fall thoughts.

I'm craving Christmas lights and pumpkin tea. Unfortunately I can't find pumpkin tea bags anywhere and I guess I'll have to wait till Thanksgiving (just after) in order to be seasonally correct for the Christmas lights. That is, unless I have hubby hang some white twinkling ones in the house. Hmm. Good idea. Chris...?

I need to finish cleaning up the garden in the front and back yard. Do some extensive weeding. We got rid of the wicker cat bed on our porch and replaced it with an old wooden toy box bench. When the cat's bed was inside the wicker basket, Finney, our cat, would NEVER sleep on it, but as soon as I put it on top of the toy box, she began napping on it.

Washing and bringing in rainboots for the kids to have easy access to them is a must as the weather is taking a turn. Some days our back patio is wet all day. Which causes yucky feet in and out of the house. No thanks.

On the spiritual home front, Chris and I are making some adjustments on our family standards, vision and basically the nitty gritty of what we will and won't allow to come into our home.

I find it necessary to tweak things every now and then-- it's kinda like cleaning out the attic or going through your closet and gettin' rid of a few things. They may have been useful for a time, but you've outgrown your need for them.

Honestly, some of the things are big like cutting the kids movie time down to next to nothing-- we've never had cable and we don't get any kind of reception so the only thing they watch is what we've already censored, but sometimes even that's been getting a little out of control.

And there's small things like sticking closer to the schedule or eating dinner a little bit earlier. When you make those changes as a couple it helps to keep you in check and consistent maintaining your vision for your family.

Sometimes examining those little things has great impact on your family's future. But the real significance comes when you recognize the problems and then do something about it.

I've really been learning a lot in regards to being a mommy and some of it just confirms what my beliefs are and urges me to stick to them no matter what may oppose them.

I'm also really excited about this time in general because, I love the holidays and I enjoy remembering what they really stand for and passing those lessons on down to my children. I look forward to more of that...