We had some great posts this week about how you all are celebrating Fall in your various locations. Thanks so much for contributing. If you’d like to blog about your family’s fall celebration traditions, I’d love to include them in next Friday’s recap. Just leave a comment here with a link to your blog.

Taralyn shared her family’s love of camping in the fall. She explains it this way:

One of my most favorite things to do during the Fall is to camp (in the mountains or the forest. Anywhere with trees.) and wake up to a crisp morning where we can drink hot chocolate and sit by the fire.

Amy from The Thoughtful Parent is hoping to make it to a local fall festival or pumpkin patch.

Of course, I also look forward to dressing up our little one in a first Halloween outfit.

Holly loves fall because she gets double the wardrobe. What a great attitude!

I get to use my summer clothes on the days that are really warm and finally pull out the winter items those days it gets chilly. Every girl’s dream twice the clothes.

Vanessa from I Never Grew Up shares a delicious, organic Peach and Blackberry cobbler with fruit from local farmers’ markets.

Fall is my favorite.  I plead with September and October to go by oh-so-slowly (they never listen)

Kristin took her little one to the Hogle Zoo to see all the new babies: elephant, giraffe, snow leopard and tigers oh my!

The zoo is a great place to visit in the fall. The weather is cooler so the animals are more active and it’s not so exhausting on the visitors either. Plus, kids are back in school so it’s not as crowded.

Hailey found a delicious sugar cookie recipe and made and decorated cookies with her little chef. Who looks adorable in his apron, by the way.

I can feel Fall in the delicious air. I’ve been told to relish these next two savory weeks before the real cold sets in. The transition between seasons is one of the greatest creations.

Thanks again for contributing. Please go read their full posts and leave lots of warm, fuzzy comments If you haven’t yet, please take a minute to enter the giveaway, too.

The changing colors of leaves from lush green to rich red, yellow, brown and orange truly signifies Fall to me. I have lived in Utah, Vermont and now Tennessee and in each place we lived very close to the mountains where we take drives and hikes to see the fall leaves changing colors.

I mentioned Monday that we saw leaves changing a few weeks ago in Cumberland Gap National Park. I love it most when the leaves dry out and they crunch when you step on them. Even now I go out of my way to crunch fall leaves under my feet.

In honor of fall leaves, here are a few rhymes you can do with your little ones. The words lend themselves quite easily to actions little ones can do to bring the rhymes to life.

Leaves Are Falling All Around

(adapted from Rain is Falling All Around by Moiselle Renstrom)

Leaves are falling all around

On the housetops on the ground

Leaves are falling on my nose,

On my head and hands and toes.

Autumn Leaves

Leaves are floating softly down

They make a carpet on the ground.

Then whoosh! The wind comes whistling by.

And sends them dancing to the sky.

Image credit: Forest Wander, Terms and Conditions of Use

Nothing says fall to me like weather cool enough to enjoy a bowl of soup. I don’t particularly think of myself as a soup person, but after a summer of hot weather that leaves me wanting nothing but popsicles and ice cream, I’m always excited to have that first bowl of soup in the new season.

This year I branched out and made French Onion soup. My husband had mentioned some time ago (years, maybe) that he like this soup. I didn’t think much of it since I was not interested in a soup consisting solely of onions. But I found a souper simple recipe in a crockpot cookbook and reading the recipe actually made me salivate!

I started by chopping the onion which consequently made my eyes water something fierce. The mound of chopped onions struck me as gorgeous and I had to grab my camera and capture the beauty.

Next I sautéed the onions in half a stick of butter until they were a golden brown. The mound of onions cooked down to a succulent caramel color. I added 1/3 cup flour and stirred till it was mixed well with the butter on the onions. Next I added the beef broth, about 60 oz, then the Worcestershire sauce and stirred until it started to boil and thicken. I transferred the soup to the crockpot, added the bay leaves and let simmer for the rest of the day.

To serve, I ladled soup into individual ceramic bowls topped with grated Italian cheeses (romano, mozzerella, asiago, parmesan, and provolone) and pooped them into the oven. I cut slices of French bread, buttered and sprinkled with garlic then toasted them in the oven as well. It was souper easy and souper yummy.

To end the evening, we enjoyed a batch of homemade cookies and cream ice cream. Hey, it’s not officially fall, yet! What are your favorite fall entrées? (We’ll cover fall sweets in another post)

If you haven’t already, please visit the Introductory post to the Fall Fling where you can enter to win prizes and learn how you can contribute to the Fall Fling party.