‘Tis the season. The season of fall that is. Sarah in Illinois is back today, sharing some of the ways she’s marking fall at her house.

When I was younger my parents told me that as you get older time seems to fly by faster and faster. I am sure at the time I thought, “Yeah, whatever, it is so long until my next birthday, or… until I get my license, or… until I graduate.”

Okay parents, here is what you have been waiting for: YOU WERE RIGHT. Every year time flies by faster and faster. The snow on the ground melts, a minute goes by and it is summer. In the next breath school starts, and then we prepare for the holidays and winter weather again.

I can’t believe that this weekend is Hallowe’en. Because it seems like time blurs between Hallowe’en and Thanksgiving (for us in the States), then Christmas and New Year’s. In no time this year will be over!

Since the kids are only here every other weekend, this was our weekend to celebrate Hallowe’en/fall activities. I try to keep a balance between incorporating traditions and relaxing and actually enjoying what we are doing.

One thing we try to always do is carve/paint pumpkins. For the past few years I have wanted to grow my own pumpkins for carving and also ornamental small gourds. I even went as far as buying the seed, and then time gets away, and I realize I never put them in the ground. This year was no different, so we went to a local pumpkin patch and picked out some pumpkins and gourds. The owner said that the pumpkins had ripened early this year so there were not many left to choose from. That was probably true, but there were still enough for us.

I chose to paint one:

I found a script font on the internet and looked at it as I freehanded the “W” on the pumpkin with a pencil. Then I neatened up the pencil with a marker so that it was easier to see. It was at that point that I used acrylic craft paint to paint the letter and the vine on the sides. When I was happy with my design I sprayed a heavy coat of clear matte spraypaint over my design. This will keep the acrylic paint from washing off during fall rains.

Painting pumpkins is so much easier and less messy. And also the pumpkins last longer on display since they are not cut open. Of course, the kids wanted to carve theirs, so we all carved pumpkins too. We each carved a jack o’lantern face and Steve’s daughter is a WNBA LA Sparks fan so she carved an extra one to support her team!

Another decorating tradition of mine is Indian corn. A local farmer and his son have been growing the corn the past two years and set up a little stand to sell it. So I stopped by and bought a few ears last week and tied them together with some ribbon I had laying around and hung them on our doors.

I have been trying to really look at the trees this past week. We live in an area that the leaves on the trees are simply stunning this time of year. But if you don’t pay attention, they can be gone in just a few days.

I took a picture one morning before I left for work and the next morning at the same time I looked at the same tree and I was shocked at how many leaves had fallen in 24 hours. And since we are expecting rain in the next few days, our leaf display is almost over!

My goal in the next month is to plan ahead and follow a schedule to prepare for the upcoming holidays. I don’t want to rush things, but I want to make sure I don’t leave everything until the last minute and then the season becomes stressed.

I want to enjoy it like I have been enjoying fall!

It looks like Sarah has had a lot going on this season. I love that she’s taking the time to savour it.

How are you celebrating Hallowe’en at your house? What does fall look like where you are? Have you ever tried painting pumpkins? Did you notice the one pumpkin was carved on his side? I never would have thought to do that, but I love his happy goofy face.