Fall Rambling

I love Halloween and fall.

Perhaps it's because fall means pumpkin and I love pumpkin.  Pumpkin patches, pumpkins on the porch, pumpkin in every bit of food I eat.

Perhaps it's because fall means brightly colored leaves on trees and I want to take a picture of every tree I see.

Perhaps it was because it was a Halloween barn dance that juC and I shared our first dance together.

Perhaps it's because it was in the midst of Halloween and fall that Jud and I had our first date.

And having children has only intensified my love of fall and Halloween.  I love having photo shoots with my kids in their costumes. I have looked at the above picture about 1,293 times since Halloween because I feel like it's the perfect depiction of everything I love about Halloween.  My kids in their costumes.  Each holding their buckets for collecting candy.  Holding hands (even if it was only for 5 seconds) as they walked down the beautiful fall tree lined street.  It's another one of those images I wanted seared into my memory.

I have this terrible...habit. (Is it a habit?  A curse?  A blessing?  To be honest, I don't know what it is.  And I don't know if it's me, or something more powerful than me that causes it)  There are certain times that triggers something in my head where I have visions into the future.

I'll give you an example.

A few weeks ago luC went upstairs to get something while I stood at the bottom of the stairs and waited for her.  Because she is still so tiny, walking down the stairs takes her a great deal of effort.  Add the that the fact that she was carrying something down with her, she had to walk down slowly, carefully, and resting her hand on the wall as she walked down.  As she was walking down in that particular way, an image flashed in my head of her 15 years from now, walking down the stairs ever so carefully in a prom dress as I waited at the bottom of the stairs for her.

The picture above causes me to have the same kind of flash into the future of my children.  When I look at that picture I see jC and luC several years from now, walking together, talking each others ears off, and being great friends.  But I picture them being too cool to dress up for Halloween.  I picture them at a time in their lives when they no longer let me pick out their costumes and are too old to let me have photo shoots with them.  Ok, so a part of me pictures them being bratty teenagers who want nothing to do with me more often than not.

I don't know if those visions will come true, but  for that reason I love fall and Halloween even more right now.  I love taking them to the pumpkin patch and watching them pick out their pumpkins.  I love that they let me pick out their costumes and are excited to dress up.  I love seeing the excitement on their face when they realize how much candy they are getting from neighbors.  I love the joy they get each time they eat more of their treasured candy.  I love it, I love it, I love it.  And I will forever be grateful for this time of year and for these memories.  And I will hold on to these memories like my life depends on it.

Guessing game

Guess who is sleeping through the night.

And guess who decided to be a big boy and not throw tantrums anymore.Then guess who said he would take me on a super romantic getaway with out the kids.

And the biggest of all, guess who is expecting baby number 3.

I don't know the answer to any of these questions, but I do know it is April 1.

in my dreams

i have a very deep and abiding love for old farms and old houses. so when i was out with my friend marci one day several weeks ago, and we eyed this barn with a cute old house on the property, i fell in love!!

i want it to be mine with all of my heart. i showed it to juC and we did the research and it appears the land belongs to some developers who will most likely be replacing the beautiful barn and house with new houses one day when the economy is better. it truly makes my heart hurt.

so if anyone ever asks me what i'd do if i won a million dollars, my answer would be that i would buy this barn and the house and make it into my home. i'm not asking for a lot.

what do you think? isn't it the most amazing barn?

(click on picture to enlarge.)

colors

this past week was fun for me. because i got to practice taking pictures again, and it had been a while since i really have. thursday i went to a place with a friend i'd driven past several times and wanted to visit but hadn't. we went to historic occoquan. there were lots of fun old buildings and houses for me to take pictures of. as i was going through and playing around with the pictures i was doing this one and thought if i were a professional and titled my photos i'd call it red.

this one wold be titled green.

and i'd call this one blue.

and this one would be brown--ish.and last but not least, this one would be...gray. maybe.