The Cozy Chronicles & Friday Photos

 Linking up with Jennifer for the Cozy Chronicles to talk about Fall/Halloween:

Fall/ Halloween traditions look different around here so this will mostly be a look back. Though I am continuing a few traditions because they are fun and who says you have to have kids at home to enjoy some young at heart activities/decor?

That which I am continuing is some fun Halloween decorating- I don’t focus on spooky/ scary things because I don’t care for that feature of Halloween.  

The Great Pumpkin(s?)

I elevate him (/them) so it is visible from the outside.

These guys light up as well:

This remote is new this year and I love it! I have three sets of Halloween lights ups that I use it for.

Back when the kids were at home, we didn’t have any traditions that we did every single year (did writing much less publicizing a fall “bucket list” exist before social media??). We did a variety of things some years from going to pumpkin patches, going to Kings Island fall festive activities, painting pumpkins, making themed sweet treats, etc.

I take that back, we did do one thing every year and that was trick or treating. The street we live on was teeming with families of young children when our kids were young. Now most of those kids are teens or young adults (though a few families with younger kids have moved in). ToT was a really fun activity and the stages of trick or treating somewhat mirrored the growing up process. For many years, kids trick or treated with a parent, then around the tween age, they were able to go alone (in our neighborhood, with their friends) and then sometime around high school, they declared themselves to have aged out of trick or treating.  

From Alyssa’s first time trick or treating (and the first of many Halloween pictures on the stairs)

To the last time that all three posed on the stairs on Halloween...

And a few of the in between years...

Trick or treating with friends (and future college roommate!)

Posing with the candy loot

Warming up by the fire after a chilly night of trick or treating

Posing with the cul-de-sac kids pre trick or treating so the moms could get a picture was a tradition

Have gloves on...will trick or treat in the cold...

I plan on dressing up for trick or treat again this year. I have been Mrs. Tootsie Roll for about ten years now...

October birthdays are fun ones as is incorporating Halloween into a birthday party. Several of Abby’s birthday parties over the years were Halloween dress up parties 

Lots of pumpkin patchin’ (again with her future college roommate)

Carving and painting

Lots of good memories! The above pictures are a drop in the bucket of the many that I have from over the years. I hope that the kids memories of fall are as pleasant as they are to me in my mind.

For Friday photos, I am having trouble getting pictures from my phone to the blog so I am just going to post some from my Nikon. If I could easily show pictures from my phone, I would be able to show that finally progress is being made on the outdoor project!

My brother John came down on Tuesday and he and I drove to nearby(ish) Cedarville to see this pretty waterfall and do a short walk around it. It is called Cedar Cliff Falls and it is in a park called Indian Mound Reserve. I had been to the falls two times before. Both times were in the spring when there was more water in the Massie Creek creating more of a spectacular drop as the water fell but it was still pretty when we saw it this week.