October is one of my favorite months. The weather finally starts to get cooler and we get to prepare for fall decorating. Up north, of course, you get to see the leaves change and smell the crisp cool clear air. Here are some must do’s for October:

• Register to vote. Deadlines differ by state so take a moment right now to find out how much longer you have. Don’t delay, register today.
• Buy or make a fall wreath for your front door. This will liven up the entrance to your home and make you feel welcome in your own home.
• Take your kids to an actual pumpkin patch. Let them roam around and choose the family pumpkin.
• Spend an evening close to Halloween carving the pumpkin together as a family. Or, get multiple pumpkins and let everyone have his/her own to carve.
• Open the windows and let the cool breezes in. In Florida, this is the first time of the year we can let the crisp air in doors. It’s an exciting time to be able to feel the freshness of the air blowing throughout the house.
• Take a hay ride.
• Shop early for Halloween costumes. Don’t wait until the day before or even the week before. Set aside some time this weekend to hunt for that perfect costume, or to visit the fabric store if you are crafty enough to make a costume. The point is, don’t let yourself get stressed out at the last minute. Stay ahead of the madness.
• Put brightly colored fall leaves between wax paper and iron them together. Send these beauties to someone who doesn’t live in an area where the leaves change.
• Set a financial goal. This has nothing to do with it being October, but has everything to do with the economy. Know about your money.

My younger brother got married earlier this year and had a beautiful sunset ceremony on the beach. My favorite element was the use of sand — in the sand ceremony. Although not brand new tradition, I had never seen it before.

Like a unity candle, the symbolism is to unite the couple as one. Candles are great, but not in a windy beach setting. It’s a simple ceremony — the bride and groom each has a separate bottle filed with sand. An empty glass container sits between them. At the same time, they each take his/her bottle of sand and begin pouring the sand together — uniting as one.

What I like about the sand ceremony is that, unlike using candles, the sand stays intertwined forever. There is literally nothing you can ever do to separate his sand from her sand. All of the grains are forever mixed.

This got me thinking. Why not use it for families? Parents get one bottle of sand, each child gets one bottle and together you each pour them into one glass container. Another option would be for each family member to leave a little bit of sand in his/her bottle to represent individualism, while still showing unity as a family with the mixed sand.

The new family bottle can then be showcased in a proud spot within the home, or shared in individual containers for each family member to keep in a special place of his/her own. When the kids leave the house, they can take their bottle of family sand to remind them that their family will always be with them, no matter where they are. I think this would work especially well with adopted children and step families too. Or with teenagers who may need to be reminded the importance a family plays in ones life.

It’s great symbolism for all families — although separate grains of sand, we unite as one and stay forever connected.

Related:

• Wedding ceremony wording
• Family ceremony wording

Tropical Storm Fay is approaching Florida and meteorologists predict she is coming my way, Central Florida. At the beginning of the season I wrote about my experiences during the 2004 season (tree falls, hunkering down in bathroom, not fun, but all ends up safe.) It was from those experiences that I developed the family hurricane checklist. I’m reposting it here today because I had to pull it out to start getting ready. Hopefully some of you can find it helpful in the next few days, but I’ll be happier if, because we are all prepared, we are spared any damage or losses.

Family Hurricane Preparedness List It breaks down everything that we need to have on hand and to prepare (like taking porch furniture inside), and is color-coded based on when each task needs to be done. For example: You don’t need to fill your bathtub up with water until 24 hours prior to the storm’s arrival, but you should get cash from your bank at least 48-hours in advance to avoid ATMs running out of money.

Related:

• Balancing Motherhood’s Official Hurricane Checklist — Download now
• National Hurricane Center Official Web site

Today I’m dedicating my post to Randy Pausch, the father who died last week of cancer. I’m sure most of you have heard all about Randy by now. Over the past 10 months he has been dying of pancreatic cancer. He was first given 3-6 months to live, but went to extreme measures to make every day count and to get as many extra days as he could with his family (a wife and three young children).

My husband met Randy once during a business meeting and says that he is just as nice in person as he seems on TV.

What Pausch has left us is a reminder to make every day count. If you only had 3-6 months to live, what would you do? How would you spend today? He gave “The Last Lecture,” last fall and wrote a book by the same title. Watch it. Read it. Then, decide how you’ll spend the rest of your life.

• Buy the book, “The Last Lecture.”
• Diane Sawyer hosts a special about Randy Pausch, it airs tonight on ABC. Check your local listings for showtimes.

Luckily, the Fourth of July falls on a Friday this year, which means a long three-day weekend. We don’t have enough of these in America! Hopefully you have planned something fun to do with your family this fourth. Here’s a list of some activities you can do with young children to help get them in the spirit of the holiday.

• Create printable flags.
• Make Fourh of July popsicles.
• Make Fourth of July twirlers (craft).
• Make a flag sheet cake. Or this one from Martha Stewart.
• Instead of fireworks for the little ones, why not have a bell ringing ceremony in your backyard at night.
• Color with these free printable Fourth of July coloring pages.