The leaves are changing colors and the days are getting shorter! There's a crisp cool breeze that's cooling off the hotness of summer and that means one thing: pumpkin spice lattes, comfy sweaters, football, and boots! (Okay, so that was more than one thing!)

Fall Bucket List

Fall is quickly approaching, lucky for me it's my favorite season! Fall weather brings fall activities and lots of fall festivities to write in my planner!

I have 3 kids and we love doing outdoor activities in fall. Some as simple as walking or going and visiting new parks. Others include October festivals for Halloween and, of course, the apple orchard and the zoo. Here's my list of things that are a must for fall:

20 Things To Do in the Fall

1. Apple Orchard
2. Pumpkin Farm (we like to check out two different ones, we do the big one and find usually a small town one to support as well.)
3. Farmers Market
4. You Pick Farmers Market is always fun as well - make sure to wear boots (gets muddy) and nothing too fancy! You will definitely be getting a little dirt under your nails.
5. Make crockpot applesauce with the apples you picked at the apple orchard. Here's a great, easy recipe to follow.
6. Make apple cider. Here's one of my favorite recipes.
7. Make caramel apples, my personal favorite! We like to use Reese's pieces, M&M's, crushed candy bars and sprinkles. The  toppings list can go on, there are endless possibilities!
8. Attend a fall festival - one of our favorites is at a local amusement park. They have a dress up for Halloween and go trick or treating the whole month of October.
9. Family Photos!! If you want the most beautiful shots you can dream of, the October sun and backdrop is unimaginably perfect! Book now most photographers fill up early.
10. Go hiking! Some of the most amazing things you can do in fall are free and beautiful! We have a beautiful state park that is a couple of hours away from us in Illinois! Starved Rock State Park is beautiful, full of waterfalls and in the fall, the colors of all the trees are just perfect!
11. Make a scarecrow! I'm all about DIY! Go to the thrift store, get a flannel, some overalls, a hat, and grab some hay (most craft stores, Home Depot and Menards have this in stock during the fall). Get to stuffing! Put him (or her) on the porch or in the yard!
12. Make it a night in of SCARY MOVIES (or kid-friendly scary movies!) Some of our favorites are : Hotel Transylvania, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, Coraline, The Legends of Sleepy Hallow, Beetle Juice, Corpse Bride and Harry Potter to name a few! For the adults, definitely Halloween movies and Saw, throw in some Freddy with that too! FREAKY!!
13. Rake leaves and jump in them! Collect some different colorful ones for an art project!

14. Make a colorful art project and frame it! For kids, something simple as a leaf wreath or a hand tree with leaves is an adorable keepsake. Here are some great ideas. 
15. Go to a haunted house!!!
16. Make an apple pie or pumpkin pie! (YUMMM) Here's a classic recipe for an apple pie.
17. Go to a football game! Whether it be a high school team, college game or NFL! Go out for a fun day of tailgating with some family or friends! GO TEAM GO! 🏉
18. Roast s'mores, grab some blankets and sit out and enjoy the chill of the fall with a good roasting.
19. My personal favorite is to carve or decorate pumpkins! I like to decorate the whole house in pumpkins - real and fake!
20. Go trick or treating. If your kids are grown, go with grandkids, neighbor kids, whoever! Whether it's cold, soggy, wet or even snowing. Bundle up, grab a Pumpkin Spice Latte and get to walking! Have fun!

Happy Fall Y'all!

This guest blog post was written by Jamie Lee, mother, entrepreneur and photographer at Reveal Photography. Please share and repost this blog entry with your friends! All we ask is that you give credit to Limelife Planners and the post author.

I teach; therefore I am a master of pre-planning. Okay, maybe not a master, but hey – I like to think so and it definitely makes me feel more confident! I pre-plan not only in my school planner, but also my personal one. I’ve got notes written out months and months ahead of time, because I ALWAYS forget!  It’s always a fun surprise to flip to a new month and see what I’ve got coming up!  If it’s something exciting, it never fails to feel like Christmas morning ;)

Teachers know the value of their summer time, and – usually – we make the best of it by planning ahead for the upcoming year.  If you’re anything like me, though, you’re a glutton for punishment, and all big events get planned during the summer. I got married during the summer, and have moved several times during the summer. This summer, J* and I got the brilliant idea to buy a house! 

What?

In hindsight, doing this after school had started and I had a plan and a vision for the year already mapped out would’ve been the better choice…but hey.  I work with what I’ve got.  And this – this is what I’ve got. 

Yikes.

Someone send search dogs if you don’t hear from me for a few days. I’m somewhere underneath piles of extra kitchen stuff, poochie blankets, and planning supplies. 

However, amidst all the insanity of moving, and cleaning our apartment…I haven’t forgotten that school is just around the corner. Our district goes back August 30^th this year – before Labor Day for the first time, I think, ever – and I know it’ll be beyond stressful if I get totally behind on pre-planning!

Planning ahead for your school year – or even your personal life – doesn’t have to be daunting! It should give you a sense of relief; it’s a big step to take, mapping out a few months at a time or documenting important dates. Here’s a sneak peek at how I plan ahead for a school year. 

(Side-note: These Pilot Frixion pens? HUGE for teachers. Pens that erase. And erase well. Mind blown.)

1. Holidays, no school days, and In-service days: Any days that I won’t be seeing kiddos need to be marked! That way, I won’t preemptively plan something for a day and get my scope and sequence all out of whack. 

2. End of quarters, end of semesters, progress reports and report cards: Having these all marked keeps me on top of grading. If I know progress reports are due in two weeks, I know I have to get my butt in gear!! ;) It also helps me visualize the quarter as a whole, so I know how much time I have to cover something before a term ends.

3. Staff meetings: Not the most ‘fun’ part of our job, but still essential – our school has two meetings per month, and it’s imperative that I know ahead of time when they are, so I don’t make appointments those afternoons.

4. A “flexible” schedule of topics: I say flexible because time always gets away from you. Sometimes, things go quickly, and sometimes they take forever! If I at least know what I’m covering each quarter, I can adjust as needed. 

Okay Keri, so how do you use this?

I’ve gotten into the habit of checking my ‘monthly view’ before each week of planning – I mark down anything important from pre-planning in the appropriate days, and then fill in the rest around it. Without the pre-planning process, I’d be a mess. (And it’s happened; for a while I just decided to ‘wing it,’ and I’d be unpleasantly surprised by meetings, etc!)

Do you only pre-plan in your planner?

No way, José. A good chunk of summer ‘off’ time is getting ready for the first week of school! I set up class lists, first-week plans, seating charts, student surveys – always, always, always go into the first few days of school over-prepared! Even now, eight years into my career in the same school, and the same grade, I still have first-day anxiety. This calms my nerves significantly!

What’s your pre-planning process like?  For all my teacher friends: if you have any tips on how you pre-plan, please share in the comments! I’m always looking for new ways to streamline my summertime planning.

Good luck to all my teacher friends, going back soon! <3 

This blog post was written by Keri Thivierge for the Limelife Planners Media & Creative Team. For more information about Keri visit her on Instagram @steviedplans. Please share this blog entry with your friends! All we ask is that you give credit to Limelife Planners and the post author.