September is going, going....

It's the last day of September! How can this even be possible?

The temperature was in the upper 30s when we got up this morning. Brrr. That should bring out the fall colors. Hopefully we'll still have plenty of mild days to go out and enjoy.

In honor of the last day of September, I thought I'd post some pictures we took this month. I think I have just enough time to squeeze them in before the month is gone.

We attended a parade on the 12th. Bryan's school band marched in it. Somehow I took no photos of his band. How'd that happen? I did get photos of cute animals and kids though. ☻

The fam! Alan, Aaron, Lauryn, and Jadyn. Looks like J. had candy in her mouth. We managed to bring home lots of candy and other treasures.

Here is Jadyn, ready for her first day of 4 & 5's preschool.

Our girl is going places! This is a random photo I took in the car, just because she looked cute. We were headed to Target, where else?

Last Friday, we went to the apple orchard with friends. It was a rainy day, so we didn't get to go into the orchard to pick apples. We did check out all of the pumpkins, chickens, goats, a maze, and the hay bales.

We also enjoyed the fun gift shop, lunch, and a caramel apple. We "picked" our apples in the apple shop. We were happy to come home with apples, since that was why we made the trip. ☻The photos look more like we took a trip to a pumpkin place, but that's okay. Who doesn't love to see tons of pretty pumpkins?

Jadyn and Joie

Hay there!

Jadyn with Sarah and chickens.

Images of Summer II

It's time for a little more catching up. Here are more photos from things we experienced in late summer.

Here's a photo from September 10th. Lookin' quite stylish. :) She's finally outgrown the little red shoes and it's time to find a new home for them.

Jadyn and I went to the State Fair during the 1st week of September. We had fun and spent most of our time looking at animals. We went to some areas we had not seen before and it was fun to take our time and check it all out.

Here are some photos from that day...

Moo!

Getting a new tat!

Got wool? We saw a lot of sheep. The biggest guys were downright loud and kind of scary.

A new baby calf, just 4 days old.

Llama!

I think this llama looks like he's grinning. We loved the llamas!

Sweet little ducky

Just Rambling

So summer is gone...all gone. I'm okay with that I suppose. There's no point in whining about what I can't change. Yes, I will embrace the coming of Fall. Do Not expect to hear the same about Winter. :)

I took a walk yesterday, while Jadyn was at preschool. It was so enjoyable to see the colors that are beginning to change and feel the leaves crunching under my feet.

Yes, Jadyn went back to school last week, and so far she's been doing great. Not one tear has been shed, and she has not fussed about going or said that she "just wants to be with me". This..Is..Awesome. I hope this trend continues.

Viruses have arrived at our home. I think it's Bryan's fault. When school began, he said he was not looking forward to the 5 or 6 colds that he would probably get. He came down with a cold a few days ago...it was only the 8th day of school. I'm sure he must have tempted fate.
I've had a short stomach virus, which began last night. Can I blame it on him?

Jadyn's school has large bottles of hand sanitizer sitting around every corner. I like this! We use it coming and going. I'd like to just have us go out in protective suits, from head to toe, masks included. Wouldn't that be nice?

Funny Things

We went out for lunch on Sunday after church, as usual. An elderly gentleman stopped at our table and asked us about Jadyn. He said, "Where'd you get that little cutie?" We told him that she was adopted in China. He said that a couple of his grandkids are from S. Korea, which I thought was pretty cool. After he left, Alan was wondering why he didn't ask us where we got Bryan. Yeah, why not??

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On Sunday night at dinner, Jadyn wanted to know if she could have some of the croutons from my salad. She said, "Mom, can I have your raccoons?" LOL! I'll miss these times, when she is older.

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Yesterday morning, Jadyn found a roly poly bug in the house and she put it in an empty plastic cinnamon bottle. She was so happy with him, saying how cute he was, and how fun he was to pet. She wanted me to pet him too, but I declined.

I went to take my shower, and when I returned I noticed the open jar, lying on the couch. I asked her where the roly poly was. She said, "He's on the coaster." I asked her to repeat that, because I was wondering how on earth she expected him to stay put there. I took a look, and sure enough he was on the coaster, on his back with his little legs in the air. Dead.

I said, "Honey, I think he's dead." She asked me how I knew. ☻ I said, "Umm, well I don't think he's asleep."

A little bit later, she said, "If you pet a roly poly too much and shake it too much, it will die."

Alan said maybe it was cinnamoned to death. Ha.

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Last night, I was doing the dishes and my back was to the area in our living room. We have a couple of rocker-recliners in there. I heard a little boom. I turned around, and one of the chairs had fallen over on it's back! Jadyn was there and she said, "Hey, how'd that chair fall down?" I said I thought she did it and she said she didn't. I told her she needed to tell me the truth. She admitted that she sat on the back of it and it fell over. Dear heavens, I'm glad she wasn't hurt.

Alan and Bryan came in, after they heard all of the commotion. I tried to tell them what happened, but could not stifle my laughter. (I occasionally have inappropriate laughter syndrome.) The whole situation and "Hey, how'd that chair fall down?" was just so comical to me. Jadyn started crying because I laughed about it. She's going to be warped now, I'm sure of it.

I said, "I'm pretty sure she's our only child who has ever made one of those chairs fall down." Bryan said, "Uh mom, I'm pretty sure she's not the only one. I mastered everything in the house as a child." Oh.my.goodness. Sometimes he scares me.

Images of Summer

I am so grateful for time with family, and the fun times we've had together this summer. Here are a few pictures of things that we've done in the last few weeks.

The first few photos are from our Wisconsin trip. Wisconsin - it's a nice place to visit, and I

would want to live there. Such a pretty state, and there's lots of cheese! No pics of cheese, sorry. I think we must have eaten it.

Copper Falls State Park --

Apostle Islands Tour --

Photos in the garden at the guesthouse where we stayed. --

Playing in the rain, at our house.

Two of our daughters, cooling their feet in a fountain, on a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Lauryn and Jadyn

More images of summer, coming soon to a blog near you....

Back to Blogging Day

It's back to school day for many of the kids out there. Bryan went back to school today, for the last time (at the high school level anyway). Our boy is a senior!

I thought this could be my Back to Blogging day. A couple of people have said to me, "So... I've noticed you haven't blogged much lately..." I just tell them I'm not sure what's up with that. I'm really not. ☺

Here is Bryan's back to school photo. I just had to have one of his last 1st day of school.

Also, here is his 1st day of Kindergarten photo. I think he's grown a little.

I see I cropped the Kindergarten photo with way cool scissors. It

must have seemed like a good idea at the time.

We drove him to Kindergarten on his first day. Today, he drives himself in his little red car. Our boy is all grown up. ☺

I probably cried on his first day of Kindergarten. No crying today. I'll save that for his graduation in June.

Some parents are cheering today, because they have a quiet house again. Some parents cried, I'm sure. Me, I'm just happy to be blogging again.