Fall Fun

We've been enjoying our first Pennsylvania fall. The leaves are absolutely gorgeous here - every shade of red, gold and yellow imaginable. I love that Fall lasts longer than a week here. We've been enjoying the beauty all month. I love this time of year - that crisp feeling in the air, cool nights, boots with sweaters, pumpkin spice lattes...

We headed out to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. It's a tradition we really love doing with the kids. They had fun pouring over them and choosing the best one. At one point, I heard Wyatt yell "and the 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight!" and looked up just in time to a couple of BIG pumpkins going rogue in the parking lot. He squealed with delight and laughed hysterically, watching them roll away. Some man jumped from his car to rescue the pumpkins before they rolled right out into the road. Thankfully they found it humorous. Never a dull moment with this crew!

I hit my first deer ever, which is kind of amazing considering they run rampant in the woods on the mainland near where I grew up. I was driving through a residential area so I wasn't going very fast. I screeched to a halt, but it kept running toward us (what is it with deer?) and butted right into our car even though I was at a complete stop. It was a baby and very confused. It turned and ran back the other way, changed directions and ran in front of our car again, all while we sat there and watched. Hadley was with me and she was fascinated. She talked about it for days, "WOW! Was that Bambi??... why was he bumping into our car?.... THAT WAS SO FUNNY.... I hope a donkey comes out in the road next". I am just grateful we didn't really plow through it and wind up with a bloody carcass on the hood of our car or she would have been really traumatized. Thankfully there was not even a scratch on the car.

We had family photos taken, which is always a big pain in the you know what, but I consider it a necessary evil. Even though I'm a picture fanatic I'm rarely on the other side of the camera with my kids. I obsessed for weeks about our outfits and the right location. We were originally scheduled on a Sunday and got all dressed, ready, loaded up in the car and were half way there before the sky opened up and began pouring. We rescheduled for a couple of days later and couldn't have asked for a better day. We met the photographer at a local park with gorgeous leaves and scenery. She followed us around for an hour, snapping away. I wasn't crazy about any of the group shots (it's hard to get 5 people all looking good), but she got some amazing shots of just one or two at a time. I'm going to try not to go overboard with ordering. Here are a few snaps we took on the rainy day. As you can see, it's very difficult to get a photo with everyone looking and smiling. The photographer had her work cut out for her!

Tate is loving his new found freedom and is no longer content playing with baby toys in the basket. He wants to EXPLORE. He finds his way all over the house, making a general nuisance of himself - emptying the dog food from Finley's bowls, rattling around in the recycle bins and nibbling on library books. We are constantly picking up small toy parts and putting them out of reach. He's attempting to pull up on the coffee table, but hasn't quite figured it out yet. It won't be long I'm sure!

The kids have their Halloween costumes and they're so excited. I won't give it away, but they've been wearing them daily. We are closing on our house on Oct 31 and the moving truck arrives Nov 1 so we'll be in a mad moving flurry that weekend. Busy days!

Enjoying a mug of hot cocoa on a chilly afternoon.