While I am no Phil Vettel, restaurant critic of the Chicago Tribune, I know a good meatball when I eat one! On a recent road trip to Indianapolis with the other Messy Mommies, we discovered some fun places to eat! One restaurant to check out if in the area is Mimi Blues Meatballs located at 870 Massachusetts Avenue, Indianapolis, IN. This was our first stop in the city where our group of ten was welcomed by a great staff!  They took care of us from start to finish and made sure we all were enjoying our time at the restaurant. The menu is extensive and has options that made the little people in the group happy and the adults struggling to decide on what to order because it all looked so good! Who knew meatballs could be served in so many ways!

 
Eleanora loves meatballs so she and her friend went with the classic meatball sliders – they each ate two and loved them!! French toast with a side of mini classic meatballs was ordered from the Brunch Menu by the other kids and they were sweetly satisfied!  I ordered from the “Suggestions” section of the menu and devoured the three classic meatballs served over creamy polenta.  I don’t make polenta at home so I felt compelled to eat most of it – so filling, so delicious!!  I did share some of the polenta with Matt and he said it was as memorable as the polenta we ate at a restaurant in Falcade, Italy years ago!! 

While we love apple orchards, our families think Halloween is boo-tastic! The leaves are just starting to turn and we can't wait to hit some pumpkin patches with our messy crew. We wanted to share a couple of our favorite pumpkin patches as you plan your October family fun! 

While Tony, Sophia, Stella and I live in Chicago, we are down in Joliet all the time visiting family and friends. Last fall we finally went to Siegel's Pumpkin Fest at Cottonwood Farm and we had a ball! The farm is huge and is a great value in the competitive,  can be expensive pumpkin farm space! Cottonwood lives up to their tag line, A Day of Affordable Family Fun on the Farm by including 31 attractions in the general admissions price. They also have a great website so you can clearly see what is included and what features would be an additional cost. Click here for pricing. You can take a survey to obtain a coupon and check out www.LocalFlavor.com to see if a deal is available.

If your kids like bouncy houses this is the pumpkin farm for you! When we first came into the pumpkin farm we were glad to see two bouncy houses and the girls hit the bouncy house slides with gusto. After playing there for a bit we went off to explore the pumpkin patch. The girls erupted in shrieks of glee when we discovered a row of bouncy houses! We hit every single one and the bouncy obstacle course was their favorite. There are so many fun activities packed into this awesome farm. From the expected corn pit to the climbable Maddie's spider web to the giant rocking chair, the girls were in constant motion. Luckily for their grandparents and me, there are plenty of picnic tables and close places to sit to watch the kids. Since the girls were only 3 and a half last fall, I appreciated that in addition to the massive, intricate corn maze for older kids and adults, Cottonwood has a sweet little kids corn maze with cute signs for the kids to dart around. You can take a ride on the Ghost Town Railroad as well as on the Pumpkin Mine Kiddie Train. The Hayrack rides are always a fall favorite. If the bouncy houses did not wear your kids out, they can also climb around the play lands scattered around the farm. Get ready to feed some cute farm animals and a pumpkin fairy entertains children throughout the day. Older kids will also have fun hitting the Sniper Zombie Paintball and Fly'n Farmer's ZipLine.

As a mom, one of the logistical things I appreciated was that food options are scattered throughout the farm. This made it so easy to grab a drink as we bounced along the farm and provided several lunch options. The apple cider donuts were excellent and our girls gave the mac and cheese high marks!

You can hit the pumpkin patch for cute pictures and to pick your favorite pumpkins. The huge 15 acres corn maze is remembers 9/11 this year and pays tribute to first responders.  

While happily exhausted, on our way out we did mange to swing by the cute Kaity's Country Store. You can pick up fresh pies, fudge, jellies and jams, and super cute fall decorations.

Overall, Siegel's Halloween Fest is an awesome, action packed place for a family fall outing! And, a great value! Hope to see you at the bouncy houses this fall!   

Our first visit to Goebbert’s Farm and Garden Center located in South Barrington, Illinois was in October 2010 when Eleanora was three years old. She loved walking through the entrance to meet the life size cutouts of the Snoopy Characters, Winnie the Pooh and friends, and Scooby Doo. Here we were able to snap several pictures of Eleanora sitting in the character scenes.  In this area you will find beautiful mums for purchase along with your first look at some of the pumpkins for sale at the farm.  Our tradition of visiting Goebbert’s continues - Eleanora is now nine years old and looking forward to this year’s visit.
 
Our visits always include a wagon ride, pony rides and a search for the great pumpkin we will turn into a jack-o’-lantern when we get home. 

On our second visit to the farm when Eleanora was four years old, her dad thought the Haunted House would be fun to visit. I am not a huge fan of Haunted Houses so decided I’d wait outside. Matt swooped Eleanora up and she wrapped her little arms around his neck and held on for dear life and they walked through the scary (but not too scary) haunted house.  When they came through the exit, Eleanora’s eyes were closed and had been the whole time they were in the haunted house!  While Eleanora still wants to hold her dad’s hand (and may still have her eyes closed) as they zip through the haunted house, she realizes the scary scenes are just pretend.  As a mom – I recommend saving this activity for kids five years old and up…

Each year we find new things to do at Goebbert’s Farm. This year we look forward to finding out about the Duck Derby and Straw Pyramid! The Fall Festival at Goebbert’s Farm is in full swing so you can head out and enjoy the pig races, the jumping pillow, the play yard, gem mining, pony and camel rides and much more.  Of course you will also be able to enjoy a delicious apple cinnamon donut at the Red Barn Café and Bakery.

For a full listing of the activities and pricing, check out Goebbert's Farm at www.goebbertsgardencenter.com.

​Since I was little I have loved throwing a party. I get this from my mom. When I was in grade school my friend, Marcy and I held bake sales and had a lemonade stand so we could raise money to throw a Halloween party for our friends. It was a perfect Halloween party.
 
As an adult, I still strive for that perfect party. I seem to forget that I have four-year old twins that have other, messy ideas.
 
Our family had decided to celebrate August and September birthdays at my parent’s lake house over Labor Day weekend. My niece, Molly was flying in from Texas and was bringing her boyfriend, Chris to the lake. While we had met Chris briefly before, this was going to be two action packed days with our family and I wanted the party to be perfect! We adore Molly and wanted to make a good impression with Chris since we can be a bit overwhelming!
 
My mom planned amazing summer menus and we had a zillion texts about who was bringing what, when people were arriving, and who was staying over at the lake. It was going to be perfect and here are three messy things that made it so.

​1. Ditch perfect and embrace messy. Thanks to my dad, our family had built our log cabin lake house about 25 years ago and it is warm and inviting. I could envision Chris walking in from the porch and appreciating the lake charm of the cottage. My husband, Tony, Sophia, Stella and I had arrived on Thursday to hang out at the lake and help my parents get ready for the family gathering. My mom and I took the twins to the Dollar General and the girls declared that we needed decorations. Per Sophia and Stella, we were now having a Paw Patrol and Minion theme. We piled streamers, a Minion piñata, birthday banners, and plates into our cart. The girls were bursting with excitement about decorating for the birthday party. We even had to Facetime my sister-in-law, Liz and brother Sergie to show her our great decorations. On Saturday, we started to set-up for the party and in my mind we had a serene vision for inside the cabin. This perfect plan was quickly hijacked by the four-year olds! They explained that we needed to have streamers going across the room, decorate the singing fish, and even have streamers in the bathroom. Perfect was swiftly replaced by very bright. Sophia and Stella had a ball and my parents were cracking up. There was more Facetiming to show off the “fancy” decorations. Stella kept walking around the living room declaring “Mommy, this is so beautiful!” Her joyous smile and Sophia’s giggles made me realize that ditching perfect and embracing messy was what was important. I sent a warning text to my siblings about the decorations and they all were awesome when they arrived on Sunday. As my family complimented Sophia and Stella on the fancy decorations the girls glowed with joy. 

​2. Dive in to messy. Leading up to the party, I could envision picturesque moments of us tubing on the taco, fishing off the doc, and cruising around on the pontoon boat. In reality, it was picturesque but really messy! Sergie and Matt fired up the jet ski. Tony gave three determined tries at water skiing which I captured on Facebook live but no luck in getting up. Molly and Chris had an epic crash off the taco tube. And, somehow we decided to recreate a picture from when Molly was in grade school. Molly and her friend, Meredith had piled lots of gross seaweed on their heads and are smiling away at the camera. I’m not sure how this even started but suddenly Eleanora, Sophia, Stella, Molly, and Chris were pulling seaweed out of the lake and piling it on their heads. Holly and I joined in on the gross fun. Missy and John were smart to be photographers of this crazy moment. It was totally gross, smelly, and messy. Eleanora, Sophia, and Stella thought it was hilarious. I think we all did too. Chris even took it one step further. Stella was having a bit of hard time since she wanted to be out tubing with the older folks. Chris decided to help distract her by asking Stella and Sophia to make him a seaweed coat. Chris is amazing and his seaweed coat was so gross! Dive in to messy and you will find a lot of joy! 

3. Family is messy and that makes it perfect. My nieces, Eleanora (9) and Molly (23) are fabulous with Sophia and Stella (4). When you are little, like the twins, you just want to do what the big kids are doing. Stella, is relentless in trying to do whatever the big kids are doing and in conning the older kids into playing with her. This can be messy. I'm sure sometimes Eleanora would rather hanging out with her cousin Molly or play other games. And, I'm sure Molly and Chris had other lake activities on their list. Family can be messy when trying to fit everything in but the kindness and willingness to go along with four-year old requests is just heart melting. And, while messy, hopefully we circle around to what everyone wants to do. Eleanora was amazing with the twins and helped them with their party "check-in." I can't thank Molly and Chris enough for making awesome sand castles with the girls, doing a quick pirate ship park outing, and chatting with the little ones. We did miss our nephew, Alex and his girlfriend Ally as I know they would have been right in the middle of all of our adventures. 

​As I look back, by letting go of what I had envisioned and worrying less, we created the perfect messy party.