apple picking

monday afternoon the kids and i drove to the country to my aunt & uncle's to get tomatoes

 from their garden for our supper that night.

it was a beautiful, sunny day and i might have bribed the kids (just a little) 

to cooperate for a little photo shoot...and it totally worked. 

and do you see that they are wearing long sleeves?

 i can't believe it considering just a couple days earlier it was over 100*.

if you have been reading here for a while, you know how i feel about the country.

i love being in the country.

the quietness, the fields, the sky, the simplicity, the wide open spaces...

i feel content when i am there in an at-home kind of way... if that makes sense.

would i love it as much if i actually lived there?

i don't know,  but some day i hope to find out.

we did get our tomatoes but we had a lot more fun with the apples.

most of the apples weren't good for eating but we still had fun gathering the ones that

 had already fallen off the trees.

on the way back home the kids and i talked about how it would be if we lived in the country.

at the top of wyatt's list is to have a four-wheeler, mine is to have a big garden and a huge 

front porch that faces the west so i can watch the sun set every night.
charlotte's was to have lots of trees to climb...i think all of them sound good.

 being down there, picking apples, wearing long sleeves...it all made it feel like Fall really

 is on it's way. i think i'm ready now. i always hate to see summer end but there is no use in fighting
 it so i am trying to look ahead to all the things that Fall will bring.

 ******
i am posting this early this morning but as you are reading this my little girl is either
at preschool or done with her first day. i think she will be fine it's just me that might
 not be, it's just such a big change and i am always a bit apprehensive about change i guess.
we are going to have our back-to-school dinner tonight and miss charlotte chose
 the menu. we started the tradition at the end of wyatt's year of preschool, but have now
switched it up so that the kids get to choose the menu
for breakfast and supper on their first day of school, it's fun and special for them knowing they
 get to pick anything they want--well, within my (limited) cooking/baking ability.
for breakfast she asked for homemade chocolate chip muffins and peaches
and "cheesy pasta tubes" for supper but she still can't decide on dessert yet.
it's a big day for us...
wish me luck!!!