the arboretum

I love the Dallas Arboretum in the Fall! It is magically beautiful, and filled to the brim with pumpkins and flowers around every corner. As luck would have it, the temperatures were less than Fall-like on the day we went, which resulted in a lot of complaining mixed in with the beautiful scenery......but I'm still glad we made the effort. I'm still glad that we went to breakfast that morning as a family (even if the service was pretty bad and the kids were absolutely starving by the time their meal arrived). I'm still glad that I have the pictures from that day even if the sun was blazing and the kiddos were squinting in most of them. I'm still glad that we walked around together, and pointed out the beauty surrounding us, and held hands, and had snacks on our blanket even if it would have been easier (and cooler) to let the kids run around in our own back yard. I'm still glad we made these memories.

the patch

It's a family tradition.....our annual trip to the local pumpkin patch (and I use the term "pumpkin patch" very loosely here). The kids look forward to it all year, and as soon as they see the tent going up, they start asking if it's time to head to the Patch.

It was over 90 degrees on the day we decided to go, and the sun was bright & brutal which made for less than ideal photo opportunities, but we made the best of it, and brought home several pumpkins to brighten up the front porch.

the comfort of traditions

I love traditions! I love that my children are still so very young, yet they already look forward to some of the things that we do each and every year. Things like going to the Pumpkin Patch as a family, having the Christmas Eve party in our home, going to Mississippi for Thanksgiving, making an ornament to give out to friends and family at Christmas, drinking green milk on ST. Patrick's Day, and going to the 4th of July parade in our little town.

Traditions are an important part of my parenting, because they are comforting to me as well as to my kids, and I am always on the lookout for ideas to incorporate into our yearly or even daily traditions.....simple, yet meaningful ways to celebrate the everyday. Hmmm, maybe I will start a little binder to collect all the ideas I come across :)

For now, here are few I plan on putting into practice this year:
1. This is not technically a "tradition" but it is something I have started doing to showcase our Halloween photos from each year. I have found that I take a TON of photos during the month of October, and I like having little mini books from each year to set out when October rolls around. I am planning on digging back through my Halloween scrapbook stuff tonight so I can make an album for our 2010 photos like this one a la Ali Edwards

2. I really like the idea of starting a "Book of Thanks" for Thanksgiving this year. It basically consists of having everyone write or draw what they are thankful for that year, and then pasting in a photo of the entire group. Such a simple idea and so fun to pull out each year and look back at everyone's entries.

image via eighteen25

3. We are down to mustard in the fridge, so I MUST make a trip to the grocery store today!! While I'm there, I will definitely be picking up a box of wax in the canning section so the kiddos and I can make waxed leaves sometime this week. Seems like a fun, relatively easy craft that the kids will enjoy AND can be used as decoration for the mantel!

image via Clover Lane

I would LOVE to hear about your favorite family traditions!!