Snow!

I really hope it's a sign of more snow to come this winter for us. We've had flurries at our house twice in one week, and it's only November!!! I realized it was snowing at 7:15 this morning and went excitidly into the boys' room to wake them up to go out and see it. Normally they sleep until 7:30 or 7:45. They were still out solid. I was like a crazy woman coaxing them up, pulling on socks, stuffing into jackets, letting them slip just their Crocs on. I didn't want it to stop before we got outside! They thought I was a tad nuts until they actually got out in it. Then, their faces lit up! We walked Blaze and had fun (and then went back inside where it was warm). No accumulation. Maybe next time!

The rest of the pics are here.

Orange is the color of Fall...

I've been dressing the boys in orange a lot this month (October too). Orange reminds me of Halloween and Fall and the leaves turning. Pretty soon it will be time to make the Christmas shift to red. I caught the boys being silly in their cute orange shirts last night and took the pics in this collage.

The window for taking Fall leaf pictures is about over. Many leaves are down in our area of NC now. Those that are still up are turning brown. I'm really sad to see peak leaf season go...especially when today it's being replaced by cold temps and a strong wind.

Soon I'll be back out taking bare tree pictures and sunset pics...I hope. This whole amateur photography thing started about a year ago with beautiful December sunset shots. I was driving home from work one day and was upset that I didn't have my camera because the sunset was so pretty. The next day I brought my camera, and the sunset was pretty again. I took some nice pics, and I've been trying to take interesting nature pics (often along the side of the road as I travel to/from work or shopping) ever since. I hope to repeat the pretty sunset shots this year, so keep checking back!

It's Fall...

I've been out taking pictures of the beautiful fall leaves the last two days. I think the leaves hit peak here in the triangle this past week, but we had several rainy days, so yesterday was the first real chance to get out and try to capture the leaves in their fall glory.

I hope you enjoy these pics, and if you'd like to see more, the best from Friday are here, and the best from today are here.

Halloween

We had a really good time trick or treating tonight with our friends in the neighborhood. Some of the smaller kids like Sophie (cute little witch) and Sienna (pink princess) were able to really get into the swing of things with the older (aged 4-8) kids. Joey made his official debut at R2-D1-1 while Johnny wore the Mr. Incredible costume that he's been enjoying wearing for weeks. Madi had on a new witch costume. Eli was Darth Vader. Grayson was a knight. Celeste was in a very cute horse costume. Rick was a ghost. And, well, I was Wonder Woman. I think everyone can be a kid or at least try to feel like one on Halloween, right?!?

Rick spent most of Friday decorating the Haunted Garage. The big attraction tihs year was a special card game between several skeletons. He spent a lot of time organizing their hands, laying out the chips, stuffing them, and finishing the effect with spiderwebs all around. It was neat. The boys and I helped set up a few things around the card table as well. Everyone was getting in on the act.

It was nice to see the kids enjoying the pretend of Halloween and not being scared by the props that have bothered some in the past. They just charged right into the garage this year. It was obvious Mr. Rick was the ghost:-)

The rest of the pics are here.

Time Change

Well, here we go again. The clocks are going back one hour. As a matter of fact, they turned back in the middle of my Halloween and It's a Wrap posts, so they are out of order:-( Us adults will want to sleep late. The kids won't know the difference and will be up anyway. No problem letting them stay up until their new normal bedtime tomorrow. But, watch out later in the week as they are all short on sleep...again.

It's a Wrap...

Until next year, Happy Halloween. The boys and I spent the day taking down what we'd worked so hard for nearly 6 weeks to put up. In order to spend a little bit of time celebrating the middle child, Thanksgiving, we figured we'd better put Halloween away before it's time to get Christmas out! It was another good fall season...

Putting Frank away is always the sadest. We enjoy him so much. He's got a tear near his feet now, but hopefully he'll last us at least one more season. To keep us from getting sad, we put Tom Turkey up in his place. Gobble, gobble...

The rest of today's pics are here.

Beautiful Carolina Fall Day

The boys and I were out bike riding with Joey's new bike this morning (Johnny's too). Eli and Sophie heard us in their cul de sac and came out to play. J&J were just fawing over her giving her kisses and being sweet on her. We were off to Yates Mill Pond and then Lake Wheeler later in the afternoon. They were running the water wheel today, and I just never tire of seeing the water come spilling out and over the top. We took the trail around the 'pond' and had a good time talking about different trees and leaf colors and counting backwards as we walked past each trail marker. Lake Wheeler was really empty of people and geese and ducks especially for a Sunday, but we enjoyed our time there. Back at the house, it was time to carve pumpkins. Johnny really enjoyed pounding in the crystal spikes once I started them for him. Joey cut out some actual pumpkin pieces for the first time this year. It was fun. Maybe we'll do more later in the week. There are more pumpkins in the yard!

The rest of the pics are here.