29 September

 The weekend lens........Saturday, Of course there was soccer.  Fall around here has been spectacular, warm and sunny, not a drop of rain in sight.  Leaves are changing.  Fall is my favorite.

 Sunday.....we threw together a last minute team for the Buddy walk.  Cousins and Uncle, brothers  and a couple of friends from girl scouts all came to celebrate and support the acceptance and inclusion for those with the extra chromosome.  The day was amazing and the pictures can't half describe what the warm sun and breeze felt like, and what the sunlight reflecting off the ocean looked like.  We left with a warm and fuzzy feeling and with so much gratitude with all those who have come into our lives who are either living or supporting someone on this journey.  There are no words.

Our 10th year.

 They put signs up all along the Blvd.. this year, they were awesome.

 Our gang......

 she loved sitting with her friends in the front row of the magic show.

All the kids challenged themselves on the climbing wall.  As we got in the car to leave, L exclaimed, " I LOVE the buddy walk....it was so fun..."  Yes, fun indeed.

We wrapped up the weekend by cooking out and eating outside twice, even as it got dark. Pumpkin Whoopie pies to boot.    Love that.

26 September

{this Moment.}

25 September

Currently........

two garden beds are cleaned out, bags of kale and carrots and pesto are in the freezer.  Even though I didn't get as much from the garden as in years past, I did a lot more preserving (and learning!). We signed up for our CSA Meat share...... and the pellet stove is cleaned out, cold weather and soups and stews and the crock pot are right around the corner.  Getting ready.

This girl is a rock star in Dance class.  She takes Ballet, and Hip Hop and Jazz.  The teacher is amazing, she teaches the girls the moves, and the performance just unfolds the way it does, no pressure to be perfect. She has so much patience and pride in these girls.  B has learned more in three weeks than she did in three years in her old class.  Just Awesome.

L is on his way to becoming an Author......his newest passion.  He is making copies of his books and selling them, a dollar for two books (any takers!)  Introducing Mr. Wedgie Pants, there are two books in the series so far.  He is a superhero, who wedgies people to catch robbers.  Just awesome. (AND FUNNY!)

He's doing amazing in school this year and is happy, and going to play dates after school....

.just awesome

He wrote this while on a walk in the woods with a clipboard.  Just awesome.

I started this little chalkboard in the kitchen last week.   It answers the constant asking about whats for dinner, and where we need to go that evening.  It helps keep me organized too, when I have to commit to a certain dinner, especially with picky eaters.  When kids know stuff ahead of time, there seems to be a lot less complaining.  just Awesome.

B at her open house, we saw her desk her classroom and school.  It was a total zoo, and hard to take it all in, this amazing new space.  I was sad to see that B was the only one that didn't have her "all about me" box on her desk (she had brought it home).   We have been struggling with school over the last few weeks.  We are meeting, making changes and consulting with experts, things will get better, they already ARE getting better.  I'm so proud of my girl.  School is so hard.

He calls his book making process a "factory". Just Awesome.

The Fall garden as weedy and untended as it was.....Just awesome.

22 September

     The weekend lens.....Friday night, I was working and J took the little kids out to pizza (T was at a football game with friends...boys AND just maybe a girl....yep he's old enough for that....and Ali said it best when she said...dear universe....any girl would be insanely lucky to be adored by this guy. His heart is so full.... and the rest will be T's story to tell).  Anyway, back to pizza...a man sitting behind them anonymously paid for their whole bill...,maybe 'cause our girl shot him a smile and a wave. So sweet, and so inspiring after some struggles she had at school last week. We promised on FB to pay it forward.

     Saturday, L's Soccer game, getting "caught up" on chores ( if that is possible). We cleaned out rooms, threw away stuff and gave stuff away to Goodwill. They all  picked what they were going to keep and what they were going to give away. Down syndrome didn't seem to have much of an effect on the girls memory. She seemed to remember when and where every little trinket in her room  was picked up (the dentist prize box 2 years ago etc....).... funny. The boys took apart a lot of their Legos and put in a big bin. We just couldn't organize according to sets. It was good, but also bittersweet. They are all growing up.  The kids watched the Cosby show. I've seen every episode like 10 times. One of my favorites as a kid. 

Sunday.....we ran one of our or favorite 10k races ( rainy and MUDDY!). Grocery shopping, stopping by a dream house (6000 sq ft) open house just for fun (seriously!). Then J left on his next trip, so a quiet rotisserie chicken dinner and reading on the couch night with the kids on Sunday night. 

15 September

The weekend lens.....
The weather....feeling extremely FALL like!  Of course, there was soccer.  My boy played goalie for the first half.  He learned that touching the ball with your hands was allowed, and he loved the non-running part.  He was so cute getting ready for the ball to come at the goal and stop it.  His expressions...priceless.  I love watching him have fun.

Blink and they'll be in middle school......

then a weekend visit with Gammie and Grampa.   We played games, we learned Math....(two engineering brains in the same photo).

We learned how speakers work.....and T beat Grampa in chess!

Sunday.....apple and raspberry picking at Dole's (I think it's like our 12th year here).  I get a little weepy thinking of those days gone by when I was taking photos of my babies in the pumpkins.

Not so little anymore (sniff, snifff.)

But they are such good helpers.....and the raspberries were AMAZING this year, got a freezer full.

We ended the weekend with a BBQ with friends here and some (COLD!) swimming in the pool, sitting by the fire and playing in the yard until WAY after dark on a school night.  

12 September

{this moment}. 

8 September

The weekend lens.....

L had his first soccer game of the season.  The weather was Hot and Humid, but the kids kept playing.  The kids all did so great for their first game of the year.  They have a kid on their team they call "brick wall"  I'm guessing the nickname will stick for his whole life.  SO cute, love watching them play.  The rest of the weekend....a few errands, a few chores, a first lacrosse middle school league game (He loved it!), getting ready to finish the backyard, church on the beach and lots of swimming in the pool.  (no photos).  Love, Love our low key fall weekends!

5 September

{This Moment.}

2 September

Back to school.....

Next week at this time we will be fully back in the swing.  It's always anxiety provoking, these first few days, diving head first into the unknown, getting to know new routines, new people, needing to make impressions.  For the oldest boy, school has always been smooth sailing.  His homeroom teacher last year at the conference said that he wished he had 25 T's in his class.  Can't complain about that.  7th grade is a very important year, I told him.  It determines where you are placed in 8th grade, which determines high school, which determines college, which determines life.  No pressure, right?  T is just one of those genuinely nice kids, who always tries to do the right thing, and most of the time is successful. (Perfect, no, real, yes).  He has a lot of gifts to share with this world.

For our girl, school is much harder.  She LOVES school, in fact this year she wrote down that her goal was to "work hard" (came up with that on her own).  Love that, she does work so, so hard.  School, howver, makes her extra challenges so much more visible.  At school there are so many more "rules" about who you need to be.  It's so easy to forget at home what "age appropriate" expectations are.  School emphasizes differences and doesn't always work so hard to celebrate differences.  Girl, we are working so  hard to change it.  This year we have gone the route of fully including her in a regular education  classroom in her brand new school!  We bought an engraved brick for the school walkway.  It has their names, graduation years and "Inclusion elevates all".  I'll send pics when it's installed :)

For the youngest boy, he's starting 2nd grade at the same school, same class and teacher as last year (called looping).  When I think of what he went through last year at this time, with the sickness and the not going to school, I can't breathe.  To send a smiling, laughing boy off to start over a new year just happy, my heart just leaps.  He is just going to thrive surrounded by people who just "get him".   Sweet, Sweet children of mine, it is amazing to watch you grow.   Thank you every day for the giving me the gift of you.  Here's to your best school year yet.

1 September

On the last day of summer vacation .....

we packed our bags for school, and laid out our outfits for the first day of school
we swam in the pool all day then got take out Italian sandwiches and headed down to the beach.

breathed the salty air, listened, stuck our toes in and jumped.

(God, I'm so thankful to have my SLR back)

It's so beautiful here at the magic hour....

 we played in the sand with our toys and buckets and shovels

You are never too big to build a sand castle, or too old to celebrate the last day of school summer vacation at the beach, with dinner then ice cream.  Summer, you were good to us.

Love this life.