september

Labor Day Weekend we went with the Rensinks to Julianne’s family cabin in Island Park, ID.  It was beautiful.  

 And our kids are getting slightly easier to travel with, although I am always thankful for Brenden and Julianne being patient with the craziness that we bring everywhere we go.  

We hung out lots at the river by their cabin.

Catching little fish, moose watching, canoeing and jumping in the water.

I tried to keep Ruby’s cast as dry as possible. 

They were the perfect Yellowstone tour guides and it was just heaven following along behind them as they lead us to some of their favorite spots.

 

The morning was super awesome.  It was freezing out (low 30’s), so when the steam hit the air it made all this crazy fog. 

but, then the sun came out and I no longer felt like a bad mom putting all my kids in shorts.:)

The highlight for everyone was seeing all the Bison. 

And of course getting to see Old Faithful. 

And exploring the lodge while eating icecream and finishing up Jr. Ranger Books.  

The Rensinks also took us to see Mesa Falls and we lucked out with some beautiful rainbows.  

I didn’t get to enjoy it too much though, because Ruby of course had to use the bathroom right when we got down to the falls. :)  

Luckily Julianne and I got a pic in our matching shirts before I ran back up the trail with Ruby. 

The kids favorite past time at the cabin was seeing who could hang from the beams the longest. 

And I was only slightly terrified of the kids playing outside the cabin with all the wildlife around.  But, once they got to a certain level of craziness inside, it was worth the risk to kick them out.  

Most of my camera feed is full of pictures of Ruby and I walking to and from the school each day.  

And somedays i just cannot get over her kindergarten cuteness.  

Telling me she’s ready for school.  Sometimes I just don’t know what I’m going to do when I don’t have this crazy 5 year old running around.  

There was a common day once this month, so Ruby actually started at the same time as the boys.  She was so excited to walk to school with them and Crew told me held her hand the whole way and made sure she could find her class, since they had to lineup inside because of the rain.  

He is the best big brother.  

Fang and Ruby watch a show together every morning after the other kids leave.  

And Ruby is still my errand buddy, which means I we still frequent sodalicious and the mall playround when she cooperates. 

Ruby and Reagan also started dance.  

and Ruby FINALLY let us take her training wheels off her bike and is now happily cruising around the neighborhood.  And yes, we took the training wheels off while her arm was still broken.  We are good parents like that.  

Fang had an exciting month.  He escaped through an open gate in the backyard and went to the kids’ school.  The principal found him wondering in the first grade hall.  He didn’t have his tag on (although he was microchipped).  Luckily, she is nicer than me and instead of just pushing him outside, she took him into her office.  She then sent a picture to all the teachers to see if any of the kids recognized him and then all the neighbor kids ran down to her it was our dog.  Then as Paul and I were frantically searching for him I got a call from the school that Fang was in the principal’s office.  

Best day of his life so far.  

Other exciting September happenings with the other kids that live at my house. 

Crew had a great soccer season and scored some goals and was much more aggressive than last year.  Can’t wait for spring season to start.  

Macey is pretty busy these days.  And when she’s not busy, she’s hanging out with her bff Makenna.  

She also captured an exciting neighborhood moment for me and even gave it a hashtag. :)  

Miles caught a snake and then for the next hour took it around to show all the neighborhood kids.  The snake ended up biting him (it wasn’t poisonous), but paul chopped it’s head off and kept it in a shoe box just in case miles broke out in some crazy rash. 

  
Luckily, there is also some calm neighborhood afternoons too.  

I also had to document how I now have to wash Raffy, Miles’ special stuffed animal.  Which is pretty much a rag now with a giraffe head.  

One of my proudest moments of the month was when all 3 of us girls showed up to load the car for church and we were all wearing leopard print shoes.  

We killed Mom Hikes this month, which also included our first annual retreat, which I will of course be blogging about later.  

I even took the girls I work with at church on one of our frequented trails.  

and then to Sodalicious, just like Mom Hike. 

The month ended with Ruby getting her cast off.  

And the primary program!