AROUND HERE

We are in full fall swing and the weather is starting to match the season; Sam has been wearing a jacket to to school and I've been doing the closet dig to see if we have appropriate winter gear for everyone.  And we don't.  So winter coat shopping is on the list for this week. 

Other things happening around here:

Sam is in the midst of a full-on president obsession. 

He was supposed to wear a necktie to school today and wanted to wear it up around his neck (outside of / above his shirt collar).  I convinced him to wear it the appropriate way by showing him photos of various presidents wearing their neckties (in the appropriate manner) and then asking him if he wanted to wear it his way or "the president way." 

He spends a lot of time talking to Alexa and Siri about the birth and death dates of various presidents and fact checking them against his Presidents book. 

He knows a lot of random facts about various presidents, knows which ones are alive, etc.

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The next MANY weekends on our calendar are planned and full.  Thankfully, it is all good and fun stuff.  Still, that thought makes me feel a little bit overwhelmed. 

Also, Brian just started his basketball coaching season.  He coaches a middle school team, so their season is short and their practices aren't super late.  But I still say, "ugh."  I am not looking forward to additional hours of solo parenting.  Additionally, since he gets home late, I will likely miss my prayer group for the next several weeks and I don't like that.
  

We've been making great progress crossing things off our fall fun list.

Most of our family traditions are tied to pretty specific events and places, but we still haven't found a pumpkin patch that quite fits us.  We've been going for the past five years.  We've tried five different places.  And we still didn't feel like we found a winner this year.  Oh well.  Maybe this tradition can just be tied to the idea of trying new things. 

We also added "date night" to our list, as Brian and I haven't had any alone, out of the house time in what feels like a long, long time.  ...need to talk to the nieces to see who can babysit. 

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I'm going on a weekend trip with my middle school / high school girlfriends in a few weeks and really looking forward to it.  These women are like a family to me.   We always have SO many laughs and just enjoy one another's company.  I am so thankful that God placed them in my life back in 1992 and that we've stuck together.

To add to the fun, we will spend the majority of our time at IKEA.  So, I've been spending my days looking around the house and scheming about rearranging and replacing furniture and accessories. 

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And now I must go clean up the kitchen....

Cheers!