September: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig!

September was a whirlwind! After we got home from Sunriver Josh flew out on the first of FOUR business trips, on the same day that we started school. Thankfully the first week of school kept me very busy, but then Josh was only home for one day before flying out on his second trip. We made the most of that one day and pressed cider in the orchard, of course! ;) Then we facetimed a lot that week when he was away! Then he was around for a couple days before leaving for the third, and then again for the fourth... Thankfully he got a lot accomplished on his trips, and I had lots of special time with the kids. We had pizza and game nights, we learned to paint at Grandma's, we were invited to a dinner and movie night at our friend's house, we started Awanas again, I decided to start remodeling the downstairs bathroom (more on that later), and we had lots of school things to keep us busy! Plus, fall unfolded all around us and the farm was looking so beautiful everywhere we turned. But we are so happy to have Josh back home!! All is right in the world again. :)

We were late taking our first day of school photos, but you can just pretend these were on the first day. :) Our 4th grader, 3rd grader, and Kindergartner. Be still my mama heart. I love these little treasures! And I love that I get to spend so much time with them.

Brotherly love. ;)

We had so much fun pressing cider with my brother Matt and sister-in-law Gina, and of course Nora Bean too! :) It rained this year, so we worked under cover.

Awanas with our best buddies!! I sure love these kids and these treasured friendships.

The kids have really been enjoying school this year! Selah informed me that she loves being an older kid at school and in Awanas. :) We're still loving our co-op with about 25 other families. This is Ben's class. And I just love his teacher this year. She's a good friend of mine and she's so great with this age group!

Ben's favorite subjects are math and art.

One thing I love about our school is how many things the kids learn about from a young age that they will build upon in later years. The kids have been learning about Western Europe, memorizing the countries, where they are, and the rivers, and then giving a presentation on one of those countries (all at age 5!) and then in future years they will build upon this information. Ben gave a presentation on Ireland this week with some very, very basic info about it, sharing that I had led worship for a church there when I was 19, and that there are lots of castles to explore, that people there eat blood pudding, are mostly Catholic, and speak English. Ben's class put together a puzzle of Europe. They had a great time and were concentrating so much that they worked very quietly together. :)

Selah and her girlfriends at school, with cute baby Andrew.

I've been wanting to learn to paint, and my mom has a ton of experience, so we spent a weekend at her house learning. Here she is teaching Selah.

And the kids with their final products! She's teaching me to paint as well, and I'm working on an oil painting of the farmhouse.

Family pizza and game night, minus daddy. :( But we had a great time! And we all love to watch the cool way Jude eats his mandarin oranges. :)

I sent this pic to Josh while he was gone, letting him know that I was getting by with a little help from my pomegranate and kombucha friends.

The field is being leased by farmers who are growing pumpkins and we just can't get over the beauty of the pumpkin patch!

This might be my favorite cell phone pic of it so far. I just love staring at the pops of orange scattered across the field.

One night I was so tired and ready for bed and on my night stand was a little note from Selah. She made my night. Sweet girl.

I love when Jude unloads the dishwasher because our silverware is always stacked perfectly and the colored plates are always in rainbow order. I discovered that this wonderful trait of his carries over to his library books as well, when they are ready to be returned. Jude reads endless amounts of Garfield comics!

Speaking of libraries and rainbows, Ben LOVES the rainbows that shine through our library's windows.

One day, when Josh was gone on a longer trip, the sun was out, and the kids were being super sweet as we were running errands and we impulse bought light sabers. ;) Sometimes you just have to say, "Yes!" ;) I'm loving these stages they are in!!

They've been oodles of fun!

Yay for a day when Josh was home!! He helped Selah and me pick flowers for the house.

I had no idea how much joy growing dahlias would bring! I'm so thankful for the gift of them from our sweet neighbor, John.

Cocoa and candles with a friend (and Selah pulled out some Christmas decor too. ;)

We collected many hazelnuts from the orchard in September. This was definitely a bumper crop year!

Jude pulled the cart while I pushed the boy with the healing leg. He's walking great now!

We read aloud Edward Tulane the first week of school and loved it.