Fall Has Come...and is Going By So Fast!

It's been SUCH a busy month! I say that a lot, don't I? Well, it's true. The good news is, we're usually busy with lots of good things. This month, a trip for Andy and I to Denver (I'll post about that later), a fun visit from Jacob and Mckenzie (nephew and niece), lots of good work for Andy's business, a great family camping trip (also planned for a later post), church activities and many other things. Here are a few highlights. Beginning of course, with Halloween! Here are the girls, looking through their loot on Polk and Pops' porch after trick or treating:

Here are my princesses, ready to go trick or treating! Cinderella on the left and "Ariel" on the right. The girls originally declared their plans to be "pink princesses" on Halloween. Abigail's pink dress (from the dress up hand me downs that cousin Mckenzie gave us) proved to be just a little big though, and she loved the blue dress. So, her hair was put up in a twist, just like Cinderella and she was ready to go. Hannah declared herself to be Ariel. Only problem? Ariel is the mermaid princess from The Little Mermaid. She wasn't wearing a mermaid costume. But, she's two so we just let her call herself that. She was having fun, so who cares, right?

Halloween was a lot of fun this year, the girls wore their costumes for festivities at the Franklin Library, preschool, a party with cousins at Aunt Susanna's, Uncle Clint and Gavin's house, plus went trick or treating!

I can hardly believe that these pictures were taken just over a month ago! After a long, hot, dry summer, it felt like we waited a long time for fall to come to Indiana. Finally, it did. At the end of September, it was time to get some pumpkins and begin enjoying weather that had cooled off a little bit. But, we live in the country and we don't usually get pumpkins in the typical way.

Lots of our friends are farmers and Andy has spent a lot of time working on farms, so the agrigultural lifestyle may not be our own, but it is very present in our world. A friend from church raises produce, which he sells at several area farmers' markets. He invited the kids of his friends to come and pick straight from the "patch." The patch is really more like a five to ten acre field. No parking lot (see our cars lined up on the roadside in the first picture?)and no cute souvenirs to buy. But, five minutes from home, not much money spent and lots of good friends. Hannah napped and Andy stayed with her while I took Abigail over to choose some pumpkins.
Here are most of the kids who came that afternoon to pick pumpkins. Abigail is second from the left.

Her favorite pumpkin, round with a long green stem!

Once home, Abigail initiated a new game with Hannah that she called "Pumpkin Patch." They've spent hours carrying pumpkins around the yard, either by hand or with the gator. From time to time Andy and I play the customer role. Their prices on pumpkins for sale have ranged from $2 per pumpkin to $10! I can't figure out the pricing model!

As November has just arrived, I like to think that we still have a full month of fall. Most of the leaves around here have fallen from the trees but we still have plenty of time for fall meals and outside play before the beginning of Advent. The mornings are cold but the afternoons are sunny and crisp. Happy Fall!