Other October

Miscellaneous October scenes...

lots of roller blading 

(thankful for wrist guards from the neighbors!)

Weekend visit from the Eikhoffs. Love these sweet friends.

homework & reading logs x 3 

helping with Halloween prep

Kinder field trips are my favorite!

60 kids on an open flatbed trailer... what could go wrong?

Columbus Day at the lake with cousins. I wish I could express how breathtakingly beautiful the leaves were.  And just barely warm enough for water play and tubing! (if you are a crazy kid at least)

Matching wrist braces after a fall at figure skating

 Middle school open house.  So fun to see this as Emily's new place and not the big scary building it was a few months ago.

Delights of working remotely - an office call sitting by Boston Lot.

Coffee dates with friends.

Apparently the kids had been having conflict over ownership of iPad games?  Adara called a sibling meeting and they worked out who has priority over each game, and she had everyone sign off on the agreement.

2nd grade field trip

Harvest party -- friendship is being willing to help my kids carve pumpkins!

church scene

Emily does an after school art club, and the kids got to paint the fountain cover for the town green - here she is with her waterfall painting.

Love this town.

Halloween

70 degrees and rainy - not our normal Halloween weather, but we still had fun!

The corn maze was surprisingly scary even to the little one who helped build it! :)

Some friends came over after trick or treating and I apparently didn't police the sugar intake. 

Adara is 8

I love this spunky, sensitive girl and her big plans.  I love that she was equally excited about a pink unicorn and a battle axe game, and her very specific set of plans to celebrate her day.  I love how hard she worked to make sure none of her friends felt "dis-cluded" at her birthday party, and how delighted she was to share her gifts not just with them but with their little brothers who arrived a pick up time.  I love that she has started to love reading, that she's working so hard to learn the violin, and that she delights in taking off around the neighborhood on her bike. I love her independence and bravery and how she rises to a challenge. I love her love of ice skating and stars, and that she can't learn something new without turning it into a 'class' for her siblings or friends. I love that she's happy at school this year, and that her favorite days are still spent home with her siblings.  I love that she wants me to lay in bed with her every night and talk.   💜

We celebrated her today with donuts and gifts before school, and an afternoon swimming and playing with friends, and looking at the stars before bed.  It was a good day. :) 

Into the rhythm of fall

It's taken a few weeks, but I think we are getting the hang of this year.  The kids are more settled at school and I'm starting to get used to sending them all off every day.

Girls weekend with friends in one of our favorite spots.

 

Alasdair had to leave town before we got back, so Joel kept my kids for the afternoon AND made us dinner. And let Alden use the biggest knife he's ever seen. 

After school snacks and "cutting practice" for Alden every.single.day. When you have a kid who is obsessed with knives, you try to channel it!  One day we had this conversation:
Me - Alden it's beautiful outside, let's go out and play
Alden - Can I please stay here and peel the rest of the carrots first?

 

Watching soccer practice with friends

Making coffee and some extra homework on a Saturday morning

6 mile bike ride with Alden on the greenway!  And you know it's fall when the kids have to check out Miss Vicky's house on the way home from the bus in case she's started decorating for Halloween...

More cutting practice while the girls do homework

 Love getting pictures from Alden's teacher 😍

 LebFest

And today, we ended September with the most lovely fall day.  

A walk with Starbucks and a good friend before church

A warm sunny afternoon at the apple orchard (I think we ran into 6 families from church 😂) and mac's maple ice cream.

And apple pie for dessert.

Our pie crust recipe is from the best mother in law. From the set of recipe cards from my wedding shower, it says this one the back. 

15 years later, the kids know Daddy will make them an apple pie every fall! :)