My Favorite Time of Year

I wish I had a camera that could do this place at least some justice this time of year. This picture I tried to take with my cell phone, so I apologize that it's really not all that great. But I can't even tell you guys how unbe-friggin-lievably gorgeous the trees & mountains are right now!! It's seriously leaves me speechless... and we all know how nearly impossible that is! lol ;) At any rate, the leaves are changing & Fall is here. It has always been my favorite season, so it's only fitting that I get to spend it here in Fall Wonderland! :) And it seems I'm not alone, because this town seriously knows how to celebrate this time of year. There has been some type of festival or parade, or celebration every weekend this month! Makes me fall in love with the adorableness of this town even more. (Dontcha love how I seem to have made up my own vocabulary? lol) And aparently, we're not the only ones who love this place. I've recently heard that Michael J. Fox has a place in town, & was here last weekend for the Colors of the Kingdom Festival! Holy Cow! (And no, before you ask I didn't get to actually see him. Damn it. lol) But that's pretty cool though!

So, speaking of the parade, that one was last weekend. The kids' school had a float in the parade & we didn't feel like we should join in since we weren't available to help decorate. So we went to watch... but one of the teachers saw us on the roadside & made us jump in! So the kids (and Copper!) got to be in the parade after all. They felt pretty special. It's so great how welcoming everyone is here. Seriously. I don't think I've seen my boys this happy in a long time. I really think they are loving their new school! Mark tends to get a bit grumpy sometimes, but I think that's just part of being a 9 year old boy. I also haven't seen him smile this much like ever, so I'm taking that as a good sign. ;)

So we've been enjoying some play time on the weekends. We've been heading to the farmers market every Saturday.

(And yes, they're all homegrown, & organic, & very Vermont ;) lol)

And we've taken the kids to all kinds of activities & booths & fun. They got face paint:

And jumped in bouncy castles:

And made pasta necklaces. (This one I pretty much only included so that I can prove that indeed Mark was present for all of the family fun. He just refuses to let me take his picture like it's going to steal his soul! lol That would be him in the hoodie.. still hiding... sigh)

So anyway, we've been really enjoying the beautiful weather & getting to know our new home!

As far as the new house goes, I can't even tell you how busy poor Mathew has been. I've been at work all day every day, and when the kids are in school, he's there. He's been hauling load after load after load of crap out of the house. These people left so much worthless stuff in there it's unbelievable. And it seems like it's multiplying! lol But he's managed to get most of it out. I think the guy at the city dump knows him by name now with all the loads he's dropped off. Plus he's been trying to recycle everything he can & scrap whatever metal he can find. He's already pulled out some godawful drop ceilings & knocked down a wall or two, so we're making progress! :) Tomorrow will be the fun of fixing the roof. We're hoping to take advantage of a beautiful day & get it torn & put back all in one day... wish us luck. We're gunna need it! :/