Fall is quickly approaching here in North Carolina!!  Fall makes me so HAPPY!  By now, I am done with the sunshine and the swimming pool.  It was a great summer, but quite frankly, I was over it!

For my tween, fall means college football!  He was able to go to Florida to watch BYU play FSU.  College football is just one of the activities he loves about fall.  Here are his top ten activities that he is looking forward to this year.

1.  Taking a trip to Mikes Farm to go on a hayride and pick out his favorite pumpkin.

2.  Halloween – choosing and putting together a fun costume to go trick-or-treating in.

3.  Candy Corn and all the other yummy treats that go along with fall.

4.  Gathering together with his friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving and help out with the pie making and turkey carving.

5.  Long Saturdays on the couch watching college football.

6.  Chilly Saturdays running around the soccer field trying to stay warm when the weather turns chilly.

7.  Raking up big piles of leaves to run and jump into, only to rake them up again and do it all over again.

8.  Going for walks and bike rides WITHOUT dripping in sweat.

9.  Watching ‘Star Wars the Clone Wars’ on Friday nights.

10.  Cleaning and cutting out jack-o-lantern’s to display for Halloween.

As you can see, both my tween AND I are more then ready for the fall to get here.  I know it is right around the corner and I am ready….come on Fall!!

What are some of you and your tweens favorite things to do in the Fall?

I tell you one thing, I love birthdays!  Most of all, I love my children’s birthdays!  I love having a whole day to spoil them and make them feel SPECIAL!!!

We have a few birthday traditions we do around our house.  On the morning of a birthday, the birthday fairy always comes and leaves a gift at the bottom of their bed.  It is usually something small and simple but is wrapped and waiting for them when they wake up.  We also allow the kids to pick out ANY cereal they want for their birthday.  This is especially exciting because I never let them buy sugar cereals and you bet they get cookie crisp or something super sugary like that!!  We also let them choose a restaurant to go to for dinner.  It is usually a toss-up between Chuck-E-Cheese or Texas Roadhouse.  I love traditions and love that they know some specific things they get to look forward to for their birthday.

I don’t always have a birthday party for them.  Every other year or so I let them  invite their friends over for a birthday party.  I let them pick a theme and we go for it.  This year, my 7-year-old chose a Star Wars theme.  We had such a good time planning that party.  The Internet was a great place to get ideas.

Getting ready for the party was a family affair and everyone got excited during the process.  We moved all the furniture out of the front room  and draped black industrial plastic from the ceiling to the floor.  We covered the plastic in glow in the dark stars, hung planets from the ceiling and used a black light to make the boys felt like they were in a distant galaxy. 

The boys had such a good time together and the birthday boy was bursting with happiness.  Another year and another birthday gone and LOTS more fun birthday’s to celebrate over the years!

What birthday traditions do you have?