Our Top Ten Things We Love About Fall

September 6, 2024

Fall is such a beautiful season and it is a favorite for many of us! It fills our senses with so much to take in and enjoy. We asked our readers: “In addition to going to Pumpkin Patches, what do you love about Fall?”. We loved the responses and put them all together and called it:

Our Top Ten Things We Love About Fall

1. Sights

Changing colors of leaves, beauty of nature, seeing the leaves fall, beautiful fall colors

2. Sounds

Leaves crunching under your feet, crackle of campfire

3. Touch

Cool, crisp weather, cozy hooded sweatshirts, snuggly sweaters, fun jackets, favorite jeans

4. Smell

Campfires, kettle corn cooking, foods baking, roasted pumpkin seeds

5. Taste

Hot chocolate, chili and soup, baking, kettle corn, candy corn (and peanuts!), hotdogs and marshmallows cooked over bonfires, s’mores, apple picking and eating/making apple pies, apple crisp, caramel apples, and apple cider

6. Football

Football, especially Husker football!

7. Everything pumpkin

Decorating and carving pumpkins, roasting pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pie flavored Blizzards and Shakes, pumpkin spiced coffees and creamers, pumpkin everything!

8. Pumpkin Patches

Going to Pumpkin Patches and Fall Festivals and enjoying all they have to offer – hayrack rides, picking pumpkins and apples, duck races, corn pits, being outside, fun activities, yummy food

9. Halloween

Halloween is one of those holidays that we can celebrate all month long! We love decorating, haunted houses, and finding the perfect costume

10. Family

Enjoying Fall and everything it has to offer with your family was by far the most mentioned! We enjoy snuggling up with kids for a family movie night, all the things available for families to do together, hunting, fishing, yardwork, celebrating traditions and creating new ones, just hanging out with the family, enjoying holiday feeling, indoor activities, family dinners, craft fairs, and building leaf piles and jumping in them! Fall brings a feeling and sense of family.

What do you love most about Fall? Anything more you would add?

My New Year’s Resolution in One Word

January 2, 2013

Recently on Money Saving Mom, she challenged readers to pick one word to be their focus for 2013. Many different words immediately popped into my head – organize (a popular one!), focus, family, goals, peace, balance, patience…

After some deep thought while sledding with my children yesterday, I decided on one:

LAUGHTER

I can learn so much from my family, and laughter is key. My daughter laughs at everything, and tries to make us laugh all the time – and is often very successful! My son is very creative and even mundane tasks become an adventure. My husband loves building forts, singing songs, and being a human jungle gym with the kids, relishing in the moment and not getting too worked up about other worries of the day.

Over the holidays, one of my favorite days was when we did not have power for most of the day. We played games, colored, read stories, and cuddled in front of the fire. It was a day filled with so much laughter and joy!

My focus for 2013 is to allow laughter to fill my day, instead of always having a ‘to-do’ list running through my head. I can still work on organization, exercise, cooking more, etc. but with an added dose of laughter, I will be creating memories and moments and not just completing tasks.

Bring on more dance parties in the living room, sledding in the cold, puzzles on the kitchen floor, cuddling on the couch, baking messes in the kitchen – 2013 is going to be a blast!

What word will be your focus for 2013?

OneWord2013_laughter150

Special thanks to Melanie at Only A Breath for making this awesome button!

Make A Difference Monday: Charley’s Heart

May 7, 2012

$The Charley\'s Heart Logo.$

Charley's Heart

Today’s Make A Difference Monday post is a very special one.

Two years ago this May, my husband’s cousin and her husband welcomed a beautiful baby girl named Charlotte. One year ago this May, Charlotte earned her angel wings. Her parents created Charley’s Heart to help facilitate the mission of supporting the heart community, fund continued research for congenital heart defects, raise awareness, and above all, to celebrate the life of this special little girl.

One of the special projects created is Books for Charley.

Books for Charley was an idea born out of a family member’s desire to help us celebrate and honor our daughter Charlotte after she earned her wings in May 2011. What started out as an idea to request books in lieu of gifts for a birthday party, quickly turned into a drive that allowed us to donate over 1,200 books to Omaha Children’s Hospital (Omaha, NE) and the Avera Pediatric Specialty Clinic (Sioux Falls, SD). The response that we received from individuals across the country was beyond anything that we could have anticipated and reminded us of just how many people our little girl’s story had touched. The generosity of others has allowed us to “give back” to the facilities that did so much for our family during Charlotte’s short life.

This year, the hope is to expand the reach of our donations to Children’s Hospitals across the country. Each book will be affixed with a special “Charley’s Heart” sticker. Keep in mind, too, that these books are going to sick kiddos in hospital and clinic settings, and so please send NEW books only.

How can you help?

Please consider donating to Charley’s Heart and the Books for Charley program. You are welcome to mail new books, drop them off in Omaha or Sioux Falls, or donate money which will all go towards the purchase of new books! Please visit here for more information on helping out these very special children.

Thank you so much for reading, and please feel free to share with your friends and family using the social icons below.

We love you sweet Charlotte! Very, very much!

This is part of Make A Difference Monday, highlighting people and agencies who are making a difference in other’s lives, sharing encouraging stories of wonderful acts of kindness, and offering little tidbits that will help support and encourage each of us along the way.

Make a Difference Monday

April 16, 2012

The mission of The Spirit of Saving is “Lifting Your Spirit. Helping You Save.” I have focused much of my energy in these first three months of blogging on ways to help you save, and I intend to keep doing that. I also hope to focus more on Lifting Your Spirit, and providing inspiration and encouragement to help each of us live fully the lives that we are intended to live.

On Mondays, I am going to begin a series called “Make A Difference Monday.” I hope to highlight people and agencies who are making a difference in other’s lives, share encouraging stories of wonderful acts of kindness, and offer little tidbits that will help support and encourage each of us along the way.

How can we make a difference in someone’s life? Even something that we perceive as small can have a lasting impact on another person. We all know people who have inspired us in some way – to do more, to volunteer more, to give more, to share more of ourselves. We each have amazing gifts that we can share to make other’s lives a little brighter. We cannot do everything, but we can do something to help make the world a little better.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ~Margaret Mead

CC Image courtesy of Krystal T.

Our Top Ten Things We Love About Fall

1. Sights

2. Sounds

3. Touch

4. Smell

5. Taste

6. Football

7. Everything pumpkin

8. Pumpkin Patches

9. Halloween

10. Family

LAUGHTER

Today’s Make A Difference Monday post is a very special one.

One of the special projects created is Books for Charley.

How can you help?

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