The Sees: The Best of Fall

Last night the sunshine made it's final summer sunset appearance for 2010.

This morning, it rose to usher in a crisp autumn morning.

Fall is probably the most exciting season of the year at our house for a billion different and completely wonderful reasons. Here are just a few:

College football season. Go Broncos! (betcha didn't see that one coming...)
Halloween. We are already anxiously planning out Brock's costume. By we, I mean Brock and myself. Clarke doesn't seem to mind what Brock dresses up as, so long as B is cute and masculine--which he will be...naturally. I love what Brock has chosen to be this year, but I won't reveal that just yet! On top of Halloween costumes, we also have Halloween decorations, Halloween parties and Halloween candy (my gym attendance might have to double next month because I have ZERO discipline at Halloween. gulp.).
Leaves, leaves and more leaves! Leaves are good for crunching, leaf rubbing (I sense a preschool activity...) and are the firey grand finale to a season of color. More importantly, leaves make great backdrops for family portraits. Ahem. If you haven't scheduled your fall portrait session with CharSee Photography, you may want to get on that right away as I only have a few more open spots!
Apple Cider. Apple Pie. Apple Crisp. Apple Cobbler. Apple Cake. Carmel Apples. And Apple Enchiladas. Apple enchiladas???? Yup! For our FHE treat last week, I baked up a batch of Apple enchiladas. Don't let the ingredients fool you--they make an incredible dessert:
Ingredients:
1 (21 ounce) can apple pie filling
6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup margarine
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup water

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.Spoon fruit evenly onto all tortillas, sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up tortillas and place seam side down on lightly greased 8x8 baking pan.
3.Bring margarine, sugars and water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly for 3 minutes.
4.Pour sauce evenly over tortillas; sprinkle with extra cinnamon on top if desired. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
5.Makes 6 large tortillas; may be cut in half to serve 12.
Denim! It's a universal truth, if you wear jeans, you don't have to shave your legs that day. Woot! Another blissful bonus that comes with cooler weather.No leg shaving = shorter showers = water conservation =environmentally smartie pants decision. ;) Of course, hairy legs=looking like a monkey=lower self-esteem=a longing for summer when shaved legs are a must. Hmm...tough call. Also, I have a confession: I bought a really cute jean jacket in June. Yes, June (what the heck was Target doing selling jean jackets in June anyway???). And I haven't had the opportunity to wear it much seeing as it has been a monotonous NINETY degrees or so almost every day for the last 3 months. So hooray for denim!
Scentastic! Oranges, cloves, cinnamon, apples... 2 weeks ago, I went to a Scentsy party and stocked up on the autumn essentials: Sticky Cinnamon Bun, Baked Apple Pie, Home Sweet Home and Cozy Fireside. All summer long, I've been melting a strawberry/coconut concoction that smells like Lip Smacker and is fun and fantastic. Nevertheless, it's time for a changing of the scents--something that smells like a kitchen full of freshly baked and spicy goodies. Cozy and yummy!
Harvest. Our garden receives a dismal C- this year because of a cold spring and a late summer. We lost many of the veggies we planted (peas, carrots & cucumbers) in early spring because it was just flat out too cold. Our pumpkins got a very late start which means we may not have pumpkins from our garden this year. Boo! The corn we planted yielded about 4 measly ears and our potatoes, well...we actually haven't dug up the potatoes yet (fingers crossed for a good harvest). Our tomatoes get an A- because they did not harvest fruit until LATE August, but now we're overloaded with tomatoes and since my salsa experiement was inedible last year, we may attempt to can spaghetti sauce this year instead. And finally, the A+++++ goes to our strawberries for a bounteous crop ALL SUMMER LONG!!! It will be nice to start with a clean slate next spring.
Carmel Corn. My mom makes the BEST carmel corn on the planet. I could seriously eat it by the bag-full--and I'm not talking conservative sandwich bag-sizes, I'm talking about the BIG paper-alternative-to-plastic grocery bag size. Did I mention that I have to double my efforts at the gym in October???
TV! As daylight savings time draws to a close, we no longer feel the guilty need to be outside working in the yard or necessarily playing late into the evening to soak up the last rays of day and can, instead, settle into the couch to watch our favorite tv shows. These include: House, The Biggest Loser, CSI, Medium, Grey's Anatomy and The Office.
Two words: BLACK FRIDAY. Clarke has a standing babysitting gig every year: the day after Thanksgiving. This is because I do 90% of my Christmas shopping between the hours of 3 a.m. and 9 a.m. on black Friday. It's a great way to walk off the over-indulgence that comes with Thanksgiving dinner and I get to save hundreds of dollars just by doing two things that I'm super good at: waking up early and shopping! Win-win!