Fall Where Are You?

I could write this same post every mid-September since moving to Arkansas... I don't know when I'll ever learn that here, fall doesn't start until somewhere near the end of October!

I baked pumpkin spice bread the other night, just so I could pretend summer was over. But the near-100 degree days since then have dashed my dreams of pumpkins and hay bales and crunchy leaves. I can't even really get into football yet (although GO HOGS!!!!!!) until it feels like fall - and so far it's just been more hot, hot, hot summer. This is the hottest ever summer on record in Arkansas. Blech!

Oh well, at least it doesn't matter that my children have NO pants or long-sleeved shirts right now.

Speaking of kids, I still can't get a good picture of all three of them - see?!

Sophia...

she is still absolutely in love with Kindergarten. After having such a rough summer, I just can't tell you how happy it makes my heart to see her so confident and joyful every day. She has not said a single day that she didn't want to go to school. She had a birthday party for one of her classmates over the weekend, and in the car on the way there she said, "Mom, you're going to get to see how well we all play together!" I love that Miss Theresa makes sure the kids hear her praise them. I decided this summer that for the first half of the school year at least, we would do NO extra curricular activities. I'm so glad now, and know that for us it was the right decision. Sophia gets home from school and all she wants to do is play with her sister in the backyard - and that's exactly what I think she should be doing after school right now.

Amelia...

she also loves school again this year and it wears her out - can you tell? It's hard to know what she's up to, because she isn't big on talking about her day the way Sophia is. So far she's denied knowing any of the kids in her class (when I read their names from the Directory and asked if they were her friends) and she's told me that she will not use Miss Martha's potty because "it's too little. I won't use it." Crazy girl! But she's happy, so I'm happy! And anything that wears out a three year old is a GOOD thing.

And Henry...

he's seven whole months old! He's crawling! But he's still pretty slow, which is good because we're having to re-learn how to keep a house safe for a little baby on the floor. It's HARD with older kids! Sometimes I feel like all I can do is put him down and pray no Polly Pockets end up down his throat. That boy loves food - all day long he just wants to eat, eat, eat, and all night long he just wants to nurse, nurse, nurse! He also really likes me. A lot. On Saturday I was in a training program for the Sunday School curriculum at our church all day, and I put the kids in the nursery. Henry screamed and screamed and screamed until I finally went and brought him with me to the class - he was perfectly happy and quiet, as long as he was attached to me. The next morning when we went to church as soon as we turned the corner to go to the nursery he started screaming at the top of his lungs. So I just held him through the church service, and he was happy as could be. I don't mind AT ALL!!

P.S. If you know me, you know I love kids' birthday cakes. And if you also love kids' birthday cakes, you must check out this insane cuteness.