Fall Stuff

 This post will mainly be September with a little bit of August and October thrown in.  It just felt like a good time to post.

August seems like such a long time ago.  At the beginning of the month we had our last summer get-together before Andy, Keny, and Milan headed back to Florida.  We went to the park, rode the Carousel, and had pizza!  The kids all had a blast and it was a great way to end the summer!

Mia and Audrey waiting for their turn!

This picture makes me laugh every time!  To be fair, I don't know if Sorren and Ledger knew they were in the picture.

Handsome baby boy!

All the kids got cotton candy afterwards.  It was sticky and messy and lots of fun. ;)

Playing in the sprinkler!  Asher and Ava loved running through it and Mia loved watching them.  She didn't like actually getting wet.

David and Asher started school at the end of August.  They have been going 4 days a week in school and having online school Friday's (although David still has to go to the school and attend teacher meetings and work at the school).  I was so glad Asher got to go back to school!  He really missed his friends and couldn't wait to meet his new teacher.  He does well with a good structure and reliability to his day so school is good for him.  So far he has done great in class and tells me all the time about all the friends he plays with.  One day I was picking him up from school and it was taking him forever to walk over to the car.  I asked him what took so long and he said "I had to say goodbye to everyone!"  He has a little of his Grandpa Mitchell in him. ;)  This year I decided to take him to school and pick him up every day.  I was a little paranoid about all those kids on the bus together spreading germs, but what made me decide more was that all the kids would have to sit in families, so he wouldn't be able to sit with his friends and I knew that would be really hard for him.  So I explained to him that this would probably be the only year we do this, but I would drive him.  He has a hard time when I drop him off in the morning because he is still my velcro baby and has a hard time leaving me, but I know he has fun at school and is always smiling and happy when I pick him up!  Next week the high schools in our district will start only going to school 2 days a week because they have had a lot more Covid cases.  It means a lot more work for David.  It will be so nice when things can go back to normal!

First day of 2nd Grade! 

Masks are required for everyone all day.  Grandma Mitchell made Asher a few masks for him to wear to school.  He really hasn't complained at all about having to wear them.

Every month we look for the full moon!  Grandma Clay has a deal going with her grandkids - she sends them a dollar coin if they call/video chat/etc with her on a full moon.  Asher took this picture and I actually think it's pretty good!

I was headed to bed one night and found Millie being a spoiled rotten dog.  When I come to bed she'll just lay there and look at me.  I scoot her big butt over to David's side and get in bed.  David usually comes to bed after me and as soon as she hears him heading for the room she'll jump down and go to her pillow.

I had to get some pictures of the girls in their "Rainbow Dresses" my mom made for them.  They are almost too small and have been worn so much that they're starting to fall apart. 

Ava especially would wear this dress every day if I let her!  This is by far her favorite dress.  She has her own style and gets very mad when her favorite outfits are in the wash.  Sometimes I'll hide her dresses just to make her wear something else.  Don't tell her I said that....

This girl.  She is so quirky and spunky and just full of life!  This is how I'll always remember her at this age.  "Rainbow dress", "Dancing Shoes" (any shoes she really likes), crazy curly hair bouncing around, squeal coming out of her mouth, and Bear in tow.

Mia is so much more subdued in public than she is at home.  At home she is always giggling and laughing and running around right behind Ava!  They really are best buddies and love playing with each other all day.  I hear the words "Sissy, come here!" over and over and that's how I know they're having fun!

I'm normally very cautious about making sure we follow all the rules so we don't get Covid, but one day I let Asher invite a friend over and a neighbor girl did Ava and Mia's makeup.  I told my mom we'd probably all get Covid and pink-eye, but all three kids had so much fun and loved every minute that it was worth it.

This is how they said prayers one night after scriptures.  My kids think they all need to be sitting on someone during prayers.  It's going to get really difficult when they're all teenagers. ;)

Ava LOVES to hang on my neck when I'm sitting down.  Sometimes I get annoyed and make her get off, and sometimes I tickle and kiss her until I'm worried she's going to pee her pants!

I was really on the ball this year and went to Goodwill the first week in September and got Halloween costumes for all the kids.  Asher got a Spiderman outfit and the girls got a Cinderella and Aurora dress!  The Goodwill actually usually had pretty good costumes.  I also got boots and snowpants for the kids there and those were all in really good condition too!  Ever since I got the dresses the girls want to wear them all the time.  They have been worn to the gas station, Wal-Mart, and the vet.  I'm getting my money's worth! 

I always think of the scene in Friends where they're lounging around in wedding dresses when I see the girls watching tv or eating snacks in their princess dresses.

There's a little park right by the river that we sometimes go to and walk around.  It's kind of a Zen Garden type thing and very pretty.  I want to get family pictures taken there next time we get around to doing that!  Until we get family pictures taken I'll just take pictures with my phone. 

I don't know why but it is so hard to get Mia to smile for pictures!  If she is ever smiling in a picture it's a candid shot where I pretend to chase her or something and she starts laughing.  She has a hard time smiling on command.  But she does have the cutest little face!

This is how all the pictures look when I try to take a picture of them together.  Asher is making a weird face, Ava is laughing and her eyes are closed, and Mia is half smiling and looking at something off to the side.

David's mom gave Asher that little baby thing when he was a baby.  It has still survived and is actually still a little bit of a favorite! 

Ava is so quirky and it always cracks me up.  I told her we were going to pick up Asher from school.  This is what she grabbed.  We had to stop at the post office before getting Asher and she almost wore it inside the store!  But she changed her mind at the last minute.  She lives life on her own terms!

One morning Asher and I got into a big fight when I was dropping him off at school because he really didn't want to go.  I felt horrible about it all day and knew I needed a different tactic.  So at first I told him we would do some stuff on Pokemon Go (we've really gotten into that the last year or so!) and now I ask him what he wants to do after school.  If he goes to school without complaining we'll do what he wants and it gives him something to look forward to.  One day he picked making No Bake Cookies (his favorite) so all three helped me make them!  Any time I do any kind of food stuff Ava and Mia will drag chairs over to the counter to "help".

One day I looked over and saw Ava watching TV like this.  That girl is very thin, but all muscle.  And, seriously, she lives life by her own rules!

I'm sure I forgot a bunch of stuff, but that pretty accurately describes life for us!