Cute Fall Picture

Saw this and thought it was a cute, clean, fall picture. 

A Family Day

Every once in awhile you need a day off, a day to hang out without other responsibilities.

Our schedules have been full, by our choice, and then life throws a few extra things in there as well.  A lesson in being flexible!  A learning opportunity of how to juggle life's demands with grace and a smile.

We took today to hang out and do stuff together.  I made a quick trip to Wally World for normal life stuff and fun road trip food.  Boys wondered why I'd gotten Goldfish Pretzels, Milanos, and Pringles.   Kevin and I let them know we were going to see the mountains.  Got a "Going to see the mountains, that sounds boring!"  We headed out west for Sky Line Drive despite the rain.  Took a chance that it would still be worth it.  An opportunity to show Thing Two why a Sunday Drive can be a good thing.

 Periodically, when passing Markham, Virginia, I feel

obligated to take a picture of the sign.  Not sure if the Markham's

I come from are related to the ones that started this town.

 Small church with a pretty tree out front.

 Not sure if this was the first over look we stopped at.  Immediately

getting out of the car, could smell that someone had a fire going.  Lovely

smell!  Almost expected to hear a train too!

Thing Two exclaimed that it was an awesome view and said he was

glad we made the trip!

 Low hanging clouds everywhere we went.

 Some chilled boys where thankful for wearing blue jeans

and sweatshirts.  Fun to look over the edge of the mountains,

but was chilly as well.

 Lots of low clouds.  Lots of questions about what is in clouds!

At least I could ask the question back, "What does it feel like!"

Wonder how long Thing Two will remember that science lesson.

 Layers and layers of clouds today.

 So, I don't normally join in on the pictures.  I just don't like

pictures of myself, at all.  Read this article in Huffington Post

that made me realize I should be in more!

Yes, Charlotte was originally in photo too, but not her pretty end.

Got most cropped out but the tip of her tail that is white!

 Here is Charlotte, patrolling the wall.

 

The higher we got into the mountains, the more clouds we drove

through.  Neat experience.

On the way home, Thing Two need a pit stop.  We found a Shell Station that just happened to be next door to The Apple House.  If you are a part of Boy Scout Troop 2215, you'll understand why we stopped there instead.  Just about every time the Troop goes west to camp, they stop by the place for donuts.  Kevin even liked the donuts and he's not to keen on apple products.

Fall

We are getting hints of fall around here!  The weather the last few days has been incredibly cool!  Almost time to pull on a sweat shirt weather.

Yesterday, a few things happened that helped make Fall feel closer and more real.  First, when we start having cooler nights, the air pressure changes and the tire pressure light comes on in my van (Yee Haw, that happened).  Second, while at therapy with our oldest, went to use my phone, and it was totally dead.  Not enough power to say it was dying (I'd mistakenly left the screen saver thing to permanently on by mistake).  Anyway, went out to the van to charge it for a bit and walked through a few crunch leaves that we'd missed on the way in.  That was kind of nice!  Third, when Thing One and I got home, Kevin said it had gotten "to cold" with whole house fan on so it was shut off.

This morning it was nice to wake up feeling a bit chilled as we'd left our windows open all night.  A pair of socks and our winter comforter would have been nice.  Knowing our area, we are due for an Indian Summer sometime soon, then followed by "the real Fall".

In the mean time, I'm switching back to hot coffee and just need to find a good fall creamer now.  Any suggestions?

Fall Sunday's

First weekend of the school year.   Everyone I know around here is back in school; public school, private school, home school, college, masters, you get the picture?

Although not all things have been added to the "school year" calendar, most has.  We've had Tae Kwon Doe, baseball, shopping, cleaning, organizing, grilling!  Still coming up is church and Sunday school followed by lesson prep and an extend family dinner.  Doesn't get much better.

Well, that isn't entirely true.  We had a big rain store that dropped the temperature over 20 degrees yesterday.  That was NICE and this morning it is still quite nice.  I hope to get to a few fun Fall type things this afternoon.  What's on my mental list, here's a peek:

• make a "BOO" sign; something like this but my own take on it.
• make Candy Corn Pretzels; however mine will have yellow and orange "chocolate" and white sprinkles
• bring out a few fall swags (berries and leaves)
• put out some fake pumpkins (we still need to shop for real ones)
 

If you'd like more fall ideas, here is a link to my Fall pinterest page.

Happy Fall Sunday folks,

Jennifer

Welcome Fall

I am a fall person, by nature.  The cooler temperatures, the vibrant colors of leaves, the crunch of those leaves already fallen, the need for a sweat shirt or fleece jacket, or a cup of hot tea, all make the world feel right with me.

During this fall season, am really hoping to get out back more.  No, I do not mean out back to Australia or Outback the resturuant (that would be good too, though), but out and into our backyard.  One of the greatest benefits of our house is that it backs up to many acres of park land and paved foot paths.  Then there are the heavily wooden neighborhood areas that connect the various park lands together.  It's been enjoyable getting out and looking around the various paths and taking one we haven't explored before.  Our dog, Charlotte, has been having a ball with it as well.  Her nose has been going crazy when we go for walks.

Well, now after about 8 days of mostly overcast and some rain, I'm looking forward to the sun and getting out.  It's time to load up the backpacks with water bottles, pencils, art pads, nature journals, camera, and hit the trails.  Maybe even a a picnic blanket and snack. 

Autumn Change

Fall is beginning to hit the air; weather is cooler, a few leaves have gone to loose their color.  Seeing folks posting on facebook about their favorite fall flavored coffee at Starbucks or donuts.  Probably the most tell tale sign is that Christmas stuff is out, in force, at just about every store known to man (ugh).

I hope to get to decorating for fall today or tomorrow.  Boys will love seeing Mr. Pumpkinhead on the stoop again.  Wouldn't it be a hoot to get it all out while their sleeping.  Might happen, might not.

Pretty side of life

Amazing how, if one would only look up instead of down, pretty life can be.  Such is the contrast when looking out the front of our house.  Should we look down, we see this:

All the effort we put into our front yard this summer, taking out the dead oak tree, trying to level the front yard, sod, grass seed, work in flower beds, etc., has been greatly disturbed!  We've been promised that everything will be completed by tomorrow.

Now, if I were to look up, even just a bit, I am gazing into glorious fall colors, like this:

And here's a better view of the same tree:

Let me be looking up today, from where my grace and salvation comes from.

Yard Sales . . .

We visited my folks this past weekend. When there, Saturdays seem to mean yard sales. My mom wasn't to excited about going, but got talked into it. We loaded up into two cars, just in case there were lots of treasures to be had. There were, but not big ones, and they all didn't call our names. My boys were excited about all the toys they were seeing; but honestly, these were toys we're trying to get rid of at home or for kids about a year old. I was quite happy with the five dollars I spent. Found three pails marked 50 cents each ~ got all for $1.00. At another yard sale, found a grape vine wreath with berries on it and a bag of extra berries marked $5.00 ~ asked if she'd would sell just the wreath. She wouldn't; so I asked if she'd take $4.00. Yup, walked away with those as well. For $5.00, I bought 3 pails (two with holes in the bottom already, perfect for small plants - maybe some daisies), a grape vine wreath with fall berries on it, 2 short berry vines, 2 medium length berry vines, and 1 long berry vine. A success as far as I am concerned. Here's the photo's:

The wreath was promptly put outside, once we were home.

Not sure what I'll do with the remaining vines, but they'll
be put to good use. The tins I have some good ideas, but
may need to wait until spring.

A Fall Snack

Over on the Five in a Row boards, earlier today, there was a thread labeled "temptation". Upon opening, to read more, you were greeted with this link. Yes, go check it out. This post will wait patiently (lol ~ as if it is really going anywhere!!). Anyway, the apple looks REALLY good, but at almost $23, I could feed a small army of children the same treat, but homemade. We actually have Fuji Apples at home, Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, and a Caramel Syrup. Here's what our snack today looked like and it was quite yummy!!

"Our Piece of Earth"

I have been so distracted during school today by the flurry of birds coming to the feeder.  There's been a change in birds about every 10 seconds it seems, with some "sitting" on the hook, porch roof, or ground, just waiting their turn.  It does seem we have a few bullies - pushing others out.  Kind of neat that some of the pictures, I was able to get the birds with their wings fully extended.

Look at this bird coming in; just amazing!!

This was a pretty picture from our deck looking into the park land.  It's this view that makes it hard to move from an awkward layout of a house and narrow lot.  The fall colors are such vibrant yellows, oranges, and reds.  Not to mention there are plenty of places to go hiking.

One Blustery Day

around the home front.  Almost want to move the van out of the drive way and hope that all the leaves blow out of our yard, past my neighbor's house, down the hill, and into the tree line.  No raking for anyone.  :)

If I can get a good picture of the trees swaying, might have to post it.

True Musing

Today is the first full day of Fall.  Have to admit, I started out very tired and in a bit of a funk.  It dawned on me, while making the second pot of coffee, that I really should be counting my blessings when I feel out of sorts.  In just making the coffee alone, I came up with a bunch: my husband has a very good job that allows me to have good coffee at home, his pay allows us to pay for the water and electricity to make my coffee,  and he's the one that gave me the canister to store my ground coffee.  It went on from there and I could easily come up with a lot.  It does (and did) help to break the funk, to realize how fortunate and blessed I am.

As I go through the day and usual type things I'll be remembering to be thankful.  It is turning into a beautiful day and just not weather wise.  We'll be taking advantage of that, too.