Any decent story about fall begins with school and football… and ends with apple picking.

Fall is made up of little things, don’t you think? It’s this crazy-busy time where we’re all excited about school, and the lazy days of summer make fall days seem to fly by. Suddenly the days are full -school, homework, sports- and everything is spicy and cool and cozy. During fall we celebrate the little things: football, pretzels, apples, first day of school haircuts and sneakers, sleepy Sundays and crazy-busy weekdays.

Back to in-person school

After a year of homeschooling, the world coming to a stop during a pandemic, and US and Canada curriculums not matching up, starting school was a nail-biting event: there were bad dreams, lots of worries, a million questions and doubt.

We are 2 months in now, and everything is going well. The children have made friends and navigated the covid and cultural changes well… just like we knew they would!

Because the entire world shut down and starting in-person school was hotly debated (and not allowed in some places, like our previous school in Yardley), here are the children’s thoughts about school & Covid:

Jack: Covid has changed my school. Now we can’t just go out and run anywhere on the playground. We have to stay in certain zones. So that means we can’t play football everyday. You have to wait until you’re in the right zone. And we use hand sanitizer every time we come in and we need to wear masks and the teachers have to wear face masks, too. It’s a real bummer.

Maria: I kind of got a little scared of the masks, so now it’s a lot easier to wear your mask all day. You have to stay at your desk unless you’re getting your book or going to the bathroom. There’s only 5 people allowed in the washroom. You can’t share anything. You can’t. Share. Anything! You have to be an armlength away from everyone. Gym is different because we aren’t using the gym; we do it outside, but if it’s raining we do it in our classroom beside our desks. Recess is really fun because you get to take off your mask.

Danny: I don’t really know most about it. We have to wear masks and you have to spread out when we do Go Noodle [a dance]. There’s groups and whatever group you are in, you have to do the center. When you’re in the hedgehog you have to do blocks. When you’re a bear you do cars and a lot of cool stuff. When you’re a fox you do playdoh and drawing. When you’re a bunny you do the kitchen. My favorite is the bears. I switch next week. Next week is tomorrow! There are 3 kids in the groups.

No matter where we live, we will always be Eagles fans.

I love that we (usually) wear our Eagles gear on game days. This picture was taken during a Sunday hike. I think it was the lookout of Devil’s Punchbowl, overlooking Stoney Creek & Lake Ontario.

For the past few games Jack has made lunch. It’s usually quite a smorgasbord of deliciousness. This is the first cake he made and decorated by himself! He and Dad also made pretzels, and they were just as good as Philadelphia Pretzel Factory! The next weekend Danny wanted to make a cake.

Here’s Maple during the games… we need to get her some Eagles gear!

Flag Football

Dave and I really enjoy watching Jack play flag. We are so thankful he was able to play, as many things are still closed. Parents were not allowed on the field, and the season was condensed, teams consolidated, the boys had to wear masks on the sidelines… but they could play! Unfortunately the season was cut short as covid numbers spiked, but Jack had a great time and has decided he wants to play for the NFL, which inspired his Halloween costume.

Birthday Time

No fall story would be complete without mentioning my birthday. We took Maple to a river, went for a bike ride, and after dinner the children had an extra-sneaky surprise for me… 2 months later and I still find a bit of string here and there! I also got 4 wonderful coffee mugs as presents :)

Apple picking

We skipped Canada’s Thanksgiving and decided to celebrate America’s Thanksgiving in a few weeks instead. We wanted to spend the day apple picking, but, you guessed it… covid. Thankfully the Niagara escarpment is good for growing apples (and grapes), so we were able to find an apple farm that could accommodate walk-ins. The entire time we were getting ready to go, Danny cried and was obstinate, saying he didn’t want to go apple picking and that it wouldn’t be fun, and he didn’t want to wear boots, and he didn’t like apples. Want to guess who loved it and asked every morning for the following few days if we could go apple picking?

So, there you have it. Fall in a nutshell! All the little things that make up our crazy, wonderful life! Not sure yet how we’ll celebrate American Thanksgiving, but that will wrap up our fall. The children are already eagerly looking ahead towards Christmas, and I’ve started the long process of making Christmas and winter masks!

Tell me, what little things make up your fall? What’s your favorite part of it all?