October, reprise

I can hardly believe that fall came, stayed, and is already beginning to fade into winter.  This year the leaves turned early with some crazy cold weather in September.  Then it rained. I think there was a full week of rain in October and I began to be very afraid of how long this winter might seem (I'm still a little weary from last winter).  But then some nice days came, and the leaves that turned early did not fall, but stayed gloriously on the trees all month long. 

After learning that leaves could be preserved by simply ironing them between waxed paper (as opposed to dipping them in beeswax), we gathered the leaves that did fall and revisited some traditional fall crafts: 

After ironing between waxed paper.

I still have some saved for our Thanksgiving table.  I must confess, that while I would probably not have done this at all if I hadn't learned of the "easy" way, I really do miss the thick layer of beeswax that leaves such a delicious scent with a touch of honey in the air. 

And we did our wax crayon rubbings melted with leaves again as well: 

This project is so pretty, and the mess is totally worth the fun the kids have shaving their crayons.

Then, at the end of the month, came Halloween.  We seem to do things en masse for this holiday.  Last year we formed "the fellowship", this year? Racing Sausages: 

(google this if you have no idea who we are).

This was the biggest hit in the city.  People were cheering, shouting, and making my kids race. "Chorizo" (#5) seems to be the most popular…and actually the hotdog (is that #2? I don't even know)…followed by "cook", who is really Polish Sausage, I think.
Anyway they got their candy, had a blast, and yes, we all ate too much sugar.  The next weekend we all dressed up as Saints (well, I didn't, but the kids), and celebrated All Saints day as it should be celebrated.  I'll have to see if I can track down pictures of that.  But for now, that brings us up to date and into November!