{ All things Autumn }

(picture courtesy of google.com)

My favorite season continues on here in our home. We still have our fall decor out, lots of reds and oranges and browns everywhere. My burlap candy corn garland hangs in the dining room and we have a basket of mini pumpkins on the kitchen table. It's my favorite season - and we always squeeze every moment out of it. This weekend we will begin to tear some things down and switch out to... Christmas. I'm not one to like to start this early, but, with a trip to Michigan nearly all next week - it will be nice to come home to an already Christmasy home. :) {except for our REAL tree..that will come later}

This morning the girls and I kept busy doing all things in the kitchen. Mind you, this was not my first intention. To be perfectly honestly I was very tempted to pop on some cartoons, let them veg out, and I would get to work on my endless amount of kitchen cleaning, etc. I have many things I hope to get done before we leave next week - and, having 2 underfoot was not going smoothly. Biggest girl was whining and melting down every time her baby Cinderella doll's tiara came off, littlest was definitely antagonizing and getting into everything, I was going crazy and feeling like a preschool teacher in my own home. {blah} And then, like always, it dawned on me - "You dummy! This is what it's all about!". I'm always looking for ways to teach and train my little girls, so how do I always miss the obvious!?

So, I brought in our largest pumpkin from the front porch. My big girl and I cut it open and I scooped out all the seeds. She was infatuated with watching me. I just giggled as I listened to her comments about the smell, how it looked, etc. Such a girly! I taught her about soaking the seeds in salt water, and how tomorrow we'll bake up a treat with them. And now the anticipation is there. While we were working on pumpkin harvesting {grin}, my little was busy stacking plastic cups on the floor. She was happy and so were we. The Nutcracker was playing in the background. :) After the pumpkin was done I got the big girl working on some "school". We haven't officially started preschool yet {that will be in Jan.} but she is so eager. A little too eager. So, I grabbed a special black marker and one of our Dollar Tree preschool workbooks and she plugged away on tracing her numbers. FLEW through it. I was amazed at how quietly she sat and how focused she was the entire time. She is brilliant and I can't wait to start the real deal the first of the year!

While she worked I roasted some acorn squash for my lunch, and got out all of our Thanksgiving cookie cutters for our afternoon activity. The rest of our morning went so smoothly and I had to remind myself of how much joy and calm my children find in organization and involvement. I love being home with these girls, they inspire me and teach me so much. So thankful for these crazy days with my young children.

All things Autumn here :) 

And loving these special days of making our house a home. 

THANK YOU LORD!