Gonna try again tomorrow...

Just so ya know...I tried taking some fall leaves pictures today. Didn't really work. The weather was good and all that, I just misjudged how much time I had and wound up too rushed to really get what I wanted. (The boys and I rode our bikes to the Farmer's Market and were distracted by cupcakes and cake and then suddenly realized the time and had to hurry home so we could head out for Asher's soccer practice and Noah and Micah's music class.) On the plus side, we really love riding our bikes together and the boys had a blast with the leaves we *did* play in for a wee bit...

So. We'll try again tomorrow. :) While I'm at it, any good tips on fun things you like to do in the leaves? Noah made a leaf angel today...

Whew. Sunshine again!

After an unwelcome reminder that winter is just around the corner, we're back to fall here today. Still not overly warm but the sun is shining, and that makes all the difference in the world, don't you think? It's supposed to warm up over the week, too...so that's happy. :) The poor trees around here are utterly confused and, in my opinion at least, seem undecided as to when to change colors...resulting in a great variety of stages right now...from the trees in our front yard that haven't even begun to change to the trees a few houses down that are almost naked already.

Now that I've been reminded, though, that I'd best not miss fall, I'm feeling the need to go take some "playing in the leaves" photos of the boys. Everything's still a bit damp from this weekend, so hopefully in the next day or two we'll manage it. In the meantime, here are a couple fall layouts. This one was in CK two years ago and just makes me happy...love the color combo:

And this one I finished this past January (finally) but have never posted:

Now generally I get a wee bit tired of photos that end up getting taken every year (like Christmas morning and Easter baskets and blowing out the candles), but for some reason these fall leaves pictures are never less appealing to me. :) Is that weird? Do you have certain photo subjects that you take time and again and still love? I'd love to hear about them!

Can you say cold front?

Just popping in between soccer games to say, "dude...it's flippin' cold outside!" A couple days ago...beautiful 70s and sunshine...boys were wearing shorts. This morning, 36 degrees (after it warmed up a bit and not counting the wind chill (which I think brought it down to 30)) and raining. It's supposed to snow later tonight or tomorrow.

Regardless, we bundled everyone for the two soccer games we've already had this morning (at 8:30 and 9:45...oy) and were fortunate in that it finally stopped raining and switched to just a drizzle by half time of the second game. Ash has one more game (to make up for the bye last week) in an hour. So, we'll be bundling back up and getting our clothes out of the dryer and heading back out into it. Joy.

Also, in case you care, it's days like this that totally make me miss living in Oregon where the station attendents pump the gas for you and you get to stay in your nice cozy car. 

Back later...after I thaw out again... :)

And. Don't forget to join me tonight at All Moments Remembered! I'll be chatting on their message board at 8:00 pm MST!

A few notes...

Messing with the look around here...please bear with me as I play with things. ;)

Note, that the Album in a Year links are now current (over there on the left) through the November issue. Also, it's been brought to my attention that some may have issues printing the August, September and October title blocks. Please, please let me know if you're having troubles...I have a solution!

Guess where we went last night (Thursday night). I'll give you a big ol' hint:

Gotta get to bed right now, but more on this later... :)

Progress!

I had a brainstorm yesterday after complaining about the Halloween costume thing. The solution? Junkyard Wars. Junkyard Wars is a television show that the boys LOVE, which unfortunately isn't being produced any more. It is, though, still aired on the Science channel I think. It features two teams that are given an assignment (something to build) and then have 10 hours to create that using what they can find in the junkyard. At the end of the build time, the teams use their contraptions (usually a vehicle of some sort) to compete. As I said, the boys LOVE it...and learn heaps of science through watching.

So. What does this have to do with Halloween costumes, you ask? Well, I realized I just wasn't presenting the whole let's-make-your-costumes-this-year idea correctly. Rather than ask if we could make costumes instead of buying the outrageously priced cheap fabric, I needed to present it as a challenge. So, after picking Noah and Asher up from Options yesterday (which is still fabulous, by the way), I asked them how they'd feel about a Junkyard Wars Halloween. We would gather a bunch of materials (with a price limit for stuff we actually buy but trying to find stuff around the house, too) and then set ourselves a time limit to create costumes. Apparently, simply having a time limit and making it into an activity/challenge was what they needed, because now both are totally on board for making robot costumes...already brainstorming the features they want and how to create that. Yay!

So...we picked up some shower liner at Home Depot (thick grey vinyl stuff) for the main body...will cut big rectangles with a hole for their head and then lace up the sides...may use some to wrap around shins and whatnot, too. (I'd thought about thick foam but that's harder to find than I thought and this will probably be more comfortable for them anyhow.) Also snagged some duct vent stuff for arms (and plenty of duct tape). Stuff like that. The guy at Home Depot thought we were a little odd but was happy to help us and loved watching the boys suction cup practically everything flat in the store. Oh, yeah, we found some cute little suction cup things that they want to use as jet packs...they're really small plungers for sinks. :)

Happy sigh. I'll probably end up spending as much as we would have for that Bumblebee costume, but this will be for two boys (Micah, btw, still insists on wearing the towel...which is fine) and we get to spend time together as a family creating the costumes. I'm thinking/hoping that this will become a tradition...gathering materials beforehand and then just setting aside one day each October to create costumes as a family. How cool! I'm feeling much better about Halloween today. :) Oh, and here's a layout I found that I don't think I've shared...finished it last spring. It's from two Halloweens ago, but aren't they cuties? ;)

Guess I really should get on those pictures from last Halloween, eh? So tell me...what are your kids going to be for Halloween this year? Are you dressing up also?