A little recognition

This kiddo received an MVP (like star student) award in October for "exhibiting the trait of responsibility." It was fun for her to get to do something special like that so early on in her school experience. We loved having grandparents there to share her little moment! Nothing feels like being a full-fledged elementary school parent like sitting in an assembly in a school gym with rows of parents armed with cameras to see their sweet kid's 15 seconds of fame. Sweet moments of parenthood!

First tooth

In October, Abby Jane lost her first tooth rather unceremoniously in a hamburger one night! The funny part is that Jake lost his first tooth in a hamburger as well... except he mistook the tooth for a piece of onion at first. She just said, "Mama! My tooth just came out!" So sweet, so fun.

Sure enough, the tooth fairy came that night! Since the girls all share a room, Blythe and Joy were pretty pumped about her making a visit. Joy says she saw the tooth fairy fly in. Tooth fairy must need to be a little sneakier next time.

She lost another tooth a couple of weeks later, and we're working on a third right now. It's so ironic how lost teeth make them look younger, yet it's a mark of growing older. I think that's a kindness of God. Softens the blow on a mama's heart. Such a fun little stage she's in, though!

Last lovin' on the cousins

Goodbyes came too soon for our time with the Gillies. At least the girls got several days with them while we were in Texas, but we were so sad to see them go and will be missing them terribly til next fall. We got one last night with them before they flew back to New Zealand, and they soaked it up. Joy and Luke ran laps in the house and sneaked a few hugs along the way.

 You should hear how precious it sounds for little Luke to say in his precious accent, "Where's Joy Bird?"

Abby Jane taught a little school, since the Gillies boys were on holiday and, well, because most days are good days to Abby Jane to teach school, ballet, or gymnastics.
Then it was lots of hugs and I love you's, and plans for skyping. We sure love these precious ones, love any time with all of them that we can get, and love the memories these dear little cousins are building on such fun visits.

A&M with dear people!

God gave us very dear friends to do life with in our LA years. We have loved getting to reconnect with so many of those folks over the last few years on trips back out there relating to Jake's doctoral program. With that degree all wrapped up now, though, it's gotten much trickier to make it out there. Thankfully, the joining of Texas A&M to the SEC has cemented at least once a year that we'll get to see two of the families who were so very special to us, as they are A&M alum, or "former students" as they call it over there in College Station.

Just Jake and I flew out for the weekend, and this time around, just Jake and Lesley Roberts were able to meet us there as our other Aggie friends, Gil and Stew, were preparing to move from LA to College Station. Which means... a free place to stay in two years in College Station when we go back out there!  We LOVED getting to experience A&M. Auburn folks, if you missed out this year, make the trip. It is such an excellent gameday experience in an incredibly tradition-rich school, filled with people who were so hospitable and welcoming. We absolutely loved getting to hear the stories behind everything... and there are stories for EVERYTHING.

Clearly the game was fantastic. Every day is a lovely day to be an Auburn tiger, but this one was an exceptional one. But I would also encourage you to youtube the Aggie band. It was almost as intense to watch as the game. Really unbelievable.

The real highlight was exceptional time with exceptional folks who refresh and encourage our hearts in such a deep way. Thankful for the Roberts and the gift of them in our lives! Looking forward to hosting them back in Auburn next fall. Is it football season yet?? Eight months and counting...

A festival and a party

One lovely fall night in October, we had the hosts from our community group over for a such a fun evening. We absolutely love being at Passion City Church, and we're thankful for the role our community group has played in making a big church feel small. That night our back yard held 50 fabulous new and old friends, and we loved getting to connect and reconnect as we jumped into the fall together.
*Side note: If you have a massive 19th-century oak tree in your back yard, take down your fun lights before lethal acorns start bombing the bulbs. Operation bulb replacement coming soon!

We had so much fun at Abby Jane's fall festival at school later that week. Despite the rainy weather, the girls loved getting to see what it was all about and get a little more acclimated to life in a big kid school. The twins of course think everything having to do with Abby Jane is the best thing since sliced bread, so a huge school-wide party just blew their socks off. We're thankful to be in such a sweet school with an extremely active PTA that really pours into the school- the hard work of the community is evident!

As I write this, I'm reminded of our running theme of being grateful for our community on all counts. We are certainly in a sweet season!

First stitches

A few weeks shy of turning four, Joy was standing on a chair, fell off, and did a doozie of a number on her eyebrow. She apparently got all her tears out when it first happened, because she was such a champ in the urgent care (I reversed the camera for this, so it was actually her left eyebrow that was injured). Maybe she's just awesome like that, or maybe it was the two popsicles they gave her.

She never cried while they were putting the stitches in, and she was literally telling little jokes to the staff while they were working on her. Bless her sweet soul. Then she got home and completely fell apart, fell asleep, and woke up ready to take on the world with her stitches in.

She has a little scar there now, and Jake thinks it's the coolest and super appropriate for Joy's full-on personality. I honestly keep forgetting to put anything on it, so hopefully she'll forgive me if it's still there when she's a teenager and instead just own it like a champ. I've got a feeling these won't be our family's only stitches, but it's probably a good thing to keep our house of pink a little on the tougher side!

Painting projects

We decorated some baby pumpkins... it's funny to see how consistently the twins still mix all their paints together, and consistently Abby Jane's palette looks neat and tidy when she's done painting. Developmental stages are fun to watch! Also fun to watch... your treasures outside on a beautiful fall day warm enough that you seek shade for art projects...

This is the artwork that hangs in our bathroom. I figured their intentional art would look kind of cool and abstract if I only gave them the blues, greens, and turquoises I wanted displayed, and I loved the final product. The girls took a lot of pride in these, so it was fun to make a big deal about their beautiful work and how perfectly it happens to coordinate with our main bathroom!