What we do in the Fall...

What a pretty Fall season we have had.  The weather for the most part has been terrific! The kids had a couple of days off around Halloween so we ventured out of the house.  We made a visit to the park one day.


We also hit up the pet store only for browsing.  My kids LOVE the pet store.  Maybe because we won't let them have pets???


As I mentioned in another post, I've been working on the girls room.  I made several trips to ACE hardware for caulk.  I used up 4 tubes of caulk just in their room.  Maybe it will be slightly warmer this winter?  I am dreading painting my room because there is sure to be just as much caulking needing to be done in there too!


The UPS guy and the FedEx guy have been dropping off a lot of packages lately!  What a great convenience to shop online.  Kind of weird and miraculous when you think of it!  You see a picture of something you like on a small box contraption which happens to be a computer.  You click on the item you want, enter a number associated with a bank which somehow pays for that item, and bam, a few days later that exact item arrives at your front step!  So cool.  We bought a lot of things for our house as we are plowing through some home updates and furnishings that we are trying to get done and in place by December 1st.


Christmas has been on my mind for quite awhile now!  My kids loved looking at the Christmas Target ad.  I loved looking at Christmas catalogs when I was little.  Our kids have till the day before Thanksgiving to give us their Christmas "list".  After that we don't take orders, ha ha.


Our living room was chaos for a few weeks as items were coming and going.  It's been fun buying new furnishings and accessories for our home.  With the exception of a few things here and there, and needed items, we haven't bought new furniture or decorations for our home.  I definitely don't have any practice with this kind of thing!  We rented for 11 years and bought necessary items at thrift stores, use what was gifted to us, or didn't have it!  During that time we used the basics.  I didn't want to decorate rentals either.  I've also been realizing how expensive it is to furnish a home! 


Lee sells Vera Bradley glasses and sunglasses at his office.  Occasionally he'll get a free Vera Bradley item.  This bag is what he received this fall.  I love that it's so big!  I'm going to use it for our swim bag next summer.


We got rid of our couch!  We've had it for 10 years. Our friends the Randalls received a new-to-them couch in optometry school from her sister (I think) so they gifted their old one to us.  It's been a good couch.  It was exciting to get rid of it though!


We set the couch out on the side of the road.  One guy came and picked it up, and Clark helped him load the couch into the back of his truck.  Not sure what went wrong, but when I came home later that night the couch was back on the curb.  NOOO!!!!  Lee loaded it up into his van all by himself (not sure how!) and took it to the dump Monday morning. 


A pretty fall sunset!


Here are a few of the new items for our home.  I love how the living room is coming together!


Here is a sneak peak.  I don't have many more changes, but I do want to raise the curtain rods, change up the curtains and get a coffee table.


One night for a date Lee took me to the grocery store with him. He said to pick out two ingredients and we would use them to make a treat. The first isle he chose for me to go down was personal products--like toothpaste and such.  I suggested I go down a different isle, ha ha. 


Lee made a yummy cake using the applesauce.  Then topped it with the Nutella, sweetened whipped cream and sprinkled with the crushed almonds.  Yum!


Lastly, boy scouts.  This will be quite the journey getting three boys through scouts.  My mom helped five boys get their Eagle.  That is so impressive!  I hope we can hang on to see three boys get their Eagle!  Clark had a camp-out recently which finished off his 1st Class. YAY!!!  I had been pretty worked up about Clark getting his 1st Class done. It should have been done way back in August, but because of poor communication, it didn't happen.  Now we just need to keep going forward towards Eagle!!!

They camped at the Big Meadows campground in the Shenandoah National Park.  Lee went up after work and joined them on the campout.  He found my name carved into a picnic table.


The next day was pretty rainy and wet, but the boys hiked a few miles anyway.




Yeah, the hike wasn't so fun for Clark.


They did it!




The last requirement Clark had was to help be in charge of making a menu, shopping for the food, then preparing it and cleaning up.  So glad that's over! 


That same Saturday the other kids and I went to Charlottesville.  We attended one class of the stake family history conference then hit up Home Goods and Trader Joe's. I LOVE these chocolate covered peppermint Joe Joe's.  Oh so good.  I am ready for Christmas! 


A week or two after the campout Clark received his 2nd and 1st Class.  YAY! 


At the end of the court of honor, the scoutmaster held up a $5 bill asking who wants it.  I told Haley to go up but she didn't.  Then I told Cal to run up and grab it.  He was the first kid there, and got to keep the $5.  All of the kids weren't sure if they really should go and grab it.  The scoutmaster made a point that if you really want something you have to do something about it, and make the effort. 


Cal and Elden after the court of honor.  I should have taken a better picture of me and Clark.  We're proud of your work Clark on 2nd and 1st class!


Hope you all have been having a great fall.  We are hoping to wrap up a bunch of house stuff soon...before the holidays.  We'll see!