So Much Autumn!

I get slightly manicky when we have a warm day in November and feel a desperate need to get outside and enjoy it before the weather turns cold again.  So we had several impromptu park dates where I rushed the kids out the door as soon as they were home solely because it was 70 degrees outside and we NEEDED to be out in it.  And I'm glad I did, even I'd actually rather be lazy and stay home and work on dinner.  Outdoor time is important.  And it leads to pictures like this:

That's my boy!

I also keep taking pictures of the fall leaves.  I'm sorry-- it's probably really boring to look at on my blog, but I just can't help myself.  I know all the color will be gone soon and I just need to take it in as best I can before the moment passes!

Carter Mountain all orange, and that burning bush!  Be still my heart!

And here's my street, so pretty and colorful!

I haven't just been wandering around looking at leaves.  All the little kids got their first covid shot, so that was exciting:

As always, they were VERY brave!  The school was smart and had a shave ice truck there so they got to indulge while they waited their 15 minutes.  Everyone was happy!

And one Saturday morning while I was at the church crafting (can I just say how much I LOVE doing crafts when someone else provides all the supplies and tells me very specifically what to do???  It's the BEST!), Craig busted out our newest Christmas tree!  Usually we decorate the day after Thanksgiving, but I have family here for the holiday and you have to make such a HUGE mess to decorate, we didn't want to do all that while we had company.  But if we waited until after they left, we wouldn't have nearly enough time!  So we had to start early.  Obviously.  Craig has been talking about getting a tall skinny tree for our entryway ever since we moved here, so it was exciting to finally actually do it.  And it looks great!

And Adam and I hiked Ragged Mountain again!  And as you can see, it was gorgeous!

Adam actually took both these pictures, but he was nice and shared them with me.  Isn't there a painting that looks a lot like this???

My Japanese maple looks a bit shaggy, but the colors are lovely!

They've been building cool stuff at the other end of the downtown mall, and it made for a fun photo op!  (Notice you can see our reflection in the mirrored ceiling above us!)

And I finally got Camille in to see a pediatric ophthalmologist!  It turns out that bump on her eyelid is a chalazion, which I had never heard of.  But it's basically like a sty, but the infection comes from an oil gland in your eyelid, rather than your eyelashes.  It's easily treated with antibiotics, so it's not a big deal but I'm glad we're FINALLY getting it taken care of!  She's had that bump since August!

Anyway, driving her back to school and seeing her in the back seat calmly looking out the window as she munched on her sandwich, wearing these glasses to protect her dilated pupils was the highlight of my day.  How do kids manage to be so hilarious without even knowing it???

AND speaking of unintentional hilarity, I glanced over at Colton's drawing in church yesterday and got a bit of a shock.  It took me a minute to realize he had just failed to guess how to spell the word "future"...  (It helped when I saw the rest of his drawings that were about the past and present!)

My children are constantly finding new ways to surprise me!