Inspired

I've been quiet on my blog lately and for no other reason than our life has been relatively quiet as well.  Sure, the girls keep me busy with school and extracurricular activities, but nothing noteworthy has happened in the past couple of weeks.  Actually, I have been in the middle of an inspirational drought, if you will.  Nothing has sparked my imagination or made me want to write, until Fall arrived.  I love Fall.  In fact, it is my favorite season.  The combination of crisp cool air, colorful trees, the scent of Spiced Pumpkin candles, and the warmth of Pumpkin Spice Lattes have me floating on cloud nine most of the time.  Fall is homey and cozy and with its serenity comes traditions.  Traditions such as jumping in the piles of leaves that our ginormous trees drop this time of year.

However, my all time favorite tradition that Fall brings is a trip to the Pumpkin Patch; something I am looking forward to greatly in the days to come.

Another reason I have been blogging less is because I am trying to pick up as many hours as I can subbing. However, truth be told, my biggest obstacle is that Madeleine and Audrey are both in school and they are my inspiration.  I had a revelation yesterday and it came to me while I sat in the backyard with the girls.  I did not work and spent the majority of my day doing nothing of importance.  I was bored, lonely, and had no desire to do the things I should be doing.  However, once Madeleine and Audrey came home from school, my mood improved and I developed a new pep in my step.  My revelation was this: my life truly revolves around them and I should try harder to get more hours at work because it does wonders for my self worth.  This new season of life I'm trudging through is taking longer to adjust to than I thought it would.  When I shared my thoughts on the matter with Steven he responded by asking, "how are you going to handle when they leave home"?  Luckily, I have a long time before that day arrives.

While we played in the backyard yesterday afternoon, Madeleine found this wooly bear caterpillar.

The funny thing is that she had been inside finishing her homework until she heard Audrey proclaim, "I found a caterpillar"!  Madeleine came running only to discover it was a small, insignificant roly poly.  On her way back inside, however, she actually did find a caterpillar.  A giant one on our doorstep.  She scooped it up to get a better look.

Then placed it in our tree where she thought it would be more content. 

All the while Audrey did what she does best:

being a monkey!