The last month has been [mostly] all I anticipated September would be. From Labor Day weekend at the beach with a big group of friends to being showered with gifts and cards from my students to a sweet birthday celebration at home to another fun dinner out with Matt's siblings to a glorious two weeks of fall break at home, life has been good! Here are some pictures from the month:
Our weekend included lots of cooking and eating together. Amazing how everyone jumps in to help with whatever kitchen tasks are before us when it's a group of moms you're vacationing with!
We had some time on the beach, reading, walking (I got the hugest blisters on my heels when Robyn and I walked a little too far one morning), and of course chatting and laughing. It was such a nice time to be together and relax without time constraints or other responsibilities. We all hope to do it more often!
A few friends also taught us to play Mah Jong, which was really fun!
Allie was thrilled to win "most creative" in the dessert competition at our annual fall celebration at church. I say this every year, but it's such a joy to continue to be a part of this community where we feel more and more at home with everyone.
My birthday was a work day and, unbeknownst to me, my teacher had told all the students' families and they really celebrated me! When the first girl walked in with a bouquet of flowers, I was amazed, but then each child had something for me. What a fun day! We had intended to spend the afternoon watching Julia's cross country meet and picking up dinner to eat with Matt's parents, but sadly, Julia's had some foot injuries and she wasn't able to run that night, nor most of the season. So we had a quieter afternoon and then did dinner and a card game with Matt's parents. It was such a nice birthday!
For "twin day" at work, my pregnant coworker asked me to dress alike and it was HILARIOUS to see all the looks and comments I got from kids and teachers alike. Some adults even thought they'd somehow missed that I was pregnant, though most just had a one-second shock before figuring it out on their own.
Allie signed up for a different tennis league in which she plays real matches on the weekend. Here she is after her first one. She and another little girls came from behind in doubles to beat a set of boys and then she lost in her first singles match. She's learning a lot and growing in confidence.
One particularly lonely day for Rum resulted in him eating 3/4 of a plastic baby toy, which was accessible after we started our new community group at our house, which is going great, by the way- so fun to have more kids this time. Anyway, he had some unfortunate stomach side effects for a day or two and I wasn't sure how it would all end. Matt was away for the weekend with his friends and I was left to figure it out, or not. I guess Rum has intestines of steel because in no time he was back to himself and has been normal (well, normal is a relative term when speaking of this dog who came with some neuroses) ever since!
Of course September wasn't without the woes of missing my boys. Matt likes to put them both on a call or facetime together. Of course Gray could hardly break contact with his video game to look at us, but we take what we can get! I do have days or sometimes just moments where I'll really feel that ache of wanting us all to be together again.
Speaking of Gray, October came in with an unwelcome call that Gray had passed out at practice and was being taken by ambulance to the hospital. We got various reports that turned out to be only half true, we would later find out, and we deliberated about whether to go up there Friday, as they said he was fine and likely just dehydrated. We had planned to go for the day Saturday to see him play in two scrimmages but of course didn't foresee this coming. In the end, Cheryl graciously agreed to meet Gray and his coach at the hospital and let us stay with her for the night, so we sent the girls off with Matt's parents and drove the 3 hours to Asheville, arriving around 11pm. After getting fluids, Gray was feeling pretty good and labs confirmed that dehydration was the problem. He's sure it will never happen again, as long as he follows the formula of drinking water and not subsisting on energy drinks for hydration. Man is it hard to watch your kids figuring out life sometimes!
Monday ends my wonderful fall break in which I did a ton of work in our yard while listening to my current very favorite audiobook series- The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion. I loved these days outside planting, weeding, pruning, and clearing out the woods. And I managed to only get the tiniest splash of poison ivy, which is some kind of record for me! This second week of break, I've done work at the new house-- framing with Matt a few days and cleaning up trash on my own a few days. It's really coming together, though we have almost a year still before we will move. I go back to work on Monday and I'm sure it will be another adjustment getting used to the full days working and limited afternoon/evenings for cooking and cleaning and whatever activities we have going on. Julia's cross country season is over now, and I didn't even get to see her run once. Allie has tennis matches till early November, then plans to try out for winter cheer at school, which should be fun. We will get to finally see Joshua when we go up in a few weeks for an open practice and to celebrate his birthday. And that's about all the action we have planned till the holidays. I'm still awaiting the go ahead to plan my oral surgery, which may make the holidays a bit different this year, though we won't be surprised if it is put off till the new year. I imagine that the next time I sit down to update here, I will have news.
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