Fall is here!!

One of my favorite places to visit is Living History Farms.

I like to think I'm a bit of a LHF expert, and yet, I have

never been to their Apple Harvest Day.

Well, that all changed this weekend.

We joined our good friends, the Liskeys and Twedts,

for a super fun day of apples, school and farms!

It was a great time and I was reminded just how

important friendship is, not only for my kiddos,

but also for me.

Thank you my dear friends for liking me as I am,

and for loving my kiddos like your own.

I am so grateful for all of you!

Avery grinding apples into cider

Applesauce eating contest!

'Bobbing for apples', hilarious!

Avery always gets her apple!

What a great group of kiddos!

Claire and Katie. Right at home in the schoolhouse!

And Avery, getting a lesson from the teacher...

... looks like it went well! ; )

A little geography lesson

Avery and her new BFF Owen!

You know we had a good day when Buggie is wiped out!

School's in session!

School is officially in session for me, now that I have

all 3 girls in school!

I am really excited for this year.  I feel like everyone

is in a really good place. Not just physically, although I

love all the schools (yes, we're in 3 different schools this year!),

but emotionally too.

Everyone seems happy.  They seem to be in a good place

academically, being challenged but surrounded by good people.

I love the schools, the teachers, pretty much everything!

Let me bask in this joy while I have it!

It's gonna be a good year!

Claire started 5th grade at Shuler on August 15th ~

Claire, my beautiful 5th grader!

Ahh, sister love!

The neighborhood crew ~

5th graders rule the school!

Claire is in 5th grade this year! That's a big deal in this house.

Soon, she'll be off to middle school.

But, before that happens, I want to encourage her to have

a lot of fun in her last year of elementary!

She has had a group of friends since Kindergarten.

They call themselves, The Fab Four.

They are a great group of girls!

We invited them all over after school for a little

'first day of 5th grade fun'.

I let them bake cupcakes, all. by. themselves.

They did a great job and had a blast!

It really is the little things sometimes.

I enjoyed listening to the giggles and sitting in

awesome gratitude for this amazing girl!

Ella started 3rd grade at Sayre Montessori on August 23rd ~

I asked her if she was nervous. She said, "just this much".
Not too bad!

Ella is such a great kid and an awesome student.  Within a few
days, she was informally named the Class President and
is serving as a great leader to her class and to the whole school!

Avery started PreK at Westview Church on September 5th ~

This was a tough one for me! Avery is my baby and she is

already in PreK. Kindergarten is only 1 year away.

I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by.

I love Avery. I love everything about her. I hope her teachers do too!

That's my Avery!

Such a big girl!

She was so excited to find her own cubby!

Off for her first day! She ran right in with a quick hug
and kiss from me.  I smiled, told her I loved her,
then ran out as tears started flowing!  I can't believe my baby
is in PreKindergarten already!

Avery loved, loved, loved her first day of school!
Day 2: She was so excited about going to school,
so she wanted to blow dry her hair to look beautiful.
Funny thing, she hadn't even bathed! : )