I really do love fall. Cooler temperatures and beautiful temperatures. But, it also brings with it shorter days and the awareness that winter is coming. Instead of wishing it was still summer, I’m trying to get intentional about enjoying the beauty of fall.

I baked an apple pie from all of those apples we picked.

We’ve walked home from school, picking the streets with the most beautiful trees.

I’m normally “too busy” for this, preferring driving, which saves me about 45 minutes.

Little man actually walked over a mile home by himself.

Last week, I also baked apple cider donuts. Yum!

What are you doing to enjoy fall? Any fun ideas?

I’ve shared many times over the past 4 years that Reed and Lena are best friends.

This is still so true. Over the summer, they fight a lot more, but now that they are in school, they really enjoy spending time together in the evenings and on the weekends.

We often talk about the highs and lows of our day. Here is one of Lena’s lows, “At lunch, I was standing up because I wanted to say hi to Reed. And, some girl yelled at me. I didn’t even get to see Reeeeeeed!”

We were trying get some photos to advertise fall sessions for Moose Prints.

“Can you look at each other?”

“Like you like each other?”

And, without any more direction from me, it turned into this.

Don’t get me wrong, they still have arguments. They hurt each other when they choose a friend over the other all the time. But, at the end of the day, they have a very solid bond.

These last two pictures just crack me up, because they remind me more of a married couple than elementary school kids. But, that’s part of what I love about the two of them.

(February 2011)

My mom sent me a fun craft idea, painting leaves. I thought that Reed and Lena would enjoy it.

One Saturday, when Aaron had to work, I got everything out to do it. I covered the table in heavy paper and cardboard. I had the kids change. We weren’t having a very good day, but I was hoping some quiet time at the table might help.

I was wrong.

Yes, that happened first.

The kids did enjoy this. I also gave them the option to paint their pumpkins (hence the smashed pumpkin).

I really didn’t want to include Gus in this activity. Paint + 3 year olds = not my idea of a good time. But, he wanted to do it.

One very blue pumpkin later…

Lena enjoyed this activity the most, and spent the most time on it.

That was one of my biggest frustrations over it. I judge activities based on time spent doing the activity x fun had – time spent setting up and cleaning up the activity. The setup and clean up time made this not-very-worth-it with my boys. By the time I sat down to paint my own leaves, the boys had gotten up and dumped all of our train tracks on the floor. Wood floor + wooden train tracks = quiet time over.

Just keeping it real here. 🙂 In the world of Pinterest crafts and mommy bloggers, it’s easy to weigh everything we’re doing or not doing as parents. Are we planning regular fun activities? And, are we enjoying every moment of it? In hindsight, I think we would have had a lot more fun if I had waited until Gus was napping AND I had set up an expectation with both Reed and Lena before we began… “this is what we will be doing for Gus’s naptime today. When you decide to be done, you need to clean up your paint and go read quietly in the living room.”

Oh well, lesson learned for next year!

I am way behind on my regular blogging. I’m going to be doing some catch up for the next several days, sharing about what we’ve been up to. Also, on Thursday, I’ll share about our next fundraiser, which will also make some great Christmas gifts!

I’ve been busy with this fundraisers/work/life in general. On top of all of that, Gus’s naps are becoming fewer and fewer.

Occasionally, we reach dinner time, and he just crashes.

I was trying to finish up some work, and I retreated to m room, which gives me a bit more space than most of the other places in the house when the kids are home. But, he found me.

He needed to be so close to me that his feet were around my phone and pen, head on my pillow.

I love it.

A certain little miss has lost both of her front teeth. If you ask her about it, she will excitedly tell you, “And, I have TWO dollar bills from the tooth fairy.”

This look cracks me up. It’s a look that Aaron gives me often, which means something like “you’re being totally ridiculous.”

Throwing leaves is definitely a favorite thing of hers to do.

That’s my silly six year old.

Don’t forget about the MudLOVE bracelet pre-order going until Sunday!