Month: September 2015

We had a teacher workday during the last week of September, and so decided to spend it visiting The Farm at Swan’s Trail, our usual pumpkin-picking place.

I admit it was a little early to pick pumpkins. The poor gourds didn’t have much of a chance of lasting all the way until Halloween, but who cares? FALL IS OFFICIALLY UPON US.

We got to play on big slides, jumping pillows, and explore a corn maze. Some of our friends were there, too, which made it especially enjoyable. I wonder, though, if this was the last time Jeff will be game to play with the other kids.

Katie really, really didn’t want to walk through the corn maze, so I took her apple picking while the others went with their friends.

We also took a ride on the hay wagon. This is the face Katie made when the tractor’s big engine started up.

And did I mention the kittens? SO MANY LITTLE BLACK KITTENS!

There it is.

I am now officially a mother of a teenager. That didn’t take very long, did it?

 

We celebrated by inviting over a bunch of pals and watching the first Lord of the Rings movie. He’s been wanting to watch that show since he was five years old. I hope it was worth the wait!

Eleanor and William gave him a shield they had purchased together at the Viking Days festival back in August. Eleanor later painted it with a traditional Viking design. Happy Birthday, my sweet flipperling Jeff!

We had a Grandma in Seattle for a bit this month.

It was a great chance to take William on a trip to the gaming pub.

And I had an excuse to do touristy Seattle things.

But of course, the big reason for the trip was to go to the annual (and possibly last) Mom & Me camp with our local Girl Scout service unit.

It was so good to see Camp Robbinswold again. Eleanor and I are both very much in love with this place.

We spent the weekend crafting, hiking, playing games, singing songs, and eating waaaaaay too much food. And even though I managed to get yelled at during both of our ferry rides (it always happens) it was a wonderful time.

September has been crammed with a variety of first things.

The first day of school:

Jeff (7th grade) isn’t smiling because he wants to look cool. Eleanor (5th grade) has taken pains to make sure her new necklace is showing in this picture. William (3rd grade) isn’t smiling because I insisted he wear a jacket instead of the dirty hoodie he loves. Katie (pre-K) is very excited about the little blue notebook she found in her schultute last night. Off we go!

We were then able to squeeze in our annual backyard circus during the last warm weekend of the summer (I suppose that’s a “last thing,” not a first):

Katie then had her first day of preschool the following Tuesday. Three hours of kid-free time for me, every day!

Here she is lining up to walk to her classroom:

Then, William had his first day of Cub Scouts. He usually refuses to wear jeans, but he eagerly puts them on every week for Cubs, so he has loops for his scout belt to go through. I love that kid.