Jealousy. I am struggling with it.
As all my friends and family are posting pictures of pumpkin patches, corn mazes, hay rides, and fair food...I struggle. The ability to enjoy the changing of the leaves ( Gods creation at its finest) all the beautiful Fall colors, and the wonderful crisp air, the suttle scent of burning leaves and bond fires yea,

 I am missing that.
 The nights out at the fair eating things you had no idea could or ever would be fried-and actually liking it! Coffee dates at starbucks with friends on evenings that you now have to wear a coat to ward off the coolness of the NC evenings, the decorations on the dining room table that mom pulled out from the attic that just always make me smile. Its one of those special things in life that I've come to realize how blessed I have been to experience the joy of the different experiences that Southern Falls bring, until all of a sudden, that wasn't my world anymore.

Or could it be....:) Whelp, thats what I kept asking myself leading up to the month of October, and...I have decided to bring Fall to Chile :) I would not let these months pass me by, so I whipped out the pumpkins, corn, and leaf crafts...and started by having the children decorate their own BIG scarecrow.  Of course that took place only after I had read them a story and explained to them what a scarecrow actually was...and corn fields ( for they weren't aware of what those were either :)) Our scarecrows hanging outside the classroom, big and proud, may or may not stand out against the bright pink flowers hanging from the ceiling, and the other "springy" decorations.But I will not be deterred, in Pre-K...It will be Fall!!


Jack o Lantern Cookies: This past week we made Pumpkin sugar cookies with orange icing and green for the little stems. Of course the kids spent half the time eating the icing out of their individual icing cups, so some of the pumpkins that went home with them...ended up being a little sparse on the icing! :)
I am also paying close to $15 to buy a..yes ONE pumpkin ( so expensive) because it will be worth it! To watch  my little ones dive their hands into the gooey center, searching for every last seed so we can cook and paint them, while knowing it is most of their very first time experiencing the gooey mess!! I mean lets be honest, that is just an experience that every child ( and adult) should have!! Its so gross yet so fun!

"Thank you" Apple sauce and Cookies for being a great Principle

Judge after you try it: Was what I told my students as they all stared into the yellow mush in front of them. They clearly had never seen anything like it before and had no intention of giving it a try. I had decided that, if I couldn't go to an apple orchard in October, I would do something fun with apples.  If only you could of seen their faces when the finished product was placed in front of them! The home made apple sauce...I think its safe to say... was a split vote down the middle between loving it ( eyes wide, big grin, licking the bowl love it) or disliking it strongly (one bite and " No want more Ms. Candace) down to one who was on the fence. Nevertheless, it was a joy peeling the apples, tossing them into a pan, adding A LOT of sugar and Cinnamon...and having 5 cheerleaders by my side the whole time who all agreed on having a fun adventure ( hot as it may of been).

Just a few facts off:
 After learning about The Prodigal son this past week in class a mother of my student pulled me aside to tell me what little Aaron's interpretation of the story had been. " There was a father who had a son who wanted all of his money, when he got the money then he left. But he lost it all and so he went back home. But the father said he couldn't come home until He had all his money and so the son went looking for it....and found it with the pigs." How I love that he got most of the facts right, yet  missed the whole theme of the story, which was the dads forgiveness!! Oh how I love 4 year olds.

Just a few steps more: And Sonya and My afternoon of random exploration downtown, would of turned into a very uncomfortable, awkward scenario. Here is what happened. I have come to realize something about myself the more places I have been and the longer i've been alive. I love to explore old church's, and if there is one with a door open, I am drawn like a magnet to its doors with excitement. So, upon glimpsing a door of an old, beautiful catholic church open, we went for a look! We noticed right away that the candles were all lit but otherwise it was very dark, but that tends to be the look of all the Catholic church's i've explored, so we continued our entrance. As we walked into the sanctuary, right before we began walking down the isle to the front of the church....I noticed 9 or 10 people sitting in pews up at the front of the church. Yet...there again, was not an unusual site when in Catholic church's, at any given time or day. And so our perusing continued towards the front of the church. It wasn't until I noticed a little old lady, dressed in what looked to be her Sunday's Best, walk to the base of the stairs that led to the stage, that I then noticed what she was walking towards..... an open casket. We must of seen the open black shiny box at the same time because we both just froze, gasped, I turned to her and silently mouthed " Is that a casket!?!?", with our mouths open...we watched the little lady walk over and peer down into the casket with flowers, not knowing what to do next. It wasn't until we both got a surge of confidence to turn around and tip toe outside, that we exited the church safely, with no interruption to the funereal to take responsibility for!  Once we rounded a corner a good 15 feet from the church we just died laughing. No Pun intended. Lesson learned in my future exploration of old, beautiful church's, check the front of the sanctuary for any oblong objects, or excess amounts of flowers.

Just started reading the Ann of Green Gables Series and I now know why my mom tells me I always reminded her of Ann. I have literally highlighted and folded so many pages, and read different parts to my roommate that are situations, thoughts or words that I feel like are my own. It is kinda crazy. Really fun read though, I would recommend it to anyone who has a daughter that is an easily distracted, imaginary dreamer, or if you yourself are just that. :)

I wasn't going to get in the picture but he waved his gun at me to come and I honestly felt frightened to do any differently!

Fun find of the week. Carbonated Flavored water ...in cans. I thought they were cute.

The Lord will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose waters never run dry. - Isaiah 58:11