Parenting Builds Character: It's Fall Y'all!

Fall is my favorite time of year- for many reasons-- I love the crisp weather and the smells and the colors. I love the activities that go along with this time of year, and the clothes, and the food too. I love football on tv, and for some reason, fall just gives you more reasons to get together with people.

The beginning of fall is marked by football season-- and I really do love my Dawgs. This season has been a bit rough- we were flying high and then plummeted, but red and black nonetheless, woof woof! And it's been fun celebrating and watching with friends too, and making sure my boys know that Saturdays mean it's time for our jerseys.

The North Georgia Fair was also on our list for this fall-- Gabe earned it after reaching some goals at school and so we dropped the baby off with Annie and headed out for a family night. The boys loved it- even Chad- but I've got to tell you, the food used to be "good" me-- and now the smells alone make me nauseated... I'm getting so old. And when you break down the actual seconds you spend on rides with how much it costs, it ain't pretty. But again, I'm old. The BOYS loved it- grinned all night and talked about it for days afterwards, which of course makes it worth it.

We visited the pumpkin patch and corn maze-- it's our annual tradition with the Spivas-- this is our 4th year and we've managed to add a new pumpkin each year... and next year will be no different! They're expecting punkin number 3 in May, yayyyyy!!! We saw lots of pumpkins, shot a corn cannon, fed goats (nasty!), did the corn maze and the hay ride, but the boys had the most fun on this big pile of tires and a kiddie maze made from soy bean plants- they ran around that thing like nuts. It was so cute. And then of course Jack was covered in mud by the end....

We also got to go to the fall festival at Gabe's school. It was extra fun because it was put on by our church- so we got to work the hayride and meet and talk to people, as well as bump into Gabe's classmates. They decorated pumpkins, Gabe did the cake walk until he won, which was like 100988 times, they rode the hay ride, passed out candy, loved on the animals in the petting zoo (again, yucko!) and of course had to play in the jumpy. By the time we got home, we were all worn smack out. Just how I like it... there is nothing quite like a good Saturday afternoon nap!

And we're closed out "fall festivities" by carving and decorating pumpkins tonight. This has always been something for Chad and the boys and I just stand back and take pictures-- I get to stick my hands in enough goo between all the diapers, snot noses, and spitting up going on in these parts, so it's the least I can do :) This year, Gabe was our designer, Chad is still the only one yielding knives, Max was all about scooping out the guts, Sam watched and laughed, and Jack was all over the place in typical Jack form.