Fall!!!

This is my favorite time of year and we've been able to do so much fun stuff! Jason took the kids to the lawnmower races at the fairgrounds.

Jason also took Jordis to the zoo one day while Xander was at school because he hadn't been to see the polar bears yet.

He also stopped to let her look at motorcycles one day.

We had a neighborhood block party. One of our neighbors is the fire chief and he arranged for a fire truck to come so all the kids could play on it.

Here's Jordis and her "boyfriend," Xav, at the apple orchard that had no apples. Since my friend and I took the time to get them there we still walked around since we promised we'd take them.

Jordis and her friend Alexis participated in exercises with the residents of the nursing home where we go for story time.

Jordis has also been sporting some serious fashion lately. Here is one of her outfits.....tie dyed shirt, capri pants with checks and neon green Halloween socks with black and silver spiders.

Now if Mother Nature could just decide what season it is.

Serenade

It's been freakishly warm in these here parts lately. So warm, in fact, that today I made sun tea and also noticed my daffodils have re-bloomed. Before we put our fire pit in the basement for the winter (to keep it from rusting, in case you were curious), we thought it would be nice if the kids could experience a night around the fire. It has typically been reserved for just Jason and me as a place to chat after the kids have gone to bed.

We'd had out Santa hats out in my attempt to get "the picture" for our 2009 Christmas card. The kids had to wear them and decided that we should begin the evening by telling stories.

Then they got the idea that they should get out their guitars to serenade us. They took turns each playing some children's favorites and some original creations.

They made Jason sing, too.

We had a snack and the sugar apparently made us get a little silly....

....then tired.

We had so much fun just the four of us. I can't wait to do it again, before they decide staying home with mom and dad at night isn't cool anymore.

I love fall!

I've been thinking for awhile that life is too short to live in the same place your whole life, but I can say that I absolutely love fall in Ohio. Not only do Jason and I both have birthdays, but it's definitely the prettiest time of year. These pictures don't even do it justice.

We can start getting out cozy sweatshirts

There are great nights to sit out on our deck with the firepit....and no mosquitoes

We have random days of Indian Summer

Love to get ready for Halloween

Enjoy our apple cider.....hot or cold

And, even though they're having a bad year, Ohio State football.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Bonfire

Every October the city where Jason works has a community bonfire. Last year we tried to take the kids and it didn't go so well, but I figured this year maybe we'd go early and things would be better if we didn't have to wait in long lines. The kids enjoyed meeting up with Daddy when we got there.

Okay, I'm not gonna' lie, I enjoyed meeting up with him too. He looks cute in his uniform.

The kids got the first train ride of the night so they were pretty excited to sit up front in the lead car.

They also got on the inflatable slide and rode the Whirlwind.

After the rides we waited in just a small line for hot dogs, donut holes and apple cider. It was the kids' first time having apple cider and they loved it. We went to the playground for a little bit and got a glow stick, too. Then we found a spot by the fire for a little bit before going home. It was really cold, but a great fall night.

October in Ohio

Here's what we were wearing on Wednesday (two days ago)...
...and we were hot and sweaty.

This is what we were wearing today....


Ohio....where you need every season of clothing in the closet all year round. See #'s 21, 22, 24 and 31 in this link.
http://www.50states.com/facts/ohio_if.htm

A great fall weekend

I love this time of year! Everything just seems more exciting during Fall. It's nice enough to be outside without sweating, but not so cold that you have to be stuffed into a coat that makes you immobile.

We spent Saturday night at a friend's Fall potluck. I've been great friends with Jen since we worked together at Clear Channel. She and her husband just had a new deck put on to their house, so it was the reason to have people over.


We had some great food. Her husband, Vijay, made an awesome sausage and kale soup and there were lots of other tasty dishes. I brought a sweet potato casserole and there was also a butternut squash casserole, homemade mac and cheese, some other potatoes and appetizers and pumpkin desserts. We ended up coming in the house because it was warm enough that the mosquitoes were out. Jen and I have already fixed up our kids as prom dates so when Jordis and Arjun were voluntarily hanging out we had to take a picture.

Yesterday we took a little road trip. There's a park the next county over that I discovered as an adult and always vowed I'd take my kids to someday. It's about an hour from our house, but gas is below $3/gallon right now and the weather was really nice, so we decided to take a chance and head that way. The kids had a really great time checking out the huge wooden playset...





After playing at the park we went up the road to the local ice cream shop in the city of Granville. There's nothing special, really, about this place. They serve Velvet Ice Cream, which I can buy at the store, and they've decorated with black and white marble and pink walls, two things I really can't stand. But it's an old-time parlor which the kids have never seen, so we thought it'd be a nice treat. We even let Xander have dairy products, just to see if the infraction would cause any problems.
We got some grilled cheese sandwiches first, then ordered ice cream. The kids both wanted chocolate ice cream with sprinkles. We weren't sure the sprinkles would stay on if they got a cone, so the waitress offered to make them a clown sundae. They didn't really look like clowns but the kids didn't care.
Xander's our clean eater, but Jordis is an "in the moment" type of gal. She just does what it takes to get the job done.

It was a great weekend!