I LOVE FALL!!!

Okay, what I actually realized when I sat down to write this post is that what I really love is the changing of the seasons. (Did I just say that I love change???) At different times during the year I'll claim every season as "my favorite." Am I fickle? Probably. But I can accept that.

This is my fall table setting. My mom sent the flowers in the center the same day I pulled out my fall table cloth!

Anyway, for now, I just love the fall! Here's a few reasons:

• The cool, crisp air, especially in the mornings
• Beautifully colored leaves on the formerly all-green trees
• It's back-to-school time
• I always find more time for reading in the fall
• Pumpkins! And Jack-O-Lanterns! And visiting pumpkin patches!
• It's more fun to bake yummy goodies in the fall
• Digging out all my sweaters and sweatshirts and jeans that I haven't worn all summer
• Hay rides
• Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner!

Here's the boys enjoying a hay ride! (They like the fall too. Gives them a chance to wear their cowboys boots again!)

The boys got to watch the Charlie Brown great pumpkin movie outside at a friend's house last week! It was too fun. Now I'm sure they'll want to watch all their movies outside!

"The Boys" at the pumpkin patch

and "The Girls."

Hope you are all enjoying this wonderful season!

Florida (finally!)

So my camera is fixed. Okay, maybe not so much fixed as replaced. Oops! :)

In any case, now I have vacation pictures to share!

There are too many to share, so maybe later next week when I have time I will do another slide show.

We went with Jon and Kelly and Jordan and rented a house right near the beach. We were very close to Seaside (if you don't know Seaside, think of the movie "The Truman Show" with all the perfect little houses and perfect little neighborhoods--that was filmed at Seaside.), so we spent some time there. They have a great park and it's just a fun place to look around.

We spent a few days at the beach, but not as many as we had hoped. The "red tide" blew in while we were there and I'm still not exactly sure what it is, but it makes the water bad. Even the air by the ocean was pretty stinky, and there were dead fish washing up on the shore--not pretty! So we swam there only the first few days, and after that we stuck to the pool.

The boys had a blast! There were days they didn't even want to leave the house--I think they were just loving having some down time. Bridget, on the other hand, didn't have such a fun time. She was not feeling well most of the week, so she didn't really sleep well and during the days she was cranky (which is completely unlike her!). She just had a head cold, and thankfully on the last day she was feeling better. Of course that was after not eating for almost 12 hours and a visit to the doctor. But that's a story I won't go into today! :)

Both boys enjoyed being buried in the sand! Too fun!

Doesn't he look a little worried? He was actually pretty close to the water's edge!

What a cutie, huh? I couldn't resist posting this one!

Okey dokie. More later, maybe.

Have a great weekend!

I'm still planning on posting about Florida, but my camera is malfunctioning and I'm waiting until I can post pictures!

I really don't have much else to write about.

I suppose I'm feeling a bit down lately. I'm not sure why, but I think partly it's lack of sleep. Also I don't fit into a lot of my pre-pregnancy pants yet, and I don't really feel like going to the gym with three kids in tow (which is about the only way I'm going to fit back into my pants!).

And maybe there's this too--sometimes it feels like I spend ALL my free time cleaning and my house never feels clean. It just gets more and more disorganized as my children get older!

But how trivial those things really are.

God has showered me with blessings. He has given me with a loving, wonderful husband. He has granted me three beautiful children who bring joy to every day. For heaven's sake, I live in a wonderful house and I can spend free time cleaning it.

I have nothing to complain about.

So here's what I'm focusing on today to improve my mood:

Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 121:1-2 "I lift up my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."

I just love the psalms.

After my lovely weekend (see me last post!), I forgot to post about our upcoming vacation! We are currently in Florida with Jon and Kelly hanging out at the beach. The weather is beautiful, the kids are having fun and we're all relaxing quite a bit. Just wanted to let y'all know that I'll be back to blog-land soon! :) Hope you have a great week!

The picture above is from a previous vacation with Jon and Kelly. Sam and Jon have some sort of obsession with sunglasses--I'm sure I'll have a current picture of them with lovely sunglasses from this trip. I'll post some pics when we get home! :)

Welcome to the madhouse!

Sam is out of town for a few days. He left Thursday, which coincided with the day that I came down with a horrible cold. The boys have taken advantage of the fact that I am a little worn out by this cold--combined with getting very little sleep.

This afternoon I walked into our bathroom and was greeted by an ENTIRE roll of toilet paper (I just replaced it this morning) unrolled on the bathroom floor.

After finding that lovely sight, I went to find the boys. Last time I had seen them they were playing a game where they lock each other up in "jails" (for some reason it has to be plural) and then tiptoe around and laugh hysterically. I found them running out of their bathroom--Jonah of course was naked. Jonah shouts, "It's FUN to pee in the bathtub!" After a short interview, I determined that they both did, in fact, pee in the bathtub.

There will not be a picture of this.

Next I went back out to the living room. After realizing that it would be a waste of time to work on the endless chore of picking up the scores of matchbox cars and other small toys that were lining the floor,

I sat down on the couch to consider how to handle the bathtub incident. Looking up at the ceiling, I saw this:

Yep. Here's a close-up.

It's sticky lizards.

For about a week now I've been finding them all throughout the house, but this is the first time I've seen them on my vaulted ceiling of the living room.

And just for kicks I'm including another picture I took this evening. This one is a ball stuck to the ceiling of my entryway. I honestly have no idea when the "lets see what we can get to stick on the ceiling" game happened, but I suppose it was fun!

I think I may have lost control of my household . . . .

My favorite picture....

...for today, anyway!

Can't you just feel the love?