Themes and Plans for October

Continuing with my "themes and plans" series, here is October's installment!

I think October might be my favorite month of all ... fall is in full swing, we've adjusted to new routines and Christmas is coming at a comfortable pace. And though I don't care to see holiday decorations in the stores just yet, I do like to be in full Christmas prep mode by this month. In a whirl of planning and preparation, nature speeds up to slow down, and so do we ...

Sure, September may be just around the corner, but for today let's cast our eyes on October:

Nature:

• withered cornfields
• chipmunks scurrying over old stone walls
• crows calling on foggy mornings
• pumpkins on the vine
• chrysanthemums in gold, russet and magenta
• kale in the garden
• the cranberry harvest
• bittersweet draped along the fence
• the juncos return
• acorns underfoot
• National Squirrel Awareness Week (7-13)
• geese in black vees against brilliant blue skies
• a woolly bear caterpillar curled up tight
• The Full Hunter's Moon (26)
• fiery falling foliage
• migration underway (geese, hawks, monarchs)
• St. Luke's Little Summer
• the first frost

Food:

• comforting casseroles
• chili and cornbread
• baked beans, brown bread and ham
• cider donuts
• pumpkin muffins with streusel topping
• cranberry apple crisp
• baked apples with oats and brown sugar
• maple leaf cookies
• popcorn balls
• hot apple cider
• homemade pumpkin butter
• cinnamon sugar toast and orange spice tea
• homemade Halloween goodies
• freshly baked pretzels
• caramel apples
• pomegranates
• winter squash soup
• Vermont cheddar

Faith:

• The Month of the Holy Rosary
• The Feast of St. Therese (1)
• The Feast of the Guardian Angels (2)
• The Feast of St. Francis (4)
• The Feast of St. Luke (18)

Home & Garden:

• continue kitchen cleaning
• stock up on baking essentials
• rotate mattresses
• change over to winter bedding
• clean out and restock medicine chest
• put up storm windows
• rake
• cut and dry hydrangeas
• store outdoor toys and furniture
• clean and restock birdfeeders
• organize board games and puzzles
• buy Christmas stamps
• continue Christmas gift shopping
• organize Christmas cards
• make up cocoa mix
• order firewood

Life:

• The Topsfield Fair
• Victoria Magazine returns!
• Walk Now for Autism
• Our wedding anniversary
• All Hallow's Eve
• The World Series
• Soccer season
• Football games

Stories:

• Woody, Hazel and Little Pip
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
• Angelina's Halloween
• Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
• Squirrel Nutkin
• Nuts to You!
• Chessie the Long Island Squirrel
• Strega Nona (National Pasta Month)
• Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic
• Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf
• The Leaf Man
• The Lonely Scarecrow
• Too Many Pumpkins
• Pumpkin Moonshine
• Pumpkin Soup
• Child of Faerie, Child of Earth
• Wild Child
• St. Francis of Assisi
• Apples and Pumpkins
• Chipmunk at Hollow Tree Lane
• Every Autumn Comes the Bear

Field Trips:

• leaf peeping ride (with hot cider in thermal cups)
• a visit to a pumpkin patch
• the country fair
• an autumn hike (looking for old stone walls)
• the birdseed store

Crafts/activities:

• felt gnomes
• acorn hunting (for squirrels)
• leaf crafts
• jumping in leaves
• twig frames
• homemade seed and suet cakes
• homemade squirrel cookies
• roasting pumpkin seeds
• carving pumpkins
• work on holiday gifts
• fingerknitting

I feel compelled to mention that I do not intend to do all of the things on this list! :) I just like to brainstorm all the possibilities and then go from there. What do you love about October? Leave a comment - I'd love to know! 

Comments

[Sweetpeas4me]

I love your list of activities and the foods mentioned. I have noticed that you are a Susan Branch fan as well. I have 4 of her cook books and love them all, but my favorite is the autumn one.
I'm interested in the making of felt knomes activity you listed. Could you share the instructions for that?
Nancy in Allyn, Wa

[Mary Ellen Barrett]

Well one thing I love is this list. I just love autumn. Sweater weather, pumpkin picking, knitting scarves, raking leaves, centerpieces with gourds, crunchy ground sounds on nature walks, chubby squirrels, pumpkin bread, cinnamon in everything. :)

[Jennifer]

I'm with you both on the cinnamon, in fact I might just dig some out to top my next cappuccino today!

Dawn, you've been such great friend to me, one of the first to step off my computer screen and into 'Real Life' and you continue to share your ideas so graciously. I'm passing along the beautiful Blogger Reflection Award to you! You deserve it!
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/marihalojen/?xjMsgID=35945

[joann10]

My favorite things about October are my wonderful blessings...Dan-10/21...Becky-10/22...and Grace-10/29.

[Rachel]

I admit that October is my favourite month... but that might be because my birthday is in it... ;)

[stephanie]

What a beautiful list...thanks for linking back to September's. I missed that one!

We usually have a first SNOW in October either in the middle and/or end of the month. Also, daylight savings - one more hour to sleep in the morning and another hour to play outside after dinner! (Though it looks like America has changed it to the first Sunday of November starting this year...)

[Helen (Mary Vitamin)]

Thanks Dawn
These posts are very helpful.

[Allison]

One of my favorite traditions is recreating one of my mother's. On the first Saturday of the month I make pumpkin pancakes with hot apple cider sauce. We also love family bike rides and measuring ourselves in acorn lines.

Your blog is so much fun, Dawn!

[Heather]

My favorite month is October! That was even before one of my greatest blessings came along! My littleman will be 6 in October. I, too, love the World Series - especially the one in 2004! Hopefully again this year... I love the leaves and the crisp coolness, sweatshirts and hot tea/chocolate. Thanks for a wonderful post, Dawn.

[Julie]

I have two Oct. blessings as well, who will turn 3 on the 5th and 7 on the 17th. Our family loves fall and all it brings, but living in the Sunshine State means we pretty much have to enjoy it by proxy through pretty magazines and such lol! We were blessed to live in the U.P. of Michigan one year and experience a true fall season we will never forget. Wonderful post, Dawn.

[Theresa]

Great list, Dawn! Autumn comes a bit later here, but I do love it when it arrives! Oh, and if you are going hiking looking for old stone walls you have to add they book "Stone Wall Secrets" to your book list.

[Mary Ann]

Autumn is my favorite season of the year. I love crisp weather, clear blue skies, the smell of the fallen leaves! I love apples, and we don't eat them all summer because of all of the fresh fruit available. So fall is when we start eating apples again. I love to bake apple crisp and I have been known to make apple butter.

My son has a devotion to St. Francis, so we celebrate that on Oct. 4. I won a copy of Francis of Assisi: Activities and Coloring Fun for Children as a door prize at our curriculum fair, so we will break that out for the day.

I have a devotion to St. Therese. The boys get hot cocoa for breakfast in her honor. She had it every day while living at home.

My son will be playing fall soccer again. October is also the "tri-fecta" of pro sports at our house: we follow football, baseball and NASCAR. Thankfully, we don't have cable so we are limited as to what we can watch.

October also holds my parents' wedding anniversary and my late mother-in-law's birthday. Sadly, when I was young my best friend died in October. So there is time for me to reflect on my own mortality.

Last year, we had a severe ice storm in the middle of October. You might have seen it on the news. Ninety percent of the trees around Buffalo were damaged or destroyed. In 1993 we had a blizzard on Halloween. Such is life on the Niagara Frontier.

[Mary Alice]

Thanks for this great post, I love October, too. In the past few years, we have really loved going pumpklin picking and getting a big baking pumpkin. We carve it all up ourselves and have enough roasted pumpkin puree for one pie now and several more throughout the fall. I also love all winter squashes, so I try to prep and freeze lots of squash puree for soups and sides.

[Heather Duncan]

I love, love, love your ideas. I must start to do a list along these lines as well. I gleen so much from your posts.

[Kira]

just reading your list makes me feel happy and cozy!

[Lisa]

Great ideas Dawn. I love your monthly lists!! Keep 'em coming please!

[Caroline]

Thank you for another wonderful list!

[Jen]

THANK YOU!!! You have taken the work out of planning for me. Since I don't have one of your famous journals, I scrawl notes on Post-its, stick them all over my house and then they fall and I forget.....and then you reach into my mind, grabbing all my ideas and compile a list of all (and more of) the things I want and need to do. Thanks for these thorough and thoughtful lists.

[Julie]

Hi... I just found your blog and love it! We are a Catholic family and I am a stay at home mom with three children ages 8, 6, and 3. I love your monthly plan idea and linked to your September list where I noticed you listed - review chores and allowances. We have been struggling with getting started on creating "work" for our children to earn money. Would you mind sharing what has been working for your family?

[residentmuse]

The Topsfield Fair! I was just thinking I should take the kids this year! I had no idea you were so close, I have popped by your blog from time to time (mostly I lurk on the 4Real boards). I grew up in Woburn but now we are in Maine. What a great great list you have! Now I'm going to have to see your hyper-link to September.

[Maria Cunningham (Maria B)]

Dawn, you are incredible. You have given me so much inspiration for this year. After fifteen plus years of homeschooling, I was feeling "burned out". You have truly given me a renewed hope and excitement for starting my school year. Bless you!

[Cecile]

Wonderful blog and post. I come alive in the autumn too. October is when the world mellows and yellows. The body cools down, but the heart warms up with toasty colors and thoughts of the holidays approaching. Your blog among a few others inspires me to start my own! Thank you.

[Cecile]

Wonderful blog and post. I come alive in the autumn too. October is when the world mellows and yellows. The body cools down, but the heart warms up with toasty colors and thoughts of the holidays approaching. Your blog among a few others inspires me to start my own! Thank you.