September, So Far

We ended August by heading on a road trip. Hurricane Irene was making its way towards the coast and heading right for us, per forecasts on Thursday prior. So, we decided to leave and make a mini vacation out of it. The girls, baby boy, my mom (Bean), and I decided to visit family in WV. Mapquest said 6-8 hours. Mapquest lies. We left after a scheduled doc visit for Little Man. Acting funny, runny nose...mommy gut said something was up. No fever, no other real symptoms except for crying when put down for naps and bed. Not unusual for babies, but unusual for him. Diagnosis? Double ear infection. So...on the road, fleeing the hurricane with a 4 year old, 2.5 year old, and 7 month old. With an ear infection. For 6-8 hours. Did I mention Mapquest lies? On a traffic-free, minimal stop trip....9 hours. Our trip? 12. Yes. 12. Was it worth it? Oh, yes. Every second of it.

Aunt Jackie made cookies with the girls. As you can see, Atalie was not excited at all. :)

Shopping in town, checking out the wagon. :) Let's just say Charis cried for 4 miles down the road when we left. Mouth wide open, hands clenched, purple-faced wailing. Not pretty.

September also brought birthday parties...one in particular stood out. A cowgirl themed party with live animals piqued CareBear's interest. In a major way. Since Little Man's room is cowboy themed, she's found lots of goodies to play with. Those "boots" on her feet would be tan socks of Brian's, and her western style dress was one of mine from childhood.






September is also grape pickin' season!!! We tried our hand at picking Muscadines and Scuppernongs. I know now that I will be skipping it next year. And probably every year for the rest of my life. Somehow I feel like I should have known that they have the consistency of phlegm. I'll leave it at that.

Little Bean...skipping the picking, mostly in it for the rolling and running.





Little Man...cute as ever, enjoyed just being with the family and watching the girls giggle, run, and taste.

CareBear also started PreK this month! She adores it. I, however, am missing her tremendously during this time. I love having some one on one w/ Attie, though. CareBear made friends immediately! Lessons are already being learned, specifically lessons like "Not Everyone Will Want to Be Your Friend." So hard. She handled it better than I did, though. :)

Little Miss Personality has been living it up with all the mommy time! She's my little Sous Chef and I let her make the Sauce for the lasagna we made. She L.O.V.E.D. it.

A picture Charis drew. Herself, Atalie (flower head), and me holding Joshua. Yes, me, with the booty bump. I was upset at first, but that's when I thought it was a drawing of my belly. :) Nope...side view, complete with rump-bump.

And finally, Uncle Jason moved to New York. He came and ate dinner with us before he left. Thankfully he's good at catching random children that violently heave themselves through the air. Glad he was ready for that...

Dragging Charis along for the ride...she was not happy to see him go. Uncle Jason is, hands down, one of her favorites. Perhaps it's because he tells her things like he only came with 3 drops of silly in him, and now they are all gone. :) Or maybe because he'll wear a child sized cowboy hat. We already miss him!!