We made it through September and the kids are still in school - hooray! The number of COVID cases has doubled in our area since classes started at the beginning of the month, but there have been no big explosions and we have not had any cases yet at Sophie’s school, Davey’s preschool or in the classes that Dave teaches at the university. I’m crossing my fingers that it will stay that way for as long as possible. Just these few weeks of having life be somewhat normal again has been so good for everyone’s mental health and I think it will be hard if or when we have to go back to social isolation.
September also meant the start of soccer season for Sophie! We did not play last spring (covid) so she was so excited to play again. Dave is coaching again, but it's a new group of girls because they reform teams for every season. Because he is coaching however, Emery always gets to be on our team too and Sophie loves playing with her best friend. We hope it will be another good season!
We also had our had our first taste of fall when a cold front moved through and cooled things off rather drastically. One day it was 98 degrees, and then the next evening it had fallen all the way to the 20s - brrr! Us Texans were not ready for weather that cold and I had to go digging through the attic to find warm clothes for everyone in the right size. It rained a lot and we had big wind, and then a couple days later it was all over and now we’re back in the 80s.
My laundry helper
You can tell fall is on it's way because there is just a slight chill in the air if we go out in the mornings. The days are still plenty hot, but sometimes we do need jackets.
Enjoying a nice day on "Clown Blanket," a favorite of mine from Grandma Mimi when I was little
Davey is our resident melon man
A funny post I saw on Facebook when the cold front moved through and froze all the Texans up in Amarillo. It's crazy how big Texas is and how different things can be for people all living in the same state.
We had to get out our winter gear for a chilly soccer practice
A change of seasons means it's time to change over the closets!
Davey went to a birthday party at Little Bees, a cute little play village. It's pricey so we had never been before and it was fun to try it out. Davey especially loved pretending to be a mail carrier and spent a lot of time delivering letters all around the town.
His best buddy Jaxon was also at the party
Charlie and Rossi were tag-alongs at the party and had a fun time taking care of all the babies in the pretend house.
One more birthday party for his friend Nolan
Flying the kite at the park
Charlie wanted to have his own ball at soccer, so I found this old outdoor volleyball for him to use. It is yellow! And has a happy face! He loves it!
My keys are always soggy thanks to this little guy
Davey and Charlie never take naps any more, but somehow I won the lottery one afternoon when they all decided to sleep at the same time.
Griffin turned 6 months old! I can’t believe it’s already been half a year. He is such a joy to have, even when he’s cranky and drooling all over the place. At the doctor we found out that he is long and lean, making him my first skinny baby. My other boys were both roly poly chunkers, so this is my first skinny baby. We’ll have to see if he starts moving around quicker. Right now he rolls all over the place and kicks his legs all day long. I think he’s going to be a real tornado once he figures out how to crawl and then walk!
Griffin at 6 Months
Griffin is 27.7 inches long (91%) and weighs 15.7 pounds (33%), which is great because his preferred activity is to be held all day long. His brothers were closer to 20 pounds at this age.
Wearing 9-12 months clothes and size 3 diapers
I keep thinking teeth are close, but he's still got a cute, gummy grin.
We've started introducing solids, and he's been willing to taste, but not swallow so we have some work to do.
He usually sleeps well at night, but sometimes he just seems to need some extra snuggles
Right now one of my favorite things about him is how he clings to me like a baby koala when I pick him up
Griffin recently became attached to a little stuffed lion we got from an out-of-state urgent care when Charlie had an ear infection. He loves holding the mane and would spend forever turning it over and over in his hands. It started getting gross from all his slobber, so I threw it in the laundry, but lion manes are apparently not meant for the dryer, and all the fibers fused together into a shrunken poof. He hated this new lion.
Feeling guilty for destroying his lovey, I went on eBay and miraculously found a replacement! Even more amazing, the seller was located right here in Amarillo just 10 minutes away. It was meant to be. When he got his new lion and it was love at first site. And now I give myself 3 months before I accidentally put it in the dryer again...
Original lion
Original lion after going in the dryer (on the right) compared to how he used to look
Last Friday night we took the kids to an outdoor miniature golf place for a night of fun. We had tried to go twice before and kept having schedule conflicts, so the kids were really excited that it finally worked out. It was a wonderfully cool night and we were the only people there for most of the evening so it was nice for the kids to be able to play through the holes as fast or as slow as they wanted. I was playing with Griffin in the front carrier and could not even see my ball on the ground when I would bend over to hit, so you can imagine that my score was not the greatest, but I still had fun. We also did not get a club for Charlie because we thought he would get tired of using it after a few holes and then we would have to carry it around, but that was not the case. He was very upset, so Dave ended up giving his club to Charlie and it was pretty funny to watch him putt around all night with a club as tall as he was!
It's Davey’s turn to start preschool! He is enrolled at Sonlight, which is conveniently held at the Church of Christ in our neighborhood. Several members of our stake attend here and his teacher, Mrs. Andrea, is actually a friend of mine from another ward. He will go on Tuesdays and Thursday from 9-2 and I am looking forward to just having two kids in the house during that time. It won’t be quiet, but it will definitely be calmer than when everyone is home like they have been for the last 6 months!
He is so excited to finally get to wear a backpack and bring food in a lunchbox to school so he can be just like Sophie.
Teachers are wearing masks, but the preschoolers are not required to wear one - hooray!
He gets to sit by his friend Nolan in class, but we’ll see how long that lasts because those two boys like to be silly when they are next to each other.
Some pictures of Davey in class sent by his teacher
Grandma and Grandpa Howe came to visit over Labor Day weekend. It was a short stay, but the kids are always excited to have them come, especially after covid has made us cut back on the number of visits we've had with each other. We had an enjoyable few days just hanging out a the house while they were here since it was to hot to be outdoors and most places are still closed, including church.
Grandma and Sophie twinning in their floral prints
Helping the kids assemble their Home Depot kit for the month - a crane!
