Autumn Leaf Buntings

 These are just a few of the beautiful autumn leaves 2 of our grandchildren and I collected last week .

 Our daughter's two youngest children spent a few days & nights with us last week ( thank-you daughter ! ) and we had a special project to do together with autumn leaves.

 We gathered colorful fallen leaves and arranged them as desired on wax paper. Each grandchild was free to arrange the leaves any way they wished. Granddaughter chose her leaves ...



...then ironed the leaves between 2 sheets of wax paper.

Tah-dah ! Lovely, don't you think ?

 Grandson chose his leaves and did the same.

 Tah-dah !

 Both grandchildren arranged and crafted their bunting / banners by cutting the wax paper, arranging the leaves, and ironing the design by themselves.

 Beautiful autumn decorations hung by clothespins on twine. They took their autumn buntings home with the sugar cookies they baked . I must say, their handmade buntings look even better in the windows of their home and their mommy loves them ! ( the buntings and her children )

These two grandchildren also helped me with yard work and spent a lot of time helping their Grandpa with a very challenging jig-saw puzzle. Any day spent with these grandchildren is a very good day and we are so blessed. God is so good to us !

Playing With Pumpkins & Squashes

 I was playing with my ceramic pumpkins and squashes the other day trying to decide how I want to arrange them on our buffet.

 This looks too cluttered but I am leaving the arrangement this way for now while I think about it. Do you ever decorate that way ?

Not all my pumpkins and squashes are ceramic. I traded a few dozen of my chickens' eggs and some lavender bunches for this huge blue squash at a Poultry Swap last weekend. Isn't she a beauty ? She even matches most of my home décor. I was told she is a meat eater squash grown from heirloom seeds. I am going to harvest her seeds and plant some of these beauties for myself. I have never been too interested in growing veggies and garden produce but now I am . Have any of you ever grown these ? Any tips ?

Still excited my favorite season has begun , I am doing a happy dance in my heart right now.

Missing Little "T"

This Autumn tableau is in our sun room on top of the bottom half of an antique Kitchen Queen. Little 'T', our youngest grand-daughter kept suggesting I re- decorate it with the Christmas village and lights she remembers from her visit here last Christmas . She did enjoy standing in front of this display quite often though. There is a little fairy in a nest in a leaf bowl on the far left of the display. "T" seemed especially delighted at this.

The tiny bears and Miss Mouse joined our granddaughters for tea one day last week.

Little "T" and her cousins KN and MN who live very close to me, all had a tea party. The menu was cupcakes, brownies, cheese,crackers, cucumbers and ranch dressing...oh, potato chips too. ( Hey, I am a Grandma, not the one in charge of good nutrition) There were 2 tea pots, one held hot chocolate, the other peppermint tea. Of course, you HAVE to have marshmallows for the hot chocolate, so each granddaughter got their own bowl of marshmallows to add to her hot chocolate.

The granddaughters all dressed up for tea and brought their own dolls along. I had a good time with these precious little girls, and I hope they did too. Little "T" then went home with her cousins to spend the night with them. She was so happy and excited.

Little "T" with her Poppa. I do believe he is one of her favorite people. She often calls our home and when I answer the phone her first question is " can I talk to Poppa?".When I explain to her he is at work she asks when he will be home and then the conversation is pretty much over...after all, I am NOT Poppa. During her days here we had a wonderful time together, but every day she would ask where her Poppa was and when he would be home. Every hour or so the question would pop up. When Poppa did finally come home she would run to him and leap into his arms, follow him around talking to him and asking him a LOT of questions. My Husband definitely has a little buddy in Little "T" ! Little "T" went home today and I miss her. Waking up with her in the house is like waking up to perpetual sunshine. What a wonderful blessing she is. I have put all the toys away, cleaned up the spare bedroom she slept in, and looked at the photos I took of her during her visit several times. The blessing of this week- long visit is one I dared not ever hope we could have and just look at how my expectations and prayers were met and dealt beyond what I could have hoped.