Fall is the most wonderful.
(Wait - was I just heralding the long summer days and warm nights with fireflies and crickets? Or fawning all over the first daffodils poking their heads out of the frozen ground? I think that's what living in a seasonal climate does - I have a deep appreciation for the changes that come around every 3 months.)
In the past few days, I've raided apple stands at the farmer's market and made 2 gigantic batches of applesauce - nothing was canned. We all eat it too fast. In fact, I've decided that canning applesauce just isn't going to happen this year since it's not worth my time. They literally it eat faster than I can it.
We've roasted pumpkins and made butternut squash soup. We baked applesauce spice muffins and apple crisp. We had our first Sunday night roast chicken with red potatoes... the first of many Sunday night chickens to come this fall and winter.
We've had fall fests and faces painted and balloon animals created. They've jumped themselves silly in bounce houses and roasted s'mores over backyard firepits. The beach bag is retired for the season, the splash pool is in the attic, the super soakers are resting until called upon again next summer.
I'm in the midst of doing the semi-annual TakingStockOfTheChildren'sSeasonalClothing in which I stare at Christopher in disbelief over how looooong his legs keep getting and I laugh at how many of one thing Colin has (long-sleeved shirts) and how few of other things he has (the kid needs long pants, stat), and inwardly weep a little knowing that Evelyn will never again wear that darling summer romper or those ruffled pink shorts because she'll be too big for them next year. You only get to do summer as a one year-old once. The kids all need new mittens and I am happily spending my evenings knitting hats. We need a new snow bib or two, and the big coats will have to be washed up and freshened after 5 months of storage. The boys need boots.
School is good and friends are good. It's nice to have the oven on and make the house smell delicious and not overheat the whole place. Mums are in the front porch pots. The lawn likely won't need another mowing until next May. Time to move the veggie gardening tools to the back of the garage and bring forth all functional rakes. The leaves will soon start falling fast and furiously and no matter how on top of them we are, we are always behind.
It's time to enjoy October before the frenzy of the holidays begin.
