This post is a Hallmark sponsored post. I am being paid by Hallmark to write it, but all writing, ideas and opinions are mine. Thankfully, Hallmark and I share the same idea–that little moments are to be celebrated and that good people, good efforts and good intentions deserve a spotlight. See Hallmark Life is a Special Occasion for more details, like them on Facebook, and/or sign up for their e-mail messages HERE.

Flour covered every inch of my kitchen island last night, and buried in its scattered dust were measuring spoons, spices and little fingerprints. It was our first batch of pumpkin bread–a tradition which launches the season for us, as funny as that may sound coming from a girl in southern Florida.

“Is it really fall, Mom?” Lainey asked as she flung a spoonful of cloves toward the mixing bowl and missed.

“Yep.  It turned fall this weekend,” I answered.  She smiled, shook her flour-covered hands and ran to tell Brett. 

“Daddy, it’s fall now!  We can do cozy things.”

She returned to the counter with new excitement, and together we rattled off the list of things we were going to enjoy now that it’s fall.  Like fires and blankets and movies and cider, nature walks and baking and decorating and friends.  Even though it’s ninety degrees outside right now and the closest apple orchard is a plane ride away.

What I love about this entire conversation though, is that my girl’s cues for fall came entirely from me.  How quickly she shifted into seasonal celebration, prompted by her mama’s confirmation and memories of things we’ve done in the past. I might not have golden fields or fiery foliage to tell my girls it’s fall, but I have my own memories–rituals I want to recreate that rely less on weather and environment and more on family and home.

This, of course, doesn’t mean I won’t go to the ends of the earth to bring a little bit of fall environment to our otherwise barren landscape (by barren, I’m referring to majestic palms and calming ocean–I’m exaggerating due to my current Michigan withdrawl).  So yesterday after school, Lainey and I set out in efforts to bedazzle our home with fall.  Hay bales. I had to have them.  Brett caught wind of our intent as we were pulling out of the driveway yesterday. 

“Seriously?  Hay bales?  Dude, I’m allergic to that stuff.  For real?  You have to have them?” he asked.

“They’re for the kids,” I answered.  End of story.  (Note:  “They’re for the kids” will get you anything in life).

We returned home two hours later, trunk filled with two hay bales, a pumpkin, a few gourds, two cans of pumpkin and a bundle of wheat.  Also known as, we returned home happy.

Brett rolled his eyes while he pulled it all out, setting it up at our front entrance as I directed. And even though he had to back the car out, sweep out the back with first one broom and then a stiffer bristled broom and then finally with a vacuum, I think he’s cool with it. I mean, it’s for the kids.

My Top Five Fall Memories and Favorites:

1.  Living with my grandparents in college when fall meant drives to the orchard, oatmeal apple crisp after dinner, cider with our lunch trays and telling my grandparents goodnight before I drove up to the college track at night to go running
2.  Warm sugared donuts from Blake’s Cider Mill
3.  Receiving a giant box of leaves from my cousin Joann in Michigan, every year since Lainey was born
4.  Wearing tights–even in Florida, even if it’s hot
5.  The Elementary School Leaf Project–saving maples and oaks and aspens between sheets of waxed paper, thumbing through leaf identification books, making crayon rubbings from my favorite leaves. 

What are your favorite fall memories and favorites? Hallmark and I would love to hear about how you and your family enjoys this season.

To see other Hallmark posts on this blog, click HERE.To see other Hallmark posts on this blog, click HERE.

This post is a Hallmark sponsored post. I am being paid by Hallmark to write it, but all writing, ideas and opinions are mine. Thankfully, Hallmark and I share the same idea–that little moments are to be celebrated and that good people, good efforts and good intentions deserve a spotlight. See Hallmark Life is a Special Occasion for more details, like them on Facebook, and/or sign up for their e-mail messages HERE.

So the first day of kindergarten happened today, and I’m still processing all of the emotions (there’s a lot to process). Until I write about how these first couple of days felt for all of us, I’ll start with something easy…what we wore.

During first day preparations last night, I happened to check Instagram to see my dad posted photos of my own first day of kindergarten. Which brings me to the notable interjection of why in heaven’s name did I show my dad how to use Instagram? It is now only used on his behalf to post photos of the past (my buck teeth and permed bangs) and Photoshopped works of art with my head on other bodies. I digress.

Looking at those photos from twenty-seven years ago, I can’t help but smile. My mama’s style is repeating a generation. I love my girls in saddle shoes; I dig collars tucked over layers; and cuffed pants, a good bang trim and hair ribbons are little girl essentials in my book.

I noticed after the comments on a few photos I posted to Instagram yesterday that a little one’s budding style whether it be independent or parent-influenced is fodder for mama discussion much like breast feeding vs. bottle or homeschooling vs. public. Some mamas frown on cartoon character clothing while some hold true to “whatever makes them smile.” Some mamas love school uniforms for their ease and equality while some love the expression interchanging outfits provide. And all mamas fall somewhere along the line of rooting for our kids’ creativity and independent style while still breathing out our own to them, perhaps even unintentionally, by the choices we make. It’s why Lainey slips on a Bears jersey on Sunday afternoons in the fall–because she knows it makes her daddy smile.

And my girl’s first day of school outfit? It says a little bit about us both. It says I only have two kids right now and can manage to find the time to evenly part hair and tie ribbons. It says Mama loves tweed, Lainey loves red, and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because I see my own mama’s style in there too. It says this is probably the last year she’ll be happy to wear t-strap little girl shoes with double buckles. It says we did a potty practice in it twice before school to make sure she could unbutton and reposition on her own.

And as much as it matters to me–this nostalgic first day and what she wore–my girl sadly doesn’t quite get it yet, evident by tonight’s preparation for Day Two tomorrow.

After packing her lunch tonight, I held up three dresses for Lainey. “I pulled these from the dryer, and they all smell good. Which one do you want to wear tomorrow?”

She didn’t even have to look up to answer. “Nuffing. I’m not going back to school.”

I smiled. “Alright then, so the striped one it is. Let’s go brush our teeth.”

Do you remember any of your first day of school outfits? What do they say about your own style? And what do your kids’ back-to-school ensembles say about you or your child’s style this year?

Oh, and I’ll be back late tomorrow to talk about the memorable first day. It was very hard for both of us. But in one day…we’ve learned so much.

To see other Hallmark posts on this blog, click HERE.

This post is a Hallmark sponsored post. I am being paid by Hallmark to write it, but all writing, ideas and opinions are mine. Thankfully, Hallmark and I share the same idea–that little moments are to be celebrated and that good people, good efforts and good intentions deserve a spotlight. See Hallmark Life is a Special Occasion for more details, like them on Facebook, and/or sign up for their e-mail messages HERE.

We have this thing, Heidi and I. It’s a silly but needful ritual, and we both do it whenever we fly—a last minute phone call right before we take off, and it goes a little something like this:

“Plane leaves in five minutes, you know the drill, right?” I say.

Heidi reassures me. “Yes, yes, I know. You’ll be fine, you’ll have a safe flight, but if something happens, I have to run over to your house and clean it before any grievers show up. I know, I know.”

“And my kids?” I continue.

“Your kids are my kids,” she says. “They will forever be happy, and I will make sure of it. They will know how much you love them. You don’t ever have to worry about that. Now go order a Bloody Mary and read the Sky Mall catalogue. Call me when you land,” she’ll finish.

Your kids are my kids. It’s part of the village pact, an exaggerated statement perhaps because no one loves a baby like her own mama, but what an endearing phrase for a friend to hear. To know our most important job and our love for our most cherished gift in life—our kids—is shared with our friends and family.

As part of a group of contributing writers for Hallmark, we are often given helpful prompts and ideas for monthly themes. Many of these focus on the importance of correspondence—writing our friends and family and expressing our appreciation for what they bring to our lives (Have you seen the Tell Me commercial? Gets me every time).

These prompts are such good reminders, and considering the important role our friends and family assume by supporting us in loving our children, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to make note of some of the most meaningful gestures our friends and family do—things they might not even notice—that make us stop and smile and thank our lucky stars that we’re doing this together. Mi casa su casa. Your kids are my kids.

Friends and Family,

You might not know how very much it means to us when you chase our kids down for hugs before you leave our house, but we notice.

How you create special nicknames for our girls—and they know these names are just between you and them. Like High Five for Lainey. Or Nelson Cornelius.

We love how when you play with our girls, you get right down on the floor with them even though your back will hurt the next day. You let them climb on your head and you pretend that picking shoes out for Polly Pocket is the most fun you’ve ever had.

Don’t think we didn’t notice when we came over your house that Nella’s birth announcement is still taped to your fridge next to that crayon drawing Lainey made you—the one with stick figures that says PGIPBBUKL. We think it means “I love you.”

When you come over for dinner, you probably don’t know that we talk about you when you leave. We noticed how you turned down a comfy seat at the adult table in exchange for squeezing in a pint size chair at the kid table. We saw your legs were turned all cock-eyed and your knees hit the edge, but we also saw how radiant Lainey’s smile beamed because you chose to share your dinner with her. You didn’t have to eat the macaroni, but you did.

We love the way you pick our kids up and squeeze them—how you’ve pulled them right from our own arms without even asking, since the day they were born, because you know we don’t care. You know we want them to love you and we’re thrilled to see them in your arms.

We smile when you grimace through Lainey’s hair brushing, and we love how you let her put your hair into fourteen ponytails. We think it’s even funnier when you forget to take them out.

When you ask Austyn how his classes are going, we hear you. When you come back a month later and remember that he’s interested in nutrition and you offer some connections to help him on his career path, we’re moved.

We see those notes you write for our kids on the chalkboard–even if we don’t notice them until a week after you were here.

And when we’re scared for the future or hesistant of the “what if,” truly you have no idea how loved we feel when you tell us that you will be there. That our kids will be okay. That no matter what we face in the coming years, we’re not alone.

It takes a village, and we are so glad you are a part of ours.

Because I am in love with rituals and ceremonies, my babies were welcomed to this earth with friends and family in a special beach celebration. Both girls were surrounded by their village when they were tiny and new, and I will never forget the feeling of community that encircled our family at those ceremonies. I recently found a printout of the words our friends and family said together at Nella’s celebration. Written by my dad and recited by those we love, they sum up the responsibility we all have in raising our children together:

As Nella’s family and friends, we accept our responsibility to assist her parents. As they provide Nella a loving home in which to grow, we will uphold her with our love and prayer, guide her with our counsel and example, and encourage her with our affirmation and embrace. We will be careful not to set limits for her dreams but always celebrate and applaud her every effort. Make us open to learn from Nella’s wonder while always reminding her of her worth.

We all have special things that stand out to us–little gestures our friends and family do for our kids that make us feel loved and special. What notable actions have you remembered that make you appreciate your village? Or do you do something that lets your friends and family know their kids are important? Hallmark and I would love to hear about more ways in which we can all fulfil our role in joining our friends and family to raise and love their children.

To see other Hallmark posts on this blog, click HERE.