Still Catching Up: October

And this is where I really started getting behind. Between several rounds of strep throat in October and November that would eventually lead to Nora ditching her tonsils, and the usual fall-to-winter fun, there was no time left for much else. So, for nothing else than posterity's sake: October. Which looks like this in southern Utah:

Fall really is my favorite time of the year, if not for the magically-turned red and yellow mountains, then for the small-town festivities that keep you outside to soak in the last of the season's sunshine.

Like the apple festival.

On the phone with an out-of-town husband on the way to said apple festival, I agreed that bobbing for apples would be a bad idea (I'd never done it, but it seemed like a germy endeavor, and we had already marked round one of strep in the Burt home), but then we got there, and the live music and fresh pressed cider, warmer then expected sunshine, begging kids and sense of tradition all won me over.

She just wanted to go straight to the apple barrel, but Porter was thoroughly awestruck with the volunteer firefighters and jumped at the chance to go through the official obstacle course that led to said apple bobbing.

  

The older he gets, the more I cherish the little moments that remind me he's still just a little guy, drowning in grown-up clothes and make-believe.

For a few weeks after this, he was sure he wanted to be a firefighter when he grew up. But most recently, after helping me grocery shop yesterday, he is now determined to work in a deli and run the meat slicer. "You know," he explained, "because I really like ham, and I could chop up all the ham I want and then go get some cookies from the bakery." He smiled when he added, "Because when you're a grown-up, you can do whatever you want."

And here I am as a grown-up who has still never been bobbing for apples herself, wishing I was still a kid.

This boy fills up my whole heart with his cautious, caring ways and his quiet imagination. He has a million big ideas but you wont hear about most of them in advance. He'll just quietly sneak away to his room and work without stopping until he's figured things out, proud to display his latest imaginings when they're complete.

One of my favorite Porter creations to date:

I am not a big fan of clutter, but I find our house looks more and more scattered the older this one gets, simply because he builds and draws more than we have space to display. Halloween was no exception.

The Halloween mural stayed taped to the living room wall until a week before Thanksgiving. I had hoped to laminate it and hang it up every year, but a curious little sister got to it first.

The apple festival was just the beginning of a really great October.

We visited farms-turned-amusement parks...

That's dried corn kernels at the bottom of a giant pipe turned slide. The corn slide was a first for this city gal.

I had also never seen a jumping pillow before this fall, but I now dream of filling our backyard with one.

We trolled around three different pumpkin patches this year, in search of jack-o-lantern perfection.

Every year, after rows and rows of slightly soggy overpriced pumpkins, hot, dusty kids, and at least one skinned knee, I swear we will just buy from the grocery store the next year. But then autumn hits, and my festive heart steamrolls common sense.

A year from now I'll only remember the happy little girl who found the perfect green pumpkin and then wanted to paint it pink, not the half-crazed 45 minutes spent juggling an armload of pumpkins and a whining three-year-old who refused to walk one more step in the prickly weeds while kick-rolling Porter's giant pumpkin pick as I back-tracked from one dusty ditch to the next in search of the $50 bill that slipped out of my back pocket.

This was, of course, all very humorous to a husband who was traveling at the time and only heard about our failed farm escapades by phone. And after all that, neither of our kids wanted much to do with the actual pumpkin carving at all.

We bribed him with candy to stick his hand in there. This was his first and last scoop.

Other fall adventures:

We cheered on a parade of sheep and farm equipment in the annual sheep parade that every year leaves me amazed and grateful that this big city girl ended up happily at home in this sleepy little town.

We decorated sugar cookies with neighbors in a throwback to my own youth, my favorite part of my mom's infamous Halloween parties...

Porter's "alien zombie"

Nora's sprinkles with cookie

 And topped things off with trick or treating, of course...

 The older they get, the less likely I will ever get them to sit still for a picture. Unless, of course, I can talk their friends into joining them.

Great Halloween, great autumn, great memories. Lucky us.

Andy was back at home handing out candy.