It’s autumn in North Carolina. We know by several different reasons:

the constant shotgun shots that we can hear from our entirely closed up house signifying the slaughter of those obnoxious deer that like to run into the side of my car, the turning of the leaves (supposedly rather beautiful in the “mountains” of North Carolina), the turkey shoot at the “Concerned Bikers of North Carolina” club, the fun we had trick-or-treating last night, the subsequent crash from the sugar rush from last night, the changing of our clocks (which to most of you is a blessing, but for me it’s another hour of trying to entertain a four year old and a two year old), and, it gets dark at 5 o’clock…

We had a really fun time trick-or-treating last night. We went to my (soon-to-be-ex) boss’s neighborhood last night. Yeah, he’s leaving me after six years, I’m not happy about that. But, the neighborhood was nice. Literally, hundreds of children in costume wandering from house to house. One house played “Thriller” on a loop, an entire cul-de-sac decorated their section, handing out candy and adult beverages (to the adults, we hope), scary movies played from projectors on to the sides of houses, and men on stilts dressed as larger-than-life scary monsters. It was a lot of fun. Once again, Violet got that overwhelmed look on her face and Mason just took it all in.

The leaves turning around here really is spectacular. There are millions of trees around so there is quite a bit of color. I really enjoy this time of year around here. I really enjoy my yard this time of year.

Violet’s artwork is getting more complex by the day. She’s broken in to using numerous colors on the page instead of keeping it monotone. She sees more about the picture than she used to, like the picture I put up here: notice the dirt. We got her an Ed Emberly book from the library the other day. I remember those books from my childhood, how incredibly cool they were. She thinks they are just as cool. She’s drawing giraffes, lions, cats, pigs, the list goes on and on. We’re getting several of them from Amazon for Christmas for the kids.

We discovered this new (to us) band a few weeks ago, the Avett Brothers. They’re local to North Carolina, from Charlotte to be more precise. So, we’ve been listening to them a lot. We’ve got a performance tivo’d from David Letterman where they sing a really pretty song. The kids are pictured here playing along to the song.

First off, if anyone is interested in getting me a birthday present I got this book from the library and I want to own it. It’s “The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper” by Lynne Rosetto Kasper and Sally Swift. Ms. Kasper hosts this radio program called the Splendid Table. When Colleen and I first got Raleigh and discovered our local NPR station I tuned in to this cooking show on a Saturday morning. I thought it was the stupidest idea ever, a radio show about food. It turns out that this woman is about the same caliber host as, everyone’s favorite, Terry Gross. Anyway, the show is amazing and the book looks very yummy. I made the macaroni and cheese and it was very, very good. Violet was out of town, so she didn’t get to eat any of it.

Violet had a nice birthday party. Number three was definitely better than number two. Number two was overshadowed by a four month old baby and very overwhelmed parents struggling just to stay awake and sane. This year was marginally better, we were able to pull together 17 of her closest friends and neighbors to celebrate the fact she made it to three. Aside from Mason, the neighborhood boy, and a neighbor from the old neck of the woods, the party consisted of frazzled mothers and small girls. This is what my life has turned in to, isn’t it? Girl birthday parties. Barbie dolls.

She got this tunnel thing, it’s like a giant tube that she can crawl through, it’s about 8 feet long. It’s brought us hours of enjoyment. A nylon tube that you can crawl through = hours of fun. Did you know that was possible?

Mason discovered Popsicles at the party. The teething he’s doing right now hurts everyone, but it turns out these Popsicles really calm the little guy down.