I love the Fall. Even in Florida, I love the fall. Fall in KS means crisp beautiful weather, High School football, Men talking about high school football on Saturday morning at the gas station, planting wheat for next year, moving cattle in for the winter, rust colored heads of milo as far as the eye can see, dove hunting with dad, and pheasant hunting with dad. Growing up, Fall was the time of year we would take hay rack rides into the country and have a fire and weenie roast out in the middle of no where with our Church family. Fall was the only season in Kansas, the wind didn't blow at around 45 mph.
Every year for the past 8 years I've been in Florida I've missed a true Autumn, and usually it is usually in the fall, that I get the itch to move north. The itch lasts about one season, and then I remember come winter, what I feel, is the number one reason to live in FL... That said, Fall in Florida is time to do some gardening. The gardening season here usually runs from September to May(ish)+, and today Ava and I just finished getting our garden in. We've planted some Collard Greens, Snow Peas, Spinach, Mix Lettuce, Peppers (Green Bell, Red Bell, Black Bell, White Bell, Red Chili, Jalapeno), Lettuce (Romaine and Butter crunch), Basil, Dill, Cucumbers, and Marigolds for the soil. I'm excited, as I feel good about the garden, and for the first year, Ava planted most of the entire garden. I love gardening with her, and she likes guessing what color the seeds will be, holding the seeds, planting them in the dirt, and covering them up with soil. It never ceases to amaze me how a plant can come from such a small seed... Last year we would pray before we planted each vegetable, and this year when it came time to plant the seeds, Ava reminded me that we needed to pray for them. I asked her if she wanted to pray, and she prayed "Dear Jesus, thank you for this seed. Please help it grow. Amen". It warmed my heart to hear her pray that this year...
Ava's turned into quite a little girl. She has probably the warmest little spirit I have ever met in a little girl, very innocent, fragile, and beautiful. Although sometimes I'm pretty sure she uses tears to get her way. She loves to help, and take trips to home depot with me, to get gardening stuff. She loves to help do almost anything. Today we all washed the car, and she was having a blast washing the car with us, washing in her little 2 ft by 2 ft circle.
Samuel is really advancing. I wrote last month how he has started sitting up, and this month he's waving, saying ma ma (yeah he's very much a ma ma's boy... for now), and today he started trying to get up on all fours. His top two teeth have just arrived to match the bottom two, and he eats so much better than Ava. He seems to like baby food, eating a stage 2 package of food for breakfast and supper. Ava didn't like baby food much, so this is good... He is a big dude, wearing 12 month onesies without any spare room (he has been through 5 of them today as it seems to be a big poop day). He's very active, and loves to scream, smile, cry, and jump in the Jumparoo. He's a great baby... However, he doesn't nap well at all, and still wakes up 1 or 2 times each night at least...
Well, thats about it for this time. We have had the best weather this fall, of all the time I've lived here. I'm sitting down now, with the windows open, and an awesome cool breeze blowing through the house... So, to all our friends and family, we love you and miss you!!!