We had a fun-filled family week around here. Uncle Todd was here through Wednesday so he was able to take in our morning getting ready for school on Tuesday and hang with the kids and watch Griffin get on the bus. Finn completed section 3 of his first book of sight words, and I was able to volunteer on Wednesday morning at Dads and Donuts on the playground before school began. It was super busy – we handed out 80 dozen donuts, the very last one gone right at 8:59 am! We also went through 4 percolators of coffee and 13.5 (out of 14) gallons of chocolate milk! Those kiddos were enjoying sweet treats and hanging with their dads (or other guest). Griffin was so excited when he saw me and came up to the table to get a donut and he had a lot of fun hanging with Kevin and putting tickets in the raffle baskets.  Hannah took the boys to Glacier Ridge Metro Park this week where they climbed all around, enjoyed the sunshine, and collected nature.   On Wednesday, we invited Jim and Pat up for dinner to celebrate her 70th birthday. We did good at keeping the surprise of Todd being in town. We kept him off to the side while they arrived and then he surprised her in the kitchen :). Todd, Kevin, and I had planned out a mexican dinner to enjoy at our house. It was great – Todd and Kevin went shopping, and Todd made the meal! I picked up a special German Chocolate cake at Sweettooth Cottage along with some cake balls and sugar cookies. We had quite the spread! After dinner and dessert we were hanging out on the patio and through the back yard appeared Sean! His flight arrived later in the evening so we had planned for him to arrive after dinner while we were hanging out.  Though it is technically Fall, it has been really warm out! Hannah and the boys did some fun painting this week of fall leaves and trees. We’re hoping the cooler weather and fall colors arrive soon!  I love this season for many reasons, but one of my favorite is the flexibility I have in my work schedule. I’ve been going in after Griffin gets on the bus on the days he has school. Or going in late to go to meetings at school. I was able to take Friday off to enjoy the festivities at Tyler Run for their Fall Festival. They have a school wide assembly, followed by a 1-mile fun walk through the neighborhood of the school (The Lakes of Powell, my old neighborhood). Parents, pups, and siblings are invited to join in so it’s quite a fun time. I was super excited to participate and then wouldn’t you know it in the morning as Griffin was getting on the bus I started to jog into the garage to get Reid and something popped in my left calf. Ugh, felt terrible and I couldn’t extend my leg all the way. But I was determined to still go – so I did, and I think the walking was better than sitting down. After the fun walk I had planned to help out at all of the lunch periods. The kids are able to buy raffle tickets and some of them buy so many or are slower at writing their names/room numbers on the tickets so they have adult volunteers there to help the kids. So I did that for a few hours before heading home. Later that night we headed to the school for the evening Fall Festival. Unfortunately, it had to be moved inside this year due to the pending storms, but it was still lots of fun. Inflatables, lots of games, food trucks, a cake walk (always my fave), face painting, and seeing friends.  On Saturday we packed up our crew and headed to Enon for a birthday gathering at Jim and Pat’s that included family and friends. Lily and Brutus enjoyed the excursion too.  https://youtu.be/yc4LKn7QVMk

And here are a few of our growing little boy Reid. I remember the night I took this photo, when he was still sleeping in the co-sleeper next to our bed. He still does this to this day – when he is tired, he will grab your hand and pull it to his face and have you cradle his face. He just loves it. Big boy is riding our blue pony, he is so proud and happy that he can get on and off all by himself. And just one of him gazing out the front windows with the sun shining on his face :).