Super September

When I was 12 my mom took me to see The Fantasticks in London.  I fell in love with the music and every year when September rolls around I find myself humming, "Try to remember that day in September when life was low and oh so mellow. . ." Unfortunately I don't remember that day.  Not this year anyway.  Our September was anything but low (temperatures still in the high 90's here.) and far from mellow. Our month started with a terrible bout of flu that pummeled our entire family.  It started with Clayton who ended up in the hospital.  The next day Eliza had it.  She also ended up with an IV in the emergency room. Can you see where this is going?

When I brought Eliza home from the hospital in the middle of the night, Lydia was throwing up.  So was Eliza again.  Every five minutes for the next 7 hours.  The next day it hit Nate, Isaac, and me all at the same time.  I've never seen Nate so sick.  By the time poor Brig got it, we were all too weak to take care of him.  When I heard him throwing up in bed, I crawled up to his room with a throw-up bowl, a bottle of Gatorade, and our last clean towel. "I'm sorry" I said, "you're on your own to survive the night. Make sure to sip a tiny bit of Gatorade after every time you throw up. . .which will be all night.  Good luck."

We looked like a war zone with everyone stretched out on towels with their throw-up bowls. Ugh!  What a nightmare! It was brutal.  Eliza got hit the worst.  She didn't move, talk, or eat anything for 4 straight days.  It took her more than a week to get her appetite back.

We're still in mourning over the loss of Hegemon this month.  I loved these paper people Brigham brought home from church.  The three brothers. The blue-eyed one with a hedgehog.

Brigham lost his other front tooth this month at a friends house during a Nerf battle.  go figure.  It's the second tooth he's lost (knocked out!) without me present.

He loves his new jack-o-lantern smile!  Just in time for Halloween!

Brigham finished his timeline project for school this month.  It turned out so cute and of course no one was surprised to see a hedgehog.

What a great life, Brig!

Isaac was also spotlighted at school this month.  His teacher, whose grandfather was a pilot during WWII was so impressed with Isaac's "Hero" James Doolittle. Isaac writes, "James Doolittle was a brave pilot with quick reflexes.  He was smart and helped win WWII"  She also liked his favorite song, "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and favorite movie, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and his tank-shaped birthday cake. :)  We love our Isaac!

I'm homesick for Autumn.  September is supposed to be when the air turns crisp and the everything else turns colors.  Not here.  It's still sweltering hot.  My parents have been enjoying the fall scenery at the ranch and sending me pictures.

Aren't they amazing?

I love my cute mom with her riding helmet.  So smart - I don't know how we survived all those years of adventurous riding without wearing them.

Ice cream is still the most exciting thing around here.  Especially in this heat!  We'll probably still be eating ice cream in December!

And visiting the splash park. 

Thankfully autumn in Houston, despite the heat, is still full of color.  We have so many butterflies right now! 

Clayton headed to 5th grade camp for a week.  It was strange going about our routine at home without him.  I missed him SO much!  But he was having too much fun to miss us. Here he is at the school heading to the bus with his trash bag of stuff. 

Here are a few pictures from Camp Olympia sent to me by his teacher. They stayed in cabins, went rock climbing, canoeing, horseback riding, golfing, star exploring, fishing, and completed a ropes course.  He came home with a million stories.  His favorite story to tell is about the bus getting blocked by a stopped train on the way to camp. They thought the train was broken down, turns out it was loading illegally. After hours of waiting for the train to move in traffic backed up for miles, the police finally came to investigate. They disconnected the train cars to let traffic through and the kids arrived at camp several hours late and VERY hungry.

You can spot Clayton here eating a very late lunch in the camp cafeteria.  Look for his hat in the back.

Canoeing.  The lake looks beautiful.

Clayton talked about all the goats.

Here are a few pictures of him doing archery.

Fishing.

And his group skit on the final day.  Clayton had such a blast. He's so lucky - I had no idea 5th graders got to do this.  And even though I was nervous (who wouldn't be after reading Wonder?) I'm glad he had such a great experience.

Nate and I went on our own little excursion - a firm retreat in Austin two weekends ago.  We stayed at a beautiful spa resort overlooking a forest reserve. I met up with Nate there for the weekend.  Here are a few phone pictures from the dinner cruise.  Thank you to the McKays and Rochelle and Jamie for watching our kids overnight!  We owe you big time!  Despite the stress of getting myself, without my children, dressed up and in another city, Nate and I were both glad for the chance to get away together.

I had fun making pink CTR cookies for Megan's baptism this month.  Of course, I have fun making anything pink!

Origami is still alive and well.  Clayton is loving all the new real origami paper he got for his birthday!

Isaac is constantly entertaining us with his origami star wars puppets.  This Jabba the Hut is one of my favorites.

Isaac has made some clever accessories. . .

This month Eliza made lunch for everyone - string cheese with a thousand toothpicks.  youch!

And Clayton made everyone breakfast - happy face cinnamon toast!

Lydia is adorable.  She is also a real handful.  She is SO opinionated (hm, wonder where she gets that??).  There is no deterring her once her mind is made up.  She insists on sleeping with a million random toys to which she takes careful inventory. If we ever try to sneak anything out of her bed she knows and will scream all night until it's put back.  On the three-hour drive to Austin, she wanted to watch Dora when all I brought was Winnie the Pooh.  She screamed for the entire drive.  Not kidding.  And when we got back in the car a day later to drive back, she remembered. And screamed all the way home again - nonstop for three hours. My ears were ringing by the time we got back. I couldn't think straight. This girl is pure joy.

But, oh so darn cute. . .

Here she is showing off her new hedgehog shirt.  She carries her purse everywhere.

And she's always ready to go somewhere.  We love our Lydia.

Eliza is a good big sister.  Her dream is to have a backpack like Naomi and her brothers. She wears her bag like a backpack to make up for it.

These girls are best friends.  Now that the boys are back in school, I am enjoying spending my days with these two.  They are such a delight!

Hooray for a super September! 

We're really hoping for a "low and oh so mellow" October though.