52 Weeks of Family: Week 51

Mila:

Out of no where you decided you could say KITCHEN and KENNEDY. It's like a switch flipped! And honestly, I'm kinda sad about it. Even your teacher (Ms. Kennedy) took a minute to grieve with me. We were totally prepared to have her be "Nic-A-Nanny" for rest of her days as even the other teachers in the classroom have taken to calling her the nickname you had given her.  It's a bitter sweet sign of growth, just like when your cousin stopped staying 'kep-up' for ketchup and while your brother still calls balsamic vinegar 'bal-teek-E' I know he'll say it correctly one day too.  Well done honey. You've come A LONG way in the last year!  Although, your current favorite phrase..."oh my goodness people!!"  is getting a lot of mileage *eyeroll*

Baby's first trip to the pumpkin patch was this week. You were really excited before we arrived, but when we got there...not so much. I tried to think through why it was so overwhelming for you, but truly...piles of orange gourds, a petting zoo, yellow duckie races, funnel cakes and exactly 1200 people during the middle of the day...I guess that doesn't make a lot of sense does it?  (Actually, now that I think about it, nothing was paved. I think that was the biggest trigger for you and your untrustworthy feet).

  

So we cut our visit short and opted to NOT disembowel the pumpkins, but opted for a painting experience instead. This was a good choice as you painted your pumpkin "Blue Elsa with red leaf" (ie, the cover of your new Frozen 2 coloring book)

Isaac:
You love a good pun'kin patch and not only asked for a few photos...you posed yourself!  When you aren't turning my hair grey, you are absolutely cracking me up <3

You had a more 'abstract' approach to pumpkin painting, which included finding the pumpkin's belly button (is that a thing?) and ultimately delving into a full sensory experience with the paints.  Any day that ends in a bath is a good day for Isaac. 

Then, out of no where, your tooth up and popped out of your face during the middle of church! There was a bit of a mad scramble to reassure you the rest of your face wasn't going to fall off (legit concern), find some tissue to wipe the blood dripping off your lips, get an offering envelope for the defunct tooth and make sure said tooth-in-envelope didn't get put in the tithe basket that was quickly coming down our row! When we talk about making room for Jesus, this isn't exactly what we were talking about *wink*

Me:

Fall has arrived. The heat is on in the house now and we've 'harvested' our first batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. These are SOOOO good!  I'm hoping for a bumper crop this year!  It feels good to be in this season. One year ago we were packing up our bags again to cross the ocean to Albania having no clue what this first year together would look like. And now as we've come full circle it feels good to look back and know...know something about us as a unit. We have nearly 365 days of experience together as a family to build on; those days have been vital for our future success. I feel like we have some ground under us now; we've run a lap and might have some good intel for the next few bends in the road ahead of us. Feels good. And the vibrant fall colors and cozy slippers are only adding to that comfort.