{pretty,happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~  
Every Thursday, at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
{ pretty }

Autumn is in full swing here. The leaves are changing more and more each day and as you drive down the road you will undoubtedly leave a swirl of autumn leaves behind you. As I drove home late last evening I was captivated by the leaves that were falling from the sky like snowflakes and flooding the road ahead of me. Their bright colors shining in the light in front of me, that crackly sound as they skip across the pavement. At any moment during Autumn, I am captivated; by her simple yet elegant beauty, the peace and serenity of the silent hush that falls over a forest dressed in Autumn's cloak. Autumn is one of the prettiest times of year where we live. 

We celebrated the beginning of Autumn a few weeks ago by creating these beeswax acorns for a homeschool project. Their colors go beautifully with the myriad of Autumn treasures we've collected so far.

{ happy }

Going for walks and being outside just makes everyone plain ole' happy. Charlotte loves to find the perfect tree to climb and Seraphina is never too far behind. Lee would say that I like going outside less than everyone else.....what he seems to forget is that with a household our size (and growing) I'm constantly pulled into deciding if cleaning, folding laundry, cooking something, or sneaking in a few minutes of rest is more important than going outside. Some days, nothing is more important than being outside with everyone else......other days, that 45 minutes of quiet is a dream come true. I'm sure I'm not the only one who battles with this quandary?

{ funny }

This was one of the funniest half hours we'd spent in a long, long time! Here you can see the little ladies standing all in a row, like ducklings. Well, show them a few tap moves and turn on some music and the whole scene changes! Mind you, I only had my eyes on my two girls (Charlotte is the one with her hands behind her back in the middle and Kiki is the second from the end on the right side with the hot pink tights). Kiki is just 3 but will be 4 in just a few weeks. The older woman standing in front has been teaching tap classes for over 60 years. In fact, I took lessons from her when I was just 4 years old and danced with her until I graduated high school. It was such a beautiful circle of life scenario, bringing my girls to her for lessons. They couldn't have been happier. Lee and I couldn't have laughed more, though, as we watched the girls work hard to keep up with the teacher and the music. And even though there was a bit of skepticism with Kiki actually being able to keep up and follow directions, she did by golly. And blew the teacher away! 

{ real }

We spent a half and hour the other morning picking apples from the tree in our orchard. In that half and hour we picked over 50 lbs. of apples! Beginning yesterday at around noon we took the barrel of apples over to my folks house and began to process them from applesauce. After 4 hours of washing, cutting, cooking, and milling we had processed upwards of 5 gallons of applesauce. We let this thick, sweet and tangy sauce mingle on the stove with some brown sugar and cinnamon for another 45 minutes or so. This is probably the best batch we've had in years! Autumn is a magically time of year with it's bounty and gifts and abundance.