot of happiness and yet there will be a sadness in my heart. A hole, if you will.

We are moving... to Tennessee.

We started this move in motion (or at least the idea of it) back in October. Since then it's been a lot of late night talks, scouring real estate, thinking, planning, and more late night talks.

Our house is starting to resemble a storage facility, full of boxes. And when you already have a home that's too small, trying to find places to put stacks and stacks of boxes is a fun task.

By day, we are trying to finish building a screened porch on the house for my mother-in-law to use when she moves back in after we leave. By night, I am packingpackingpacking.

I'll have more info as the next few weeks go by and I'll have tons of pictures.

For now, I am exhausted and must fall into my bed...making sure not to trip over rolls of bubble wrap or stacks of UHAUL boxes.

Life lessons for my daughters

This world is a bit tricky to navigate. No matter how old you are or how much you've gotten out into the world, you still end up with problems and heartache and pain. No one knows it all. No one can tell you exactly how to navigate to where you always come out ahead or on top. People out there can suck and having to deal with too many of them makes you want to become a recluse.

But I hope that the knowledge that I have amassed is enough helpful information that I can lead my girls down a better path than if I just let them try to navigate on their own.

1)  Surround yourself with people who motivate you.
Let's face it. Some friends and family are giant leeches that suck every bit of life out of us. You don't need people like that in your life. If you do manage to succeed at something, these people usually don't care and will find it difficult to pat you on the back.

2) Wear what you like, not what other people think you should wear.
If you like yoga pants, wear them with pride. If you love sundresses, wear them on those warm days and rock those cute sandals. If you have a thing for skinny jeans, fine. I hate them but whatever floats your boat. If you have a thing for really big heels, walk carefully and strut your stuff. Wear what makes you happy, not what makes your friends happy.

Although if you want to look like a skank, maybe you should listen to 

a friend or family member that tells you to cover up.

3)  Never marry a man that cannot do anything for himself.
Seriously. I've been in relationships and seen other relationships through friendships that make me wonder about the men out there. I knew a guy, 21 years old at the time, that didn't know how to make a TV dinner. For real... he had no clue. His mother had babied the hell out of him his whole life and it left him lacking basic adult knowledge needed to live on his own. It was so sad. Find a man that can do laundry, clean, and cook for himself. They do exist. I married one. :)

4)  Travel as much as you can.
Life is not meant to be lived in one place. Getting out of your city, your state, your region of the country, can open your eyes to so much more than what you've always known. This country is really beautiful and there's so much to do and see. Meeting people from different areas of the country, hearing different accents than your own... it's fun and you learn first hand how different we all are and how okay it is to be different. I recommended road trips since you can actually see the country from eye level and not just fly over it. If you have the opportunity to travel out of the country, take it!

5)  Always apologize when you screw up... and do it as soon as possible.
Taking too much time to say you're sorry can destroy friendships. I have had it happen to me. If the person that you wronged means a lot to you, you should do everything you can to fix it. Now.

6)  Don't let fear stop you from doing the things in life that can make you happy.
Fear is crippling. Sure, it's good to have a healthy fear of things so that you don't just jump without looking but letting too much fear guide you will leave you standing in one place and never getting to experience what life is all about.

7)  You should always make time for those people in your life that you care about.
These days, it seems like everyone is sooo busy. Life is crazy sometimes and the clock doesn't stop ticking no matter how much is on your plate each day. But no matter what, you should always make time for the people you love. If you cannot manage to pick up your phone and send a text or call someone once in a while, then maybe that relationship doesn't mean as much as you like to say. With all of the different forms of communication that we have at our fingertips these days (FB, email, Twitter, texts, etc.) there's really no excuse to stay silent for too long. Note: I've been guilty of this before and I have tried very hard to correct it.

8) Date/marry someone that doesn't mind doing little things for you and do the same for them.
I used to live less than a mile from a gas station. The guy that I dated at that time would NEVER run there for me if I needed something. Never. Even if he was on his way out. It was nothing major but the fact that he wouldn't do simple little favors should have made me realize that he'd never be the kind of person that I'd want to marry. fast forward to the present: my husband has gone to the store at midnight before to get more butter when I was making cookies. Yeah, he's a gem. And no, that's not all that I love about him. He's a thoughtful person, plain and simple.
After I kept joking about going to Target just to get popcorn and an ICEE for months, one day when he ran there for some food, he came home with popcorn and an ICEE for me. He's just that nice.

Happy Birthday to my sister/friend/partner in crime

Today, March 5th, is a very special day.
It's the day that my bestest friend in the world was born and this post is for her.

I am guessing that she'll see this when she goes into work and checks her email. She always reads my new posts before getting busy for the day.

HI MANDANA! Happy Birthday! I Love You!

To celebrate the best friend that I have ever had, I thought I'd do a little photo retrospective.
We have been friends for 14 years this month and those years have been anything but boring.

This is probably the first pic of us together, at the twin's 1st birthday party:

One night, we decided that we needed to do our hair and make-up in 80's style. The kids were asleep and we were bored so we set about to Rock the Casbah and party like Material Girls into the wee hours.

This one was taken one of the many Friday nights that I hung out with her at the store while she was working. She did work, I promise, but in between customers we had a ton of laughs. I actually miss that damn store.

Here's us near the computer at her house (we were always on the computer back then) and yes, her shirt says "THINK LOUDER SO I CAN HEAR YOU". I had it made for her to wear at the store since obviously people thought that she was a mind reader/psychic.

I believe this one was right before I moved to Minnesota. Manda and I used to spend hours on the computer at her house, laughing at the massive amounts of Emo icons for Myspace. Stuff like "I only cry in the rain so no one can see my tears". Too damn funny. So one night, we tried to be Emo. Yeah, we just couldn't stop laughing long enough to pull it off. But we got some great pics out of it and had a ton of fun. As soon as this pic was taken, we were in tears from laughing.

After I moved, I didn't get to see Manda save for maybe 3 trips down a year. But when we did get together again, it was like no time had passed at all.

In June 2010, she came up to MN to be my Matron of Honor. My wedding wouldn't have been the same without her there with me. She keeps me sane.

This was on one visit home, at Ruby Falls. This was the first 'moment' we had in a photo and it's become a running joke since this picture was taken, back in 2011, I believe.

Then we have the Christmas/New Years trip from 2011/2012. We all had either a wig or a hat and we had an absolute blast. It was only the 2nd year the girls were up long enough to see the ball drop.

This pic was taken when my husband and I took Manda and the twins to Hilton Head to celebrate the twins upcoming 13th birthday. We hung out, shopped, swam, ate, and tanned for a week. HEAVEN.

This was the 2nd official 'moment' that we had up on the bluff at Weathington Park in Section, Alabama. If you could only see the smiles due to laughing so hard yet freezing from the wind.

And of course, this was this last December when we made our tacky sweaters.

Since I couldn't get down there this year and make/take her a cake, I have this instead:

In February 2010, I came into town to tell my mother that I was getting married and go look at dresses with Manda. I also surprised her with a birthday cake which was a TOTAL surprise since her birthday was not until March. :)

I told Manda that we needed to run an errand for my mother and she went along with me, although when we pulled up at the cake place, she was wondering why my mother would order a cake from a bakery nowhere near her house.

But Manda didn't say anything, she just walked in with me. (That's the kind of friend she is.) When the baker put the cake on the counter for us to see, it took Manda about 10 seconds to realize this cake was for her, not my mother. She looked at me and then laughed and then cried. (Until then, I think I had actually seen her cry maybe 5-6 times since we met 10 year before. I made her cry again 30 minutes later trying on my wedding dress. She was a crying mess that day.)

Even though I cannot be there this year, Manda, I hope you have a wonderful birthday. I miss you so much and love you to pieces.

I hope you feel this happy on your special day:

Our Peanut is now 8, going on 30

January 20th was Peanut's 8th birthday. Yes, I am just now getting around to posting the pics. (It took me until last week to send my mother Christmas pics so I figure this timing could be worse.)

Around Christmas, we were at Party City and I noticed that in one of the numerous birthday party aisles was a section for just about every single Disney Princess. And Peanut LOVES Ariel.
The Friday before her birthday, I made a trip (alone-YAY!) to Party City and picked up decorations, balloons, and Little Mermaid rubber bracelets.

This was the result of decorating the night before her birthday, right after she went to bed:

I also put another balloon in her room, tied to a little Ariel stuffed doll that I found at Hallmark when picking up a couple of birthday cards.

The morning of her birthday, we went in to wake her up and she was READY to start celebrating. She saw the balloon in her room and got excited. Then she climbed down out of her bed, making it up as she came down the ladder. (Yes, our kids make their beds without arguing.)

This is what I saw flying down the hall towards the kitchen:

 

I think she almost exploded once she got into the kitchen: (love the hair)

 

She was so happy. And then she opened her birthday present:

The gift was the Lego Cinderella Castle. 

And wow.... you'd thought we had given her an actual castle of her own to live in.

I made her cake myself, which is why the shape is great but the decoration on top could use a little improvement. (I can pipe those edges but drawing freehand on top? Negative.)

P is for Peanut

She loved the cake. We let her pick the cake and flavor of frosting instead of just surprising her this year and she loved that. She went with cherry frosting and triple chocolate fudge cake.

Making a wish:

This next picture is starting a new tradition. I found this birthday hat at Hallmark. It sings and dances back and forth when you press a button on the front. It's going to be a tradition that each of us will wear it on our birthdays. (It reminds me of the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter.)

After opening her gift, she went to put it together while I took a shower. Once we were all ready, we headed to the one place she wanted to eat dinner.... The Cheesecake Factory.

Dinner was delicious and filling. We walked it off at our in-town family destination spot....IKEA.
Yes, my kids love IKEA as much as I do.

It was FRIGID that day, the wind chill kicking us all in the arse. But getting an awesome new Lego set, chowing down on cake, being able to go to her favorite restaurant, and getting to go wander around IKEA for a few hours made the weather more bearable.

She loved the whole day:

And neither aliens or the government can read her crazy thoughts.

My husband, the birthday man

The love of my life has circled the sun one more time.

I want to say Happy Birthday to the kindest, most loving man on the planet.

I have said to him, numerous times, that he is the only person I can be around for days at a time and not want to strangle. He makes me laugh and he is really the only person I feel that I can truly be myself around.

Before him, I was sure that only my mother could stand by me through my attitude problems, bitchy times, bad hair days, lazy days, and weight gain.

And then I met him and my life changed.

So in honor of his trip around the sun, these are a few of the reasons that I love my husband and hope that he has a day as wonderful as he is... or even better. (I could never list them all. It would be the longest post in history.)

1) He has a great sense of humor, even though there are times that his puns make us all groan.
Example: The kids had these little Polly Pocket things one year and one of the toys was on the kitchen table. The little doll was in this little bubble container that could hang on a belt loop. We were eating dinner and my husband looks down at it and says "if you kill someone with that dolls container, would you be an accessory to murder?". Yes, it made me groan in pain at the same time that I burst out laughing.

2) He's a wonderful father. He loves his girls with every ounce of his being. He never makes a decision without first thinking about how it will/might affect his kids. The kids absolutely adore him. He plays Disney Princess Chutes and Ladders with them. He has even let them dress him up in their tiaras and stuff, smiling the whole time. I wish my father was half the father that my husband is to our girls.

3) He makes me things. The latest thing was my jewelry display.
A few years ago when I went down south to visit family on my own, I came home to a surprise. He had built me a little table to put next to the couch and he made it all on his own, start to finish.

He built the table to fit perfectly next to my side of the couch. It has a cubby underneath in the front and both sections you see with the tile mosaic lift off and there is storage inside. I love it. And it's the only one in existence.

And then when I saw a Home Depot commercial around Christmas a few years ago and mentioned wanting to try and make the ornament frame featured, he looked up the commercial and he went to work building me my own frame.

I love this thing. It's one of my favorite Christmas decor items that we own. And I took great care picking out the ornaments and rigging them up to hang on the pegs.

4) He's a smarty. In high school, he was one of those kids that never did homework, might have napped in class, but still passed every test. Yeah, the kind of kid I hated in school. Hahahaha.
I feel like I learn something new everyday being with him.

5) He kills bugs. I could do it but I don't want to. That requires me to get closer to them than I'd like and well... I don't like to get that close. He is the official bug killer in our house and I am extremely grateful for that.

6) He always makes me feel pretty, or at least he tries to make me feel that way. I have horrible self esteem due to years of bullying but he does his best to get me to see the good things about myself, emotionally and physically.

7) He goes to the grocery store, alone. Do you know how much I love that he doesn't make me go? I HATE grocery shopping. He has even gone out to get butter when I was having a hell of a time attempting to make toffee one night. I was ready to scream and ran out of butter. And he comes up and kisses my forehead and says he'll be right back.  He went to the store to get more butter. I know, I  got lucky. :)

8) He's my best friend. I can tell him anything, even if it's something that I think I could be looked down on for thinking or judged for feeling. He lets me be me and I couldn't ask for more than that. He has never once tried to change something about me, even if that thing got on his nerves. He lifts me up when I'm down and once wrote about me, "and when she hurts, I can't breathe".


I hit the jackpot with my husband. I can only pray that my girls find someone later in life that is as wonderful as their father.

Back to reality

I moved to Minnesota a little over 5 1/2 years ago.
The worst part of leaving was knowing that I was leaving people behind, people that I love with every ounce of my heart.

I miss seeing my mom. And I want my kids to get to know their grandmother. (She was beyond thrilled when they officially became her grandchildren.) I miss going to lunch with her and talking about life. We have a weird relationship. We fight a lot and butt heads due to being so alike but she's always in my corner, no matter what I do or how bad I screw up.

My mother has told me (and it was confirmed by her mom a few times) that all she wanted was a baby girl. And she wanted the baby to be tall and not have red hair. (Check and check.) And since I'm an only child, I have always been in her vision... even when you think she's not looking.
Even at my age, I always want to call her when something is wrong or life seems to be twisting me into a pretzel. I miss her so much.

Manda is not actually my sister and the twins aren't really my nieces. I met them when the twins were only 7 months old. Manda and I quickly became friends and by the time the girls were around 1 and a half, Manda started calling me "Aunt Jaime".
The twins don't remember life before me and I cannot imagine a life without them.

Over 13 years later, Manda is the sister that I never had but always wanted. She has my back no matter what and I can talk to her about anything and never feel ashamed.
I learned so much about kids and being a mom by being with the girls and Manda almost daily when I still lived in Tennessee.

I saw the twins go from toothless, hairless little drooling machines with poopy diapers to 14 year old freshman, navigating the rough world of high school. (Sometimes, I still picture them back in the day, wearing their onesies and drooling on me while eating cookies.)

I only get to see all of them a few times a year and when I do, we seem to be trying to squeeze months at a time into one week. And the week never lasts long enough.
When it's time to come back 'home' to Minnesota, my heart begins to ache. (And it's not just the weather we are coming back to.) Many times as we are driving away from their house on the last night, I burst into tears and curse that I have to leave.

This year, we have only seen my mom 3 times and Manda and the twins twice. In June, we saw my mom for less than 24 hours passing through town. Back in August we saw my mom, the twins and Manda for a few hours on the way home from Hilton Head and then in October. It just wasn't enough.

We have been home less than a week and I already miss them so much that it takes my breath away when I think about them.
I miss going shopping with my mom and arguing over what I will never wear (usually the stuff she picks out).
I miss sitting with Manda drinking coffee, talking about whatever happens to come up.
I miss listening to the girls talk about high school and thanking god I am not in it anymore.
I love that as the girls get older, they understand a lot more (including dirty jokes).
And I miss Poopy. Their Weimaraner is 8 years old and he's spoiled rotten. (Manda's fault not mine. Nope. I had nothing to do with that. Not a thing.)

How could you NOT miss this face?

Leaving Tennessee to come back to Minnesota gets harder and harder to do each time.

How should I know what a fox says?

While visiting my family down south at the end of October, we attended one home football game, one band competition, and one away football game. For the away game, the band was paying tribute to their seniors.

Each section of the band dressed as a different animal: cows, ducks, foxes (seniors), zebras, etc.
The color guard decided to be peacocks and I got to make tutu's. Yay. Just kidding, I enjoyed it.

Manda, the twins, and I went to Joanne Fabrics and picked out some tulle for their no-sew tutus, which I knew how to make due to making one each for Button and Peanut a couple of years ago.
The skirts are pretty easy to make but 2 of the different colors of tulle had glitter and I'm pretty sure it's still on my tennis shoes.

Here's Noodle in her tutu, warming up:

And here's Bug, doing her warm-up:

The band did most of the normal show:

But towards the end, there was a twist. All of sudden, the all dropped their flags and instruments and went towards the home sideline and lined up, like this: sorry for the crappy pic, I only had the iphone with me

Over the loudspeaker, you could hear the song What Does the Fox Say? start to play and then the band started to boogie. (I had never even heard the song until the girls starting showing us the dance and talking about it. Yeah, I'm not in the loop.)

It was funny and the home side of the stands cheered pretty loud.

Manda and I were breaking it down in the bleachers when during a time out, Tom Jones' 'It's Not Unusual' began to play. And again a little while later when House of Pain's 'Jump Around' came on.
Good times. I love that she will be a complete idiot with me. That's true friendship.

We had fun and it wasn't freezing. Can't wait until next season!

Funnily enough, that week was my first introduction to 'What Does the Fox Say?' and the Saturday after the band did the dance, SNL had a skit featuring Kerry Washington doing a parody of the song.
And that song was stuck in my head for days.

I live to surprise people

So, I didn't mention our road trip to TN/GA before leaving for one reason:
I love surprises.

My twin nieces knew we were coming into town but we always danced around the exact date of our arrival. I talked to them on FB leading up to the trip and always gave the answer "before the last game" when asked when we were coming into town... which was true.

The girls were expecting us right before Halloween and instead, we came into see them on the Thursday BEFORE Halloween.

Night one, we drove to Peoria, Illinois.
Day two, we were pretty much no nonsense about getting to their place in Georgia before they got home from color guard practice. And thanks to no traffic, we did just that.

We parked in the driveway and I stood right behind my car looking up the street, waiting to see their family car come over the hill. When I saw it, I started laughing because I saw 2 figures in the backseat writhing around like they were about to explode. Their mom told me that as they saw our van, one of the twins (Bug) started making her 'I'm excited' noise.
They couldn't get out of the car fast enough.

And oh, how I love seeing them smile like that.

But having them fly at me across the driveway is a little different than it used to be. They are only 14 years old and Bug is about my height while her sister Noodle is an inch TALLER than me. (I'm 5'7''!)
I swear, they almost knocked me on my ass.

When we all caught our breath, we told them how long we were staying and what all we'd be doing with them. You'd have thought it was Christmas in October!

We spent the first evening in town at their house, catching up and laughing, and I got to see my neph-poo, General aka. Poopy G.
And of course we had to get something to eat and as per usual on our first night down south each trip, we hit up Krystal. (Think White Castle but soooo much more yummy.)

I wish I had a photo of the twins when they saw us but alas, I actually dropped my phone when they pulled in because I was dancing a jig. :)

But I do have this wonderful pic of Poopy and Noodle:

Yes, he will sleep on anything/anyone.

Corn kernels and pumpkins: An afternoon at a corn maze

I love just about any kind of festival.
But I do hate crowds.
You can see how that can be a problem.

But Sunday, we braved a crowd and headed to the Twin Cities Harvest Festival and Maze.
I read about it through another blogger and thought we should check it out.

I haven't been to a corn maze since I was a kid.
And I knew the girls would love to see a maze of corn and maybe get their faces painted.
Luckily, I was right.
The complaints details about the face painting, crowds, kids, and the fact that people don't read signs will have to wait until tomorrow.

Peanut and Button loved the face painting, except during dinner later 

when all Peanut wanted to do was "itch her face".

We went through the maze, with a map.

Photo from http://www.twincitiesmaze.com/

That giant circle to the right is where the festivities were held... and where they kept the food.

They had a small hay bale maze for the little kids, a giant slide, live music, kids play area, a petting zoo, and hayrides. They also had helicopter rides but I believe it was a little over our price range for the day.

They also had a corn pit.

Yes. An entire pit filled with corn kernels.

And my family seemed to love it.

They all took turns being buried and seemed to really enjoy burying Daddy.

After we came out of the maze, we decided to head out and go have dinner somewhere.

But of course, we had to pick up some pumpkins on the way out.

Peanut looks a little awkward in the middle pic... her pumpkin was a little heavier than she thought and she was ready to hand it over to me shortly after I took the last picture.

Overall, the kids had a great time and my husband and I didn't try to maim anyone.
If you are in the Twin Cities in the next 2 weeks and want to go to a great maze, head out to Brooklyn Park and see the largest one in Minnesota.