What time of year is your favorite?

I am so grateful to live in a place where I can enjoy the change in seasons.   By the end of one, I'm usually ready for the next.  

 

I love the winter mostly for the holidays that we get to look forward to, decorate for, share with family and celebrate.  And while I don't like the cold for long, I love a white Christmas and think the snow holds it's own beauty.  There's nothing like hot cocoa on a cold night or sitting down by the fire to read a good book either right!? 

 

I love spring where we get to see things green up and get to watch the earth around us bloom and grow.  And I love to see all the baby animals running all over the place (don't you just love little lambs in the spring?). 

 

I love summer for all the flowers and late summer nights you get to enjoy outside.  I crave summer food like popsicles, fresh fruit pie or fruit pizza and BBQ dinners - YUM!  I love to feel the warmth of the sun and playing in the water on a hot day. 

 

But I think overall, the season I've always liked  just a bit more than the rest is fall.  I love the taste of freshly canned fruit (especially after working so hard to get it all done!) and can never wait to sit down with my pumpkin roll and apple cider. There's something about the food of each season that adds to it isn't there?!  I also love the smell of a crisp fall day and pulling out my sweaters to wear on just such a day.  And while this fall has proven very difficult for me and my family (more of which I'm sure I'll blog about when I have the time and courage/strength), we have found joy in the simple things and been grateful for the season where we can enjoy fun such as this:

 

 

 

 

Doesn't that look fun!?  Vanna worked really hard to help me rake up all our leaves and was having a ball!

 

Vanna wanted to be buried - this is the majority of our leaves from just one of our three trees!

 

 

 

Rosie joined in too!

 

 

Cash was good at mostly piddling around while we worked at gathering leaves.  He found it most entertaining to throw the leaves up in the air and often make a bigger mess than we began with - silly boy - someone should teach him to work harder!  Ha Ha Ha!

 

 

And after the work was done, Rosie decided we all needed to finish off our popsicles.  It was a perfectly warm day to work outside.  I really do like the falls here because they seem to hang on a little longer than in Southeast Idaho where I grew up (where it turns cold a little earlier).  I'll have to post about our Halloween too - which is always a fun fall holiday we enjoy with the kids - there's so much catching up I need to do - ahhh! :) Anyway - what season is your favorite?

Other random pictures from this fall that make me smile:

 

 

Try as I might, I have the hardest time convincing Rosie that it's a no-no and unsafe to be on the counter.  She likes to get up there to scribble all over in my planner (probably because she always sees me writing in it :)

 

She also loves to  get in my closet and wear my shoes - particularly my heels which she is surprisingly good at walking in because her feet are small enough to tuck themselves down into the flat toe part.  Here she is doing this first thing in the morning in her pajamas and pulling a funny face.

 

This was so funny - ever hear of "sleeping with one eye open"?  I thought Cash was pretending to be asleep here but he wasn't!  I mean, who falls asleep like this?!  In an effort to try and explain his appearance: I had my baskets of laundry sitting on my bed for me to fold and put away later that day and while Cash was having quiet time in my room (I have to separate the kids or quiet time would never work :) he must have been messing around with the clothes and then he fell asleep.  He's wearing one of my shirts over his own and for some strange reason, he has a pair of his underwear over his head! :)

Just a cute very messy face from Rosie.  She's really good at saying "cheese" and posing for the camera (like she is here).   

Vanna has learned to give Rosie a piggy-back ride.  It sure makes me nervous.  While Vanna is really gentle with her I worry that she'll stumble or that Rosie will let go of her tight grip around her neck/shoulders.  Both the girls love it though so I just take and deep breath and try not to worry too much.

 

Rosie's first bubble bath.  Maybe that's terrible to say seeing that she's nearly two years old.  We've just gotten out the habit and whenever we did for the older kids, she was already in bed.  Well, she is no longer deprived.  Do you think she liked it!? :)

A friend of ours breeds Mini Australian Shepherds and often lets me know when she has puppies so that I can bring the kids over to play with them.  She thinks it helps in training her pups to be around kids and my kids love it as you can imagine.  Aren't they adorable?  Between the two batches, there were 11 puppies so they were everywhere and always snuggling up with you - they were so, so much fun!  It's always such a treat for us to do that and it gives our puppy fix until next time. :)