Fall

I won't even say it.  I won't even say the thing about how long it's been since my last post.  You know how long it's been.  You know I have 3 kids.  Blogging is hard.

REGARDLESS.

Susannah turned 4 at the beginning of this month! She got to have a joint birthday party with her best friend and cousin Bethany (who turned 5 in early October) a couple weeks earlier, which also included her first non-grandparent sleepover that night.  She was such a big girl and stayed with her girl cousins in Richmond while Pete, Mary, John, and I took Nathanael back to our house for the night.  To say my heart swelled when I picked her up the next day and she immediately said, "I'm ready to go home, Mommy.  I missed you" is an understatement. 

Sus has never been more aware of being older than John now and LOVES pointing it out.  Anytime John gets frustrated about anything, even if it's something she can't do either, she says, "JOHN.  Calm down now, buddy, just wait til you're 4, and THEN you can do it easy!" 

And one more sweet story about Sus.  She and Pete were dancing in the kitchen one night after dinner while I cleaned up.  At one point, Pete dipped her and gave her a kiss, and Susannah said, "That means we're falling in love!"  MY HEART.  I CAN'T.

John is SO GLAD THAT SUSANNAH'S BIRTHDAY IS FINALLY OVER.  Since we celebrated Susannah's birthday 2 weeks before her actual birthday, we talked about her actual birthday every single day 18 times a day until we reached her actual birthday.  Poor buddy asked when it was going to be his birthday every time we brought up Susannah's birthday, and our answer of "May" might as well have been "37 years" in his mind.  He is happy all the birthday talk is done and is stoked to turn 3...in May.

One cute thing John does right now that I want to document just for my sake of remembering is that he uses the verb "am" in almost every sentence.  "When we am going outside?"  "What you am doing, Mommy?"  "Something am bothering me!"  These are 3 things he said to me just today.  It's so cute. 

And our angel MaryBaby... that child is the easiest babe!  She's gotten a little more particular on the things she likes and doesn't like; but generally she likes sitting and watching her siblings be crazy.  And generally she doesn't like getting tired, so that's when she wants to be held.  Then she's happy as a lark once again.  She's eating solid foods now and loves it all so much.  (See video below.) Mary cut her first tooth last week, and the next one is sure to be in soon.  And as pictured above, she's almost on the move.  It really will be any day!  So once the crawling starts, we'll also start a new game of "what small toy did Mary eat today?"  

Mary is also beautiful if the pictures haven't spoken for themselves already.  She's such a good mixture of John and Susannah, and her little face is just flawless.  I know I'm biased, but I just want to stare at her pretty face all day.

LOTS of pics and videos in no particular order!

Pete killed a HUGE deer this season, and I'm sure this is the picture you were coming to the blog for, so I put it first.

Eating is life.

Sus as Fancy Nancy for one of our Halloween Trunk-or-Treats

Way cuter than Christopher Reeves!

CAN YOU EVEN?  I CAN'T EVEN.

Sometimes we get to dress up!

My beautiful friends and I at the Crisis Pregnancy Center banquet (not pictured: husbands).  If you're not involved with your local CPC, you really should look into it.  They are no doubt ministiesy worth your time and financial support.

We got to go on TWO fancy dates in one week!  Two nights after the CPC banquet, we went to a fancy gala and had a grand time rubbing elbows with the well-to-do around town.

ICE CREAM!

The love!

The wild animal has been captured.

  

A sweet friend gave Sus everything Tangled (Rapunzel) for her birthday, even the movie! 

How we roll.

Nighttime routine.  They'll never be this little again!

EEEEE!  Look at that Mary Baby!

Already in love with babies, just like big sis.

The buddies

Painted pumpkins

Reading together

When the kids want to be outside, Pete's hunting, and I have a ton of work to do -- not too bad!

Our true Halloween costumes: Cinderella, Old McDonald (John's fav song), and Mary Had a Little Lamb!

Pete's best friend from high school and his fam came to visit for a few days, and these friends had SO much fun!

My babies with their babies

Pete's a sewing pro now, innovating the best heating options for the deer stand.

Thankful for chilly hat weather!

Sus and I have been in Bible Study together this fall, and part of her homework one week was to act out a scene from Esther.  We enlisted John's help.

The best kisses!

And as for Pete and me, we're doing what we do!  I just finished taking 2 online classes to ensure teacher recertification in the spring and am currently teaching Creative Writing online with 36 students.  Pete's loving the ability to hunt ON OUR OWN LAND.  That's right, we closed on 48 acres in Isle of Wight County (same county we're currently in) since the last time I posted.  We are SO excited to build a house and a million memories out there!