Fall is here!

If my fairy godmother was sitting next to me right now and told me she would grant any of my wishes, I would without hesitation ask for a housekeeper. And none of this once or twice a month nonsense.

Reality is that there is no fairy godmother and I'm stuck with a big house to clean. Saturdays have become our chore day. The kids clean their rooms and the basement and I do the rest. We have made the basement the playroom. I love love this because that means there are no toys anywhere else. But they make a huge mess of it and are stuck cleaning it all on Saturday. I could make them clean daily but frankly I don't want the fight, so Saturdays it is.

Today has been the most perfect day we have had in a long,long time;cool, blue skies and breezy. At around 9:00 I told the kids that we would have a picnic at the park after the chores were done. I thought for sure we would be done by noon. I was done with my part at noon but the kids stalled, whined, fought, and complained through theirs. They did get everything done and we set out at 2:00. And what a day!

This kind of weather makes you happy to be alive. The park was packed and people friendly. All but a little strange man who told his son to stop blowing bubbles on the slide or the little girl at the top would slip and fall and cut her head open and the boy would have to take his shirt off and clean up all the blood. Needless to say, Sophia did not go down the slide.

Here are a few "full of joy" pictures,my favorite kind to take.