Between our last few trips and our recent record-high temps, I feel like we haven’t really experienced ‘fall’ at all! We have, however, raked plenty of leaves. Here’s what we’ve been enjoying lately:
*Edited to add: We’re currently in the middle of a giant snow storm (see #10 below), so much of these seem outdated, but they weren’t when I started this post just a couple weeks ago! We really DID have weather in the 70s last week!
- Maelle’s first day of school! Maelle started Revive Wesleyan (our church) Preschool at the East Aurora campus this fall. She missed her first two weeks when we were in the Outer Banks, so this was her first ‘real’ day of school, toward the end of September. Daddy caught this great shot as they headed out the door. She loves it, and I enjoy some much-needed time to myself, which usually just ends up spent bring productive. C’est la vie.
2. Playing at the park. As I said before, we had some unseasonably warm days in October and November, so we were able to go for scooter rides and hit the park frequently. Here, you can see we did both. Maelle also started going down the twisty slide on her belly, which is now her new favorite thing.
3. New pumpkin jams! With fall being my favorite season and pumpkin-anything being my favorite…anything, I decided we needed pumpkin jammies! Give me all the Hannas.
4. Maelle’s first sleepover! Dear friends of ours were expecting twins in October, and asked if their oldest, Frankie, could spend the night with us before they went in for their C-section. We had a blast having him over, and walked him (and all his gear in the wagon!) to the bus stop the following morning.
5. LOTS of yardwork. We were so busy this summer that our yard and landscaping were largely neglected. We could barely mow, let alone mulch! With winter weather coming, I consulted my landscaping friend, who suggested I mulch the plants at a minimum. Thirty bags and a backache later, I at least felt like I gave them all a fighting chance.
6. Fall Fest at church. The East Aurora campus of our church has only been open for about a year, so this was the first big party we had and it was fantastic. Maelle made a candy apple, played on the bounce house, painted a sun catcher and we watched a juggling show. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I’m glad we made the time for it, even though I knew we should be raking leaves…(see #5 above).
7. Maelle’s dedication. I’ve been meaning to sign us up for child dedication for, well, three years now, but always miss the announcement. I finally saw it, and when I noticed it was the weekend on Halloween–a weekend my parents always visit–I figured it was perfect. I chose Romans 12:12 for her, as that was the verse I clung to while we were struggling with infertility.
8. We’re back at Wojo Ninja Gym this fall and we love it! We started last fall and I’ve seen Maelle improve both her skills and her confidence on the equipment. I love that it’s a completely open-play concept and she can run around and do whatever she wants. I can finally sit down every few minutes, since she’s more independent than she was last year.
9. Our big guy’s BIG BIRTHDAY was last week, and his sisters got him this awesome sign as a surprise. SO fun. He and I went to breakfast after dropping Maelle off at preschool (why don’t we do that more often?!), and had a family dinner at his parents’ house that evening.
10. Our first big snowstorm! It was like Snovember 2014 all over again. We ended up with 4.5 feet of snow in just over 24 hours, which is quite a lot! We hunkered down, thankful for warmth, a working snow blower (although Andrew did have to fix a broken shear pin) and plenty of food. We even managed to host a ‘Friendsgiving’ on Saturday night with friends who live here in the village. I love the snow, and if it’s going to be cold, it might as well be a winter wonderland.
(That wasn’t even all of it!)
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