Fall in Retrospect

What did fall look like to us around here this year?  

For us, fall was...

...leaf-crunching...

...giggle-sharing...

...pumpkin-hunting...

...Farmer's Market-shopping...

...godmother-adventuring...

...costume-wearing...

...scary-face-making...

...trick-or-treating...

...beauty.

"The Life of Summer Falls Silent"

About a month ago, while browsing through Parnassus, our favorite local bookstore, Evelyn picked out a beautiful collection of poetry by Wendell Berry to give to her sweet daddy for his birthday.  She was drawn to Terrapin primarily because of the lovely illustration of a terrapin (aka turtle) on the front, but as Dave is a Wendell Berry devotee, her choice turned out to make an excellent gift.  The poems themselves are ones that the poet and the illustrator (Tom Pohrt) imagined children might enjoy and appreciate, and to that end, Ev and I have ourselves spent some delightful afternoon rest-times reading through the volume.  Here is one of my favorites of the moment:

"Now constantly there is the sound,
quieter than rain,
of the leaves falling.

Under their loosening bright
gold, the sycamore limbs
bleach whiter.

Now the only flowers are beeweed and aster, spray
of their white and lavender
over the brown leaves.

The calling of the crow sounds
loud--a landmark--now
that the life of summer falls
silent, and the nights grow."

October 10, a poem by Wendell Berry

I love the final image of the life and liveliness of the summer slowly fading and falling silent as the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer; it is such an apt description for what has been happening both inside and outside our house!  We spent the end of the summer and the beginning of the fall on-the-go, doing all sorts of fun things:  playing in dirt parks and splash parks, visiting the zoo and picnicking at Cheekwood, attending library concerts and football games and carnivals, and soaking up time with friends and family alike:

We also kicked off our (extremely laid-back) "school" for the year with "A" week, and created some art, learned about some animals, and picked some apples:

But as September turned into October and brought along some cooler days, we slowed a bit and spent time planting fall containers on our back deck, hiking in the woods, and curating the nature collection on our front bench:

And though mid-October brought a flurry of birthday-related activities (more on that to come), we have otherwise indeed seen our summer life overtaken by the quieter rhythms of the fall, and are loving it.  Happy weekend to you, friends; we are so thankful for you today:)

Beach Bums

As summer winds down each year (did you hear that, Nashville weather?), I always feel nostalgic for the slower-paced days of the preceding two months, days spent mostly outside in the park or on the playground or by the pool (and in the AC in between), and especially those glorious days spent on St. George Island with the Cummings crew.  I am a beach girl by nature, so that time is always a balm to my soul, and though my sweet husband would probably still choose the mountains over the beach most days, he's starting to come around:)  And much to my delight, Evelyn and James showed no hesitation this summer and love-love-loved playing on the sand and in the water.

We spent two weeks in June sharing a lovely beach house with Honey and D, Mac and Eddie, and El and George and Joseph and Estelle.  The house was beautiful and spacious enough for everyone to have some breathing room for themselves, and most importantly, had its own pool, much to Ev's delight.  Our little family fell into a rhythm of early beach strolls, morning pool swims, and long afternoons on the beach, punctuated by lots of snacking, sand-digging, and beach-dancing:)  Now obviously, four little ones (age 3 and under) bring some unpredictability into the mix, and we were no strangers to occasional disagreements, tantrums, time-outs, and such.  However, for the most part, the cousins got along and the rest of us got to enjoy our time together.  Now, on to a brief tour of our beach vacation in pictures....

We kicked off our journey to Florida with a stop at Peach Park for ice cream and fried pies...

...and then spent the night in Dothan, where Ev and James paused for a brief hotel reading break.

We concluded our drive the next day with a lunch stop at the Dockside Cafe, an old favorite in Port St. Joe, and then unloaded at our beach house.  

And then there was this.

We had a marathon drive home, but did manage to make another Peach Park stop on the way:)

We are so thankful for Honey and D and the amazing beach time they plan for all of us each year; what a gift!  See ya next summer, St. George; we'll be dreaming of your sand and your waves until then:)

Happy (Nine Month) Birthday to You, James!

Our sweet baby James turned nine months old last week!  And what an absolute gift and delight our little man is--he blesses each and every one of the three of us in his house, as well as those in his wider circle of family, friends, and acquaintances.  

Although James has begun resisting settling down at naptime and bedtime lately, he is otherwise almost always delightfully happy and content, and his daddy frequently refers to him as "a jolly fellow."  He has also loved to snuggle from the beginning, and we continue to take as many snuggles as we can get around here!

Since our little man was a couple weeks old, his home-away-from-home has been our trusty Ergo (usually) or hand-me-down Moby (sometimes); he has ridden along for miles of hikes in Percy Warner Park, errands to the grocery store, weekly outings to church and the library and the playground and friends' houses, and beyond.  As he continues to grow (and grow and grow), he provides his mama (or whoever is wearing him) with an ever-increasing workout, too! 

Since he hit about five months, though, James has been itching to hop out of his pouch and bust a move, at first scooting around like an inch-worm and then motoring with a more traditional crawl.  In the last month, he has begun to pull up and cruise along on anything and everything in sight (yikes!).  We marvel at how differently Ev and James have developed; at the same age, Little Miss Priss was much less interested in moving and much more interested in socializing and working on her fine motor skills while eating or reading or playing.  Mr. James, on the other hand, is less interested in chatting and dainty finger-work; rather, he loves to explore his physical environment, put anything and everything in his mouth, and move as much as possible.  He has finally come around to solid food in the last month or so; he showed no interest in pureed baby food at all, but once he could chew/gum chunks of softer food himself, he decided he was all in!  Like his sister before him, he is an especially big fan of avocado, although he is also enthusiastic about chicken, eggs, beans, rice, oatmeal, all sorts of roasted veggies, and summer-time fruit:

Speaking of his sister, we are loving watching the relationship grow between Evelyn and James.  Though she continues to beat up on him a fair amount, they also share many sweet, sweet moments of giggles and chats and romps, which never fail to delight our hearts:

We just love our guy to pieces and are so thankful to have him!  And note the last picture above?  A preview of our two (mostly) heavenly weeks spent at the beach last month with the Cummings clan.  Happy Monday, friends!  May you, too, find something to celebrate this week:)