Fancy fall fun

We've been having all kinds of fun around here lately.  There was apple picking.  There was a baby shower that brought three pregnant bellies to our house all at once.  Nathan spent some of the warm early-fall days rocking the galoshes-and-boots look.

Since summer backyard forts are not in the cards for another few months, my children have been finding other places to nest.  Closets are a favorite, as is anywhere they can pile a few couch cushions.  And they each have a corner of their room that they refer to as their "nook."


Rachel's school had a fun run on Sandwich Day (that's our name for The Day Between the Birthdays around here).  Remember what a dickens of a time we used to have, getting her to smile for pictures?  Look at this cheese!

Our newly-minted seven-year-old had a "fancy" birthday party, with hairdos, pedicures, and crafts.  They ate canapes (taquitos and mini corn dogs--gotta know your audience!) and petits fours and drank fancy punch.  A good time was had by all.  (Many thanks to Nana for her help massaging little feet and painting teensy toenails!)

Jack-o-lantern smile

Several weeks ago, I took this photo of Rachel before school one morning, intending to post it here with something like: Get a load of this smile while you can, because soon it will look very different!  (Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to the posting part!)

And here's a glimpse of just how loose that tooth was.  Every morning, she'd leave hoping it would fall out at school so she could get a tooth necklace.  And every night she'd go to bed, complaining that it was so loose it was poking her. 

 But then one night, after she was tucked into bed, after she called me in to complain that it was poking her and she'd never be able to sleep, after she told me that she just couldn't pull it out, out it came!

 We decided this was good timing--it's after corn-on-the-cob season, and she's gotten herself quite a jack-o-lantern smile!  Then the tooth next to it went from being a little loose to downright wiggly.  It still seemed like it had a week or two left in it, though, judging by how long the other one took.  Until I went to pick her up from school three days later, and she was wearing (at last!) a tooth necklace and a big, gappy grin!

She planned her real jack-o-lantern's face to match her own--pretty sweet!

(These pumpkins were grown by Aunt Beth and Uncle Bryan.  Aren't they terrific?!)