October 24

Did you know that today is October 24?

That means two things:

1. We first visited our current house exactly a year and a day ago. These fall colors and gentle breezes have me feeling nostalgic for that first walk-through, when we fell in love. (You know, before we realized all of the yuck that comes along with living in a former foreclosure.)

2. This weather is insane. Today was 85 and sunny. I busted out the shorts and flip-flops for the kids. Crazy! We spent almost all day outside.

I was really hoping to have some sort of a fun adventure today, but when I asked Caleb if he wanted to go somewhere outside, he replied, "I want to go somewhere outside... in our back yard!"

These kids really, really love to swing. I had no idea.

Happy swinging (barefoot) Daisy.

Happy swinging (tennis-shoed, despite the fact that I offered him flip-flops) Caleb.

This is what I saw all day. I'm pretty sure I gave myself tennis elbow from pushing the kids so much.

This girl will scoot toward the swings, saying, "Baby! Baby!" until I put her in her swing. (Why "baby"? Because she knows she gets to ride in the baby swing!) After a few pushes, she says, "Ack? Ack?" What's that? It's "attic", of course! Caleb calls the little slide clubhouse the attic, and Daisy loves being up there and going down the slide. She's pretty proficient at the ladder now!

I finally got the kids off the swings and we wound up in the front yard, where I raked up a bunch of leaves.

Caleb was confident that I had raked them for the sole purpose of his enjoyment.

Inspired by Amber's fun photos of her kids leaping into leaves, I asked Caleb to show me  his best ninja jump. 

I got this.

He clearly doesn't understand the concept of a "leap" yet.

But he sure was happy with his efforts.

One last leaf photo, just for fun: 

Ha!

(No Mom, he wasn't hurt.)