Happy Fall, friends!!

If fall is the season of change, I feel like we may have taken that a little too literally this year. This fall finds our family in a new house, just down the street from our old house. Also, I took a new job! This is my first in-person job in eighteen years.

Oh! And our oldest son went away to college, and Alan changed jobs. But then, Alan changes jobs every one to three years. The military is crazy like that.

What better way to celebrate fall and a new house then sprucing our new place up with a beautiful garden?

Okay. I don’t actually have the beautiful garden part all set up yet. In fact, our playroom still contains about six cardboard boxes and two plastic bins to go through. I’m in desperate need of more time at home to work on our house.

So instead, I have an expert guest blogger here from Warrenton, Virginia to share fall gardening tips with us! Hurray!

Let’s all give her a warm welcome and see what we can learn. I’ll scatter in here a few photos from outside my new house as well as a few inspirational photos with the perfection I have not yet achieved!

15 Inspiring Garden Ideas for the Fall

As the summer heat fades and crisp autumn air settles in, many gardeners find themselves reinvigorated and ready to tackle new projects. Fall is an excellent time for gardening, offering ideal conditions for many plants and providing a perfect opportunity to prepare your garden for the coming spring. Let’s explore some fantastic garden ideas to make the most of this beautiful season.

1. Plant Spring-Blooming Bulbs

One of the joys of fall gardening is planting bulbs that will burst into colorful life come spring. Tulips, daffodils, crocuses, and hyacinths are all excellent choices. Plant these bulbs in well-draining soil, about 6-8 inches deep, and water them thoroughly. Come spring, you’ll be rewarded with a vibrant display of flowers.

2. Create a Fall Vegetable Garden

Many vegetables thrive in cooler temperatures, making fall an ideal time to start a vegetable garden. Consider planting cool-season crops like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, spinach, and carrots. These hardy vegetables can withstand light frosts and will provide fresh produce well into the colder months.

3. Enhance Your Landscape with Fall-Blooming Perennials

Add pops of color to your autumn garden with fall-blooming perennials. Asters, chrysanthemums, sedum, and goldenrod are excellent choices that will bring vibrant hues to your landscape as other plants begin to fade. These perennials will return year after year, providing reliable fall beauty.

4. Implement a Composting System

Fall is the perfect time to start composting, as you’ll have plenty of leaves and plant debris to work with. Create a simple compost bin using wooden pallets or purchase a ready-made composter. Layer green materials (like grass clippings and kitchen scraps) with brown materials (like fallen leaves and small twigs) to create nutrient-rich compost for your garden.

5. Plant Trees and Shrubs

The cooler temperatures and increased rainfall of fall create ideal conditions for planting trees and shrubs. These plants will have time to establish strong root systems before winter sets in, giving them a head start for robust growth in the spring. Consider native species that are well-adapted to your local climate for the best results.

6. Design a Rain Garden

As autumn brings more frequent rainfall, it’s an excellent time to implement a rain garden. These specialized gardens are designed to capture and filter rainwater runoff, reducing erosion and pollution while creating a beautiful, low-maintenance landscape feature. Choose plants that can tolerate both wet and dry conditions, such as cardinal flower, swamp milkweed, and Joe-Pye weed.

7. Create a Cozy Outdoor Living Space

Extend your time outdoors by creating a comfortable seating area in your garden. Add weather-resistant furniture, outdoor rugs, and throw pillows to create an inviting space. Consider installing a fire pit or outdoor heater to keep warm on chilly evenings, allowing you to enjoy your garden well into the fall season.

8. Install Garden Lighting

As the days grow shorter, garden lighting becomes increasingly important. Solar-powered path lights, string lights, and lanterns can create a magical atmosphere in your fall garden while also improving safety and visibility. Use lighting to highlight key features of your landscape, such as trees, water features, or architectural elements.

9. Build Raised Beds

Fall is an excellent time to construct raised garden beds. These structures offer better drainage, warmer soil temperatures, and easier access for planting and maintenance. Fill your raised beds with a high-quality soil mix enriched with compost. According to Gateway Home and Garden Center that sells gardening soils and mulches in Warrenton, VA, using the right soil blend is crucial for the success of raised bed gardens.

10. Implement Water-Wise Gardening Techniques

As you prepare your garden for fall, consider incorporating water-wise gardening techniques. Install a rain barrel to collect rainwater for irrigation, group plants with similar water needs together, and use mulch to retain soil moisture and suppress weeds. These practices will help conserve water and create a more sustainable garden.

11. Create a Fall Container Garden

Bring color and texture to your porch, patio, or entryway with fall container gardens. Combine ornamental cabbage, pansies, mums, and ornamental grasses in large pots for instant autumn appeal. Don’t forget to include some evergreen plants to maintain interest throughout the winter months.

12. Establish a Wildflower Meadow

Fall is an excellent time to sow wildflower seeds for a beautiful, low-maintenance meadow garden. Choose a mix of native wildflowers suited to your region, prepare the soil by removing existing vegetation, and sow the seeds according to the package instructions. The seeds will lie dormant over winter and sprout in spring, creating a diverse and colorful habitat for pollinators.

13. Plan and Plant a Spring Cutting Garden

Use the fall season to plan and prepare a cutting garden that will provide beautiful blooms for arrangements come spring. Plant a variety of annuals and perennials known for their long stems and vase life, such as zinnias, cosmos, dahlias, and sunflowers. Prepare the soil now and sow hardy annual seeds or plant bulbs for early spring flowers.

14. Create a Sensory Garden

Design a garden that engages all the senses by incorporating plants with interesting textures, fragrances, and sounds. Plant lavender, rosemary, and thyme for their aromatic foliage, add ornamental grasses that rustle in the breeze, and include plants with interesting bark textures or seed pods that create visual interest in the fall and winter months.

15. Implement Vertical Gardening

Maximize your garden space by incorporating vertical gardening techniques. Install trellises, arbors, or wall-mounted planters to grow climbing plants like clematis, honeysuckle, or even fall-bearing raspberries. Vertical gardens not only save space but also add visual interest and can create privacy or define garden rooms.

As you implement these fall garden ideas, remember that this season is also about preparation for the coming year. Take time to clean up garden beds, divide overgrown perennials, and protect tender plants from frost. With thoughtful planning and care, your fall garden efforts will set the stage for a beautiful and bountiful garden in the seasons to come.

I want to thank our guest blogger again for her wonderful ideas.

For the first time ever, I actually did buy boxes of bulbs. Maybe tomorrow I will finally get those buried in the ground!

What all are you planting or designing in your yard this year? We’d love to hear about it in the comments section.

The post 15 Beautiful Garden Ideas for Fall appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

One thing I appreciate about Maryland is the sheer number of state parks.

Our state boasts fifty-three state and eight national parks, not bad for such a small state. There are also islands to visit in the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland also borders D.C., Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, and Delaware, so it feels like an excellent spot for an adventurer.

Not long after we moved in, I heard someone mention the King and Queen Seats at Rocks State Park, in Jarrettsville, Maryland. I figured that meant rock formations in the shape of two thrones, and I added this to my mental list of “must sees.”

We went to Rocks State Park and explored a little several times during the pandemic.

At times, it was actually swarming with people, and it was hard to find a parking space. With all the malls, theaters, and cities basically closed, the people were driven out into the outdoor areas. That was probably one of the better things that came out of the 2020 corona hysteria.

our favorite swimming area at Rocks State park

On our first several visits to Rocks State, we found an excellent swimming hole and lazy river type spot.

We walked the dog, swam, skipped rocks, and played frisbee.

What we did NOT find was the king and queen seats. Granted, we did not go out and hike up the hills looking for it too hard. We just parked at the first picnic area and headed over to the swimming hole.

Now that it is November, we decided it was time to hunt this locally famous rock formation down.

We have been inside far too much since school started. Saturday was the perfect day. The sun was out in force, and the humidity was gone, leaving the air a lovely, inviting 70 degrees.

Glorious!

Oh, and yes! Dogs are allowed on the trails. Rosie saw many of her kind!

(part of the Red Trail, not near the King and Queen Seats)

If you follow the brown road signs within the park, they will lead you to the parking lot uphill that is literally right beside the entrance pathway to the king and queen’s seats.

Of course, if you have never been, you might park your car and then take off walking half a mile in the opposite direction from your destination on the “red trail.” Ha! That is what we did anyway. We took a nice stroll through the fall foliage for a while before we asked someone where the King and Queen seats were and were pointed back to where we had started from..

So we turned back around, hiked right past our car in the parking lot and on that same trail mere yards from our car, and found all these rocks.

Giant rocks everywhere.

There was also a sign which explained why it is called the King and Queen Seats. It turned out to be from a legend. The story was that our local Susquehannock tribes would meet up there and their king and queen would take their place on these rocks in ceremony. The expert sign at the park explained that there is no evidence to back up this claim, but that it is probably a myth. Ah, well.

Honestly, none of it really looked like a throne to me either, so that was not exactly what I expected.

The climbing experience does not disappoint though.

You can truly feel on top of the world up there. Some of it even looks like a giant bridge. The rocks juts out over this cliff. With small children and dog in tow, I honestly did not climb it to its full potential. I find myself playing it extremely safe these days. Rocks State Park is one of those spots where someone is occasionally in the news for having fallen to their death from up there. Of course, I told this to all of our boys to make sure everyone was cautious, and they were.

Alan and the older boys explored the rocks more fully than I did. Rosie climbed to surprising heights too. She was so funny, whining about wanting to go visit all the other dogs.

I mostly hovered over John David and Daniel, making sure no one made any missteps that would lead to them plunging to their deaths. Out of all of us, I was the only who ever actually tripped, which I did a few times. Thankfully, I tripped on the trails though, not the rocky climbing area.

Of course, I also took tons of pictures. Every group has to have that one person. For now, I am that person. Caleb is the one for our next generation. He is very good about remembering to make photo and video documentation.

I think it actually looks scarier in pictures than it did in person. We did not actually engage in any risky behavior, really.

All of our family enjoys a light rock climbing excursion. This reminded me of places we have climbed in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, or Great Falls, Virginia, or Yosemite National Park in California.

Alan and Daniel in Harpers Ferry, WV, 2012.

Isn’t it silly how people ask if you are a mountain person or a beach person, as if you cannot be both?

Both, guys, both! We get to like both!!

But yeah, if I were to build a house anywhere I wanted, it would be on the shore. Mountains and cliffs and rocks like this are gorgeous and inspiring too though, and that is why God gave us both.

The post In Search of the King and Queen Seats appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

hahaha! What does it say about how much I did not love summer this year that I’m blogging a whole series on “recovering from summer.”

I feel like I should explain that it has more to do with moving this summer and leaving so much undone and waiting for “after the kids start school.” But really, is there ever an end to projects?

Plus, I spent a large amount of time outside this year, and I want to whine about how hot it was. I’m a fall person, I can’t help it. I AM SO READY FOR FALL!!!!

Lately there has been a little more time during the day for me to be alone with my thoughts. Not only that, but as I’ve been talking with my friends, I’ve been listening to the words that I’m saying. With the boys at school all day, I have time to reflect on what I’m hearing and saying.

I realized as I was talking the other day that I actually believed that I’m not good at anything at all. 

So much happened in the 4 years we were gone from this place. They weren’t bad years, but they were growing-up, maturing kind of years. Actually, just moving 3 times in 4 years was tough, and that’s not even the part that I focus on most. It feels like I walked about a billion miles to get from there to here, and my body wants to sit down and soak in a bath and just process it all.

Life brought challenges, new tasks, hardships we’ve had to see the boys through, and relationships that changed how I interact with others.

Both difficult and wonderful things have happened, and I internalized so much of it in a negative way. I let it bring me low, not humbled, but defeated and rather sad.

You, my blog readers, are also my friends, so I want to share a little of what I’ve been dealing with. Maybe you can relate.

There were several things I felt like I failed at, then there was the heart scare, the not being allowed to exercise, the weight gain, a difficult person I had trouble with, seeing my parents deal with the fire, the constant moving, and maybe I didn’t handle it all that well. I tried to act like I did.

Low Self-Esteem

My self-esteem became ridiculously low. You might actually call it an inferiority complex. The things I have been saying to myself were HORRIBLE. These are lies I’ve believed.

“You are an inadequate housekeeper.”

“You’re not good at anything.”

“You’re so chubby.”

“Alan doesn’t approve of me.” (These are lies. All of them.)

“Everyone hates your blog. Stop writing it.”

“You were pretty when you were young. Now you’re ugly.”

“You’re annoying. Don’t talk so much.”

“Your views are controversial. Don’t tell people what you really think.”

“No one would hire you even if you tried to get a job. You have no skills.”

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

What to do about low self-esteem

I’m no expert here, but I think the first step is realizing that this is a problem. It’s not a little problem. Living defeated is a BIG BAD DEAL when it’s stopping you from fulfilling your purpose.

I heard people talk about a book called “Girl, Wash Your Face.” (I make like 12 cents a copy if you buy it through that link. lol) I haven’t actually read the book, but the statement made sense to me because in the practical sense, I often skip washing my face in the interest of accomplishing something I deem more important. In the applicable sense, you can tell from the title alone that this is a “Get back up!” sort of message.

You know I love YouTube. So I went there, and I typed “girl, wash your face” in the YouTube search bar. A long list of videos by Rachel Hollis popped up. I watched a random video about finishing the year strong. I don’t even know which one it was.

She kept talking about how she tells herself things like, “You are super fit.” or something like that.

That got me thinking to the crap I’ve been telling myself, just horrible lies I’m believing about myself, rather than believing anything GOOD about who I am and what I can do.

I was in my kitchen, baking cookies for the kids, and I realized, “I have to make a list! A list of how to fix this and a list of POSITIVE thoughts about myself.”

List #1

Healing Self-Esteem Issues

1. Pray about this.
2. Ask God why you have this problem.
3. Identify how you have been dishonest with yourself.
4. What lies or unimportant truths are you listening to?
5. Make a list of what makes you valuable & what you do well.
6. Tell yourself new truths to replace the lies.

I made this list for myself through tears of determination. Yes! Why have I been stumbling? “Who am I?”

What have I been doing? How did I allow myself to come to this place?

It’s OKAY to be sad. I might even still feel sad for whatever reason, but believing evil lies about yourself is helping no one.

You are of high value!!!

List #2

The Confidence List

On this page, I wrote only solid, positive truths about myself.

Things like this:

“I make delicious no bake cookies.”

“God greatly loves me.”

“My children adore me.”

“Alan thinks I’m pretty.”

“I have courage.”

“I am not fake.”

“I put myself through college in 3 1/2 years.” (Answered prayers!!)

“I share my lessons with others on my blog.”

And I actually wrote way, way more than that. I wanted to pass these ideas along to you, in case you need to make those lists too.

After I made these lists, I also sat down with Alan and discussed this struggle with him, so he could understand what’s going on inside my head and my heart.

Life is tough, but we don’t have to believe the lies. We CAN live victoriously.

I firmly believe there are both good and evil forces in this world. God wants only what’s good for you, and the devil knows that the worse you feel about yourself, the less likely you are to do anything bold and beautiful for others. He wants us cowering in a corner, but that is not what we are built for.

I know I can’t overcome my low self-esteem in one weekend, but by golly we can forge ahead, right? I hope you’ll make your confidence list too!

Is this something you’ve dealt with? Tell us in the comments section how you rise above it.

The post Day 2: Tackling Low Self Esteem with Truth and List Making appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Today is the 5th day of school, and guess what.

It is definitely time to recover from summer.

And you know what else? It’s going to take me way more than 12 days to recover the basement playroom and the stacks of papers from a summer of neglect.

There are about a billion cluttered surfaces in my house that I’ve saved for “when the boys go back to school.” And you do not want to see the storage room where I shoved all the bins of items I didn’t have a place for when I unpacked them from the move. “I’ll find a place for those when the boys go back to school.”

Ah yes, that day has come. Time to put my working hands where my mouth was.

Do you listen to music when you clean?

I HAVE to.

Like it or not, cleaning must be done. It’s quite important, so I find it imperative to distract myself with some fun, upbeat tunes from people with better voices than my own. And of course, I will be singing along, sometimes even dancing, and not just because I like to watch my children roll their eyes.

My big accomplishment of the day wasn’t just cleaning though.

(Cleaning is the never-ending job.) It was this YouTube playlist I put together of a few (like 14) of my favorite songs to listen to while I work! After all, who pays hundreds of dollars for music when you can listen for free on YouTube?

It’s super simple to do. I thought about typing up an explanation for how to make a playlist, and then I figured that’d be time-consuming, and it’s already been done. Here’s a link for how to make your own YouTube playlist.

Here’s my playlist below. What’s on yours? I’d love to hear more ideas for songs to add.

Link to my playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIigYXl0ipjUCeVz0lttQ71FPZZD7JRr8

1. Someday by Michael Bible and Meghan Trainer (love those 2!!)
2. I Wanna Go Back by David Dunn
3. Grace Got You by MercyMe
4. Tell Your Heart to Beat Again by Danny Gokey
5. A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman Soundtrack
6. The Lost Get Found by Britt Nicole
7. Hold Me by Jamie Grace and Toby Mac
8. Little Ol’ Me by Jamie Grace
9. Fight Song by Rachel Platten
10. You Belong with Me by Taylor Swift (The high school girl inside of me finds this song quite relatable okay)
11. Still That Girl by Britt Nicole (Skip the first 30 seconds of the song and then listen. LOOOVE the rest. She could’ve had a huge hit with this one if she’d chopped off the intro, in my humble opinion..)
12. Better Place by Rachel Platten
13. This One’s For the Girls by Martina McBride
14. Keep Walkin’ On by Faith Hill & Shelby Lynne

I need more songs for it. I’ve already listened to this whole list twice in the last 24 hours. What should I add??

The post 12 Days of Summer Recovery: Day 1 is My House Cleaning Playlist appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Baby snakes have been hatching around our house. *Shudder*

It has officially been three months since the move, and we are still adjusting to Georgia life. The other day we went outside, and Joshua said, “Hey! Mom! Look a snake!”

That is not what you want to hear first thing in the morning.

But then I saw it.

“Is that a worm?”

“No! Look how it moves!” Joshua insisted.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right, but that has to be a baby snake.”
By that time, all the brothers had arrived. Caleb grabbed a tennis racket, and well….poor baby snake. But you see, when you don’t know what kind of snake it is, you have to kill it. Better the snake than your children.

Caleb the snake slayer

Okay, one baby snake, killed quickly. I didn’t worry too much more about it….

Until a week later, when I found a slightly bigger one.

In my life time I have spared almost zero seconds of thoughts on snakes, snake species, or what to do about them. I left them alone. They left me alone. We were good.

I was out in the backyard with barefoot John David. John David is ALWAYS barefoot, when I spotted this thing in my grass. I might have freaked out (in my head) a little bit.

As I mentioned before I don’t have a lick of knowledge about snakes. Therefore, I decided it was best to assume this one was deadly, a poisonous Copperhead for sure.

I closely examined this animal, which seemed to be frozen in place, and then I whisked JD out of that grass and into the house where I proceeded to quickly google copperheads. I found a few pics of infant copperheads that looked very similar to this. So I decided that this one must die, just to be safe. My kids play back there all the time.

“I MUST SAVE THE CHILDREN!!!!” I thought wildly. It’s time to be a hero!!!  This is my moment!!! I looked frantically for a weapon.

Alan has hidden all of the shovels from our children because they like to use them to dig holes, so I had to settle for a puny fireplace shovel. I made JD stay on the porch while I bravely headed out with my pathetic weapon choice.

This was so hard for me! Aside from the occasional spider, I’ve never killed anything in my life!! But I knew that if it were a copperhead, I could not let it live, so I took that shovel and beat that tiny defenseless snake against a rock. In my mind, I was like Joan of Arc or something.

It was traumatizing for both me and the snake, but at least I did live, while I am both proud and sad to tell you, tiny snake did not.

The harmless, tiny, docile brown snake: eats worms and such

I came back in and Google-searched a little harder. Next time I need to know what I’m dealing with. Apparently, snakes are a common occurrence here.

I was both relieved and guilty-feeling to learn that this was actually just a harmless little brown snake, extremely common in the Atlanta area.  Also, it’s a protected species in Georgia. Ummm….oops….yeah…okay…protected unless the killer thinks it is poisonous and then I can assure you the killer makes no apologies.

This site was masterful at explaining how to tell the difference. By the way, in Australia, there is a snake species also called a brown snake that is deadly. So know your snakes according to where you live!!!

Here’s the site you should check out, in case this happens to you! Juvenile Copperhead Vs. Brown snake

See, you CAN learn important things on the internet!

***********************

Thankfully, there are also many advantages to moving here. First and foremost, we get to be there for family events. Remember that wedding where I couldn’t decide what to wear? Here are a few pictures.

By the way, when I went to get dressed that day, my hips were so swollen I couldn’t wear any of my regular dresses. Arthritis is a terrible disease.

Here’s my handsome little man, wearing the same outfit his daddy wore at his age, smocked by his great-grandmother.

Our favorite family of all red-heads

Alan, reunited with his college friends

I found this bench at a yard sale for $10!!! I was so excited, I bought TWO of them!

The kids have all been taking turns being sick. I held him in my arms as he slept and enjoyed it so thoroughly.

We had an “all night party” with Caleb, the night before his EEG. See, he was supposed to be sleep deprived. We only managed to keep them awake until 12am. They all had a contest to see who could stay up the latest. I lost.

The EEG results were normal, and Caleb is now coming off of Keppra gradually!!!  This is very exciting for our family. However, we are still watching him closely, as he may have more seizures as he coming off of the medication. In which case, he’ll have to go right back on Keppra. Seizures are not good for your brain, so this matters.

The boys are making more and more friends all the time. How adorable are they, playing with this family of three boys, exactly their ages?

Since it is fall, we’ve been collecting pumpkins. Caleb likes to draw faces on the pumpkins and gourds.

I think I’m going to go ahead and create our thankful tree this week. After all, it is fall already, and there is something about a constant reminder to be thankful that I need in my life. Don’t you?

We’ve been back in the South for over three months now, and after 7 years of living away, it’s an adjustment! At first, I was bogged down in the signing up for this, signing up for that, finding doctors, finding a grocery store, and using my GPS just to find my way home. During that time, it was hard to even smile. 

And by the way, Southerners, I am convinced, smile way more than other people do. I like that about us, but at first I did not appreciate it. It got on my nerves, bigly. (hehe)

My thoughts went like this, “Ugh, we got four boys dressed and loaded in the van, made three wrong turns to get here, and now everyone expects us to look happy. What kind of sick joke is this?”

Moving is hard, y’all!!  We don’t know which streets are parallel and which ones curve. When you have four kids talking to you, it’s super easy to miss a turn.

And the heat! Oh, man was it hot!

Thankfully, fall is finally here. I need to spend today digging through bins for toddler pants.

I’ve met so many new people, and I’m starting to get everyone’s name right on the first try. Plus, I have just enough comfort level now that I’m starting to smile again.

Moving truly takes a year to fully settle in. We’re 1/4 of the way there.

Today we are thankful. Thankful for fall, for Google who tells us when to worry and when to not worry about a snake, thankful for adorable children, and thankful for a Father in Heaven who made us and loves us.

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.  Psalm 28:7

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway. Only 4 days left!!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post 3 Months Since the Move: Snakes, Pumpkins, and Smiling appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Today I want to talk about creativity. When I was a child, it was greatly celebrated, but I was never so sure that I actually possessed any of this creativity stuff. There were only two subjects I disliked in school: P.E. (We’ve talked about this) and Art. Yep. I never liked Art. I love to admire other people’s artwork. I would just rather not make any myself.

Sure, I write all the time. Non-fiction. All of my work is simply jotting down what happened, what’s funny, and what is true. Reading fantasy, sure, I’ll do that. Dream up fantasy? Wait. I do that too, but I keep those thoughts to myself. Be thankful.

So today, I’m going to let Caleb tell the stories. His stories are grounded in fantasy, but they sound quite believable. In fact, one of them IS TRUE. See if you can guess which one.

The photo wall I’m most proud of. This is as creative as I get folks: picture arrangement.

See my fire-place mantel scarecrow. You can buy him at Hobby Lobby, often on sale. It makes me smile every time I look up at my fun fall mantel.

Caleb’s Stories #1: Aiden, the Wolf, and Me   (Written as Told by Caleb)

One day me and Aiden were playing in the woods. This was before we all got poison oak, and you told us we couldn’t play back there any more, Mom. We were just on the edge of the woods. All of a sudden, we saw this whole herd of deer, and they just came running by us. They didn’t even see us.

Me and Aiden were like, “Whoa! What the…” Then a WOLF ran by!!  Two wolves! Two wolves were chasing the deer, because it was getting dark outside. Aiden and I just froze.

One of the deer was so scared, he even fell off the little bridge into the ditch! I guess he just wasn’t looking where he was going or something, but then he was stuck down there and couldn’t get out.

It was the scariest day of our lives.

Each of the boys drew a self-portrait in art class at school. I thought this was impressive for a kindergartener! Daniel is a perfectionist, so he covered up some black splotches with paper, as you can see.

Nonna has her house all decked out for fall too, and I thought this turkey centerpiece she made was cute and festive.

Story #2: The Raccoon Family

One day, it was starting to get dark, and Joshua and Aiden and I were playing in that big tree. You remember, that one that was so awesome for climbing? We saw a whole family of raccoons come out of the SEWER!

The dad was super fat, too. Then there were like four little raccoon babies. They were so adorable! Like kittens! We wanted to pet one, but of course, we didn’t because we were a little bit scared to do that. We tried to throw a rock at the big fat dad, but then we were like, no, just kidding, and we didn’t throw a rock at him. We did scare him though, and we didn’t think he’d be able to fit back into that sewer. It was hilarious!! We were all dying laughing.

Nonna created this coffee table arrangement with a basket and fall gourds and silk flowers. Love it!

Even our littlest man has been getting creative.

I just loved how Caleb set this table up. That’s an octopus, wearing a baseball cap, with its tentacle wrapped around JD’s sock monkey.

Last, but not least:

Story #3: Bats!!!

One day, it was starting to get dark, and Aiden and I were still playing outside. We were whacking the trees on the hill behind our house with sticks. Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Then, all of a sudden, like FIVE bats flew out of the tree we were hitting!!! Aiden and I looked at each other with the wide eyes like, “Aughhhhhh!” Then we just took off running. He ran to his house, and I ran to our house. It was crazy. I’d never seen bats that close before.

Daniel’s drawing of Grandaddy

Before: Our new house has these two windows that you could see through a little too well.

The new window treatment was hard to photograph from outside, so I took this photo from inside. See the pretty new windows? Alan got these static cling strips from Lowe’s and stuck them right on there. Now you can’t see straight into our living room any more.

Caleb loves to draw sharks, and he’s also enamored with that swirly-sky Monet painting. You can sometimes see signs of that in his art. Looks like this boat is in a lot of trouble.

We love to draw monsters.

Spongebob characters, by Caleb

My husband is surprisingly creative too. I guess that’s where the kids get it from.

Recently, the cover completely fell off of my Bible. Alan decided to fix it for me one morning while I was away and surprised me with this when I got home:

Duct-Tape Bible cover

Teal is my favorite color, so he bought teal duct-tape and white duct-tape. Then he wrapped my Bible in it. It turned out cute too!

The original burgundy cover doesn’t even show through.

I was impressed.

So which of Caleb’s 3 stories do you think was true? Leave your guess down below or on Facebook, and I will tell you if you got it right. If you haven’t liked my Facebook page yet, be sure to do so. It’s hard to keep up both a personal FB page and a blog FB page, so I am trying to move to primarily using the blog FB page. You can follow me on Facebook here.

Happy fall, y’all!!

The post Caleb, Aiden, and the Wolf: Creative Tales From California appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Something has happened to me since I sent the boys back to “regular” school. My days opened up a bit, and I began to have fun keeping house again. I have especially been enjoying decorating for fall!

Confession: When I actually set all these out, it was the middle of August. I figured if people can decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving is even over, then I can decorate for fall in August. Don’t ya think that’s fair?

Having just moved makes it especially fun and challenging because I have all new nooks and crannies to work with.

dining room centerpieces

Confession #2: I haven’t even found my old decor items. I bought all these this year. I found them on sale (40% off) at Hobby Lobby, but I’m itching to go check out what Big Lots has. Anyone care to join me?? Let me know, and we’ll make a day of it. John David will only complain a little bit. My three-year-old can do some serious grumbling when I tell him we’re going somewhere. That boy wants to live in his pajamas, play airplanes, take baths at 11am, and eat snacks with Mom. He is a serious home body.

Now you may think that no one who reads my blog actually lives near me, but you never know. Besides, my momma and Alan’s momma are both only two hours away. That doesn’t seem all that far anymore.

I still have to finish decorating the boys’ rooms and my bedroom. No, I’m not going to decorate the whole house in fall colors. I mean I haven’t even finished hanging pictures.

I’ve been looking for the perfect fall wreath and for autumn porch decorating ideas too, and I pinned about 20 million of them. (To my Pinterest followers, I am so sorry.) Would you like to see a few beauties that I’m using for inspiration??

from sortature.com

This site had hundreds of ideas (photo credit: flamingotoes.com)

All I need is a good bench, and I am so doing this one! Anyone want to sew me a pillow like that one? April doesn’t sew. My spell-checker doesn’t even recognize the word ‘sew’! (photo credit:herecomesthesunblog.net)

Oooooh Or maybe I’ll buy a rocker…So homey! (photo credit: country living)

What? I know they are not decorations, but they are pretty!!! I need to look like autumn too, right? hehehe             (photo: cupshe.com $19.95 for the top)

Just kidding. While this is beautiful, you know actual hay would send 4/6 of us to the ER with asthma. Haha! That’s how we roll…

And now for the wreaths!!!

I’m totally going to make one of these wreaths and post it for y’all later this week. Hopefully, it WON’T be one of those Pin-fail “Nailed it” posts!

I super hope my pretty Southern living door bucket like this one did not end up at Goodwill or someone else’s house with this move. I’m still hoping to find it!                           (photo: kristenscreationsonline.blogspot.com)

For all you Disney fans
(photo cred:http://wanderingsofclaire.com/2015/09/26/diy-fall-mickey-wreath/

photo from:http://diy.allwomenstalk.com/outstanding-fall-wreaths-you-can-make-yourself/21

So pretty! You can actually just buy one like this here:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/234918472/hydrangea-wreath-monogram-wreath-autumn

Dee’s crafts had tons of ideas:http://deescrafts.com/were-thinking-of-orange-brown-burlap-much-more/

And last but not least:

Pumpkins! Also from Dee’s Crafts: http://deescrafts.com/were-thinking-of-orange-brown-burlap-much-more/

Okay, I guess I’ve gone on and on about fall decor long enough. Our week is off to a swell start, and we hope yours is too. Happy decorating!

Oh! And since it’s also back-to-school time, I took part in an article on dealspotr.com. They asked me and a panel of other Mom bloggers for back-to-school shopping tips. Curious as to what I would say? Click here to read the article.

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