Fall is in the Air

I LOVE fall. The cool crispness of the air. The need for a jacket when you wake in the morning. The need to throw it by the wayside by noon. The smell of burning leaves. The royal colors that robe the trees and then gather at your feet. Fall is soup simmering on the stove waiting to fill everyone with warmth. This is how we enjoy fall here. The slide is great for sliding into the baby pool every summer and into a pile of leaves in the fall. Every year, we pile the leaves high and slide in them. I know. I know. It's not so hot for the allergies, but that is why they are getting baths every night and every day before nap.
Let the fun begin!

Backwards, forwards, feet first, or headfirst. It doesn't matter. They love the pile of leaves.

Some even pose as they fall! = )

So much fun!!!!

That night, we followed up the outdoor play with pumpkin carving. It was daddy's day off yesterday, so after dinner and clean-up, we pulled out the pumpkins.

Little side story here: After we had come inside to eat dinner, our dear goats (who I do believe think that they are house dogs inside their little brains) kept coming up onto the porch. I think that Luke got up from dinner half a dozen times to chase them off the porch. They kept butting the door and front windows. Luke is slowly getting the fencing done, but for now, they still wander the yard. (which is good, because they are eating a lot of the fall leaves too). (less to rake, and when you live in the woods, that is good).

Luke went outside after dinner to get the pumpkins that I'd bought 2 days ago and discovered WHY the goats were wanting to "hang out" on the front porch. They LOVE pumpkins!!

OOPS!!! They had eaten several bites out of each of the pumpkins and large chunks out of one of them.

Somewhat fortunate, and not so fortunate, Mr. Smiles had come home from school yesterday feeling sick. He didn't really care that his pumpkin had been eaten. I promised to buy him another one because I knew he would care when he began feeling better. He loves pumpkin carving every year.
Luke locked the goats up in their lean-to and fed them the already bitten into pumpkin, and came back to wield his pumpkin carving tool. Pictures are below.

I love those pudgy little cheeks and hands!! Last year, he was too little to know what was going on. This year, Nater Mater was totally into the slime stuff. So great for texture!

This was just before he attempted to throw the handful of slimy seeds at me who while I was holding the camera. Gotta love that kid!

I just love those curls!!! And he could not stop sticking his head in the top of the carved pumpkin to "wook!!" (look)

Here is how true men carve pumpkins: with a drill. Yes, he breaks out his drill for carving time. The kids love it! They get such a kick out of it. It actually makes cool designs that you couldn't otherwise do with a knife.

It makes a bigger mess because instead of pumpkin chunks, you have pumpkin slivers everywhere.

The end result of two of them. The one on the left is Good Lookin's pumpkin. His had a rather large hole in one spot the goats had eaten, but since he only wanted a ghost silhouette, it worked well. Precious Jewel wanted a ghost with eyes. Daddy's drill worked good for that request.

All in all, it was a fun afternoon with daddy home.