september morn, and lots of hot september days, in run on sentences.

it has been 90+ degrees all september long. i want to like september. there is plenty to like about september. i just struggle with liking september because it's still so hot. i'm always sweaty. i'm unpleasantly sweaty. but i carry on. 

everything that happened in september in single sentences:

halloween decor made it's first appearance and athena blythe loves it. 

hersch just knows to smile during pictures now.

friday football dress code has resumed:

athena blythe finagled a jewelry counter worker to let her try on a $1500 diamond necklace.

half-marathon training is in full force.

indoor camping to appease athena blythe's relentless requests for real outside camping.

athena blythes first day of school, but not really because i can't read a calendar and school really started the next day, but i took pictures and she insisted on smiling like this and saying, "awwwww" over and over. 

 real first day of school.

 my lunchbox napkins are some of my best work:

 athena blythe's school has a pretty cool library that i had to drag two screaming kids out of. 

i'm trying to be a fun mom and taking all the kids to the park on thursday evenings to eat taco bell and chik fil a and play the night away but it's still so hot that i'm cranky after 20 minutes. 

herschel is my darling baby who takes too few naps because of his siblings busy school schedules.

thomas and i went to the temple and it was manna to my soul.

since we have 1230 to 330 church, we eat two huge, carby meals on sunday and i've really perfected my chicken parmesan as a result.

the scarlett modeling sessions continue and i don't mind.

scarlett and i went to the women's broadcast at church, i think she even did a pretty good job paying attention. 

i curled her long locks for church today. 



i looked best in this picture and everyone else looked typical but there was nothing typical about our great primary program today at church. 

goodbye, sweaty september!

2 weeks notice

end of september sounds like a great time for a end of summer recap. the last two weeks of summer i feel like i tried to jam in as much "fun" as possible. it was exhausting.

  highlight 1- a visit from my dear friend julie from simpsonville and her kids. we swam at our pool and then hit up the mayfield dairy tour. disclaimer, the tour does not include any real cows. it's more of a milk bottling and distribution center with a tour. no milking on site. no cows on site! ice cream was "included" with your $4 tour ticket. i feel like adding "unnecessary" quotation marks to things to convey my "true" "feelings". any chance to wear hairnets is worth it to me though. 

reagan still does not like ice cream.

more modeling portfolio shots:

hersch did not take a nap that day. the tour guide was more worried about his "hair" contaminating the milk. i would be more worried about diapers and irritability.

reagan wore his hair net for the rest of the day.

"two thumbs up for the ice cream!" - anonymous unofficially lactose intolerant mother of 4 who ate 2 servings since her oldest does not like ice cream and ice cream cannot be wasted, even at the expense of driving home like a maniac during rush hour in order to get to a bathroom in time.

reagan wore his hair net for the rest of the day.

so full points for this excursion. 

highlight2- if i'm being honest, taking my kids shopping is a struggle. at the beginning of summer, any day that we had an outing, which was most days, i would have to lay down on the couch just to recover. i don't consider myself faint of heart, but my kid's age spread, and one boy's disability, for the LOVE, it was the only way.

we decided to make our back to school shopping a family affair. it sound risky but so does shopping for clothes for numerous children by myself.

 thomas took the kids and ran interference while i waited in line to make purchases. from start to finish, our shopping trip took 2 hours, including the mall and target. we're ready for anything after that. 

athena blythe tricked us into buying this jacket for her, even though end of september is still 90 degrees. 

scarlett is at that delightful 9 year old age where she absolutely talks me ear off all day long. i love her. she's funny and creative, but the  20 minute commentary on all the reasons she chose this pencil bag was even too much for me. she has so much to say. 

highlight 3- the end of summer birthday pool party. since we had no parties for the kid's birthday parties i said we could do a party at the pool. i planned as little as possible, i scrounged together a bunch of old napkins and water bottles and i picked up a costco cake. party heidi style.





pool parties are the easiest parties. any mess can be hosed off. someday i'd like to have a kitchen with a stamped concrete floor. 

minor highlights- i organized my closet. no more shoe pile. my goal by winter is to half my wardrobe in order to only own what i love. lofty goal. who wants an early 2000s wedding dress?

this kid doing what this kid does:

meet the teacher at scarlett's new school. we met her and all our kids acted normalish. people fight to be room mother at this school so i pretty much found my dream setting and i don't have to do a thing but send in treats and supplies, which i'll gladly do.


our harry potter birthday dinner. naturally. 




the end. hurray.