Falling Into Autumn

The leaves are changing colors. The air is crisp. My home decor has changed to witches and pumpkins with cute, silly smiles. A big, furry black widow hangs from the kitchen light. Pumpkin topiaries on the mantle. The scentsy warmer filled with "Autumn Sunset". Borrowing and buying Halloween costumes for all of the upcoming Halloween festivities. Hot chocolate with whipped cream. And watching late night tv with the fire warming up the house. It's such a fun time of year!

I love fall pictures. Not the actual part of getting the pictures taken. I hate that part but I love the final result and seeing all of us together. It's quite the challenge to get everyone picture ready at the same time and to keep them that way until the picture taking is over. It takes lots of patience from everyone (Gavin) around me when we are doing family pictures. It's a good thing we only try this once a year. We decided to keep it simple this year. Use clothes already in our closet. And use my own camera. I took pictures of my brother-in-law's family and he took pictures of our family. I am very happy with the results. I think it's the first family picture that I didn't have to photoshop and swap heads. Everyone was very good at looking and smiling at the camera. Except for the shots in the tall grassy fields. It was still really sunny and it was hard to not close your eyes or squint. I love this picture, especially that Ryan and Jack didn't say anything about not wanting to hold hands but when we looked at the picture later we noticed that they were both able to avoid holding hands by pulling their shirt down over their hands.

We enjoyed one last time in the swimming pool up at my parents' home. The air was crisp but the water was warm. It's always sad when the heater is turned off and the pool is closed for the winter.

Jack is always trying to think of ways to earn money. He was excited about starting up a lawn mowing company. Then it changed to refereeing soccer games. And his latest idea was buying my "business" (crafts I am making for our upcoming Freaky Friday in Relief Society) for $10 and making mod podge photo blocks and selling them. I'm not going to tell him that he doesn't need to buy the business from me and can just do it all on his own. He's wanted aviator glasses for awhile and was excited when Gavin got a gift card in his marathon bag for "free" sunglasses online. He ordered a pair and had to pay $12 shipping fee. I guess it's okay because he loves them and tries to find any excuse to wear them. Like mowing the lawn the last time of the season.

We weren't quite ready for the boating season to be over and decided to take the boat out for a late afternoon trip. The water was extremely choppy. The air was brisk. And the water was even colder. But not too cold for these little ones.

I cuddled up with Mia to help keep me warm and I admit I was a little fearful of our boat capsizing in those waves.

Nothing says fall quite like corn mazes and hay rides. We had such a great evening at Hee Haw Farms. The weather was perfect. And we were surrounded by other children with special needs. This activity was sponsored by United Angels Foundation. My big kids, especially Ryan, love to see other children with special needs, especially Down syndrome.

Waiting for the Trick-or-Treat hayride.

Please don't feed the animals.

I love Saturdays in the fall. They are completely filled with sports and I wouldn't have it any other way. I really love spending my Saturdays on 3 different fields, with the warm sunshine hitting my back, watching my 3 oldest excel at their sport. What I don't like is when the fall air turns to winter and I am out in the snow, freezing and watching their games. Not so enjoyable or fun.

Jack shows off his moves during a soccer game

Hadley's been playing keeper quite a bit this season.

Ryan is still playing football and loving it. He's playing Tight End and Corner Back this season. If I had to choose a favorite fall sport to watch it would have to be football. It's just different than soccer. It's incredibly intense and competitive. And Ryan and his team are really good! Undefeated 6-0.

Much of October is spent finding all of the costumes. Calling neighbors. Shopping at the Halloween stores. Looking online. This year most of the family is dressing up as characters from Peter Pan. It's Morgan, Griffin and Mia's favorite movie right now and just seemed perfect.

Mia is Tinkerbell

Griffin is Captain Hook. Argggggh, Matey!

And the rest of the cast? Morgan will be "Peter Pan", Hadley will be "Tiger Lily", Gavin will be Tiger Lily's dad, Jack wants to be a pirate (Capt. Jack Sparrow) and I think I'm going to be a random Native American. Ryan's planning on being "Pedro" and his best friend is going to be "Napoleon Dynamite". Still not sure where he's going to get that costume.

Happy Autumn!