Autumn Ending

So I realized that yesterday I wrote that my daughter was a contentious student.  Obviously what I intended to write was that she is a conscientious student.  So...that's what happens when you combine auto-correct with rushing; now you know!  Those are two totally different words with very different meanings, and just to clarify, my daughter is not a contentious student!

Anyway, today when I was walking my son home from school, I noticed that autumn really is drawing to a close.  Everything is turning brown now, and drying up.  You can see the last of our snow on the hill in the background of the second photo.  We're supposed to get more snow on Sunday, so I'm excited for that.

I'm actually sort of thankful that this year is nearing it's end.  There were so many milestones that I was looking forward to celebrating this year, and it actually turned out to be a very difficult and kind of cruddy year.  I'm really working on making the holidays joyous and special this year so we can end 2014 on a high note.  We're a family who normally waits a week or so after Thanksgiving before we start decorating for Christmas, but not this year.  This year we're going to decorate our house on Friday!