Happy October! Fall is definitely in the air, and we are needing our jackets more and more in the mornings and evenings as there is a definite chill in the air. Preschool is in full swing and is awesome. Leah LOVES it, like I was pretty sure she would! They had an apple party this week and taste-tested several different types, and did lots of cute artwork with apples. I love when I get to see pictures from her teacher, since I can't get too much information out of her at pick-up.
The other day I saw this absolutely perfect Lizzie handprint on our dishwasher. Normally I'd pull out the stainless steel cleaner and polish it away, but as she is our last little baby, I left it there for a few days and just admired it. Such a tiny, sweet little hand! Jon thinks I'm nuts, but I can hardly bear to think that there won't be anymore of those, as this phase of life starts to come to an end!
Mr. Zach-O is doing amazing in second grade this year! It is a night and day difference between this year and last-- thanks mainly, to his teacher. She is SO positive and encouraging with him, and he feels smart and confident, and consequently he is thriving. He got a "Positive Phone Call Home" award last week, which is a pretty big deal. The principal called me and told me how proud she was of Zach because his teacher had caught him doing something awesome. It said, "Zach was so polite and patient when I was working with another friend. He didn't want to interrupt so he politely apologized and stood to the side to wait for me to finish, while so many other kids were interrupting and not being patient. Thank you, Zach!"
Busy Lizzie is an indiscriminate, all-the-time, eat-whatever-is-in-front-of-her kinda gal. She LOVES food. And we can't figure out where it all goes because she is still just tiny!! The other day for lunch she ate a whole string cheese, half a pear, a handful of Cheerios, 2 graham crackers, and some noodles from Leah's lunch...and then still nursed. She prefers to feed herself which gets messy-- this morning she ate two pancakes, and by the time she was done she couldn't open one eye because it was stuck shut from the syrup!
Lucy and I got to attend the General Women's Session last weekend, as well as have a little girls' date. We met Kylene and Sophie at Mod Pizza for dinner, and then drove to the Stake Center for the broadcast. As she enters the dreaded "preteen stage" I'm just so thankful she's not embarrassed of me yet, and she still thinks it's fun to hang out with her mom!
Lizzie turned 8 months old on September 25th and she is absolutely the cutest baby EVER (but I'm biased). She is crawling 90 mph, pulling herself up onto the furniture trying to walk, waving, and just figured out how to clap. She gets attention pretty much everywhere we go. And did you notice her two little teeth?? What a blessing this little "surprise" baby has been!!
She feels very grown-up sitting in the grocery cart like a big girl!
This week we bought the kids fro-yo after dinner to celebrate Zach's positive phone call home award. They are growing up way too fast....
The kids had their school Fun Run this Friday-- which is normally held in the spring, but since they usually have such bad luck with yucky weather, they switched it to the fall this year. It was a beautiful day, not too hot, and we got to the school just in time to see their last few laps!
Every time Zach would pass where we were standing he would put on a big burst of speed to show-off for us. We loved it! They both ended up running about 6 miles that day which is AMAZING. They will have no trouble with the 5k I signed us up to do this Thanksgiving....
As soon as they completed their Fun Run, since Jon had the day off we checked the kids out of school and we headed for the hills. We wanted to try one last time to sneak a camping trip in before it gets too cold. We headed up to Black Hawk and literally snagged the LAST available spot in the whole campground. Phew! That was a tender mercy after our last attempt was such a disaster. And what a beautiful spot it was!
The aspens were aglow and "on fire," as they say.
While Jon set up the tent, the kids and I hiked down this nearby hill to check out all the pretty fall foliage. It was such a lovely evening!
Unfortunately we couldn't find a good lookout spot for the sunset, but we just knew it would have been breathtaking. We could see pink and orange clouds so we'll have to catch it in a better spot next time we're up in the Rockies again.
Can you see our little orange tent there between the trees? What a spot, what a spot!
After a dinner Jon got the fire started and we roasted marshmallows for s'mores. It got totally dark around 8 p.m., so shortly after I headed to bed with the baby in the minivan, and Jon got the other three to sleep in the tent. Lizzie was sure mesmerized by the campfire!
Good morning fall! We woke up bright and early October 1st-- and what a way to celebrate the beginning of this month. It didn't get too cold the night before, down into the low 40's, and the kids stayed warm and slept really good. The adults on the other hand, that was a different story...
Jon made everyone a delicious breakfast of eggs and sausage, and hot chocolate.
Lizzie just got bananas and Cheerios, though.
Lucy and I headed down with our hot chocolate to our "spot" to enjoy the sunrise and marvel at nature in all of its splendor. How lucky are we??
Although it was a whirlwind camping trip-- we didn't get up there until about 5:30 p.m. with the traffic, and we left by 10:30 a.m. because Zach had two football games and Lucy had a soccer game, I'm so glad we went! As usual, we headed back to the whirlwind of real life-- but at least for a minute we got to enjoy some family time together, unplugged, uninterrupted, and at one with nature! In the long-lost words of North Carolina, Happy Fall Y'all!
