Golden Autumn Days

The golden Autumn days are going by quickly.  It seems to me that this  restful time of year,  should linger slowly, but it has not.  It is clipping along in the same fast pace that raced through spring and then summer. Thanksgiving is a little less than three weeks away, and I am thinking we should still be in September.  We have had more than usual happening at our home, which must explain it for me. Nathan and his family here with us,  have filled our lives with activity, joy and laughter.  We are also busy with projects that have needed doing and are getting ready to go to Phoenix for our son Russell's wedding, which is  two weeks away.  I have a few recipes to share soon, but am still editing pictures.  I sometimes find the brainstorm of recipes or crafty ideas fills up my thoughts and sets me off on a creating spree.  I end up with quite a few things in progress,  many messes, a huge amount of pictures that need to be edited, and a large bulging "draft box" that nags me.  So today, on this lovely peaceful, golden day, I am enjoying a bit of lazy rest, and blogging work that is long past due. 

The grandchildren are enjoying Colorado, and Steve and I are thoroughly loving how they are right at home.  They have been playing outside in the grass, the dirt, the canyon, feeding cows with Grampa, riding the four wheelers, helping me cook and paint, doing school with their Mama,  and completely blessing our lives with their sweetness.

This picture makes me laugh, as it it evidence of their lives in the midst of everything.  My pantry has never been so happy, as it is now, bulging with Nathan and Himilce's groceries, and Elon, Asher and Elyse's little friends.  This "under the stair" pantry is their hideaway, and private office.  It has reminded me that our first four played similarly in this pantry when they were the same ages as our grandchildren. Steve's grandparents owned this house when our children were small, another generation has grown up and now it is our grandchildren playing in here, hunting for crackers and snacks and filling the walls with joy.

Marie and Elizabeth  sent out a wonderful box last week for all of us here.  It was like Christmas when we received it; full of chocolate, nuts, tea, and some Asian treats they had gotten at the local Asian market.  Their boys also picked out some treasures to send to their cousins which brought a loud hoot of happiness from the three here. 

Included in the box was a beautiful crocheted cake, made for Elyse by Auntie Elizabeth. Elyse hoarded this cake quite passionately, but soon was enticed to share with the boys, who had a longing to get a hold of a piece of that crocheted cake for themselves.(Click here to see Marie and Elizabeth's Pattycake Crochet shop on Instagram)

We had a little tea party last week, to celebrate fall.  Elon had wanted to have one, (and he was particularly craving some scones)  and all of us agreed that there was no reason in the world why we couldn't enjoy a tea party with the boys as well  as the girls, any day, so we had fun working on some fall tea party decorating.  We also did a little owl unit study, which opened up our imaginations to add a little bit of a theme to our tea party.  Himilce's old friend Jennifer came by with her children that afternoon, so it turned into a full fledged tea party.

I do love decorating with the things of the season; since we had such beautiful leaves on the trees, it seemed appropriate to use them to decorate in the house.

Himilce and I made some yummy treats for our little tea party, a couple of which I will share in the next week or two.

Pumpkin Scones with Cinnamon Essential Oils.....

......and Mr. Owl Cheese Ball are a couple of the recipes I will share soon.

Nathan took a few of these beautiful outdoor pictures.  I love his Photography, and couldn't resist using them in this post. The days are getting cooler here. It has finally begun to freeze at night.  The cold weather has been slow to come along.  We have had some fires in the wood stove this week, and have brought in the Pumpkins from the front door step.  I have some pumpkin recipes I have been working on (such as the scones above) and perhaps a couple of pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving will come out of those pumpkins.

Tonight we get to babysit the  3 precious dumplings, while their Mama and Daddy go off on a "long over due" date, and so we will have a cozy, happy, lazy Autumn evening with the grandkids, which is my reward.

For those of you that read this blog regularly, I would like to ask you to keep Steve's Mama in your prayers, as she is struggling again with cancer.  We found this out after Steve took her to Phoenix to stay with his sister last month.  I know some of you are wonderful prayer warriors, and we are so grateful for your prayers.

Be sure to enjoy the Golden Autumn days.  I hope they will softly linger, 

 and have a blessed weekend.