Fall fun!

We have had an absolutely beautiful fall this year! Day after day, for weeks, we'd go outside and play and I'd tell the kids we could stay out as long as they'd like because "it might be the last nice day of the year." One day, Nathaniel saw a neighbor walking by and told him that "This is the last day we ever get to play outside." I guess he didn't completely understand, but I didn't correct him because I figured thinking that way would help us all live in the moment a little more.

Since no blog is really complete without photos, here are a few from the last few weeks:

One of our favorite fall traditions is driving to a small little "farm" just minutes from our home, picking out our pumpkins, buying apples and the most delicious apple cider you've ever tried, and, of course, pausing for a photo shoot. Ahh! I love my little pumpkins!

One of those beautiful fall days I was talking about!

For Nathaniel's fourth birthday, I told him he could have any kind of cake he wanted. Anything! I made some suggestions . . . pirates, animals, etc. He chose a tomato cake. And, at first, he was dead set that it should be made out of tomatoes. I'd wait and ask a couple days later and still he wanted a tomato cake. He does like tomatoes, but still I thought it a strange request. Finally, I asked him if I could just make the cake look like a tomato. After pouring almost a whole bottle of red food coloring in to the frosting, he was satisfied that it was indeed a tomato cake. (But he still insisted that it was really made with melted tomatoes.)

A picture of the birthday boy! He looks bigger, doesn't he?! We had some family up after church, had a nice dinner, and then carved pumpkins. Nathaniel teamed up with Uncle Aaron and Paige with Aunt Jennifer, both of whom were nice enough to follow the kids' "designs."

The proud pumpkin carvers! Notice that I'm not present. I was just happy that all of our pumpkins were going to be carved and that I could keep Claire from diving into the bowl of pumpkin slime. :)

So on to November . . . and, I'm sure, colder weather, but I have so much to be thankful for that I can't really complain about that . . . not yet, anyway. Happy Days!