Marines, More Candy, Mostly Cloudy Weather

The United States Marine Corps celebrates its 238th birthday today and tomorrow is Veteran's Day. So, I thought I'd share a couple of old photographs my mom shared with me from my Grandma's days as a Marine.  

Back in the day, lady Marines had to march in pencil skirts and high heels.  That couldn't have been easy.

I think she must have been the most adorable Marine ever.  =)

As for us, we are enjoying the fall foliage and chillier temperatures.  It usually starts snowing here in December, so we are going to enjoy these last few weeks of fall.

The Halloween decorations are all down (I think), but the candy goes on for forever.   Russell and I have been helping ourselves to all of Patrick's candy and some of Claudia's stash (which he keeps under her bed, allotting herself a piece after school and after dinner), but we've got a long way to go to finish it all off.  Not a bad problem to have, though.  

School swim lessons started this week.

It went really well!  Nothing but smiling faces once they all jumped in.

The quote that accompanies this picture:  "Daddy says he doesn't want to watch Peppa Pig!  He says he's going to watch football instead!"  Hmmf and Pfff!

She's my beautiful mess of curls and cookie crumbs.

It rained here almost every day this past week.  Claudia did what most people do, pulled on some (way-too-big) leg warmers and curled up with a (few dozen) good book(s).

The rain makes everything shiny and bright.

And it helps little sweet things to grow.

But sadly, it will make my pumpkins rot prematurely, so I'm ready for some sun.

And until the rain went away, these two spent every evening last week smooshed together, in their go-to spot in the living room, sharing (and also fighting over) books, tablets and the remote control.

I think the rain is gone now, so hopefully we can resume life outdoors this week. I hope everyone has a great week!