Where Did September Go

It seriously kills me that I'm just barely blogging about Labor Day. . . and the rest of September! Where did the month go? I was so excited for school to start and settle back into a nice routine, but that has yet to happen. We've been running around like crazy for the last 5 weeks and I'm ready to take at least a week to catch my breath! 

Here is the gist of September!

Labor Day Weekend:

 We went to the Mollala Train Park

 I got my hair done!

 Family Bike Ride

 BBQ

 (the kids didn't want ribs, so they got pigs in a blanket. That's why you don't see actual BBQ food on their plates!)

 Indoor Smores

 And it ended with our backyard campout! This was the last thing left on our summer list and we waited until the very last night of summer to do it. We set up a kiddie play tent out on the grass and the three of us went to sleep. Scratch that. . . the kids went to sleep. The tent was so small I couldn't straighten my legs all the way and I just couldn't get comfortable. Then a thunderstorm came through. Once it started pouring I called inside to Shaun to have him come out and help me take the kids inside. The kids had no idea of the storm and were pretty disappointed when they woke up in their beds in the morning.

School Started:

That's when the craziness began! See more on the kids' September posts.

 This is me complaining about actually having to set an alarm Monday-Friday. :(

Yard Work:

We tore out all of our marionberries. They just weren't producing hardly at all and were a real pain to keep up with.

 We grew some giant sunflowers in our garden this summer. I went out one day to cut one down and take it to my mom's school for a project and found this little guy hanging out!

Soccer:

 These two started soccer. I'm coaching Maisey's team with practice one night a week and a game on Saturday. Shaun is coaching Gage's team with just games on Saturdays. It's been nice watching them improve each week. Last Saturday Gage actually stayed on his field the whole time! Improvements!

Oktoberfest:

Even though the weekend of Oktoberfest was packed full, we couldn't let a year go by without hitting it up. We did all of the usual things plus a magic show! And the weather was beautiful this year!

 Pony Rides -- Miley thought they were so fun and kept petting her horse!

 Miley and Mommy waiting for the magic show to start.

 The show was a little hokey, but Maisey and Gage have been into doing magic tricks lately, so they thought it was great!

Parks:

Most of the month we had really warm weather. Even some 90* days. We played outside a lot and wore out lots of energy so they could go to bed early on school nights.

 This day we went to the park by Grammy's house and we also went on a stick hunt for an art project in Maisey's class.

Apple Picking:

We went to the apple orchard earlier in the month than we usually do and I am so glad. There were tons of ripe apples and we got what we needed really fast. The big kids had fun picking the apples and Miley had fun eating them and taking them out of one bucket and dropping them into another (and bruising them!).

 The orchard owner asked if the kids wanted to go for a gator ride while we loaded up the apples. Of course they weren't going to pass that up. 

Cousins:

My cousin's kids spent a weekend with us and they all had a blast. The girls made cookies together while Shaun took the boys fishing. They weren't successful but at least they got to eat cookies when they got home. They also got to have movie nights together. We love when Madi and Jack come to stay!

 Pizza with the cousins!

BYU Football: 

The season has started and the best thing about this year is now we actually have friends who are BYU fans! A family moved into our ward a few months ago and they root for the Cougs. We've enjoyed getting together with them for games.

 All decked out in our gear!

Primary Program:

This was Gage's first primary program and Maisey's third. They both did really well saying their parts, and surprisingly Gage didn't cause too much of a scene on the stand. For the first song we clipped his tie to his lower lip so when he sang it went up and down, but hey, at least he was singing!

 Cute kids!

Family:

Aunt Janel flew through Portland on her way to Idaho for Nathaniel's missionary farewell so we went up to the airport to visit with her for a few hours. Then we picked Daddy up from work and took him up to the airport too so he could fly to Idaho with Janel.

 Aunt Janel is the best!

Monsoon:

We had crazy monsoon weather the weekend Shaun was gone. Like flooding all over the place, strong winds and 4+ inches of rain.

 I got to have soccer practice in it. This was on the way home.

Let's just say we didn't go out much that weekend!

And that's what we ended September with!