It looks like Michigan is in for an early fall. It has been very cold and we have had our share of the wet and rainy days too.

The trees are beginning to take on a beautiful whimsical look of color. The kids are back in school. So the routine of getting up a bit early and rushing the kids off to school has become our new morning ritual again.

My family has been all around me lately. We are doing a few home improvements and the boys have stopped by to see how it is all going. My oldest daughter and her family are staying with us as her husband works hard on remodeling our bathroom.

Next week the painters will be here and our house will recieve a new coat of color. Just in time for fall to hit and our world will come to life for the Halloween season. This is a time of year we all love.

Picking out pumpkins and visiting our apple orchards.
Warm or cold apple cider and fresh donuts. Every year we have taken the kids and explored the world of apple fest. Now we will be able to share the same joys with our grand children. All the memories are fresh in my mind of times past.

Walking into the house and smelling cookies and apple pie baking in the oven. My mom making sure we were dressed warm enough to play out in the fall weather.

All the same things I have done with my own children.
Sitting back as they take off their sweat shirts and play football on the lawn in T-shirts and jeans.

Reaching them kleenex as they come through the door.
Into a warm house. The air still full of giggles and comments on who really won the game they just played.

Now the conversations are a little different but in most ways it is still the same. They are just a little taller and they have their own kids in their arms as they rush through the front door.

It feels good to have family all around me. As I age I seem to appreciate my family more and more.
There is nothing more precious than warm memories on a cold morning.