Happy Fall

Wow, November. Seriously, where does the time go? I feel as if I haven't blogged at all much in the last month and then I look back and, yeah, it's true. I haven't. This is because fall is simply full of activities, as I'm sure that it is for everyone. I've also been working on 3 large writing projects and some days, I have barely had time to do anything else. This makes me somewhat sad, because I feel like I'm missing out on some really special moments that we won't have again. We are very quickly spiraling toward our trip to China for Ellie and while I'm excited about seeing her, I know that once she joins our family, our lives will never be the same again.

We are experiencing the calm before the storm. And, it's fine. It's nice, actually. We can go places and enjoy things and be in this place where we are accustomed to our family the way that it is. But the "storm" is the trip to China, the weeks and months afterward where everything is in adjustment phase. It isn't terrible--I don't mean to make it sound that way--it's just a lot of adjustment that we will get through. Well, we have twice now, anyway, so I'm assuming we will get through this round, as well, until we reach the other side and find our lives adjusted again; only this time, with a daughter.

We've really had some good times this month, what with all of the fall activities, pumpkin patches and stuff around. The boys and I made caramel apples, but this year, I took the easy route and bought those caramel wraps, rather than trying to melt the caramels and come up with something to use for sticks. It was much easier for Asher, anyway.

We also took the guys to the pumpkin patch--a different one this year that was just great. They are still pretty little, and sometimes, going to these huge, over-the-top pumpkin patches that are geared toward older kids is a little overwhelming (see post from last year at this time). Anyway, this year, we went to a different place that was sort of designed for younger kids, or probably those less than 8 or so. We had a great time playing games, petting animals, taking a hayrack ride and sorting through pumpkins in typical fall tradition.

Last night, of course, we celebrated Halloween. Caleb was Superman this year and Asher was Spiderman. Normally, Russ and I also try to get into the theme, but has anyone ever looked at female superhero costumes? Seriously, there is way more Spandex than my own body can deal with. I considered going as Wonder Woman to try and stay within a theme, and considered getting the Lynda Carter wig and some knee-high boots. However, I don't think I could have pulled off the bustier and bloomers associated with said costume, even if it wasn't 40-some degrees last night. Enough said. We didn't dress up.

The boys had a lot of fun and we went trick-or-treating with my sister's family. Their next-door neighbor is Caleb's age and she was actually dressed up as Supergirl, so those two looked awfully cute together. There was plenty of candy and fun to go around.

Happy Halloween and fall to all! Hopefully, November will not go by without another post, but we'll see how this next month goes!