Fall Leaves.... and memories

The week before Thanksgiving, the tree pictured above was calling to me for a couple of days. I tried to push aside my weakness for the beautiful leaves .... especially since it was not in our yard and belonged to someone else. Since the house is for sale and no one lives there now the timing really was perfect.

For more history, it was a house that I lived in when I was five years old and in the first grade. Just another tidbit, it is in the town where we live now and I see it all the time but it is the first time I have ventured close to it since I lived there last. Okay, back to the leaves!

There was a lot of jumping and reaching. Sweet MK tried even though it was too high! Her big sister brought her plenty to make up for it though.

I had to get a picture of them on the porch. I do have a picture of my sister and I on that very porch when I was W's age.

There happens to be a great magnolia tree there too! Later that day when we were at home, A tied her leaf stems together in a bunch and put them in water and gave it to me. She shares my love for this time of year.

W fascinated with the "baby" leaf, dubbed by A.

After I held a branch down low enough for her to reach, MK picked one for herself.

Here they are posing by a brick fence that I posed by when I was little. I do have pictures of me and those bricks back then but you will just have to imagine for now.

I remember playing in that yard well, catching lightening bugs in a jar and making sure there were holes in the top so they could breathe and watching them until I fell asleep, lying in bed thinking of a name for my soon-to-arrive baby sister with my Daddy, going to the post office to pick up mail, eating peanut butter with graham crackers, playing on the school playground, counting to 100 and reading, going to church, celebrating Christmas and Easter and experiencing the different seasons.

It was a beautiful place and I am grateful I went back... even if I may have been trespassing.

Just in case any other former resident is interested, did I mention the house is FOR SALE?

Our Best Listener

Our MK is the Best Listener for Cubbies this week! This has been an award she has been after since Cubbies started in September. Her brother, W, has a stack of this very award. So many, in fact, we thought they were handed out just for him showing up. It turns out this award really had to be earned and W is an exceptional listener. MK has tried each week to "win" during the time they are expected to sit still and really listen to the lesson. There are some older children in her group and I just thought maybe next year she would have a better chance at really getting the award.

W would go with D to pick her up from class and W would always comment on her not getting the award and would appear disappointed with her. She was usually crushed but would soldier on to do better for W. W would say he would work with her so she could get it the next week. A week of pointers and practice would start and then he would send her off to the next meeting to try again and then this week it happened! YEAH!!!! D met me at the car with MK and W and there it was. W was beaming with pride and MK just couldn't stop smiling.

She did it! She WON!

Happy Fall!

The time finally arrived! ... to wear costumes for a reason. We do this around our house all the time anyway but today it was acceptable outside in public!

Here is our sweet little bumblebee. She made her own sound effects and even stung people.

Our Doctor A made sure all were well before we left.

Star Trek officer W was just excited to wear his uniform for all to see.

Here is the happy doctor just moments before she treated a cute bumblebee sting... see next pic.

The Bumblebee's next victim. Fortunately, he thinks she is great even when she stings.

I had to include this picture even though someone's eyes were not completely open because it was a great picture anyway!

Here they are finding a Banana to hang around with.

Happy Fall!

Acorn Cookies and a Pecan Harvest

Yesterday it was so cold and felt more like winter but we are still enjoying the fall so acorn cookies seemed appropriate. These are butter-pecan cookies with some chocolate and pecans for their tops.

The recipe is always misleading with baking them for about nine minutes because the entire process from beginning to end was more like three hours! ... and for the children it was FOREVER ... but they are delicious.

It was late in the afternoon and dinner to ponder when A discovered the pecan harvest that had to happen. We have been watching over those pecans closely. In years past, the pecans must have fallen in the middle of the night as the squirrel family across the yard watched carefully and made their annual journey to STEAL nearly all of them. Not this year! We have been even more vigilant and had great success for our first day. There are still many that need to fall but hopefully the squirrels will be on the short end this year.

Here is A with some of our pecan bounty that we managed to scoop up. It was freezing outside but it was worth it!

One more reason to love fall!

A Journey Home....

So there we were riding sweetly together in the car, just the children and me, singing songs and holding hands, but not.

This has been a busy day for everyone. It has been a great day for everyone, by all accounts, but that wears off during the middle of the afternoon and definitely on a long ride home. With another 20 minutes left to go and just ahead of our car I encountered a Highway Department truck ... full of asphalt... going slow. With no way around it and time on my hands I thought about many things but survival was at the top of the list.

Then, there was silence. It may have taken a moment or two for that to register because I was daydreaming watching the back of the truck and then I looked in the rearview mirror to see our children craning their necks to see the truck in front of us. There it was, a shovel ... hanging from a hook at the top center of the tailgate of the truck swinging back and forth much like a pendulum of a clock. Big shovel pendulum. That is when I realized it was a TRANCE ... a magical trance.

Mercifully, the truck stayed in front of us practically to our door and I was thrilled about it. Happily, we all skipped inside smiling. kind of. I have a new appreciation for the Highway Department trucks ... at least today!

P.S. A post from me with no pictures to show you ..... I know, SHOCKING!

Fire Station Tour

MK and W went on a fire station tour with our play group and had a great time. W has always enjoyed fire trucks and it was fun to watch them crawl all over the trucks and take a close look.

Soccer Fun

This has been a busy soccer season for us. Just today, we had FOUR games! MK is ready to play with a team and I am thankful she is too young for now. I am not sure how we are going to manage when we have all three children with different practice times and game schedules. They all love to play soccer and I am grateful it is the same sport in the same season. We could have it sprinkled with different things all year long for each one and right now this suits us fine.

In the picture below A is playing in her first game today running with the ball.

Here she is after a toe injury in her second game but playing on.
The next picture is W playing with his team and going after the ball. For his age, the teams are made up of boys and girls.

W really is enjoying his first soccer season!
There is just over a week left in the fall season and a break will be great but they are already looking forward to soccer in the spring!