Fall is in the air

Sweaters, jeans, hot cocoa, cups of tea, chili, crisp air, colorful landscapes, evenings spent reading and cozy bonfires indicate it must be my favorite time of year. I am absorbing as much as I can.

Hint: If you happen to be a friend of mine who could possibly be considering a move to my area, I just want you to know these shots were taken in my neighborhood. Not that I am pressuring anyone, but it's pretty awesome. And I hear the walking partner potential is pretty great too. Just saying.

Ollie joined our reading time. He makes all books more interesting.

Best Laid Plans

Yesterday we celebrated the day free of extra kiddos by bowling because the forecast contained threatening weather. It was beautiful. All day. Today, we went to the park with abandoned railroad cars because we weren't expecting rain until late afternoon. Sigh. We were wet and cold within minutes of arriving. Whereas the little people with umbrellas were darling, I was grumpy and soaked. We left what Devyn appropriately named "the wet park" and ended our outing with caramel apples. All in all, the kids' knock-knock jokes that made sense to only them were the highlight. Well those jokes and these sweet faces.

Bowling: Where's my Wii?

So I had the day free of all extra kiddos and wanted to do something special with Kate. We looked into ziplining and discovered the only location we could get into during in-climate weather wanted two and a half hours for a tour and $59 each person. That wasn't going to work out today so we went with plan B.

Plan B called for fun friends, lunch at Chick-fil-a and bowling. Plan B required a plan B when we arrived at the bowling alley and interrupted prayer for a very full league. Anne found a new bowling alley and we signed up for a game.

We had fun and of course loved the awesome borrowed shoes. Would it surprise you to learn Ty really wanted to keep them? I didn't think so. 

I don't want to brag but I am a pro bowler on the wii. I have the fancy star ball to prove it. As it turns out, there may be some differences between real lanes and the wii.

Perhaps Anne and I should have had bumpers too.

Erin and Justin

Erin's wanted photos as a couple for a few months. Justin didn't grow up in my house so he is not used to having a camera in his face. Needless to say, he was a bit reluctant to play along. I am beyond happy with the results. I laughed so hard with these two, my head was splitting by the end. They are hilarious.

 

 

Keeping it real:

He says he is being Erin

He insists this should be my Christmas card photo.

Justin claims New York will be calling any day now that he is "blog famous" and obviously has modeling talent. His ego is the perfect match to Erin's. Lord help us all.

Clifty Falls

Greg and I took the kids to Madison, Indiana today. We hiked a trail in Clifty Falls and enjoyed a playground too. Afterward, we investigated the historical downtown area. As luck would have it, we stumbled into a chili cook-off and beer festival. The crowd wasn't rowdy but it wasn't exactly what we were looking to do today. We found a candy store where Kate and Ty scored lollipops, Greg chose a piece of chocolate dipped peanut butter fudge and I devoured a salted caramel chocolate. Oh my. After our sweet treat finds, coffee and tea were located for the scenic ride home. It was a peaceful day of togetherness.

Fall Break

We are half way through our fall break and Kate's bucket list. I allowed an afternoon with the easy bake oven on Tuesday. Three hours later we had this to show for it. She was delighted and I scored points for walking away from the red velvet mess without freaking out.

We attempted to paint pottery but discovered our local store was closed on the only free evening we had so we popped into Hobby Lobby and brought home some wooden figures Kate enjoyed painting the next day. She also attended a painting class at the community center this morning. She is pretty pleased with her creations.

We've tackled two parks but the cloudy skies have only allowed for us to see the lunar eclipse this week. We still hope to star gaze one night after a bonfire with smores. We're waiting on weather cooperation.

Ty still believes costumes are acceptable for every day wear. This week he was Captain America until I insisted we throw the outfit into the hamper. He is suddenly very interested in my laundry schedule. For Christmas he is asking Santa to bring Erin a Captain America costume too because he doesn't have enough money to buy her one. Captain America is Erin's favorite super hero. Lauren loves Ironman and Makenna wants to be Spiderman. Ty has interesting influences in his life.

Despite whatever positive message may be portrayed in superhero movies and cartoons, I am struggling with the exposure to violence. We've had lots of discussions about what is real in these movies. Monsters, zombies and ghosts, pronounced "ghost-es" are not real. However, this put me in an uncomfortable discussion with Kate who asked me out of the blue if fairies were real. I quickly answered that they weren't. She cocked an eyebrow and probed further. Is the tooth fairy real? Crap. I just stepped in it. I answered that I haven't personally seen any fairies and thought she was asking about Tinkerbell since Ty is always asking me about things he sees in his shows. Kate, ever perceptive Kate, looked at me and said, "if the tooth fairy isn't real then......" and stopped short. I am afraid the wonder of the upcoming season may be a little dampened this year. She didn't want to go there yet but in her mind, I am certain she already has. Ugh. It's hard to lose that magic in their innocent little eyes.

Being super is exhausting.