October

At the first of the month I took Davis to go visit my Grandma. Ben was on a business trip and I was feeling pretty lonely, which reminded me that I'm not the only lonely person in the world and I should go visit someone else I know is lonely! Davis was pretty timid while we were there (which is so rare for him) but he did sit on her lap adorably for a few minutes. 

I love October weather. It has made for a lot of fun afternoons in the yard playing! We live on this street with such great little friends for my kids (and I love their moms as well) and it's fun to just spend afternoons outside visiting and watching the kids play. Davis hauls this little balance bike out to try to ride it (it's still too big). He always puts a helmet on, which I think is adorable. He watches those big brothers and wants to do what they do! It's a good reminder for the boys to know that he's watching and copying them.

I pulled out the good camera one day and quickly snapped some pictures of my kids. They are growing too fast- I wish I could freeze them all at the stages they are right now. 

I get to spend my Thursday mornings volunteering in the boys classrooms. It is a highlight of my week. I love getting to know the kids in their classes better and their teachers. Mostly I love the hugs I get from my boys while I'm there, it means so much to them (and to me). It's so fun to see them in their environment at school. Last week while I was there I had a good talk with Chase's teacher. He's been a little bored in math and I had emailed her about things we could do to keep him challenged and engaged. She had a great plan of how to keep him moving forward since they use a computer math program that allows kids to progress at their own pace. Apparently Chase is miles ahead of the other kids, but she'll just keep him doing what he's doing. She's also pulling out some harder 3rd grade material for him to work on. And then she went on and on about what a great kid Chase is, how amazed she is with his abilities and how his mind works. It was good for my mama heart to know that he's teacher loves him and has a good plan to keep this smart kid challenged in school.

Hudson is doing awesome in kindergarten. He really loves it and is so obedient and attentive there. He's reading really well and loves to tell me all about his school assignments. As part of their words they are learning they color in block letters that make up that word. Every day he colors his to look like the American flag. He told me he thought that was a good idea "to be respectful". 

We did a corn maze with Ben's family on October Saturday. Ben proved to be the best maze navigator and once he took charge he had us out of there in no time! Davis was a good sport and trotted alongside us most of the way, towards the end I mostly carried him.

I really love dressing my boys up for church. This particular Sunday they all looked so cute so I photographed them all. Because of their varying states of dressy-ness, I did individual pictures because I thought they would look weird all together.

Hudson has been so in to Star Wars for months now. He made his own light saber out of a old wrapping paper tube and has been playing with it for months. Aunt Heidi took pity on his and bought him a lightsaber and had it mailed. He came unglued when he opened the package! It has hardly left his side since. He was super excited to play with his lightsaber with our neighbor Will Hickman, so he immediately made that playdate happen. They played together with their lightsabers for a solid hour (at which point we had to go home for lunch).

The last Monday in October the boys had another day off school. I asked them what they wanted to do and gave them several options (including the zoo and discovery museum) but they both immediately agreed they wanted to go visit my grandma! So we spent the morning doing that, which made me happy that they wanted to spend their time in such a great way.

That afternoon my dad informed us that there would be a BIG pile of leaves at his house, should any grandchildren want to come jump in it. Of course my boys were IN! They had a lovely time helping rake and then jumping over and over and over again. Davis was in heaven (last year he was super weirded out when I tried to put him in the leaves for a picture). I love the simple things that children find so enjoyable!