Fall Things

I love the season's. As much as I enjoyed summer with it's warmth and beauty, I am grateful to be moving on to fall, even with it's bitter cold air and frost. There are certain characteristics of each season that I wish I could enjoy all year long, but then they wouldn't be unique, and therefore, not nearly as enjoyable.

Here are a few fall things we did during the month of October:

Carmel apples for family home evening treats!

Leaves, leaves and more leaves!

My niece, Anna, came to play one day. Isn't she a cutie? We had so much fun playing in the leaves!

I think I mentioned something about James wearing his snow suit all month long despite the lack of snow. Well, here you have it! Boots too!

And then there's Sarah, who is perfectly comfortable in a t-shirt, shorts, and bare feet! We can't seem to find a happy medium here...

Canning!

This year I bottled applesauce with my sister-in-law Nicole. (Third year in a row - or is it the fourth???) I also made lots of freezer jam and frozen fruit cocktail. However, this was the first year in a long time that I didn't bottle peaches. I think I will be regretting that decision later this year when my supply from last year dissapears from the storage room shelves. :(

Some of the applesauce is red from adding red hots. Yes, the candy. Yum.

And, of course, the carving of pumpkins!

We always do this activity for FHE the Monday night before Halloween.

This year, we had four pumpkins (only one from the garden), and we sort of let the kids decide what to do.

William wanted to carve his own using his own original design. This picture just shows the face of the pumpkin, but later he carved a guy to the side of the mouth getting eaten by the pumpkin. Nice.

Thomas had Dad help him carve a fancy design from a pumkin making kit. He called it "Jack Hallow". (Not sure if that was made up or the official name.)

Sarah had me help her carve that cute little character on the bottom right. Marianne also came up with her own design - Picaso (top right).

Think of how mundane life would be without these interesting changes and traditions that come with each season!

Thank goodness chocolate isn't seasonal...