one week down.

We survived our first official full week of school and while everyone was exhausted, I think it was a pretty great week. Lucy is adjusting to her new teacher, friends, schedule, routine and classroom. Carter is enjoying his time back with school friends and Simon and I are having so much fun spending our days together. 

The bus has been running a little SO late in the afternoons. I've decided parent pick up is a much better option but on those sunny days it's sort of nice to let Simon play in the neighbors yards while we wait for the bus. He gets so excited to see it pull into the neighborhood and watch all the kids run on out.

 With a change in start times this year we have so much more time in the morning too. We are morning people and rise early every day so I'm determined to not have the kids just sit around until school starts. We've built forts, rode bikes in the cul-de-sac and walked to school to help get the wiggles out.

 With the big kids gone all day somehow I feel the need to tackle more projects. I wanted to rake some leaves in the backyard one morning while Simon played but I saw a giant weed on the side of the house. So naturally I thought, why don't I just weed THE ENTIRE SIDE OF THE HOUSE?!? It was a bit crazy and I really wish I would have taken some before pictures of this crazy mess but I'm happy it's done now. Now I want to get new beauty bark and pea gravel and finally finish this part of the yard.

 Simon and I have loved going for walks and bike rides all week. Not sure what he's gonna think when all the rain returns this week and we can't spend our entire day outside.

 This weekend we celebrated the first week of school with the annual Ice Cream Social. This is one of the kids' favorite events at school and such a fun time to reconnect with old friends while finding new friends on the playground. It's a bit crazy with 20559485 small children all playing on the play structure and getting a sugar high from ice cream sundaes but we managed to keep an eye on all 3 kids and had a fun night. Lucy had another soccer game Saturday morning too!

 So....needless to say, after a full week of school, ice cream and soccer this girl was wiped out. We came home to eat some lunch before heading out for an evening with friends and I found her tucked into bed sound asleep. Poor girl. She is doing so well but I can't imagine how much change and learning her little body is having to do right now. A Saturday afternoon nap was the best choice!

 To round out the end of summer we met up with some of our closest friends for a farm to table dinner at a local, organic farm. It was complete with live music, dancing, a kids scavenger hunt, games, wine and beer garden, tractor rides and a full buffet dinner using locally grown food. The kids ran around, ate grapes straight from the vine, gobbled down blueberry cobbler and corn on the cob and watched all the farm animals wander around. We loved catching up with old friends and really embraced the last warm day of summer before the rain returned.

 And yesterday...it was all about fall! The wind and rain began, Seahawks played and I baked away. We got out the fall decorations, had chicken noodle soup for dinner and a homemade apple crisp for dessert. A pretty wonderful Sunday all around!

We have a busy week ahead. Simon gets to start preschool (thankfully only 1 day a week but...eek!), 2 curriculum nights at school, ninja classes, soccer, soccer pictures, my new work schedule, work trainings for Matt and more Seahawks. Whew...here we go!