I think we have just about reached the peak of the fall foilage season. This week I am just trying to enjoy it before it all blows away. This is the view of my neighbor's yard, which I admire every day while I wash my dishes.

Isn't that so pretty? I keep thinking of the poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning that says:

"Earth's crammed with heaven
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees,
Takes off his shoes -
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries."

Justin had a good time watching me take pictures and looking for various bugs to torture with his affection.

I am hoping that it will be nice enough this weekend for us to spend some time outside. I just found out about a park trail around here that I would love to walk.

Oh, I also have to mention that today while we were waiting in the van for it to be time for Julie to go to school, I was looking at a J. Crew catalog and Julie came up to look with me. I showed her a picture of a model in a dress and asked if she liked it. "I like the dress," she said, "but that girl is too skinny. And too tall." Sometimes I just love a 5-year-old's perspective!

Just have to share. . . Not too long ago Julie referred to someone as "fat" and I gave her a long lecture about how that wasn't nice and that God makes people in all shapes and sizes. Then, of course, I forgot all about the conversation. At bedtime last week she suddenly said, "You know, I've been thinking about what you said, that God makes people in all shapes and sizes, and I think I'm a rectangle shape. So are you! And Daddy and Pop-Pop are squares. And people who are fat you can't call that but they're circles." So funny.

While we waited in the line at the grocery store I heard the kids talking about the pez dispensers on display. "Oooh," Justin said, "There's a God pez. I wish I had that one." Julie agreed that it would be awesome to have a God pez. I turned around to see a Star Wars character of some sort, albeit one with a beard and robe and rather serene expression. I tried to explain, but the next time we went to that store it was the same thing. "Can we get a God pez?" I may have to buy them one soon just to hear them talk about it.

It's so nice to have everyone back on Xanga again. Secretly, I've been finding Facebook a bit tedious lately. Too much energy is required over there. It can start to feel like work.

Here's a story I've been meaning to share: For several weeks, Julie had been pestering me to paint her nails. She had seen another girl with two different colors of paint on her hands and feet and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I finally broke down on a nice day last week and offered to paint her nails outside. She was thrilled during the painting, but when I instructed her to just sit in the lawn chair for a few minutes to allow them to dry, her attitude began to change. "Mom?" she called within seconds, "My nose itches and I can't scratch it or my nails will get messed up." I trotted back over and scratched her little nose, then went to play with the boys. "Mom!" I heard almost immediately. "My hair is blowing all over my face and I can't grab it because of my nails!" I took the rubber band from my wrist and tied her hair back. Then, with only a momentary pause, "MOM! There is a big spider headed right toward me! I don't want to run away and mess up my toes! HELP!" I came over to see a small, harmless-looking spider ambling in her general direction. She was panicking. "I hate having my nails done! I don't ever want them done again!" By this time I was getting irritated and told her that her nails were probably almost dry anyway. Moments later I saw that nearly all of the nails on her hands were back to their normal color. "What happened?" I asked. "Oh, I picked it off," was her casual reply. I had to remind myself to breathe normally. . .

Justin has been trying to be a big man lately. He spent an afternoon showing me his amazing muscles by moving things around in the basement. He has decided that he is not afraid of spiders or bees anymore. When Julie freaks out and runs away from them, he'll say bravely, "I'm not too worried about it" and then look to see if I am impressed.

Last weekend I drove to Columbus to camp out with some moms from my playgroup there. We were in one of the mom's backyard, which is big and field-like and has a fire pit. It was, for the most part, a lot of fun. There was a particularly un-fun moment on the way there, when Justin suddenly threw up all over himself and his carseat. I had to pull the car over on the side of the highway and do some impromptu cleaning with baby wipes. Disgusting. He was semi-traumatized and has referred several times since to when he "grew up." But I digress. . . The kids, no doubt, had a blast camping. I had a good time socializing with the other adults, but learned some important things for next year; namely, don't forget some extra blankets because it will be freezing at night, a flashlight will come in handy when you have to pee at four in the morning, a foam mattress would be great because roots are hard and unforgiving, and a tent that actually zips may keep spiders from crawling onto your pillow. Feel free to learn from my bitter experience.