Happy September, everyone! It's getting closer to my very favorite time of year, and I'm here for it! I actually love every season, but autumn has a special place in my heart. Before we move too far into all things pumpkin spice, here's a bit of what we were up to in the month of August.
In 2017, we planted this beautiful crepe myrtle tree in our front/side yard in honor of our baby Bristol we lost that year. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this tree (that we affectionately call the Bristol Tree) because it looks like it's dead every year before it finally blooms, later than every other crepe myrtle in the state. I've always felt like it is salt in the wound when my dead baby's tree acts dead. However, each year it does finally bloom, and when it does it is SO gorgeous that I forgive it for scaring me.
My sweet twinbies know that this is Bristol's tree, and they want to bring it up every so often. I don't mind talking about it . . . in fact, it brings comfort to my heart!
Brecklyn and Brooke in front of Bristol's tree
As I've already written about, we began our official homeschool journey this month. The kids are accustomed to getting up and going early, and that has not changed with our circumstances. They will often wake up and play for a bit before we get started on our day, and LEGO is always a big hit. They were too cute playing LEGO with their messy bedheads and pjs :-).
It's always amazing to me how things can go from just fine to disaster in a hurry around here. One day, I went to the bathroom (for literally 30 seconds) and came out to find Brooke covered in salsa. She was trying to get a drink out the refrigerator and spilled a cup of salsa all over herself, the frig, and the floor in the process. Sigh.
We have a hammock on our back patio that I've really been enjoying lately. I typically sit in it while the kids eat lunch (because we eat outside almost every day) or while I'm reading aloud to them. In the later afternoons, I also use the hammock to read or relax in while the kiddos play. One day, Brooke decided I needed a play-doh pedicure while I was in the hammock!
My feet always get awkward tan lines during the summertime!
I'm so thankful when we bought this house that we decided to go with a large lot. We love our outdoor space! As I mentioned above, we eat outdoors, read outdoors, and relax outdoors. I especially love looking out and seeing my kids plus the neighbor kids all running and playing! The sunrises and sunsets are a huge added bonus!
Our town has a neat downtown area that we've been missing since this whole COVID mess began. One Saturday, we decided to go downtown to eat, then visit a local bookstore. We love this particular bookstore, and it was great to be able to just hang out and enjoy some books for a while.
Brooke, Brecklyn
The twins have so many cute outfits that I'm disappointed they aren't able to wear much. Before they outgrow their cute closet, I've been trying to remember to take pics of them. This one was taken after church one evening 💗💜.
Uncle Jeremy collects patches from places he travels, and he got Bren started on his own patch collection a few years ago. Bren loved looking for patches while we were up north earlier this summer, and he was especially proud of how many state patches he was able to add to his patch wall hanging after our trip. G-Jo is our resident patch seamstress, and Bren couldn't wait to send this pic with his updated patches to Uncle Jeremy!
Homeschool has been going beautifully . . . better than I expected or imagined! Not every day is perfect, but we are all having a good time with it for the most part. I love watching Brianna and Brenson explore and dialogue about various things. This day, we were testing apples in different liquids to see how it affected the apples' color.
Another day, we were discovering how papertowels "drink" liquid much like plants.
The homeschool journey has been very rewarding for us all so far.
Meme and Papa both have August birthdays, so we typically spend an afternoon at Cassie and Joe's house celebrating them at some point in the month. Cassie is a great cook and always has excellent food. Also, their neighborhood has a park nearby that my kids really enjoy.
Brecklyn and Bri
Abby and Bri swinging
Miss Brooke
This day, I had gone down to the park with the kids for a little while, then decided to head back to the house to see what Chris was up to. I had no sooner gotten back to the house when Brianna came in all frantic that Brooke was STUCK in one of the swings. I knew Brooke had wanted to get in the "baby" swings - and I had specifically instructed her NOT to. Chris ran down to the park to help Abby free Brooke from the swing, and I was so thankful we didn't have to call the fire department, haha! As you can see from the photo below, Brooke wasn't bothered by this situation one bit!
Zeke and Bren play so well together . . . it's nice that he has another boy to play with!
Abby is great with my girls!
Brecklyn and Abby
I mentioned in our first day of school post that Brianna and Brenson joined a cross country running team. They practice first thing in the morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week. It's been a great experience so far, and I enjoy watching them practice (while doing schoolwork with the twins in the van).
The team practices at a different location each day of the week, and Fridays are Brooke and Brecklyn's favorite practice day. The reason for this is because the park the team practices at on Fridays has llamas next door. They love to stand at the fence and watch the llamas!
The kids will compete in five different meets over the course of the next ten weeks. Our first meet was this past weekend, and I had no idea what to expect. The kids ran 1.4 miles, and there were about 100 boy and 100 girls competing! It was so fun to watch them run, even if it was sweltering hot outside! They each came in around the middle of their age group, but now we have a time to beat. I told them I just wanted to see them beat their previous time at each race!
Brianna
Brenson
It's nice to have the first race out of the way and now we know more of what to expect. We are looking forward to another month of learning at home, running, and enjoying the outdoors!
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