October

Driveway fun.

Dan grew a beard while on his Mt. Rainier vacation and he kept it for a while.

I thought I smelled something burning in the kids' bathroom and realized it was the light. It has looked like this the whole time we've lived here with no problems, but we thought it was time to go ahead and replace that gross thing. Dan did a great job. The new one looks so much better!

 And it's SO much brighter!

 We're planning a major overhaul of the upstairs bathrooms at some future date.

Afton lost her third tooth in a row on the top.

 And she also wore in her new Halloween costume on one of our Sunday walks.

 Park time during Sam's piano lessons.

 We took that family overnight outing in Shenandoah.

Soccer every Saturday and practice once a week. Sam scored two goals in the same game. (His only goals all season.) It was very exciting! It also happened to be one of the only times that both Dan and I were there at the same time. So great!

For the trunk or treat, both big kids were ninjas and Eli was an astronaut.

 Pumpkin carving.

 On Halloween, Afton decided that she'd rather wear her Ariel costume and wig. That wig is so outrageously out of control.

We had a great October!

Other September Things

 Afton dressed up. Surprise, surprise! (She also thinks her eyes are changing to green. We'll see what happens.)

 A friend from church turned 40 so her husband planned a big 70's-themed shindig. Had to go looking for some clothes and found these perfect pants.

I had a good curly hair day and Dan challenged me to make my hair as big as possible.

 Not bad.

Eli cracks us up.

I finally go around to purchasing all of Sam's scout gear. Despite his face in this picture, he LOVES scouts and looks forward to it every week. All I ever see them doing is wrestling each other, but whatever.

 Eli continues his love of all shoes.

Playgroup.

 The middle school where Sam has soccer practice has this great little patch of woods by the fields and Eli loves to play there. This particular day it had rained a ton that morning so I was trying desperately to keep Eli clean, but it didn't work.

We found this little ditched FILLED with worms.

So I tried to divert them by heading up to the track.

Afton: I show compassion when I pick someone up when they are hurt.

And here are a few pictures from the 70's dance. This is my friend Ali and she looked amazing.

Soccer games.

Pretty walks.

And apple picking at Carter Mountain with G&G Cheney on a Friday afternoon while Dan was hiking Mt. Rainier.

First Day of School

 Sam started third grade at a different elementary school this year so that he could attend a center-based gifted program. He's in a class of 17 kids. His teacher is awesome and he loves it. I'm so glad! I was worried about having his switch schools (he only knew 3 other kids out of the 35 total), but he has adjusted nicely and is learning a lot. I think it's been nice for him to be with kids who are similar to him academically.

 Afton is now a first grader. Her teacher is young and fun and Afton loves her. She only had one kid from her kindergarten class in her new class so she's had to make lots of new friends. Her best friend in her class, Marie, just moved away last week.

(Afton had lost one of her top front teeth recently so that's why it looks a little funny.)

Philly

In Richmond, school doesn't start until the Tuesday after Labor Day. So, we decided to head up to Philadelphia to see the new LDS temple during its open house. We drove up on a Friday night and got into the hotel super late. And then I remembered that our room only had one bed and I was supposed to bring sleeping bags for Sam and Afton. Oops. Fortunately, the staff was super nice and brought us some extra blankets (and a crib for Eli). I'm glad kids don't mind sleeping on floors.

Saturday morning we drove the last few miles to the city and took a tour of the temple. It was so beautiful inside and had lots of neat Philly touches like a mural of the founding fathers and a mural in the baptismal area of the Susquehanna River.

 After our tour, we changed clothes and headed out to explore the city a bit. This is at the second bank in America's history.

 Independence Hall. A big "thank you" to the kind mother who saw Dan taking our picture and insisted that we all be in it together. I like it when people do that.

 This was about as close as we got to the Liberty Bell. The line was crazy long to go inside and see it close up.

 Benjamin Franklin's grave.

 Dan got an inside scoop from a colleague and Philadelphia native that Jim's is the place to go for a true Philly cheesesteak. If that's true, it is unfortunate. Mine was pretty disappointing. But Dan liked his. The stroller wouldn't fit in the restaurant so the kids and I stayed outside and I tried to divert their attention from questionable stores lining whatever street this was that we were on.

South Street maybe?

Anyway, after all that walking around and lunch, Dan and the kids (I was on a no-sugar thing) grabbed a DQ and then we drove back home. A quick trip, a beautiful temple! School started three days later.