It just isn't Fall without THIS festival!

OK, I had to update to Google Chrome to post now, and I'm SOOO not used to this interface. Anybody else recently update to Google Chrome?

OK, back to "regular" posting. The third weekend of October, we went to our FAVORITE autumn celebration. We have been to this festival every fall since 2008. It is at Sugar Grove Nature Center, which is about 20 minutes from our house.

Flower drinking cold apple cider.  It was fairly warm this year at the festival.  Some years it is  hot, some years it is cold, last year it was wet.  I'll take fairly warm.

Super and Jelly Bean decorating our pumpkin.

Our Pumpkin "Nerd" He has a bow tie, braces, and  glasses.

My three cuties! I love Fall!

Super on the covered bridge.

Super and Jelly Bean walking over to the Imagination Grove area.

Super climbing up to fort.

Super up at the top of the fort.

Another shot of the three kids.  (That sweater that  Flower is wearing? Ithas been in numerous fall pictures on either Flower or Jelly Bean for the past 2-3 years.  I love clothes like that!)

Jelly Bean starting Flower on the zip line.

That is Super hanging at the end of the zip line and Jelly Bean is watching on the left.

Jelly Bean heading down the zip line.

This is the end of the "festival" pictures.  Don't fret - I still have pictures to share here of the Walk To Remember and Halloween from this past October, and then maybe, I'll go back to more writing and less pictures.  Or maybe not.  It is certainly faster to post pictures than having to think and write about something :) No, I will get back to writing more soon.  I miss it.  Plus I have some news that I haven't shared over here yet.  It is a little exciting too.  Keep watching here.  Hopefully I'll let you in on my news before the end of December.

It is Autumn!!

When I was a kid, I only liked one season. Summer. The rest of the year, I just sort of suffered through, and since I was a kid, time went by SOOOOOOO SLOWWWWW.

It was around the time I turned 30, that I decided that I needed to start giving the other seasons a fair shot. But it really wasn't until I had kids that I really started to appreciate them. Now at 45, I'd have to say that Autumn is probably my favorite season. Spring and Summer are probably in a tie for second and Winter. Ugh. Winter will always be in last :) I try to like it, I try to appreciate the differences and the things that only Winter has, but I. HATE. BEING.COLD. And I've only spent one year of my whole life in a place that didn't have cold winters. I've spent 26 years of my life in Illinois, and I would say that Illinois has one of the worst winters ever too. It starts in November and isn't over until April, I swear.

But anyway, back to Autumn. I love so much about it. I love the changing leaves. I love the crisp breezes. I love how it can be cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon. I love having homemade soup. I love eating squash. I love harvest time. (My allergies, however, do NOT love harvest time.) I love decorating with scarecrows and corn and haybales. I love going to festivals every weekend.

And this year, I'm loving Rosh HaShanah. And no, I'm not Jewish. But I'm trying to learn more about different beliefs this year. I had heard of Rosh HaShanah, and had heard it was like the Jewish New Year, but that was about all I'd heard.

Rosh HaShanah is the Jewish New Year, and it comes in the fall, when the leaves are turning and when the harvest is beginning. There are 10 days between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur and are known as the Days of Awe. One of the themes of the Days of Awe is the concept that God has "books" that he writes our names in, writing down who will live and who will die, who will have a good life and who will have a bad life, for the next year. These books are written in on Rosh Hashanah, but our actions during the Days of Awe can alter God's decree. These "books" are sealed on Yom Kippur.

During the Days of Awe, it is a time to evaluate oneself - to find where you have sinned, not only against God, but against others. So I've been spending the past few days reflecting on the past year. I've been looking at how I've fallen short to my family, friends, and my neighbors/community/world. I have been pondering on who I need to ask for forgiveness, and who I need to forgive. And looking forward to the start of new ""L'Shanah Tovah" (Good Year)!

October 2010 in Pictures: Autumn is Everywhere

I took a bunch of pictures in the first part of October, and then I thought the camera was broken. I recently discovered that the camera might not be ALL the way dead. But I took pictures in the last part of the month on my phone and the pictures were of mixed quality.

We started the month of October with going to an Autumnal Celebration at the Horticultural Center. This is our third year of attending. The weather was sunny but windy.

Super running on top of hay bales.

They always have a bunch of scarecrows on display. We won these scarecrows. The name was "Preschoolers" Perfect for this preschool teacher!

A picture of all three kids on the hay rack ride. This is one of my favorite all time pictures of the children.

We also went to Starved Rock Park and did a bunch of hiking.

A picture of Super in one of the canyons.

The next weekend, we went to an Apple Orchard and got a BUNCH of apples. I made applesauce and dried apples.

The night before we went to the Apple Orchard, Jelly Bean fell off her bunk bed ladder and broke her wrist. We thought then that she would only have a cast on for three weeks, but we found out today that she will be in a cast for another 4 weeks. At least. :(

Flower is on Student Council this year, and they were on a float for the local high school's homecoming parade. The theme, if you can't guess, is the 70s. Pictures from the 70s of me had much less tie-dye and much more plaid than they show on this float. Flower is in the middle with Peace Sign glasses.

We also went to the University's Homecoming Parade and Football game. We had a great time. The weather was beautiful that weekend - in the lower 80s!

The following weekend, we went to the other Autumnal celebration that we usually go to - this one was at the local Nature Center. It was, if you can't tell from the picture, a little wet that day. Unfortunately for us, it rained the whole time we were there, but it cleared later in the day. We love decorating pumpkins from natural materials instead of carving. This dude is still out on our front porch (as well as the Preschooler scarecrows. And MANY gourds. My kids are all about decorating with gourds this year.)

We finished out the month with Halloween (Halloween pictures will be in a separate post) and a visit down to Springfield. We went to the Illinois Capital and then the Dana-Thomas House. It was cold AND windy that day, but we still had a great time.

Autumnal Celebration 2010 - Part 1

I blogged about this Autumnal Celebration last year. This is usually the first celebration we go to in Autumn. It is held at the university's Horticulture Center, which just so happens to be less than 5 minutes from my house. We had just been over there recently when the Horticulture Center unveiled their new sculputures, but we were still excited to be there for the Celebration.

This year, it wasn't that cold or wet, but goodness, it was WINDY. But we still managed to have a good time.

Super and Jelly Bean drinking some cider
Super running on top of hay bales

They always have a bunch of scarecrows on display and they raffle them off. Here's the one that we won. The name of it is "Preschoolers." Kind of fitting for a preschool teacher, huh?

The Simple Kids on a hayrack ride. I love this picture.

Hanging gourds

The edge of the corn maze. This corn must have been planted late because it was still mostly green. Most of the corn in Illinois has been dry and brown for a couple weeks now.

A field of sunflowers

First Round of Trick or Treating

Last night we went to Trunk or Treat at our church. The idea is kind of like it sounds. An adult stands by or sits in their trunk and hands out candy while the kids walk by. But last night, it was raining. (Shocking. It's only rained about 25 days this month.) So it was moved indoors. So the kids walked across the stage to show their costumes, and then walked around the gym while the parents sat on chairs in a square handing out candy. And then we went home. My kind of easy trick or treating.

I'm very anti-spending much money for costumes, so the grand total for all three costumes was $5. I bought Flower's sandals at the thrift store for $1, and Super's costume at the thrift store was $4. Jelly Bean wore clothes and used accessories that we already had around the house, so I spent $0 on her costume.

Next Up - Montgomery Academy Halloween Party! And then Trick or Treating at Farmer's Market, and then Neighborhood Trick or Treating.

And the funny thing is I don't really like Halloween. Well, that's not totally true. I love it when kids create creative costumes themselves or using costumes from clothes they already have. But I hate all the candy giving, and I really hate all the spooky/gory stuff. Next year, I think I'm going to do a Fall Festival Party at my house. We can do fall activities, you can dress up, but only if you dress up as a real person (either living or dead) but you don't have to. And we will have fall harvest food - apples, pie, muffins, that sort of stuff. It sounds WAY more fun to me.

Flower and her friend during the costume parade.
Flower is Cleopatra and her friend is a Cubs fan.

Jelly Bean dressed up as a detective.
Can't quite tell from this side view.

Super as Spider Man.

A Close Up of Super and his girlfriend. Doesn't she make an adorable Snow White? She normally has light blond hair, but it was super important to his girlfriend to have BLACK hair like the real princess, so that is black hairspray in her hair.

Have I mentioned that they really are going to get married?
I have it all planned out and everything. Just kidding. Mostly.

Now she looks a little more like a detective!

She decided MONTHS ago that she was going to be a detective and what she was going to wear.

I think Spidey needs some sleep!

Flower

Flower and her BFF

A pic of the crew - my kids and Flower's friend, and my sister's children. My nieces were a witch and a monkey, and my nephews were a scarecrow and a zombie pizza delivery guy.

(The pizza guy has an actual broken leg. The cast and crutches aren't part of his costume.)

Autumnal Celebration, Part 3

This is the weekend for the Big Autumnal Festival. It is our favorite fall festival. I blogged about it last year too. The kids were super excited. And it was a perfect fall day - not too cold/windy/bright, etc. It was sunny with just a slight chill in the air. We got there, listened to music, looked at what the artisans were making, went in the Nature Building, did bubbles, pumpkin bowling and pumpkin bobbing, ate s'mores and drank hot apple cider, and we decorated pumpkins. We had a VERY fun day.

We listened to some music from Todd Carey . . .

Did bubbles . . .

and dropped a marble in the homemade marble run . . .

Talked to a basket weaver . . .

Looked at all the dyed yarn . . .

And Jelly Bean spun some yarn . . .

Super went through the gourd arch . . .

And Jelly Bean grew some horns . . .

They were SO excited to go to the observatory . . .

To look at the moon . . .

Look at those cute kids!

Flower on a covered bridge . . .

And Flower decorating her pumpkin . . .

Jelly Bean sucking on a spider sucker . . .

Jelly Bean's pumpkin

Super's pumpkin - complete with arms and "a blaster."

Flower's pumpkin

Super hauling our loot . . .

Scooter waving Good-bye!