Fabulous Fall

Ever since I can remember, fall has been my favorite time of the year.  Mostly I think it has to do with the cool mid-western weather and the beautiful changing leaves on the trees.  But maybe a part of it is also because my birthday arrives each October.  My parents always did such a good job of making this day extra special, marked with celebration and family.  Well, this fall has not disappointed.  The greatest blessing: I got to celebrate my birthday for the first time as a mom!  Keeping with family tradition, my parents, sister and niece, as well as my two good friends, Layne and Julia, joined Brian, Lucy and I for a lovely brunch at Ertel Cellars Winery.  The day was fantastic, marked with great company, perfect weather, lovely scenery and amazing food.

Brian and I have been full of excitement waiting for the arrival of our first Halloween with Lucy.  We were fortunate to have Brian's sister, Bridget, in town to commemorate the occasion.  Lucy was our little "angel," and even though it was a bit cold, she had a blast!  By about the tenth house (my best guess) she had the whole "trick or treat" thing down.  She got so excited going up each driveway in her wagon and would fervently yell "chocolate" in anticipating of her next treat.  Who knew it would be this fun!

As a final note, we got our tree!  For those who read my blog post from September 28th, you know that I won this tree at a fund-raiser for a local girl just adopted from China.  Originally, I had won a maple tree.  But when the generous donator from C & M Landscaping (also the little girl's uncle) found out about the connection between our families, he suggested planting a Cherry Blossom tree instead.  This line of tree is abundant in Asian countries like China and Japan.  This past weekend we all graciously watched as they planted this beautiful new addition in our backyard.