Fall

It seemed like the end of summer hit me extra hard this year, I don't know why. I was in a little bit of a funk for a couple weeks, just not wanting to accept it. But fall always wins me over in the end, and as busy and tiring as the days can sometimes be (Thomas still not sleeping well doesn't help matters), I take the time whenever and wherever I can to just look around and take in all the beauty the season has to offer.

He is quite the little talker these days. Sometimes when I'm about to change his diaper he says, "Let's talk." His way of stalling, I guess.

I hosted our parish's Well-Read Mom meeting last month. The book was Peace Like a River, so I put a snowy scene on the TV to go with the book's wintry setting. 

Who doesn't love the first days of sweater weather, even when you know it's going to be 80 again in a day or two?🍂

Tim's parents came and stayed with us for just shy of two weeks, and that was really nice. Karen and Matt came for a few days too. We all celebrated Tim's birthday together, went on a few outings, kids' activities, and had the best weather the whole time.

Senior Night. She has been accepted into Appalachian State, and that is where I would say she is 99% likely going.

The feeling when you find that Old Navy puffer vest in your size😊

I always look forward to bringing this dinner back into rotation for fall and winter.

On Halloween, Tim and Delaney were in Raleigh, Annie was out with friends, and the other boys were trick-or-treating around here with kids their age, so it was just Thomas and I walking around. He was so excited. I brought the stroller for our loop around the neighborhood, but he was on foot and carrying his own bucket up until just the last few houses. There was a family in dinosaur costumes, and he was so fascinated. "Hi Dinosaur," he kept saying. He also wanted to touch their tails, which fortunately were nowhere near actual body parts. It was cute. A bonus two-year-old in middle age is absolutely delightful, even as it is exhausting.

The view outside Grace's window in Cincinnati, just because.

MA Part Two, and the rest of July

Where did we leave off...?

Tim went golfing with his friends and most of the cousins went to do a ropes course with the aunties and grandparents spectating. Everyone had a great time except when Delaney overheated, and then a little while later got stung by a yellowjacket. Juliana might have overheated too at one point. The summer heat and humidity were back in full effect.

Thomas and I sat this one out. We needed to save our energy because the next day was a BIG Day. Six Flags. The last amusement park I'd been to was Disney in 2013, and I really don't like being in crowds and being hot, but I was hopeful that maybe there'd be enough fun to be had that it would make it worth it.

We had an AMAZING day. We couldn't believe our luck with how not crowded it was for being the day before the 4th. A few of us rode a rollercoaster within the first few minutes; we brought Joey along too, thinking maybe he'd like it. Poor kid, he didn't like it at all. Fortunately for him, he had aunties who didn't care for coasters either, and were happy to push the stroller and watch them go on kiddie rides.

Matt said that he goes to Six Flags for one rollercoaster and one only, and that is Superman. We (Tim, Delaney and I) all said OK, let's get in line, thinking it would take forever. That's their best one, the biggest and fastest. But we rode it twice in 10 minutes. It was crazy. We rode everything we wanted to, and there was only one long line the entire day (that was for the water ride around the hottest couple hours in the middle).

The first aid station had a cool room with a couple beds and a chair, that they allowed me to stay in with Thomas for awhile, just to nurse and take a breather. I was very appreciative. It would have been pretty tough to get through the entire day without some kind of break. 

We rode what was supposed to be an easy roller coaster with Timmy, but it jerked my neck this way and that with every movement, and I screeched and laughed the whole way, like this thing is going to kill me! My head was literally thrown back after I thought the ride was over, and I still think a trip to the chiropractor might be in order. So we told Timmy Superman was much easier than this, and we were not lying. He was convinced, so we headed that way. There was no line, and Timmy had no time for second thoughts before he was being cinched into the seat. Before we knew it were on our way up, up, up, and looking at that nice river view over the side. Tim sat next to him behind me and Delaney a row or two. When the ride was over, I looked at Timmy to see how he was doing, and he looked a little sad, maybe disoriented. "Oh, buddy," I said. I had so hoped he would like it. Then Tim told me that Timmy had actually passed out during the ride! He looked over at him after that first drop, and saw him slumped in his seat, out cold.😬 Poor kid. Needless to say, he got a pass the whole rest of the day from riding anything that wasn't his idea.

Sam was on this ride with Joey and Thomas for a REALLY long time.🤣

Obligatory cousin photo that could almost be an album cover

Sam wanted to go to Purgatory Chasm the next morning, and I surprised myself by saying, "Sure, as long as we get some sleep tonight." 

I had been admiring Sofia's hair, and then I heard her say that she'd gotten in the car with it wet, and the drive over with the top down had done the rest. I'm only a little bit jealous of that. 

We celebrated the 4th of July, and had a little joint birthday dinner for Delaney and Timmy, whose birthdays are on the 8th and 25th respectively. Then Tim and I and the boys left for home early Saturday morning, and the girls flew home the day after. I wasted no time diving right back into my laundry, pool, plants, and all my homebody things.

The gloriously unscheduled, entirely free portion of summer is definitely over. We enjoyed it while it lasted. Delaney and Annie are back to marching band camp and cheer practice, Timmy has soccer practices, and we have been hosting ISR lessons at our pool on weekday mornings for the last three weeks. Monday will be the last day, and although Thomas has demonstrated he has skills, he does NOT like to have to use them, and he protests the whole time. I just ordered new uniform clothes for Timmy and Joey, and they will be starting school on the 15th. I'd like to say I plan on enjoying the last full week before their first day, but I see on the calendar I've got a DMV appointment, haircuts for the boys, and a couple dentist visits thrown in for good measure. What in the world was I thinking?

Tim, Delaney and Timmy made a quick visit to UNC Chapel Hill. I don't know if it made much of an impression on Delaney, being as it was a ghost town of a campus on the hottest days of July, but it is still among the schools she'll be applying to.

The local American Legion made this generous donation to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, and I got to give some of it away the next day to my Budget for Baby participants in the form of $100 Commissary gift cards. It is really uplifting to be involved in something like this; to see veterans helping those who are where they once were, navigating life in the military while taking care of a family.

Another teenager!

Fresh flowers from the farmer's market

It's senior year for this one! She is the clarinet section leader in marching band this year. The band kids work hard, but they look like they have a lot of fun too.