Fall!

3 Years, 26 Weeks.


It's finally here!

The change in weather and temperature that's more welcomed than the one previous.  A time for adding pumpkin to any food item, just because.  A chance for bonfires and dinners outside and spectacular sunsets and festivals galore.

Welcome Fall!

Here was our week:

• Friday evening we had friends the Grodacks and Bergherms over for our inaugural fire pit hot dog roast.  It was very nice and a lot of fun but the weather could've been slightly cooler and the mosquitos not so persistent and annoying.

Keeping themselves entertained during our Costco run.

Picking big sister up from gymnastics.

The crew getting their roasting on.

I've missed nights like this!

Moving on to s'mores!

• Sabbath I took the kids to church while Tangie stayed home to catch up on some much needed rest.  She and her team had been burning the midnight oil on what is her 2 busiest weeks of the year.  We enjoyed a nice lunch outside and then took the kids to see some pumpkins in the afternoon.  After the kids went down I joined several dads for guys' night out to see the movie on the Somalian pirate hijacking of an American cargo ship, Captain Philips.  Excellent.

At the wailing wall in Sabbath School.

Listening to Miss Patty's story.

Brae decided to hang out with us instead of going to her Sabbath School.

She ended up assisting the twins on the crafts so that was nice.

Swung by a gem show to do some more sluicing for precious rocks and minerals.

Pumpkins galore!

Such a cutie pumpkin pie.

Mommy gets in on the action.

Assisting Mommy with a pumpkin baking project.

• Sunday Tangie had to work so I was solo with the kids for the day.  I took them to a Fall festival in Apopka with (who else?) the Grodacks and the Bergherms, and even bumped into the Jamersons while we were there.  It was on a tree farm/nursery that even had a corn maze there.  They had a bouncy house/kids area set up that looked like a lot of fun, so of course all the kids wanted to go, which was fine except that it was $10 admission...per kid.  Multiply that by 3 and that seems like a lot of money to just play around in a couple of jungle gyms.  But I couldn't say no because the other families were paying to get their kids in, and I didn't want to hear it from my 3, so I acquiesced.  Let's just say it wasn't worth it, in my opinion.  Afterwards we swung by Home Depot and picked up a couple of topiaries to plant in some pots that flank our fireplace under the pergola, as well as some supplies to work on our garden to get it up and ready for our Winter crop.  The Broncos game capped off the afternoon and evening, us winning against the Jacksonville Jaguars, although it seemed like we were just a bit off our game.  It's sad when you expect your team to score nothing less than 40 points a game!

With the crew at the Fall festival.

Listening to the animatronic scarecrow.

Besties keeping close.

Maddy getting ready for the Broncos game later that day.

Buddy enjoying the play area,

complete with water pump races!

Enjoying some pumpkin cookies baked the previous night!

An afternoon stop to the pool.

Would you believe the water was already a bit chilly?

Rooting for our team!

• The rest of our week:

Monday night was OJA night at Chucky Cheese's, so of course we had to go.

They spent all their tokens in less than 10 minutes!

Braelyn and her classmate Alyssa.

He liked doing all the rides.

Tuesday was Teachers' In-service Day, so Brae was off school.
I think Maddy was sad she couldn't wear the 3-D specs.

Kohl hamming it up.

A quiet, reflective moment.

Just hanging around...

Big sister reads the bedtime story.

Showing some sibling affection.

Garden Update:

Harvesting some eggplants.

Cleared some areas and planted more seeds.

The topiaries by the fireplace.

Food:

Shirataki noodles with rosemary roasted asparagus and persimmon.

Randoms:

Wanted to plant asparagus but then saw the number of days to harvest...um, no thanks.

Caught her brushing her cheek.  When asked what she was doing, she answered nonchalantly, "Shaving."

Quote:

•  Driving to the festival Sunday morning, and saw a bunch of buzzards just hanging out on top of an office building:

          Brae:  "Hey, look at all the vultures!"

          Me:  "Yeah, looks like they're having a meeting!"

          Brae:  "Maybe they're meeting to have Thanksgiving breakfast."

          Kohl:  "Maybe they're having a picnic!"

          Gross!

• Leaving Publix, having just been helped by a cart attendant, a new girl named Lisette.  She had pushed the cart with the groceries and the kids to the van, and helped to unload.  After she had gone:

          Brae:  "She looked funny."

          Me:  "Well, she was very nice to help us.  And we don't say things like that."

          Kohl:  "She had a lot of dots on her face."

          Brae:  "You mean, pimples?"

          Seriously, these kids of ours!

Looking funny for sure!

Have a great weekend!