perfect fall weekend

We had the most lovely fall weekend. We spent almost all of Saturday outside and the weather was perfect. It just felt so good to be out in the crisp weather and enjoy life. We have several big trees in our front yard and one of the big branches off one of them broke off... thank goodness it fell away from the house. We decided to cut it down due to safety reasons. It looks much better now, too. It opens up the front yard and you can see the whole house from the front now! It's so nice and beautiful. We had fires in our backyard several nights in a row while Jude was soundly sleeping. It felt so good to get outside and feel like we were miles away from it all when we were really only a few steps from our house. One night we hooked the iPod up to the extension cord and played a little fun. and Taylor Swift's new CD. We even danced! Oh, and one night... we set up a little fort in Jude's room and he was thrilled to no end. He would just anxiously and quickly crawl from one side to the other with no purpose other than that he was just excited and didn't even know what to do with himself! It was soo fun. Oh, and I thrifted my little heart out on Saturday morning with my little babe and we had a grand ole' time.

magical

he was so funny. he was sticking his tongue in and out like a little snake.

a picture of him staying still was impossible. too excited!

pretty fall leaf

family photo, focusing and taking a picture with a baby smushed under your arm is not easy.

the leaves go "crunch, crunch, crunch..." (i think in children's book language now)

so strong and scary (don't worry it wasn't on). jude's like "dad, what are you doing?"

cuties meghan and kevin

dan is constantly poking and proding and tending to the fire. it is very exciting. especially if i have smores.

WOOD SHAVINGS GALORE FOR EVERYONE!!!

uhmmmmmm.......... is his cute level hitting all time maximums or are these just biased mother feelings?!

this is salem stump (any nurse gets that ridiculous joke). jude likes to play on it.

i like to marvel at the beauty of mr. stump's exposed soul.

and pose for pictures on him.

and take pictures from the new vantage point he gives me.

and dan has a merry time with the wood shavings in his sunday best. with all his spare time.