Welcome, Fall!

Hello All!

Fall is my FAVORITE time of year. I wish it would last so much longer than it does. I’ve been known to put up Fall decor as early as the first day of school. This year I was feeling sick to my stomach and pretty exhausted, so I didn’t get it done until late September… probably the longest I have ever waited!

August was rough for us as we had to say goodbye to Bruce. We still think about him a lot and I still miss him, especially in the evenings which is when he would demand to be petted, and I miss him anytime we open a crinkly bag. When he lived with me and my parents, my dad would eat cheese curls and Bruce would wait patiently to lick his fingers when he was done. So, that taught him to come running when he heard a bag open. As he got older, he became much less patient and he would just lick the seasoning straight off of your face!

Steve has been a great addition to our family. We have had him two weeks and he reminds us a lot of Bruce. He looks like him and has a similar personality. Once he learns to be nicer to Bella, that will help us out. They are getting there though. He just has to learn that she doesn’t want to play all the time. He has a lot of dog-like characteristics, and seems to really like Dave. He wags his tail when he is happy, and he chases balls if you throw them. He is such a big boy! If you notice in the picture below, when he is stretched out, he is as long as my legs! He is only 1.5 years old. His meow sounds like a very loud kitten, which is funny because he is so big.

Adelynn started her last year of preschool this September! She loves it. She will be the first to tell you how much she loves her teachers and the jobs they get to have. She loves show & tell and playing in the sandbox. She talks about the friends she is making and one of her church friends is in her class too. She always tells us what the snack was that day and which kid had to stay inside for a few minutes. I especially liked it when she said “Riley had to stay inside today.” (Riley has to stay inside often.) And she continued: “But Connor had to stay inside today too, so she had some company.” Oh, Adelynn. Always the optimist.

Dave worked at the Fair again this year. Here are some pictures from the Fair:
 
Train waving.


Ava’s dream come true.

We have been excited about baby #3! The girls have too. I’m feeling much better. I hadn’t been feeling well anyway, and in addition to strep and severe allergies, there were a couple of rough months! I’m still tired and easily worn out, but it’s manageable :) I’m 16 weeks today. We will find out the gender this time, so that will be a fun change of pace since we haven’t found out before. We will let you know at Thanksgiving since that is the week we find out!
 

I’m in the beginning stages of planning our IF: Gathering again this year. IF is a women’s conference that is so much more than a weekend women’s gathering. We hosted one last year, which was the second year they did it. This year, their 2,700 seat arena sold out in 4 minutes!! They are Austin, but they live stream it out and - literally - women all over the world are watching. We are considering a bigger event this year that is more of a community event instead of a church hosted event, so it will be a challenge, but a challenge I’m up for! :)

As always, Ava keeps us busy and laughing. Here are some of her adventures:

Getting into Nana’s lipstick.

Not happy about waiting on the blankie to be washed. We finally just gave it to her soaking wet and that was all she needed!

She put on her goggles before killing flies. She is the fly whisperer. No joke. She kills every one she goes after. Most often with her hands!

And then there was the night that Dave put her to bed and thought she was sleeping, but she had actually gone into the bathroom to give herself a haircut. (I was at a meeting). Her room is right across from the bathroom, so if she is sneaky – which is always – you don’t know she is in there. She walked out to the living room with the scissors in one hand and her hair in the other. Oh, Ava. I’m still not sure how we are going to fix it, but I’ll hopefully get some help with it this week! (Her hair was all the same length before).

                

Happy Fall!