This Time of Year

This is the time of year that I love living in Chicago.

I love the absolute brilliance of green leaves turning into majestic reds, yellows, oranges and tints of purple.

I love pumpkin spice lattes.

I love being able to take a walk outside with my kids and wrap them in hoodies and know that they are warm.

I love hearing the crunch of leaves underfoot as I walk down the sidewalk.

I love the briskness of the air outside.  No humidity.  No face-freezing, booger-hardening-in-the nose wind chill (now that was a picture painted with words, wasn't it?).

I love going on our annual trip to the Apple Orchard/Pumpkin Patch and snatching a few dozen of those mouth-watering cinnamon donuts from County Line Orchard.

I love anticipating the joy and elation on my kids faces as they open up their new costumes in the mail.

I can't wait to see Reese take her first steps into the mini-corn maize and petting zoo and hear her cute little squeal of a laugh as she rides the Moo-Choo train for the first time!

I am praying and hoping that my pick for taking our family fall photos on Friday will work out with the sun shining through the beautiful trees and that the kids will be up for tossing a few leaves into the air while our friend snaps pics of their cute little faces!

I am excited to see Ethan and Reese go door to door literally coloring the neighborhood in their Crayola crayon costumes :-)

I can't wait to have Jimm help Ethan carve his first pumpkin (yes, honey I think it's the year to try!).  And dread trying to figure out how to keep Reese a good distance away so that she doesn't have pumpkin guts in her hair.

I love curling up on the couch with a hot cup of coffee and a good book.....oh, wait that was my life before kids. 

I love the thought of raking up the leaves into big piles only to have my two rambunctious kiddos jump in them with all their might and scatter them all over again. 

Oh, yes I love this time of year.