Fabulous Fall

 Fall is my favorite season, and one of the best parts about spending this year in the States is that I get to share that wonderful season with the girls.  Vivian has some memories of fall, but this was Elena's first real fall.  The paths around our house are surrounded by beautiful trees, so we didn't have to go far to find fall.

We've been trying to get the girls outside to play every day at the tennis court with the bouncy ball they got from the school. 

On the weekends, when we have more time, we try to get in a walk to Shirlington.

We even went on a leaf hunt around our neighborhood.  There were lots to choose from.

The girls got so into the leaves, that Vivian decided to include fall foliage in her science, food web poster.  Elena was happy to help punch out leaves in different colors.

Fall was also the season that I said enough is enough with this ridiculous Covid weight gain and decided to go on a diet.  I am so lucky to have such a supportive family.  Vivian found an app called Noom which she said she had researched, and it had the best ratings.  Jeff bought me a Fitbit to help keep track of my steps and keep me motivated, and they were both at the ready to go for walks with me to help me get to my 10,000 steps a day.  Of course, fall is the perfect time to decide to spend more time walking outside.

Elena was willing to go walking with us too, and we had a great wildlife spotting walk one day.

When we got back to our house, we saw that someone had raked up a perfect leaf pile, so we checked that experience off the fall list.

Elena has also been working a lot on reading.  She was my book buddy when I hosted my first Usborne online book party.

She's also been really into the Narnia movies, so she busted out our complete volume and has been reading The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe which brings great joy to my heart.

Vivian also touched my heart with her kindness.  She saw that I was making breakfast for both girls every morning, so she decided that she would surprise me by making breakfast for me.  She got up really early, and I found this waiting for me when I cam downstairs.

Not wanting to disappoint her, I took a "cool" selfie with the provided sunglasses while drinking my morning coffee.

I did, however, leave the breakfast food for her, since it was all of her favorite things ;-)

Despite all the challenges 2020 has presented, fall has been a good time for our family. The leaves have finished falling now, and we're excited for winter, snow, and the holidays.