Pumpkin Night

Fall is in full swing and, while winter is a long way off, I can see my winter habits starting to form. I must admit that I am one of THOSE people who get so excited when she walks into the store and sees Christmas decotations. Today we went to a local play farm only to find that they were celebrating "Christmas on the Farm". I was psyched. I tried to build on this theme at home and asked if everyone wanted to listen to Christmas music. A resounding NO from my family. So I sit here typing listening to Stevie Wonder. But the stores don't lie and Christmas is in the air. I abide by the wishes of the majority of my family members and control my urge to decorate and play holiday music...but it will happen eventually...YOU HAVE ALL BEEN FORWARNED!
Part of what I love about this time of year is that my family and I tend to hibernate. Last weekend we cooked a big turkey dinner to share with my mother, her friend, and my grandmother. The house was filled with the smell of turkey and apple crisp. It was a warm autumn day but it was still nice to have everyone inside in one space enjoying the delicious meal.
Here are my kids posing for the camera while our guests looked on.

Travis's school hosted "Pumpkin Night" this past Friday. The parents donated gift baskets to be raffled off and the kids could paint pumpkins. There was a DJ who played the fun music that the kids all knew the dances to. It was a lot of fun and very reassuring to me, as I still have a little trouble with the fact that I am not able to be a volunteer during his school day. I happened to drop him off at school one morning this week and his teacher mentioned how much better he was doing in school now that he adjusted to the full day. I was thrilled to hear it. I am seeing it at home, too. But being able to be there for school events helps me adjust to not being present during the day.
Here are the kids painting their pumpkins. The paint stained our hands and clothes (found out the hard way on that one) but they had a very good time. Even our two-year-old daughter found things to do.
Travis chose to hang out with several friends from his class. This also gave me the chance to meet some of the parents in the class. It was nice to get a glimpse of how he spends his days with the other kids. He seemed right at home with his friends, as they hung out on the railing of the handicapped ramp and chased each other around.

And so fall continues. Soccer ends (mercifully) next week. The weather this weekend was definitely cold and autumnal. And even though the cold weather grows old fast, the excitement and energy that comes with the holiday season is starting to creep into focus. Hooray for me!