Charlie Brown!! Had to interupt regular blog posting to announce that my favorite holiday show is on tonight at 8 Eastern! Find yourself a "sincere" patch and tune in to The Peanuts Gang! 
Ok, so I knocked off his nose as I was putting on the finishing touches, but at least the kids don't seem to mind! All in all, I think he's just scary enough! 
I actually scrapped these pictures for the recent BHG call for Make it Yours pages. This one was lifted from Yvonne Wunderlich - loved her original and had such a fun time doing mine. 
We're getting ready for Halloween a bit early this year. 
Anyhow, here are some pics from a recent trip to the apple orchard. It was in late September but so flaming hot, all we could do was pick our apples and go. And the boys were agreeable to it only because Daddy promised them he'd make an apple pie with their pickings. Yes, I said Daddy. I'm *so* not a baker. So several pounds of apples later and a couple gallons of water in sweat, we had completed our visit. I wish I had a picture of the pie to show you because I knew you wouldn't believe me. But it was impressive, trust me! ;)
Finally we get a cold snap this past week and it's actually starting to feel like fall which is my all-time favorite season. I love the colors, the crisp air, the activities. It's so gorgeous here that we've been spending every minute outdoors. So we met up with my parents after Ethan's football game for a little fall festival yeserday that included pony rides, firetrucks, bluegrass music and more. The boys loved riding on the firetruck - but it was only a close 2nd to the pony. :)
And lastly because my friend, Shannon, mentioned that she loved to go to the pumpkin patch in the evening when the sun was setting, I lugged all the boys there around 6:00 pm. Shannon said she loved it because there were no crowds and the lighting was spectacular. She was sooooo right. Loved these shots I managed to get of the boys - so much so I'm going to drag them back there tonight so I can try some fun techniques. Thank goodness they're willing participants when it comes to getting dirty in the patch. But please note, I did not promise them a pumpkin pie!
It was a bit questionable if this trip would even happen as we had major storms in our area that morning, but it cleared up beautifully just in time for the kiddos to load the busses and head out. It was quite chaotic with FIVE kindy classes in attendance, but tons of fun. We learned how they made apple cider (and had a taste!), picked a pumpkin (I know this photo is a bit blown, but I love it of T finding his pumpkin. Classic.), ate lunch and then played in their corn maze and play area. Let's just say T slept good last night! ;)
I have to introduce you to my son, the football superstar. You might ask what makes him a superstar and rest assured I'm going to tell you! Ethan has been playing sports for a long time. And he's a decent athlete. He was always improving and a great support team member but never the star. That is until football. Football is Ethan's passion. He is amazing at it - but even more than that, he gives it his complete and undivided attention. Any of you moms of 7-year-olds know exactly how rare that is! Ethan lives and breathes football and when he's on that field he is so focused.
So that brings me to Tuesday night. Normally the boys play their football games on Saturday mornings, so playing under the lights at the football field Tuesday was a real treat. The kids were fired up and ready to go. As always, my son was giving his all to the game. Mostly he plays tackle, but he always wants to run the ball because he's even better at that (or so he'll tell you). Lately the coaches have been giving him a chance to run. And everytime they do, E most always has positive yardage before he gets taken down. But Tuesday? Tuesday he didn't get taken down. My little boy managed to avoid several tackles before creating a hole up the middle of the line and ran his little heart out for a 60 YARD TOUCHDOWN!!! His first ever and the only one of the game! This mama is just about to burst...but if you think *I'm* proud, you should talk to his daddy! ;)
