September

J decided she'd rather do 8 riding lessons than months of gymnastics so we made it happen. She is ridiculously cute riding. Seeing her post while the horse trots is kind of ridiculously cute.

She started 1st grade and laments that there is more sitting and being quiet than in kindergarten. Her teacher has been teaching 1st for 40 years and everyone loves him, but he's pretty old school.

This boy is as devious as he is cute. And FOR THE LOVE, WILL EVERYONE PLEASE KEEP THE DOORS TO THE BATHROOM AND PANTRY CLOSED?!

He loves to reorganize my cupboards. I decided to see how far he'd take it one day and this was the result.

J planted sunflower seeds in kindergarten with the assignment to replant the spouts at home. They were supposed to take a picture when the flowers were bigger than the student and send it to the teacher next school year. I laughed, thinking no way the plant would survive transplant, let alone live to flower. PNW proved me wrong!

M started pre-k and loves how all his new shirts glow in the dark.

I went for a run for the first time since I've lived here. Both boys eventually fell asleep and I didn't quite know what to do.

Pusheen is a team mascot for Husband at work and they have a million stuffed ones around the office. His coworker just had a baby so I made this lovey.

He has discovered trains and the window sill in the same week.

I love the author Glennon Doyle and bought tickets to see her. My friend Maren agreed to be my date and even took me to the airport after.

I flew to Texas to surprise my friend Rachel! Her Husband hatched the plan a couple months ago and tried so hard to make it a surprise. Rachel guessed it as soon as he said "I have a surprise planned so don't look at my phone, email, or facebook." She's got skills. And Justin gets points for planning it. I loved see them and meeting 5 week old Tanner. And eating tacos. Lots and lots of tacos.

Torchy's are the best. I'd never had a fried avocado before.

We also went to get sushiritos because Justin loves food like I love food.

It was like Chipotle but with sushi

We also got tacos from the taco truck on base for breakfast one morning. So good. AZ has awesome burritos, but Texas is all about the tacos.

I charmed my way into emergency exit rows for my flights back. Traveling without kids and lots of legroom makes red eye flights seem luxurious. I'm getting too old for it though, I was awake 36hrs ish the first day of the visit and only got maybe 4 hours sleep before getting back into real life at home. Still worth it though.

This kid was extra cute so it wasn't too bad.

 He helped me unpack the 15 pounds of fresh tortillas I brought back as gifts for everyone who watched my kids while I was gone. And all the Texas people that I knew would appreciate some from HEB.

Lil Sis also got back from Vietnam and brought us back presents.

M continues to occasionally fall asleep in weird places. This time it's in Vietnamese garb.

He also made up a great song about a package being for him and the new batman shoes that came in it.

Facebook rented out an entire pumpkin patch for a family fall festival. It was seriously a perfect day, one that makes you love your family a little extra because everything was so fun. Of course I was ready to kill my kiddos getting them ready to go.

J recreated a picture from when she was two and made pumpkin glasses with PopPop at a different pumpkin patch.

Hayride!

He spent forever on this while the rest of the family did the corn maze.

She did this pose on her own.

This was a favorite in AZ, still fun here.

Finally, a chance with the produce cannon! Normally we skip this attraction because it costs extra money, but when facebook is covering it, why not?

They gave us $5 credits for pumpkins so we pooled them so M could get the biggest pumpkin he could find. He. was. thrilled. J chose her own little pumpkin too so we left with some very happy campers and one exhausted 1 year old.