Nora makes 4!: My favorite time of year

Fall is, by far, my favorite time of year. I love watching the leaves change from green to yellow, orange, red, and eventually brown. I love the weather and how you can wear jeans and a hoodie for almost any event. I love that I get to watch football 4 days a week, which could be 5 days a week if we went to the local high school games. And yes, I could spend all day on the couch watching football Saturdays and Sundays. The smells all around, the cool, crisp evening air, the abundance of activities you can do, and the coziness of the impending doom of winter all make my heart smile.

More than a month ago, I marked on our calendar a day to go to the apple orchard. Last year was our first year, which was dampered by rain. But this year, I have a list a mile long of things I want to do/see/take picture of/eat/smell at the orchard. We are trying a new orchard this year since we are up north now. So Saturday, we are heading to the Community Orchard just outside Fort Dodge. I can't wait to take in all the sights and smells of the orchard. From the beautiful trees to the apple goodies; from the excitement of everyone around us to the many activities they offer for families, everything about this day makes me giddy, almost child like. Now, if only my emotion-free husband would get as excited!

Oddly enough, I have distaste for all things Halloween. I hate cats, mice, all things spooky and scary, skeletons, ghosts, goblins, everything about Halloween. Except the candy. But it's not the candy's fault that it is associated with Halloween. So instead of dwelling on Halloween, I like to focus on the fun things of fall, which lasts all the way until the day after Thanksgiving. Then, it's Christmas time. For now, though, all things fall are amazing! Today I decorated a little for fall. I would love to be courageous enough to go all out for each season, but I'm not. Someday I will have the guts to do this. Her creativity is uh-mazing! Someday folks, somday. So, I add bits and pieces, mostly to the living room and front of the house.
Here is what I've done so far. We'll carve the pumpkins this weekend and add some sweet candles to the inside of the pumpkins.

Yes, I reused my planter stands for pumpkins. :-)

I also learned a neat trick to shining your pumpkins and making them last longer before they start to rot. Check out this creative chica for what she does. It definitely cleaned them well and shined them up, and I didn't even use the Vaseline on mine since mine are outside.

I am not satisfied with this, but I wanted my front step to be less boring, so for now, it'll do. I'll figure something out that will make me want to walk in that door.