What a difference a year makes

Fall is almost here and it is by far my favorite season.  One, because it marks me and hubs anniversary, five years baby, and two because I like apple picking, pumpkin carving, and not hearing about how YOU are on vacation.  If I don't have a elaborate trip to a fancy beach house planned then I certainly do not want to hear about how you do.  K.  Good.

It was exactly a year ago this week that we closed on our house.  It is amazing how much can happen in just one year.  I look back at pictures of when we were moving in and Isabella was still a stationary baby.  You know the stage where you can put them down in one spot and when you return they are still there.  It is the best baby stage, well, when compared to the next one where they are guaranteed to break, spill, or hurt themselves if left unattended for more then 1 minute.

Bell 3 months after we moved in...about 9 months old

Here she is yesterday.  18 months.  What a difference a year makes.

In our first year of home ownership we have learned a great deal about snow removal, heating costs, wet basements, furnace maintenance, rodent control, and lawn care along with septic systems, and what caliber bullet does the best job on chipmunks that reside in your gutters.  Oh and if you think that chipmunks are cute and killing them is awful just wait till YOU have to replace your hose 5 times in a summer because those bastards keep chewing through it.  I was all for doing target practice with those things.  Especially after one tried to play chicken with me and the lawn mower one day and darted out of the gutter right in front of me.  Talk about heart attack.  I don't know what I thought was coming out of the gutter but my heart was set on COBRA and that is how I reacted.  Just like a big gigantic poison snake was coming to get me.  Shortly after that we got a riding lawn mower.  Not that it goes very fast but I feel I have a better chance of survival against garden snakes and chipmunks when I am on my trusty rider.

So this week all the fall decor will come out of the boxes.  Plastic pumpkins, fake orange and red flowers, leaf garland, and apple scented Yankee candles will start to take over any available table space in the house.  I will plant some mums and hope they do as well as the one below.  This mum was one of the many that decorated the gazebo at our wedding and now it sits outside my doorway.  Doing VERY well I might add.



Anytime you have to use twine to tie up your mum you know you might be developing some gardening skillz.



It is one of the two pictured here.  Kind of cool I think, especially since I always thought mums were pretty much a annual flower.  I know they technically are perennials but that they almost never come back in the tough zone 4/5 area or if I personally planted it...yet another thing I have learned as a homeowner.  Well it did and I am going to chalk that up as a good omen.  Bring on the fall!