It's Fall Ya'll!

     My favorite season is here!  Cooler days, fire in the fireplace, colorful leaves--I love lots of things about fall. One of my favorite traditions of fall is coming up as well...the annual Ladies Retreat I attempt to attend every year.  It is such a time of spiritual refreshment, even though is a packed schedule!  I always come away renewed and revived and ready to tackle the craziness of life again.  I would encourage you, if you ever have an opportunity to attend a conference, retreat, seminar, etc. that you try your best to go at least once.  There is something about being away from the daily schedules and demands that really allows you to focus on hearing what the Lord may have for you to learn.

    We have been as busy as usual around here!  School has successfully completed the first quarter of the year.  We have had some "growing pains", but the Lord has seen us through them.  The boys are doing well so far this year.  I have been reminded this year especially that school really begins at home and learning should be a part of every day.  The littlest things can be "teaching moments."  Take advantage of them as they arise through the day--count things with your littles; talk about words and what they mean with your middles; give your big guys real-life applications of math skills they are learning.  Your kid's teachers will thank you!  Mommies and Daddies are the first (and best!) teachers their kiddos have--jump in there and share!

  One of the things I like best about fall is the great photo-ops that arise!  I was able to get some cute pics of the kiddos on a recent field trip to a local farm.  Yay for pumpkin pics!

*Sigh...they're getting so big!  I think these pics really capture their different personalities pretty well.  Not always easy to do!







































  Little Sister started crawling last week.  The big brothers are discovering a mobile baby is quite dangerous to their life of ease!  Lego creations are now in grave danger!  Here's one that had to be rescued several times--a port with several ships.  They spent a lot of time on this one!  (We do our best creating in jammies!)

 

  Because of Little Sister's new found mobility, we have had to make several adjustments to our family schedule.  She is no longer content to hang out in her carrier or stroller, so school was getting to be a little more of a challenge for Mommy and Little Sister.  So, Mommy gets to stay home with Little Sister, and she gets to have the run of the house practicing her new found skills!  She is much happier, and so is Mommy, who always had some amount of "mom guilt" for bringing her to school every day anyway!  There will still be the random day we both go, but for now I am content to remain "behind the scenes" and tackle the paperwork aspects.  Added benefit: more time to handle house stuff that had been let go simply because there were not enough hours in the day!  So, maybe, just maybe, that means more time to blog as well!  I've been working on several drafts of things I just haven't had time to polish up and publish.  Fingers crossed...

    Well, hope you enjoyed this quick catch-up, and I hope to spend more time on here in the future!  Enjoy the fall season...I know I will!  :)