Fall

Fall is here!  I know because I've already made pumpkin bread.  :)  We have had some surprisingly beautiful weather.  Right now, actually, Scott took the boys to a high school football game. (Hannah is napping.  I'll probably do the same as soon as I finish this post.)  

Yesterday the kids and I went for a nature walk after school.  Smush loved being able to walk with the big kids.  He only tried to eat two leaves (that I know of).

The reason Scott is home from work this afternoon, is that he took Hannah on her first field trip!  (I've done the field trip tour at this orchard several times now, so I was happy to stay home with Smush while he napped.)  Hannah has been counting down the days to her special trip with Daddy.  :)

So sweet, holding hands with her teacher

Festing

I realized last night that I failed to mention Micah's most recent race!  At the beginning of the summer, he had the big accomplishment of running a mile without stopping.  It took him about 10 minutes.  At the end of the summer, he wanted to run the Labor of Love mile, hosted by our church.  We hadn't practiced, and it's a much hillier course, so I tried to keep his expectations low.  But he did the whole thing at least 30 seconds faster than Memorial Day!  Hannah is already asking to be allowed to run next summer.  And Micah says he is going to run by himself while I run with Hannah.  :)

Last weekend was Brimfield's claim to fame: Brimfest and the Veteran's parade.  It was also Balloon-a-fair in a neighboring town.  We went to the parade Saturday morning, expecting it to be the typical 20-30 minutes.  It was almost an hour and a half!!  I heard that over 1,000 veterans were in the parade, and there were even flyovers from P-51 Mustangs.  It was really special to honor all those men and women who have served to keep us safe.

Later that day we went to the Balloon-a-fair.  Sadly, for the second year in a row, it was too windy for the balloons to take off.  Oh, well, at least we still had funnel cake and rides.

These two are so cute:

These two are still pretty cute, too.

Then Sunday afternoon, Scott took the big kids to Brimfest while I stayed home with napping Smush.  Now we know for next year that Sunday afternoon is the best time to go!  There were no crowds, and they got ice cream for a dollar.  :)

We Love to Read

Dora Birthday

This girl turned four yesterday!

 She requested a "Dora Princess" birthday party, so that's what we did. Hannah and I happened to find a big lot of decorations for just a couple of dollars at a yard sale; we were looking good.

We picked up some pizza on the way home from church for our friends to have lunch with us.  Then we went on an "adventure"!

We were getting our backpacks, getting ready to go, when....

Swiper came and swiped our coloring books!!

Lucky for us, we had Map in our backpacks to show us how to get to his hideout.

First we had to go through Star Jungle and collect explorer stars.

Next we had to go over the bridge.  But that Grumpy Old Troll wouldn't let us pass unless....

...we solved his puzzle.  We used the puzzle pieces from our backpacks and were able to cross the bridge!

On to Swiper's hideout!

Hooray!  We found the coloring books!

We decided we had better open presents next in case Swiper tried to strike again.

Then we took a break to play before having cake and ice cream.

It was a beautiful day, and we are so thankful that Hannah has great little friends to help her celebrate.

First Day of Preschool

 Hannah has been looking forward to preschool for about a year and a half.  She was so excited that her day was finally here!  I suggested she wear a bright yellow top with a jean skirt.  She countered with the bright yellow top matched with an equally yellow skirt.  This dress was our compromise.  :)

We tried to get a picture with Smush, but he wouldn't stand still.

It's a good thing I took pictures at the house, because once we got there she didn't even say goodbye to me.  This was the only picture I could get.  :)

Comedian