Way Down in the Fall

The boys and I just had a discussion about the seasons. Around here, the leaves are definitely changing, the air is crisper (56 degrees crisp), and the squirrels are gathering nuts for the winter. In a Dolly Parton song, she sings about being cold when it is "way down in the fall." T says that it's not that late in the year yet and R says that he was cold at school, so maybe it is way down in the fall. We compromised and agreed that, right now, it's way in the middle of the fall.

We just went to a Fall Fest party at the home of one of R's classmates. Totally fun for the kids. Totally insane for the parents. They played a bunch of games with prizes for everybody for each game; they ate hotdogs; they decorated pumpkins; they had a pinata; and they wore costumes. Oh yeah, and there were 46 kids. 46. Kids. Yikes!

I had to go to the grocery store after the party and R said that he was embarassed to go in his costume. He's a vampire. Black pants, white shirt, red cumberbund, black cape, white face make up, red blood dripping from his mouth, hair slicked back, fang teeth. He wanted to take the cape off to go in the grocery store. I convinced him that he'd look better with the cape because then his face make up made sense. I don't think he really got what I meant, but he went in full-costumed anyway. He got lots of smiles. So did T, who was wearing a dog costume -- a different dog costume than the one he wore last year because he didn't want to be that dog, but he wanted to be a golden retreiver like Mackinaw. Too cute.

It's been a full on busy day. M and R had hockey team pictures at 8:00 am this morning. This means that they had to be at the rink by 7:40 or so to get suited up. M suggested -- and I quickly agreed -- that I stay home with T :> I took a long bath and read a lot of a great book (Julie and Julia) for an hour. Then, I cooked up some bacon and had a great breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast for them when they got back.

After our late breakfast, we all worked in the yard. M had tilled out a bigger area in the front yard for a flower bed. We got some tulips in the mail last week that I ordered from Holland, MI. Sixty bulbs in all. T and R helped me plant them six inches deep. They'll be so beautiful in the spring! T asked me to read the names of the flowers as we planted them. At the end of the morning, he said, "I can't WAIT to see the Pink Imaginations come up, can you mommy?" I didn't tell him, but I, actually, am most excited about the Red Cashmir and the White Trumpets...but I'm sure the Pink Imaginations that we put around the mailbox will be divine.