September was a fun month. In the first week Mark and the boys headed down to southern California to attend a wedding. The girls and I had to stay behind because of some rules regarding our foster baby leaving the county. Mark decided to make a daddy getaway out of the trip and they headed to Legoland for a surprise trip.
Handsome boys ready for a wedding
Riding bikes in Newport Beach
Legoland with Dad!
Mark needed to change his brakes so he let Tommy help. Then he taught him how to change the oil. He did everything himself, with just a little help from Dad. He was so happy to have done so much himself!
Friday morning coffee date with Tommy. He's an early riser, so while the rest of the kids sleep, we head to Peet's, then walk around the block with our drinks and chat about everything under the sun. Mark works at home on Fridays, which makes this possible. :)
Monterey Bay Aquarium field trip with cousins (only 5 of 9 cousins are in this picture ;-)
First day of fall tradition: we bake something fall-ish and yummy. This year we baked an apple tart from scratch.
Our 3rd annual First Day of Rain celebration: we put a fire in the fireplace, make hot chocolate and popcorn, and watch a movie on the first day of rain in the fall season. On this day we watched The Muppets Most Wanted.
Ben got into the Halloween spirit a bit early and has been drawing Halloween pictures for a few weeks now. He gets his inspiration from this Ed Emberly drawing book. My boys don't usually draw very often, so it's been great seeing him get into drawing lately.
Other fun stuff not pictured:
- lots of Lego play, inspired by visiting Legoland. The boys wanted to buy themselves a few Lego Technic kits, so they earned the money by doing extra chores around the house to buy them.
- Lots of playdates with friends and cousins
- Made Halloween decorations, which involved plastic trash bags,, balloons, dryer sheets, pipe cleaners, and lots of other odds-n-ends. I wasn't involved with this!
- Classic car show
- Listened to audio books: Grimm's Fairy Tales, a book about Christopher Columbus, Story of the World, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
- Read alouds: The Bible, A Child's Story Bible, Pinocchio, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Pilgrim Stories.
