Fall Fun

Fall is in full swing here at the Rutledge house!  The fall wreath has been hung and the mums and pumpkins have taken over the front porch.  I love fall.  It's my favorite season.  I love the cold mornings and the crisp afternoons.  I love orange (go Vols!) and the smell of fresh apples.  And I will admit to already having indulged in two pumpkin spice lattes via Starbucks :)  YUMMM!!

Will came home from school last week with his handmade bird feeder.  I took some pics just to share with you.  The sticky, peanut buttery mess was hung by our little guy right on the back porch.  He checks it from time to time to see if the bird seed has been eaten.  I'm not sure that it has....

As one of our little family traditions, we take the boys to Burt's Pumpkin Patch in the North Georgia Mountains every year.  We made the trip this past weekend.  Our whole family looks forward to it - the pumpkins, the picnic and the apple pickin' afterwards.  I look forward to everything but the car ride there.  The hour and a half drive through the curvy mountain roads doesn't do much for me, but it's worth it in the end :)  Here are the pictures of our little adventure:

Ready to leave! 

Sigh.... I'm thinking it's time to do something about Brooks' hair :( 

I'm crackin' at this pic - Will's face and Brooks kissing on a total stranger...

Our picnic spot...

Just for kicks, I'm showing you a couple of pics of last year's trip.  Both boys have grown, but Brooks has grown so much!! Will looks more "boyish" and less like a baby.  (Yes, Will wore the same shirt this year.  Brooks obviously outgrew his.)  And Brandon and I BOTH have less hair this year :)  I think Brandon looks less "boyish" too...

After the pumpkin patch, a hayride, and a picnic by a beautiful creek, we drove the boys a little way down the road to an apple orchard.  Unfortunately, Brooks fell fast asleep and missed the fun of the orchard, but Will had a blast.  He was really into it.  It's probably a good thing Brooks was asleep.  I can imagine he would have been more interested in the rotting apples on the ground than the fresh apples in the tree.

We now have tons of apples for the eating and several beautiful pumpkins for the decorating :)  Will gets to visit another pumpkin patch with his school next week, so I'm sure we'll be adding a few more little pumpkins to our collection.