Falling Leaves

Just As much as I love to be outside in nature, you must know I always dread the end of summer.  Yet a few weeks later, as in today, I always realize, "HEY, Heidi!  Fall is wonderful, too, for it's own reasons!"

Colorful falling leaves are one of the top reasons!  The crisp smell of the air early in the morning.  The scent in the evening of the wood stoves warming the homes in the area.  So yesterday when I had Ellie and Claira for a couple hours (Melissa was doing a Mary Kay consultation) I decided to try out the craft Heather Bullard blogged about here.

I took an old dictionary I use for crafting and pulled out a bunch of pages.  Ellie (3 going on 6) helped pick out fall color to paint the pages.  We watered down our paint and used old kitchen cookie sheets for easy clean-up.

Painted pages...pages drying...

Pages ready to be cut...

Pages cut out in leaf shapes (I stacked them to cut as many as I could at once, as well as used different scissors).

In the midst of our leaf project Ellie wanted to set up the Barbie pool.  Only by the sink I said. (She still had a POOL of water on my kitchen floor!).

She brought as many Barbies (these are old ones left behind by my grown-up-girls; she even plays with the headless ones, she "pretends" they had head...really.) as she could carry to the pool.

She'd say, "Come to the BARBIE WORLD POOL!" as she'd drop them in.

Then she'd say, "Dreams really do come true!"  (She loves Disney videos, I guess.)

Then back to the leaf project.  We finished up, using hot glue for a fast project.  I tied up an orange ribbon and quickly glued the sets on that.

Ellie is a wonderful crafting partner!  Claira was napping or I'm sure she would have been all over the pool and the paint!

Ellie decided to work on her sticker book as they waited for Mommy Melissa to pick them up and take them to their cousin's birthday party.....waiting to go to a birthday party is hard for a little girl!



Mommy's here..........

...........Heidi's going straight to the couch now....LOL 
What a fun fall day!  I do miss having John Mark here on days like this, but he's a big boy now, in kindergarten!

Blessings and hugs,
     ~Heidi

(Linked to Cindy's My Romantic Home Friday Show and Tell here,   At the Picket Fence Inspiration Friday here and Nifty Thrifty Things Sunday here, and Under the Table and Dreaming Sunday Showcase Party here.)

Final Days of September

.......ah, the final days of September........

Melissa (oldest of our two daughters) is now a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant!  If you need or want to order anything from her (help support her family!) you can order directly from her website and it can be shipped directly to your home. Here she is setting up for a party last night:

Here's she is during the presentation (with one of guests):

Jessica (younger of our two daughters) is officially the Cupcake Queen! She's just got the talent it takes to make cupcakes both taste yummy and look great! Here's a photo of a batch she's taking into her work today for a surprise shower:

Here's a photo of Jessica on Saturday when she was able to stop by home on her way to an event (with her new camera from her husband!):

Now....hang on to your seats....Mark and I went salmon fishing on Saturday...

(the Coast Guard cutter came in right next to us)

(the seaplane took off next to us)

(the bay was calm)

... and guess who caught her very first salmon? 

Yep, I did!  It was so exiting. It measured at 31 inches but we forgot to weight it.  We had fresh salmon for dinner Saturday night, then froze the rest in packages. 

Another September event, I ran my first "official" race!  It was our local Prefontaine Run, a 10K race (6.2 miles).  My goal was to place in the top 5 of MY age group, and I did!  I placed 5th.  I ran 8:48 minute miles on a somewhat difficult course, it has several "agony" hills! 

I am really loving these early autumn days.  A few of then were "Indian Summer" days, and now today the rain has returned!  And I am spending a little too much time "pinning"...LOL  Here's one I found, you can print out and frame:

And another:



Fall Blessings to you all!  Hugs, Heidi