Rites of Autumn

Yesterday we had friends over to make caramel apples. Barrett, her brother Matt, and Linus played outside in between the batches of caramel. They dreamt up a game of tag in which the one who was "it" buzzed around like a bee. Linus is still proclaiming that he enjoyed the party and liked making caramel apples. This evening he asked why we had the party. I told him, "Because it is nice to do things with our friends. That is how we make happy memories."

After the guests left and I'd cleaned up a tiny bit in the kitchen, we headed to the front yard to rake leaves. Wednesday's snow and rain took down most of the leaves in our maple tree. The three of us had fun working and playing with the leaves. Just like last year, Linus got upset when we started bagging up the leaves. Sorry kid, but that is the point of all that raking.

On Friday I helped chaperone Linus' preschool class to a pumpkin patch. We walked the kids there, with each child holding the hand of a classmate or grown-up. We talked about the different sounds we heard as we stepped on dry leaves or wet leaves. The Pumpkin Lady at the patch told us a story and then the kids each got to pick out a little pumpkin for themselves. They all wanted to bring them home, but they will be decorating them in class this week. Last Friday I worked as a substitute for the teacher's assistant. She was out with the H1N1 virus, which then resulted in her having pneumonia. I loved playing teacher with the kids in the art room and I even got paid! The money will be applied to Linus' tuition. Langley teases me that I'll be teaching there next year and all the kids will want to be in my class. Very flattering. (In the class photo, Heidi, the lead teacher, is on the right and her assistant, Laura, is on the left.)