Fun Overload!

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and that's where I find myself this afternoon. We have been on fall break this past week, and I'm not ready to go back to school tomorrow! We have had an absolutely wonderful fall break! I didn't get nearly as much accomplished as I wanted, but I sure have had fun! We've done some shopping, spent an entire day visiting an aunt I don't get to see often, had a fall festival at church, visited our local fair, and just had a lot of fun. I did manage to get my carpet cleaned while we were off. Thankfully all the spots and stains came out...otherwise I was about to get new flooring fever. I really want hardwood in our living room, but I'd like to wait until Luke is a little older. I'm not sure how well it will hold up to Luke's tractors and bulldozers, and I'm pretty sure I can't stand that much noise!

Our church puts on a big fall festival every year as a big community outreach, and it just awesome! Notice there are no pictures of Matthew. He ditched me as soon as we arrived to find his buddy, Zach. He's growing up on me. (sniff, sniff!) Luke and Mama and I had a great time though. Luke is a little small for some of the games, but everybody helped him out a little so that he could play too!

We also carved jack-o-lanterns from the pumpkins we got at the pumpkin patch last weekend. I'm ashamed to admit that this is the first time we've ever done it! Well, Tracy did most of the carving, Matthew and Luke just directed the designs, and I took pictures!

Don't worry, this is just a battery operated tea light! Luke loved it, though!

Tonight we're having a fifth-Sunday sing at church. Sometimes we have a group come in to sing, but tonight it's going to be more of a "pickin' and grinnin'" affair. Anyone who plays an instrument is invited to bring it, and we're just going to pick and sing, sort of Gaither style. I am so excited, because I love to sing old songs. In fact, I'd better finish up this post and get to the church. I'm taking all my old songbooks and we're going to pick out some favorites. Maybe I'll even get a video or two....

Happy Halloween, everybody!

My Punkins

We had a fantastic day today, just having some family time. It's been quite a while since Tracy has taken an entire Saturday off. We ran some errands and then visited a local pumpkin patch. This was our first time to go, and it was a fun little outing.

First we headed to the corn maze...

Luke's not sure which way to go...

He decides sticking with Daddy is the best option!

Believe me, I was right behind them! Even though it was daytime, I was not that crazy about the corn maze. Oh sure, I could get out, one way or other, even if it meant running right through the corn, but for some reason it just wasn't that "fun" for me.

Now this is the way to travel...

Taking a break, waiting to get on the wagon to go to the pumpkin patch. Isn't it funny the way little kids drink out of bottles?

We found the perfect "punkins" as Luke says!

This & That

Whew! I am waaaayyy behind in keeping y'all up to date with all the exciting fabulousness that makes up my family's life. Uh, yeah, right. October has just been a crazy, crazy month! Why is it that all of them are starting to be kind of crazy? Sometimes I just want life to slow down! Tracy has been baling peanut hay in the afternoons and at night, so the boys and I have been on our own a lot.

School is also stressing me out right now. We have some new programs and strategies, mandated by the state DOE, that have to be implemented, and honestly, there just aren't enough hours in the day. It already takes all we can do to plan for and keep up with the paperwork associated with our classes. But we're supposed to be superheroes, I guess....Thank goodness we are on fall break next week. We need it something awful!

Here are a few scenes from the last few days...



Luke explains to me that the duck is going through the car wash.
I just love what he comes up with sometimes!

And it must take a lot of concentration to operate said car wash...




Somebody has started wanting to get in my bed to watch TV...



And of course, it's the season for Halloween costumes!

I couldn't resist this photo of Matthew in his hat, snuggling with Luke in his bed.

(Luke's bed, not Matthew's!)



We also had our school's Fall Festival.

Matthew was so excited about being Mario that most of my photos wound up like this...





I finally managed to get one halfway decent picture,

although you can tell Matthew isn't too happy about standing still!

Have a great weekend, friends! I'll hopefully be back soon with more pics!

Signs of Fall

I've had fall fever for a few weeks now. It first hit during a cool snap we had a several weeks ago, but then it turned off blistering hot again, and I kind of lost interest. That, and the fact that I've been waiting on Tracy to help me get the box of fall decorations down from the attic! This past weekend though, I decided that one way or another I was getting some fall decorations out!

When I started going through the box I was a bit disappointed. I thought I had more stuff than I do...if I had realized that I would've stocked up on some more while I was at Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago. Actually, part of what it is, is that I have several pieces that I no longer want to use. They're more of a cutesy, country look, and I've gotten away from that. Here are a couple of new things I've done this year though.

A new wreath for the front door...

A pretty platter with fall leaves on top of the refrigerator. I still need something else to go with it.

I also finally finished re-doing the planters on my front porch. Remember me showing you these several months ago? Well, I finished them about 6-8 weeks ago, but have just now thought to take a picture of them. I was pleased with the way they turned out.

Before...

...and after...

Hope it's feeling more like fall where you are! Show me your fall decorations! I'm always looking for ideas!