Capitalizing on Fall

Last year around this time, my boot was just coming off, and enjoying Fall was one of those things that kind of got away from me. I was too busy rehabing my foot and going away on different weekends, that we kind of just forgot about Fall. For someone who thrives on the last three months of the year, I can't believe that it happened that way, but it did. We ended up realizing a week before Halloween that we hadn't gone to Pumpkinland or even thought about costumes. It wasn't enough to just run in and grab a few prepicked pumpkins. We had to do the whole shebang. It was a tradition afterall. So we headed out to the pumpkin patch and spent 30 minutes looking for 5 pumpkins that weren't smashed or already molding out. It was a challenge to say the least.

Last year's pumpkin picking attempt. It looks much colder last year!

This year, I looked at the ten day forecast, chose a day with the help of my husband that wouldn't be too windy or cold, far enough away from days that had predicted rain, and off we went. Fall delivered in a way that makes my heart skip a beat. The sun was setting. There was golden light. It was a beautiful, crisp Fall evening, and my kids were all in good moods.

I'm pretty sure she picked the largest one in the patch.

They stopped briefly for me to snap a picture before darting through the corn trying to escape their father.

I'm in very few photographs, and that's usually a good thing, but I do want to look back on my children's lives and remember that I was at least a part of the madness. :)

A good old boots picture never gets old. Does it say Fall loudly enough?

Saturday we went in for the kill. We capitalized on Fall big time. It was one of those days where I stood back frequently throughout the day and just said, "I'm so blessed". It wasn't necessarily anything special that made me feel that way. In fact, most of my morning into the afternoon was spent cleaning my house, doing the 17 loads of laundry that needed to be folded and put away, emptying and filling the dishwasher a plethora of times, vacuuming, dusting, etc. However, today was different than most days when I have so much to do that cleaning just becomes "a shakedown", you know, a quick 30 minute, everyone take a station, don't whine about it or you'll end up in your room type of day.

No, Saturday was a little different. We woke up, snuggled, enjoyed each other's company for awhile, and decided to bake some pumpkin crescents. My boys helped me make them, stirring, pouring, and mixing ever so carefully. I made a perfect Fall sangria. Jaedyn came home from a sleepover around lunch time, and shortly thereafter, Dan came home from work. And then something magical happened. Everyone...and I mean EVERYONE pitched in. Everyone helped out with everything, and there was NO COMPLAINING. None. They just all took a spot and got down to business. It was incredible. In three hours, we had cleaned six rooms and folded and put away loads of laundry in the double digits. I don't know if it was because they knew that if they all pitched in, we'd get to decorate our pumpkins faster, but even so, I was floored and very proud of them.

He's my wingman when it comes to opening up those darn tubes. I hate em.

Powdered sugar is so tasty.

If you look carefully you can see the spit in the palm of his hand. You're welcome.

LOVED these. Glad they only made 8 as I gave away five and Sawyer and I split the rest. I have to do what I can to get rid of the goods so that I don't eat them all. Nobody, but Sawyer or I likes pumpkin in this family so I guess if you live close, you may be lucky on the receiving end!

Very yummy Fall Sangria- 1 bottle of moscato, 24 oz of sprite, a pear, a honeycrisp apple, and some raspberries.

He loves to do the laundry and pause to dance a little jig inside the washing machine. I really should have a video.

Painting was our medium of choice this year. Dan used his drill to create some cool pumpkin designs with his and Jaedyn's pumpkin, while the boys and I decided to get crafty with our paint. We are all pretty proud of our creations. :)

Jaedyn's disco ball.

Dan is VERY proud of this creation, and I must say, he is very talented with that drill.

My contribution to the pumpkin decorating. Thank you pinterest!

We ended the evening with a movie on the big screen. Jaedyn surprised us with some smoothies and popcorn while we sat down to watch Hotel Transylvania. It was a perfect Fall day indeed. As I finish this post, I'm feeling stressed because I'm trying to get it finished quickly. My writing isn't what it could be, and I'm sure I will hit publish when I should be proofreading for errors, but my four year old has been whining that he wants to play a game on the computer. The TV is blaring loud. My 10 year old wants my help to write a story, and I could really use a nap, and yet when I stand back and look at it from a different perspective, I realize that my crazy, chaotic life is only going to be this way for a short amount of time. Too soon, my kids will be grown up and it will be just Dan and I in our empty house. So I'll take a deep breath and enjoy the noise while it lasts. Happy Sunday!