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! :)

Back to School (part 2)

Alden and I had a few last adventures before his official first day.

Friday we day-tripped to Boston to for a boys & moms day with Nico & Aunt Rebeckah.  So much fun to watch them have fun together.  

They planned to share this chocolate milkshake and took turns taking sips all the way through. 💙

Uncle Nick left work early to visit us too! 

Labor Day weekend we got stuff done around the house, let the kids catch up on time together (now that Emily is out the door before Adara wakes up, the girls don't see each other until after 3:30 on weekdays - I don't like that!), and had a fun visit from the Ware cousins. 

The last day of Alden's summer included a cake pop, a stop at Stateline Sports (his new happy place;) and a visit to the Montshire with other K friends.

And then ~~ first day!  He got dressed in an old favorite T-shirt, w remembered some last minute school supplies and rode our bikes to school.  Adara was such a good big sister, talking him through what to expect and holding his hand on the playground.

 Love that he's at a table with his sweet friend Evie.

Alden was nervous and teary at drop off, and I ran into the guidance teacher who helped Emily with her tears on her first day and asked her to check on Alden ... which made me cry!  (Her name is Emily and her son's name is Alden, so she's always had a nice connection with my kids;). I love knowing he'd have people to watch out for him.

I knew he'd be fine, so I made a quick exit and went out to a quick breakfast with some other mom's of kinders school friends, and then drove to Manchester for a church building project meeting... got home just as the kids were getting off the bus.  He had some moments of missing mom but a good day overall.

And I'm glad that after my 3rd and final 'parent orientation' tonight, we'll be done the back to school gauntlet for the year! ;)

And I know before I know it we'll be doing his 4th grade recognition!  Emily's first and last days at Mount Leb went by in 5 minutes. 😭

August recap

I think I have 500 pictures from August! 😜

 
We signed a lease on the rental house on my birthday and then enjoyed a last minute dinner date at Lucky's.  Then, family vacation week at the lake!  Highlights off the top of my head -- Emily learned to water ski, Adara joined Papa & me on a bike ride, Alden tried tubing, all the kids practiced driving the gator, played with 2nd cousins on the Palace Rocks, and spent a lot of time identifying birds and trees. Alasdair and I had an awesome overnight to Burlington while the kids stayed with mom & dad -- great hotel, miles and miles of bike rides along the lake, some beach time, and an amazing dinner out at the same restaurant where we went for our first anniversary, when we ran a summer program in Burlington 14 years ago.

 

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Emily

Took the wrong trail aiming for Kronks and explored the Indian Trail at Stoneyides, and then had a full tour from Nellie. :). Alasdair found a book written about relative of his! 

 

 

24 hour visit from Mary Beth Miller and her 4 youngest kids -- our kids immediately bonded and had the best time together.  We pledged not to let 8 years go by between visits next time!

 

Emily did piano camp, and the aces & I day tripped to visit Jackie J and her kids -- again, immediate friendships between our kids.  

 

 

 Watching big sister at piano camp, hanging out on the green afterwards.

 Farm carrots + pool time = 💛

Spontaneous all-day project of cleaning out & trading rooms (everyone has their own room for the first time) -- celebrated with ice cream!

Aldens hat collection makes me smile - gifts from Mr. Eshbaugh, Mr. Crane & Mr. Audino 

 Then back to the lake for the "Papa's birthday" fair, this year complete with tigers!

 

 
After last year's heartbreak of being a hair shy of the 48" required to ride the rides with the rest of the big kids, this year Emily was too tall for some rides and Alden too short for others, but Adara was just right to ride every ride at the fair!

 

Hinman cabin overnight...

 

the mussels moved out of the pile the kids made and left cool patterns in the sand.

Pizza dinner by the river & daddy's frisbee game

 


Rainy walk to a neighbor's birthday party.

 

 

...Last day at the pool, and then back to the lake for Big House weekend!

Another magical weekend with some of our favorite people.  Hard to believe it was our 6th year -- the first year we did this the oldest kids were 10, Alden was an infant, and Emily was headed into K.  This year - we sent the oldests to drive into town alone for groceries, Emily is 10, and Alden is headed into K!   

laughing on the piazza with these people is one of my favorite things.

this year we were reliving the year one person wandered off and we imagined him being abducted by someone out of the woods... when suddenly cousin David appeared out of the darkness 😂

being on kid duty was a real sacrifice...

It was a packed 3.5 weeks and we all came home and crashed for the last couple of days before school.  I'm still getting my mind around summer being over.  I'm not ready, but here we go!