Falling Leaves - Live From Our Backyard In New Jersey!

Fall is quickly coming to an end. We have been raking the leaves in our backyard and instead of throwing them in a bag for pick up the kids put them in a pile and have leaf fights and jump in it! This moment truly reminded me of their first leaf war years ago when we first moved to Jersey. It's a good thing these are fresh leaves that have fallen off from our tree in our backyard and not from a park. It brings me so much joy to see them get along and have fun with whatever they do as siblings. They are five years apart and these three are literally "three's a crowd." If I could write a sitcom I would call it "three's company-siblings of New Jersey." Sure Noah can be a pest sometimes to these girls when they want "girl time" but for the most part they will include him in any outing whether it's going to the library, bookstore, skating, going for a walk, or to the movies. These kids are always together 95 percent of the time (except when Lexie is in college) and that makes my mama heart so happy seeing that they all get along no matter the age difference. I captured a few photos (mostly blurry) of them tossing leaves up in the air and it probably took five takes for me to get the perfect shot of them throwing the leaves up in the air, but alas I got it! When photos don't look clear and precise it's ok. It's always the blurry, random ones that are the happiest! You can watch this little reel of them on my instagram and on my TikTok here. 

An Enjoyable Fall Walk.

A couple of weeks ago after Jon came home from home teaching we all decided to go for a walk after church. I feel as if Sunday walks are a must in order for my kids to survive from boredom. I mean there's only so much you can do on a Sunday without getting bored. We try really hard to keep it "spiritual" (no technology, t.v.) but sometimes it's impossible when you have little kids, and playing games like Trouble, Boggle, and Book of Mormon memory games can only span a toddlers mind for so long. Luckily our neighborhood is quiet and that we have awesome neighbors who didn't mind our children messing around in their leaf piles (we did kick the leaves back against the curb afterwards.) My nose was on smell alert for any kind of dog feces before they jumped in, and luckily there wasn't any in this particular pile. 

The fall foliage was (still is) in full swing, and the kids totally took advantage of running through the leaves, and  after piling up some had a contest on who can throw the leaves up in the air the highest. I took a lot of pictures for my mama who loves pictures more than words, and so here you go mom. Note the look on Noah's face...he's ready for another leaf war with his sister. Too bad Lexie wasn't around...she was taking her must needed Sunday nap!

Fall is waning quickly, and although the leaves are still colorful, they are currently wet (it rained this morning), and are in the process of preparing for winter. I think at times leaves are like people. Just as they change in color...we change in the way we dress because it's cold, and sometimes the change of season can affect one's life to start anew, and one's attitude to change (I know it does for me every time!) And just as the leaves change in color for fall to prepare for winter, we stock up on food, and water to prepare for any major winter storm we might have (and I heard we're going to have a harsh one this winter...Yikes!!!) So far we have survived Hurricane Sandy, and any other winter storms we have had in the past six years of living here, and hope to always be prepared for any catastrophe. 

We sure are so going to miss this beautiful fall foliage when they turn into dull brown crunchy leaves, and then eventually freeze in the winter. We do look forward to the change though (it's inevitable, especially when you live in an area with the change of seasons!), and we are ready! We are also excited to prepare for Thanksgiving, and to spend it with dear friends. It's going to be a busy week, and I hope that as we prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday that we will always remember to be thankful in all things (even when we complain!) 

Happy Monday, and have a wonderful week of Thanks(giving)! 

Hey November!

Seeing the Jack-O'-Lanterns still sitting on my porch has me in denial that Halloween is over. Halloween is getting up there on the top of my favorite holiday list, but I don't think it'll ever top Christmas or even Thanksgiving. Slowly, but surely those fine carved pumpkins are slowly decomposing, and then it'll be time to throw them out for next week's garbage pick up. Fall is definitely my favorite time of year, and she's definitely starting to show herself off with beautiful fall foliage especially with the rain we had last Saturday. November has arrived with all things pumpkin, colorful leaves added with an extra hour of sleep for the next five months, and it truly is beautiful this time of year. I sure didn't get perfect fall weather like this in Texas, North Carolina, and believe it or not...not even Utah. Utah is beautiful, and all with miles, and miles of mountains, but there's something about the fall foliage here in the east that makes the hues so vibrant, and the leaves so, so huge. 

One thing I am jealous of about my sweet 75 year old neighbor Janet are her trees. She has tons of trees in her yard, and every year her house looks so "fallish" especially when all the leaves fall to the ground. These kids look forward to leaf wars, and like the picturesque mom that I am asked if they wanted to go across the street to our dear neighbors house to "borrow" her yard, and have a little bit of fun playing with the leaves. They obliged, and so I captured a few photos of them. 

These kids have way too much fun especially in times like this when you can tell they all needed to air out some kind of "stress" or "energy" that they have bottled up inside for too long, or maybe it's the sugar they had earlier that day that caused them to have so much energy. Little Noah loves anything that pertains to the outdoors, and when he plays, he plays hard (yep...it had to be the sugar!) 

Lexie is not one to take too many pictures as you can tell by her Instagram. She's too focused on other things besides her phone, and taking selfies (which she hardly ever does), but on this day she obliged in having me snap at least one photo of her, and I told her it's partially because I want everyone to see how beautiful the colored leaves are in our neck of the woods, (and how pretty she is!) hee!hee!

And a few more pics of the rest of my clan...you know, so they can show them off to their future posterity when that time comes. 

Evening fell really fast especially with the time change, and so these last few pictures had to be edited to a lighter filter. So....sorry if they look a little fuzzy. 

This time of year truly fills my heart with gratitude. No matter what each day brings I find myself thankful for waking up to a brand new day. What I look forward to the most is gathering with my family and sharing all the things we are thankful for including our health, God, and the love I have in my heart. No matter what challenges come my way knowing that I have those things in my life that are great helps me to get up & live each day. It's a testament to me to know that I am worth living, and having these kids in my life help me grow & teach me into being the best mother I can be. 

I look forward to the holidays and even though Sierra won't be here to celebrate Thanksgiving with us she will be missed, and thought of. We look forward to seeing her during the Christmas break though. 

And so I leave you with a picture of me and our soon to be birthday boy who will be turning five in just four days!! I can't believe it! I don't want to believe it, but it's inevitable! They gotta grow up just like us to learn, and live in this crazy, but beautiful world we live in! 

I love, love this season! 

Happy November!