Seed + Straw = Fun !

Earlier in the week the kids helped daddy with a project in the yard.  

The project:  Seed and straw a large barren area of the yard.

Looks like it was fun, huh? In hindsight, I wish that it would not of rained the day before.  It was a muddy mess and it was time consuming to remove the mud and straw off the bottom of the kids shoes. Well, live and learn!

It's Raining Leaves

Isn't the fall a glorious time of the year?  The colors, the fluttering of leaves gracefully raining to the ground, the smell all add to the aura of this time of the year.  

The leaves are really starting to rain down now in our yard.  Pumpkin and Princess had fun playing in those leaves a little bit ago. They were having so much fun that they rarely looked at the camera, and forget about staying in one spot too long.  Well maybe next time. (wink, wink)

We are looking forward to more fall adventures!

Fall Into Fall

We must be having an Indian Summer.  The last few days has been t-shirt and shorts weather instead of the coats and pants weather.  It has been fairly nice and the trees are in the process of getting ready for winter.  

 

So starts the botany lesson for the day:  

The green pigments (chlorophyll) are slowing down as the temperatures get cooler.  Once they stop making food they die off and then the real show starts.  Then we start to see all of the beautiful reds, yellows, purples, and oranges that the green pigments usually hide.  Soon enough, warm days and cool nights of fall will pass into winter hibernation for our trees.  After the green pigments have disappeared, the other pigments will follow suit disappear for the winter too.  But never fear, our wonderful trees will bud out in the spring for another season of wonder.

Fun family activities to do this fall:

1) Press note-worthy fall leaves between pages of a book to enjoy this winter
2) Rake up a pile of leaves and jump right in
3) Make leaf animals with paper, glue, leaves, and your imagination
4) Have fun crunching through the leaves (my kids love this one)
5) Sort the leaves by color, then count how many leaves you have

Have a lovely fall!

Life Is Too Short

There is an amazing young girl we know that has gone through over twelve months worth of treatments for leukemia.  My dad was first diagnosed with multiple myleoma (bone marrow cancer with no permanent cure) at the age of 53.  And my mom lost her battle with lung & brain cancer at the age of 55.  It sort of makes me wonder, who's next?  What it boils down to is life's too short and we need to make the best of it.  

Today we had a family day.  We skipped church and spent some quality time together.  A tent was set up out in the yard and the kids had a blast!  Princess would forget to pick her feet up when exiting the tent.  So we had a few nose dives into the ground, but she sprung back up.  Cheese and crackers were our outside snack.  Once the kids started getting a bit rough with the tent it was time to take it down.  Of course, pumpkin was the ring leader and princess was happy to follow anything that he did.  After the tent was down the kids had hot dogs by request and us adults had chicken salad sandwiches with spinach on top.  I was happy to sneak off and get some shots of some fluttering butterflies.

Once we got back in it was nap time for the kids.  Afterwards, princess and I went on a shopping trip.  We were in search of an object to keep the soap from falling on our toes while taking a shower.  Success was had, but of course a few other objects found their way into the cart.  Princess had those lovely puppy dog eyes and look what we brought home.  But of course life is too short, so spoiling from time to time is worth it.

Princess loves her new Rapunzel doll.  Currently she is in LOVE with purple and I just could not resist those eyes.  Princess's words at home were: "She's wonderful!"  "My Princess!"  Since Rapunzel has really long long hair that reaches her feet can easily get tangled, I opted to braid her hair to keep it nice.  We will see how long that lasts (wink, wink).

Pumpkin and daddy took a drive after nap time and watched the fields being harvested.  Then they went to McDonald's and grabbed some food.  Then pumpkin is enjoyed riding his bicycle in the driveway.  I am looking forward to next weekend's adventures!!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

A cart full of fun!

Princess looking at the pumpkins

These are just beautiful!

Short and stout

Pumpkin is pulling the pumpkin wagon

Princess in front of the pumpkin wagon

Yay! Princess is 3 feet.

Princess with her head stuck in the cut-out.  It took a bit but we set her free.

Pumpkin is 3 1/2 feet.

You have been pumpkin mooned!

Playing in the pumpkin patch wagon

Falling off the pumpkin patch wagon seat.

Daddy comforting the crying princess.

Pumpkin hugging a pumpkin.

Pumpkin in his favorite place in the whole world a pumpkin patch.

Pumpkin eating a pumpkin cookie.

A whole pumpkin cookie. Yummy!