A Little Of This And That In September

If this blog were a profession for me, I'd be in big trouble. Thankfully, I get to do one large, wrap-up post that covers an entire month, and my kids will still think it's awesome. 

The weather has just started to turn a littler cooler, and we've been enjoying every bit of outdoors time!

My sweet baby boy. I can't believe he'll be two in a month!

On Labor Day, we still made the girls do schoolwork. Bonus: Daddy got to help!

This is the day that homeschooling sucked (I'm sure there will be many more, but this was my first big one). Math was complicated, and I was having zero mercy with Bella, and our Science experiment was a total bust - growing bacteria does NOT keep a 7-year old's interest when you have to wait a week to actually see any bacteria! I finally gave Bella some freedom, and came outside to hear her belting out, "I'VE GOT JOY LIKE A FOUNTAIN, I'VE GOT JOY LIKE A FOUNTAIN!" while she was swinging. It was a good "reset" moment for me, and we were able to start fresh in the afternoon.

Daddy and Henry, finishing off the last of the ice cream.

I met my friend, Lindsey, five years ago when Steve and I attended a birthing class that she taught. It was right before Evelyn was born, and we agreed to host the class in our home with five other couples. We loved Lindsey right away. She was sarcastic, down-to-earth, and extremely knowledgeable about natural birth. I'm not sure I remembered any of it once the pain of natural labor actually started, but my connection with Lindsey stuck. Fast forward five years, and we've kept up through Facebook for births, miscarriages, and babies growing up. She homeschools, too, so when we decided to homeschool, I knew I wanted a playdate in our future, even if she lived an hour away. It was so totally worth the drive, and our girls had so much fun together! We played in the creek, ate a picnic lunch, and caught up on five years of random tidbits in each other's lives. 

Not sure if this video will come through, but Evelyn is playing this guitar like a champ!

When you're four-years old, you really don't like naps anymore. Until they just catch up to you, and then You + naps = BFF.

Snuggling and playing together.

Our little Spark! Bella has been tearing through her book and learning Bible verses like crazy! We're so proud of her and love seeing her excitement for AWANA each week! (Earning enough shares to "buy" a stuffed horse has been a big motivation!)

We met Mel for lunch one day and Evelyn decided her sweater was too warm. So, playing topless became the outfit of choice.

Celebrating Mel's birthday a month late. We got to drive into downtown Roswell and enjoy some delicious food and grown-up talk!

Evelyn, making herself a pretzel sandwich for lunch one day. We didn't figure it out until halfway through.

This kid. She is hilariously true to herself when it comes to fashion and knowing what she loves.

Our friend, Ben, (the incredibly talented artist) brought his boys over one afternoon for a combined Art lesson, and Ben took the artwork to the next level! He helped Bella create a beautiful picture of Fall leaves, and it was a lot of fun to do the painting together.

Our beautiful little monster, pitching a total fit...

And then sneaking into bed with us later that night when he didn't feel good. I miss sleep so badly, and there are days when I'm so sick and tired of feeling this tired. Or days when I'm about to go crazy if one more small human speaks to me. But there are wonderful, precious moments like this, when they're quiet and snuggly, and needing Steve and I badly.

Digging in the dirt to finish up our Insect Study!

Reading with Daddy and Henry. Henry stills loves his Blue Truck series!

Fun on the porch..

That moment when you try to do a Geography lesson and realize how desperately you need a globe!

Evelyn has gotten so good at riding her bike! She's been on it almost every day for the past two weeks, and has gotten really confident on it. She can brake, pedal up hills, and get going pretty fast. The few times she's fallen, she's shook it off pretty quickly and gotten right back on. 

Nothing but class for our fancy one who had a leaf stuck to her butt.

Riding and playing with Daddy!

On The Motorcycle With Daddy

What would the end of Summer be without motorcycle rides with Daddy? You could hear Bella "Woo Hoo!" around the entire neighborhood!

Ending August With A Bang!

We had a family field trip planned for the last weekend in August to the Children's Museum in downtown Atlanta. I've been excited about this trip for months! We've never been, and it looked like a really cool experience for kids. And then, through the homeschool group that I'm a part of, we found out that the Georgia Aquarium was hosting an Educator's Day, and they were giving free tickets, plus a free guest, to any educators. Because we homeschool, Steve and I are both considered educators, so we both got in free, and got to bring both girls, too! It was a fun weekend!

The Children's Museum was one large room that used dividers to separate different areas. They were very...socially conscious, so there was a big focus on how our food is grown and how it gets to our table. There was a farm and a stream, a grocery store and a diner. Also, a huge Art Wall, where the girls could paint, a piano staircase, like in the movie, Big, a "sensory" station showing emotions and different senses, and still so much more.

On Saturday, we asked Mel if she would keep an eye on Henry in the morning, so that we could enjoy the aquarium with just the girls. That made it so much more fun - the girls can walk around longer, and keep up a faster pace than if we constantly had to put Henry in and out of a stroller, change diapers, or worry about him getting tired and cranky.

The best part about it being Educator's Day was that we got a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium and got to see the fish from a completely different angle.

Getting ready for the dolphin show, definitely the highlight of the morning for the girls! 

This might be my new favorite picture. They let the teachers in an hour early, so a lot of the aquarium felt empty. This gave us a chance to roam freely, and gave Bella and Evelyn a very close-up view of a lot of the fish.

It was a busy weekend, but we made some great memories with all of the kids, and they loved having Daddy along for all of it!