him & HER & them: September

Finally getting around to sharing our September snippets (because for some reason I thought I already had...?!) The kids and I spent a week in Pacific City with my family (a post yet to come) and because of that I think the month seemed to speed by. All of a sudden it was October and now, as I type this, it is raining outside and Fall seems to finally be upon us. But before the cool mornings and early sunsets, we had our last month of summer...

^^ We started the month with a hike in the woods with some friends! The trail has become a monthly occurrence for us, as it's mostly shaded, beautiful, close to home and just the right length and difficulty for Uriah to do on his own! These friends have become a pretty regular occurrence, also!

^^ Slowly but surely these two are becoming better and better friends. It truly warms and melts my heart to see them (kindly!) interacting with each other. Uriah is learning to give her a heavy dose of grace and patience, but he is gaining a trusting and love best friend in return.

^^ Donut park date with friends! Always a good idea if you ask me!

^^ Sleepy snuggles with daddy as he gets home from his 30 hour shift. I think Stephen would say that a shared nap time with this guy might be the only benefit of such a long work shift!

^^ Just two of hundreds of pictures of this one in my camera roll! She is just the best, you guys! The perfect combination of sweet and innocent and wild and reckless!

^^ A quick trip to the mall in search of a cardigan (the one Uriah is wearing and refused to take off for two days following!) for pictures. This is Uriah pretending to be a koala bear and Ezra trying her best to be like brother, climbing the only thing she can get hersfuf up on.

^^ Uriah asking to comb my hair and then sitting there quietly for the next 10 minutes sweetly doing just that! He asks to do this often and it's a request I never turn down!

^^ The obligatory monthly Costco shopping cart picture!

^^ I love when I find Uriah has been practicing writing his name without prompting! I'm a fan of his suns, too!

^^ If we get in the car just as the kids are waking up from their nap, we can make it to Half Moon Bay before all the traffic. Pick up dinner at our favorite Tres Amigos as we pull into town and enjoy our tacos at the beach as we play in the sand and watch the sun set... Not a bad evening if you ask me! I love this family of mine and the opportunity we've been given to live here!

^^ A morning walk up the dish in hopes of catching a lizard or five! These kiddos have such a brave and adventurous spirit! They love to catch these little guys, let them crawl all over them and then carry them down the hill on their shirts.

^^ Uriah's first day of preschool! Which, so far, has been a big hit with us all! On his first day, at three and a half, I asked him the following questions - Favorite color: "purple" - Favorite animal: "a black widow spider" - Favorite thing to do: "build things" - When he grows up he wants to be: "a doctor ...maybe" Three and half has been such a fun and imaginative age for Uriah! Equally as hard and frustrating as it has been wonderful, but oh has it been wonderful...!

^^ An afternoon with some of our favorite boys while lucky mom and dad got to go sign papers for their NEW HOUSE!

^^ She'll most likely be at least six feet, so this could be a glimpse into her future...?!

^^ A morning at the children's library. A lot of the time, they're totally rotten. But some of the time, they are cute and sweet and thoughtful and I start counting down the days until we can have another

^^ Playing dress up for school as we learned about all things winter in science!

^^ Doesn't anyone else decide to skip bible study and play in the aisles of Target instead too?

^^ I told you - she's perfect!

^^ Another day, another trip to Costco, another picture in the cart

^^ These two love baby Shiloh! And I don't blame them! She's got Uriah asking when I'm going to have anther baby in my belly! Just this morning he told me he was going to start praying for a boy...!

^^ Building an ark after reading Noah's Ark in school

^^ Park play date with friends - I can't get over those blue eyes! ...and that belly! ...and those pigtails!

^^ Legos on the porch one evening. It's such a simple and easy idea, but taking the ordinary (the thing we always play with!) and switching it up by taking it outside was a huge hit!