October

I love the month of October.

I love the sights, sounds, smells, tastes. It is such a fun, comforting time of year. Sweaters come out, warm drinks fill the days, fireplaces come alight, and pumpkins can be seen around every corner. We've been filling our days with lots of fun autumn activities, since we know that new baby will be here any time. A couple weekends ago we visited the pumpkin patch, which was lots of fun. We picked out pumpkins, rode the train and went on a hay ride. The boys had a blast! These were two of my favorite shots from that day.

This week we had some fun carving our pumpkins! Well, actually, I was the only one who did the carving. I don't think our boys are quite ready to be carving anything just yet, and I considered letting them paint their pumpkins, but in the end decided that was a mess I just wasn't up to cleaning! I carved my pumpkin to look like a witch stirring a cauldron, Jacob's pumpkin is a ghost carved within the word "BOO", that goes around the entire pumpkin, and Ryan's is the classic Jack-o-lantern face. Richard hasn't carved his pumpkin yet, but it is monster of a pumpkin, so it is going to take some serious work. And the teeny pumpkin in the photos is Baby's pumpkin!

 

So that's what we've been up to lately, passing the time with fun fall activities!

Goodbye to Summer

It's been quiet on my blog lately, although that has definitely not been the case in our real lives. We have been busy making our way through the house buying process. Applied for a loan, signed purchase and sale agreement, completed the inspection. Busy, busy, busy. Now we are just figuring out exactly when we are going to close, and when we will be moving into the new home, all while trying to prepare for baby #3 who is due in less than two months.

At the same time, the weather lately has been awesome. And it seems even nicer, considering that we really got jipped this summer. Everyone likes to make fun of the Pacific Northwest for being such a rainy, gray climate, but our summers are typically spectacular. Beautiful. Crystal-clear. Mountains shining white in the distance, trees bright green, water a perfect, tranquil blue. And the temps hover around the 70's. Summer in the Puget Sound makes up for the depressing days of winter.

Usually.

This summer though was kind of a let down. Our sunny days were few and far between, and the crazy weather really messed with the crops too. Last year this week, I picked 20 pounds of apples from our apple tree. Right now? I doubt there are even two pounds to be picked, the tree is so sparse. And our plum tree didn't bloom at all. Wouldn't you know this was the first year I tried to grow my own garden, but the crazy weather patterns were no help, and all I ended up with was a handful of green and string beans.

So, since the weather was so fantastic last week, (and I am assuming that it will most likely be our last great week of summer), I tried to keep busy with the kids, taking them places or just playing outside, so that they could enjoy as much of it as possible before the weather turns cold.

On Wednesday, my brother and I took the kids (my two boys, and my niece), to Remlinger Farms, in Carnation. We didn't really know what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised. It reminded us of a sort of miniature Disneyland, in a way. There were rides for the kids, animals, an empty school bus and fire truck to climb on and in, a train that you could ride around the farm, pony rides, musical entertainment, delicious food - seriously, SO much to do. The kids were in heaven.

Driving the school bus

Train Ride

Water ride

Carousel

Car ride

Thursday was another hot one, so the boys and I played in the back yard, for what may be one of our last times this summer. My kids are pretty easy to please. Hand them a hose to spray water around, and (one of the few) apples from the apple tree and they are happy. The boys just splashed around in the kiddie pool, and water table, and enjoyed being outside, one of their favorite places. Binker always says, "I like outside!" I get a little sad for him when I think of all the months we're going to be stuck inside during winter, but at least he will have school and other activities to keep him busy.

While they played happily in the water, I picked blackberries from our backyard. We don't have neighbors on one side of our house, it's just a large, overgrown blackberry field, and I can't believe that in the three-plus years we have lived here, I've never taken advantage of picking the blackberries - especially since they are my favorite. I picked several cups' worth though, and the boys were thrilled to eat them at lunch. I am thinking about making blackberry cobbler with the ones I have left.

Even though the temperatures were easily in the 80's, and we were all running around in shorts and tank tops, it was easy to see that fall is not far off. The signs of autumn are already starting to creep in.

I had to fight off a number of these spiderwebs to get the blackberries

Leaves changing color

It's always a little bittersweet to leave summer behind, but we have so much to look forward to in the coming months: Binker starting preschool, our newest son being born, moving into our very first home, and Husband beginning a new job with the Navy. Bring it on!

Halfway

I feel like I haven't blogged in ages. This week has really flown by for us, and I am so grateful for that. My best friend from college, Jessica, was visiting for a few days. We had such a great time together, hanging out, staying up till the early hours of the morning reminiscing and laughing. I really needed it; seeing my old friend was like an extended visit to a spa - relaxing and rejuvenating.

Today we reached a big milestone, we are halfway done with deployment. When this journey started, it seemed like we would never get here, and now that we have, it is more exciting than I can say. Richard and I have been counting down the past few days, he even sent me an email at 1am this morning to tell me that we had officially reached the halfway mark. It really seems as though we can start counting down the days, now that we will have the majority of them behind us. Rather than feeling like it will be an eternity until he gets back, things seem a little chaotic now, and I find myself worrying that everything won't be ready by the time he gets home, or that I won't have accomplished everything I wanted to do while he is gone. This halfway point has lit a fire in me, and I am excited and encouraged by this spark of motivation.

The seasons are already starting to turn, too. I can hardly believe it, since we are still in the first week of August, but the tree in our front yard is shedding leaves, and yesterday on our walk I saw a tree a few streets down, and its leaves have already turned that beautiful electric yellow that means fall is upon us. This is exciting too, I am ready for fall, because it means that we are that much closer to Richard's return. I am ready for "sweater weather", hot chocolate, days full of rain and windstorms. I have even pulled out my fall recipes - pumpkin bread, and chili. I think I will force myself to wait until September, but to see that things are already beginning to change...it's almost as if the universe wants Richard to come home too, and I won't argue with that.