flashback

Brian and I used to go hiking together all the time when we were first married.  Living in East Tennessee, you've got tons and tons of great places to hike.  Even when we were in Georgia there were plenty of places (just hard to do with kids in tow).  Last night B suggested we go hike this trail that we like here instead of going to the gym.  Awesome.  Anything to get off that elliptical! 

It was the perfect day - great weather - peak autumn colors - peaceful and quiet.  And a flashback to those days in Tennessee.  Loved it.

Nana and PaPa

Nana and PaPa were here visiting with us for the past 2 weeks!  Dropped them off at the airport this morning, and I'm sure they're enjoying warm sunshine right now.  It was way too quiet around here this afternoon without them.  Lonely too.  I was getting used to having lunch dates everyday!  So so glad they got to come up and hang out with us for a while - we miss them already!

We spent an afternoon at the Botanical Gardens.



We froze watching the boys play soccer - not really, but it was a bit chilly.



We went apple picking out in the country and got to take a hayride over to the orchard.

(This was at the Botanical Gardens - same day - just couldn't get the picture to move in the blog)

Not to mention we.......

celebrated both of the boys' birthdays

 laughed when Nana got Ethan good, buttering his nose when he least expected it for his birthday

were serenaded by PaPa's "Happy Birthday" song and sometimes his "Good Morning" song before breakfast

enjoyed (?) Ethan's Chuck E Cheese birthday party

went stargazing out at a local park one night with the boys' school

shopped and ate lunch in Old St. Charles

visited Brian's store and its grand re-opening

discovered Nana and I will order the exact same lunch 9 times out of 10

heard new stories about when PaPa helped at his uncle's orchard (didn't even know that existed!)

actually had a good part of both of our families at our house all at the same time one afternoon - LOVED that!!!

and so much more that I know I'm forgetting right now.  I hope they had as much fun as we did - we definitely miss them!



moments with elliott

Last night Elliott was not happy with us and truly showed his temper.  A while later he asked me to come up to his room, and he said in a very truly remorseful tone that he was sorry.  I asked him what he was sorry about (sounds like torture, huh?).  This was his response:

"You know, for losing my temperature and all that"

I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing.  Thankfully he thought it was funny, too.  Love that boy!

it's official....

Fall has arrived at our house.  If it's a Saturday between now and January, you know what we're doing.

july in pictures

moments with Ethan

Found this on my camera last night, obviously filmed by Elliott, and the idea was most likely a collaboration by the two.  Where do they come up with these things?

By the way, that's a McDonald's apple pie box slipped over the straw that he is drinking/humming out of.

driving

I love the drive out to our friends' house.  You turn the corner and you're pretty much in the country, and my claustrophobia starts diminishing.  It's really just pure beauty.  Rolling hills, green trees, fields, creeks, meadows, houses with some privacy - you get the picture.

So on the way out there, the boys were finding shapes in the clouds and it reminded me of the Bible lesson from FirstLook this Sunday so we started talking about how God showed his people where to go when they were leaving Egypt by putting a cloud in the sky for them to follow everyday, letting them know that He was always with them.  We talked about how when we look at the clouds we can be reminded that God is always with us, too.

Then on the way home we were graced with this beautiful sight and another reminder of God's promises....

It was truly more beautiful in person.  I was kind of perturbed with myself for not having the "good" camera with me, because this one wouldn't let me go wide enough to get the whole rainbow.  It was actually a full rainbow and you could see it from end to end.  It was even a double rainbow in some places. 

Elliott kept asking if we could go find the end of it and get the pot of gold.  They were both incredibly curious about what a rainbow was made of and why it goes away and how it starts and what's at the end and how you get there.  I was extremely glad Brian was there for the science lesson - that's definitely his thing! 

Then Elliott decided that leprechauns aren't real - it's just a person who sneaks in and messes everything up.  And Santa isn't real either - that's just a person who leaves presents at the door in the middle of the night.  Ethan countered that with the fact that we SEE Santa every year at Grandma's so he knows he's real - DUH!!!