All Things Fall

We have had the most beautiful fall weather ever!  The sun has been shining almost daily and the temps in the mid-sixties.  It is awesome!  When the boys get home from school they play outside with their friends until it gets dark and if they try to come inside I force them back outside telling them when the rains come they can have screen time.  All this sunshine also means I haven't had to sit through a single rainy soccer or football game.  Hallelujah!  I've deliberately tried to snap a few pictures of the fall beauty here and there because I just can't get enough of it.  My boys just roll their eyes every time I point out another beautiful tree.

The boys didn't have school on Columbus Day and it was actually kinda rainy that day (the only day the whole month) but we went on our traditional bike ride for donuts and sushi.  Marcus stayed home with Henry so Henry could nap (and Marcus is too old to do things like this anymore) and Parker freaked out about riding his bike so he spent the time in his room not getting a donut.  Kindergartners have the best temper tantrums sometimes.  I'm glad experience has taught me it's a phase and will eventually pass.

Sushi for lunch, donuts for dessert. 

Biking home from lunch.

My street heading in one direction

And my street heading in the other direction (with the beautiful fence painted by Marcus)

 We met up with a bunch of other moms and their kids at the park one day after school because the weather was just too good to not share with everyone. 

here are just a few of the moms who dropped everything to make it to the park. Our kids packed that place!

Henry's favorite past time is throwing balls down our steep driveway and watching me chase after them.  And the pumpkin is a corn hole game (courtesy of the scouts) that we get to store at our house year round.  this year I decided it makes a good yard decoration.

And with fall comes Homecoming.  Yes, Marcus went.  It was a good intro into what dating will be like.  The kids got together with a big group of their friends and the parents worked out the details.  Thankfully the parents were on board with treating them as 14 year olds so there was no unchaperoned party bus to Seattle or an after-party with alcohol which is typical for these things. Dances here in WA are rare compared to how many I had at my high school growing up.  Here there are only two dances a year - Homecoming and Prom.  And only juniors and seniors can go to Prom.  The kids don't do activities during the day.  Instead everyone meets up at a park or someone's house for pictures.  Then the guys stand around while the girls take even more pictures of themselves.  Then they go out to dinner, which was a cheap pizza place for these guys, and then they went back to the school for the dance.  The dance where no one actually dances.  Typically they stand in line for another hour to get more pictures (which the girls pay for. Weird.) but these freshman didn't ever figure out where the pictures were so it never happened.  So funny!  After not dancing at the dance, they went back to a friend's house for the "After Party" which meant changing into casual clothes, hanging out and eating lots of junk food.  It was Marcus's favorite part of the whole thing.  And then I picked up Marcus and brought him home. 

All the guys

All the guys waiting while the girls took a million pictures of themselves (group shots, selfies, selfies with a friend, pictures with the parents, etc) 

Apparently the unwritten rule for Homecoming is the girls all wear short dresses (and freeze) and wear long dresses to Prom.  I'm so glad I have sons.  The night before the dance I had Marcus try on Randy's suits thinking they would fit.  Unfortunately Marcus is a little too big for them but he didn't care so neither did I.  I'm just happy he didn't split the crotch open and I told him to take small steps when he walked.  I guess it's a good thing there wasn't any dancing!