Snapshot Saturday: A Colorful Week

Saturday means another week of snapshots in the books and today I have a lot!

To our surprise we witnessed a burst of autumn color all around us this week! Nothing as vivid as what those of you up north get, but enough to delight our eyes! The temperatures were higher than the chilly week before, so it was nice to have the changing leaves to still make it feel like fall.

We’re near the end of fall soccer and Liberty has enjoyed getting to go to the games for two reasons: pretzels from the concession stand and lots of attention! She gets petting and cuddles throughout the entire game.

Saturday was very busy. We had our neighborhood yard sale, my son’s soccer game, and a big yard project.

We didn’t have time this year to get a lot of yard sale stuff ready to put out, but my husband did put out some exercise equipment early in the morning and sold it all just before we had to leave for the game–woohoo! Then after the game we ran back home quickly so our son could put out his drum set and some toys he wanted to sell. Some of his neighborhood buddies came by and decided they’d bring over some of their stuff to sell too. I was so impressed at how they all quickly put together their own yard sale display. Our sweet little girls a few doors down had their own table set up selling magnets and keychains they’d made to earn money for St. Jude’s. So sweet!

Before long, all the kids ended up back and forth shopping each other’s sales. So, while my son did sale some toys and stuffed animals, he bought 2 nerf guns, a giant stuffed animal, and a game, LOL! So much for clearing space in his bedroom, but hey he got some new stuff to enjoy and paid for it with his own earnings.

That afternoon we all worked down in the woods, clearing brush, raking leaves, and trimming tree limbs. We cleared an area by the creek for a new firepit area and hung solar lights and we love it!

This is the view from the other side of the creek. Our creek is a pretty low right now because we haven’t had much rain, but we should get some Sunday. If you zoom in, you’ll see the bridge has crashed. It suffered some blows during the recent battle reenactments by my son and his friends, lol! But I’m so happy to have kids playing in my backyard!

By the end of the day, we were pooped! Oh, my back was aching that night and all week. I’m a glutton for punishment, I tell ya!

Here are some more photos from our woods this week. My son and I enjoyed reading down there with leaves falling.

And here it is at night! We love it! Our daughter’s soccer team is coming over in a couple of weeks for a fall get together, so it’ll be nice to have this area for them to gather.

We hope to use this area for many occasions with friends and family gathered around the warm fire with hot cocoa, and sticky smores!

Moving on…. On a walk this week, my son and I saw this anniversary sign in someone’s yard. I thought this was so sweet! And look how pretty their front entrance is all decorated for fall!

I personally don’t have a great track record with mums (I think I tend buy them too early when it was still so hot) but these are doing beautifully this year and I’m enjoying the color.

Our sweet little neighbor friends delivered the yummiest pumpkin muffins with cinnamon chips! They were so scrumptious and a welcomed treat! We are so blessed with the BEST neighbors. About a year ago a realtor friend of mine called and said she had a couple wanting to buy our house. After considering it briefly and even showing it to them, we just couldn’t go through with it. We did not want to leave our sweet community (and our woods!).

I mentioned that after all the yard work last weekend my back was in pretty bad shape and fortunately, I already had an appointment for some back therapy scheduled. I know this photo looks like a spa day, but don’t be fooled. It’s actually pretty painful but the results are quite helpful.

My doctor’s office happens to be next to my husband’s office. When I came back out to my car, he’d left this heart on my window knowing I’d been feeling pretty bad. He’s so good to me.

Miss Liberty had her big girl checkup, and it turns out, well, she is in fact a big girl! She was 28.5 pounds. That’s a 5-pound gain in just 4 weeks!

I was missing my married daughter this week and happened to run across something special while I was cleaning out my recipes. This handwritten cookbook was one she made me when she was little! She took Publix recipe cards and copied the recipes–so cute and such sweet memories!

And since I was missing my girl this week, I went ahead and mailed her November surprise box. Since her space is limited, I try to send items that can be used up. If I do send something decorative to sit out, I make sure it’s small so it can store easily after the season, like the tiny pumpkin below. This time I also added a gas card to help with their trip home at Thanksgiving since they’re on a limited budget and they have a 12-hour drive one way. That’s a lot of gasoline and at such high prices. We can’t wait to see them in a few weeks!

She tries to eat gluten-free, so I found items that were fall-like flavors but without the gluten. And I always, always include some seasonal tea because that’s our thing. This maple butter from Aldi is my new favorite so I threw in a jar.

Have you tried it? It’s delicious! If you like maple syrup, you’ll enjoy this.

The kids and I enjoy perusing flea markets and thrift stores and we hit a couple of good ones in our little town this week. I really don’t like just to bring home stuff, but we found several good finds for different projects we’re working on so I might do a post with a thrift store haul. Interested?

Oh, and no, we did not bring home that old lawnmower! Since my son has been cutting the grass, we’ve been telling him about how it was done in the old days, so I was tickled to find this old lawnmower to show him. He thought it was pretty cool but says he’s happy to use his modern one.

We ended our school and work week the way we always do on Friday nights– pizza, Andy Griffith, movie, and popcorn! My daughter turns 18 next week! Since this is her birthday weekend, she got to choose the pizza. Her favorite is always braided pizza strips dipped in marinara sauce!

Ok, that’s it for this week. Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful last weekend of October!