Leaves

by Elsie N. Brady

How silently they tumble down

And come to rest upon the ground

To lay a carpet, rich and rare,

Beneath the trees without a care,

Content to sleep, their work well done,

Colors gleaming in the sun.

At other times, they wildly fly

Until they nearly reach the sky.

Twisting, turning through the air

Till all the trees stand stark and bare.

Exhausted, drop to earth below

To wait, like children, for the snow.

 

I love and adore you, fall. You are my favorite. 

Fall

As the leaves drop from the trees and the Holidays approach, I get a little melancholy. I get lost in the beauty of Fall. I adore the beautiful splay of brilliant colors that paint the canvas of my everyday activities. I love the reluctant cool air that finally soothes after a seemingly eternal summer. I love the feel of a sweater on my arms and the comfort of heavy blankets on a warm bed. Almost as soon as Fall arrives, I begin to mourn its passing. I always have. At first thought, Christmas seems overwhelming and looming with lists and business I'd rather avoid. I prefer the long walks accompanied by the sounds of crisp leaves scurrying across the pavement. I love the brilliant sunsets of this time of year. I'd like to stay here for awhile longer.

I came across this poem by Ruth Bell Graham, and it made my heart happy to see that perhaps another person shared my love of this season:

They come and go so quickly
Spring and Fall...
as if they had not really come at all.
Perhaps 
we could not take
too much of beauty,
breath-catching glory,
ecstasy without relief;
and so...
God made them
brief. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Fabulous, Full of Fun, Fall Week Celebration!

Oh, I just love fall! It's my favorite. I was so ready to celebrate the season with my kids. We decided to do all the things we love to do, but haven't done in a long time. Or ever.

We started the week of at the McWane Center with friends. We had let our membership lapse, and we hadn't been in a long time. The kids really had fun, and we actually learned stuff too. They got to watch the fish being fed, pet sting rays and (tiny) sharks, learn about liquid nitrogen, and some other random stuff. And we had some plain old fun too...

My "dream" job. Weather girl. Person. Meteorologist.

All of our hands. Awwwww...

This was huge. McWane has a hurricane simulator, and my kids were all afraid to get in it last year. This year? Only Zane was afraid. And we'll let that slide, since he's only 3 ;)

Yay, Laney!!!!!

Okay, this is so sad, but with these crazy peg board thingies, Laney and I went around to all of them and made all the pegs go the same way. You know, smoothed all of them out. It was a really quiet day at McWane, and so we were able to get all the boards all smoothed out. Except for one problem. Zane. You can see how he thwarted our efforts. Oh well, at least it was cute. Can you imagine having that many Zanes? Wow...

Our next stop was Aldridge Gardens, which I had never been to. Laney and Jude had been with my Mom, but it was new to Zane and me. The trees were just stunningly beautiful. I couldn't stop taking pictures of them.

The yellow against the blue sky was just breathtaking. It didn't photograph well, because the photographer still has no idea what's she's doing yet with her camera, still, but I still can see the real beauty in my mind...

Laney decided Camilla's are her new favorite flower.

This is one of my most favorite pictures.

The water was icy and wonderful.

Our next stop was the Birmingham Zoo, which we had also not been to in a very long time. We were so lucky with the tigers this day. We literally stayed here and looked at this beautiful guy for the longest time. He was amazing, even sleeping.

His eyes were just captivating. My favorite stone has always been Tiger's Eye, and I couldn't help but think of that when I was looking at his eyes. They were gorgeous.

Our biggest treat of the day was how close we got to this beast. I mean, literally inches, separated by that one piece of glass. It made my heart beat quickly.

It's hard to see in this picture, but he was actually leaving slobber on the glass as he was pacing by. It was crazy. And a little scary.

Crazy scary.

This is my screen saver right now. I love the crayon version.

And we rounded out the week with Halloween, but those pictures are elsewhere. This will hopefully remind me to do a Halloween post later. The kids love looking back at past Halloweens and seeing what they wore and how much they've changed. That will have to be the next post!

That pretty much wraps up our amazing week. I am always so thankful and humbled by this season for some reason. I think my tiny corner of Heaven might just been decorated in Fall. I hope so, anyway... ;)

Old Baker's Farm

We got the priviledge of going to Old Baker's Farm again this year. We just love that place. The Baker's are the nicest people, and I love their farm. If you ever get a chance to go, you really should.

I loved looking back at the picture from last year. It was a complete coincidence that the boys chose to wear the same shirts they wore last year. I love that! I can't believe how much they have all changed in a year's time.

This is my dream house. Really, it is.

Jude had learned about baby chicks in school the week before, and he was really excited about seeing these chicks. He really wanted to take one home. Really badly.

Zane's favorite book is called Yuck! Stuck in the Muck. "The duck flew up. The duck got stuck in the muck..." Zane was very excited about seeing some real ducks.

They got to pick cotton too! It was a super fun, despite the heat! We love the farm!!!!

I Love Fall!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We got to spend a fabulous day at Old Baker's Farm, thanks to Jennifer who organized and excuted the whole trip. It was amazing. I had so much more fun than I expected! The weather was great, and the kids loved it. Laney was a little overwhelmed like she usually is when there is a lot of new information to take in, but as she reflected on the trip this week, she agreed with me that we needed to move and live on a farm!

I love this time of year so much. The earthy colors everywhere, the food, the cooler weather, the excitement of Halloween and other fun things that have been put off during the long, hot summer. Our fieldtrip was full of the things I love about this time of year.

We can't wait to go back and get our Christmas tree! They have a Christmas tree farm too! Yea!!!!!

*Shove over* Martha!

I just had the best day!

After a rough week, well, okay, a rough couple of weeks... Or maybe they are all hard? Jackie said I always say, "Well, this week was crazy, but next week will be better!" An eternal optimist or just deluded? I need to stop talking about my weeks. I did want to video Zane's 45 minute tantrum last night, just to prove why I am exhausted/crazy/out of my head, but I resisted the urge. I sure don't want to be filmed at my worst. Or maybe I could use it for black mail later? Oh anyway...


I got up early and pushed Zane (in his super cool, new, super cheap Joovy stroller. Best stroller in the WHOLE world) up to a garage sale in our neighborhood. I got a Gap vest, a dress and a white wicker shelf for my bathroom for towels and stuff for $9. The dress is from White House/Black Market, and the tags. are. still. on. it. And yes, that says $78. Glee!!!!! I love the vest too. I get too hot in regular jackets, and I think I'll wear that all winter.




So Zane and I are walking back down the hill, and I look up, and a HUGE hot air balloon is floating across our neighborhood. I mean almost touching the roofs. I took off running, thank goodness for "Couch to 5K," and got to the house to show Allen and the kids. We saw it land, and took off to go see it up close. The kids and I had studied them in school, so we loved seeing it up close. We were outside with our neighbors, most of whom were still in their pj's and it was so nice to meet them. Really nice people! Anyway, we never figured out what it was for, but they loaded that sucker up and off they went. Made me want to ride one in a bad way.



So then I went to pick up veggie coop, and told Allen I was going to run away for awhile too. I needed the break! I stumbled across 2 more really great yard sales, and found some crazy deals. I got a Build-a-Bear bear with a red and white cheerleading outfit and accessories still in the box, for $.50. Yeah, fifty cents. Sometimes I feel guilty taking people's stuff for so cheap.
I got some great stuff for the house too. I have to post a picture of this clock I got. Man, I love garage sales.


So after a quick run to Chick-fil-A for the kiddos, I decided I was in the mood to bake. I love love love to cook and bake, especially in the fall and winter. So I pulled out my trusty amazing pumpkin bread recipe and made pumpkin muffins and loaves of pumpkin bread. I even made homemade cream cheese icing for the muffins. Pumpkin and cream cheese icing cupcakes! OH MY GOSH!!!! Then I made potato soup. A huge pot, that we can eat on this weekend and freeze for later too. I finished off with pumpkin cookies. I am trying to fatten my children, not add back on my recently tiny tiny poundage loss from my rear. Actually I think I lost 3 pounds from places like my ankles and wrists, because my rear is no smaller than it was a month ago. So I'm going to not each as much of this stuff as I want to. Really.
Jude and Zane, I mean Spiderman (you have to say it like Zane does. "Spiderman. Like a Jewish man. Like Goldman. "Goldmon" "Spidermon") helped. Only for a few minutes, though. I am guiltily thankful for the brief help. Bad Mommy.


Allen had to go play two jobs early, so instead of being sad, I got a shower and cleaned up the kitchen as much as I had the energy for. Then I got a small glass of red wine (it helps prevent lung cancer it was reported this week-oh happy joy!) and sat down with last Sunday's paper. Thought I should read it before this week's comes out! There is even a race on, so I think I'll watch it and read my Harry Potter book. Oh, I haven't mentioned that? Eh, probably a reason for that...


I am just so thankful for a super happy fun day! I tell Laney, you really have to have bad days to recognize and enjoy the good days. I really enjoyed this good day! Thank you, Jesus!
Oh, and while I was bouncing around the kitchen, being Martha Stewart, singing a David Crowder song, it dawned on me that I don't thank the Lord enough for the Holy Spirit. I mean I don't praise the Holy Spirit enough. Thanks, David, for point that out to me. I really learned something today! "O For a Thousand Tounges" is the song.


"Praise praise the Father, Praise the Son. Praise Holy Spirit three in one. O praise Him. Alleluia!...."

And...... here are my recipes, only if you're curious!





Look at the icing!! Don't you just want to DIVE into it? Well, I know Jennifer doesn't, but anyone else? Besides me?


Well, I had to lick the beaters. The kids were outside, and besides, there are 3 kids and only 2 beaters. So, it was a job that I just had to do.


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cream-Cheese-Frosting-I-2/Detail.aspx (Sans the cream.)


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Iced-Pumpkin-Cookies/Detail.aspx We ate them uniced. I think we were icinged out.


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Downeast-Maine-Pumpkin-Bread/Detail.aspx



My favorite soup in the whole entire world.



http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Old-Fashioned-Potato-Soup/Detail.aspx