Little bits from our family moments in September!
We were super excited to attend our first full family VSU game this month! We were invited to take part in the President’s Pregame Tailgate and it took me riiiiight back to the college days. It was so nice to see so many of the VSU staff who were around back when we were too!
We also felt OLD watching the cheerleaders and realizing I now look at them like they are children when it feels like just yesterday we were that age too!
The kids loved pulling out all of our VSU gear and we had such a fun time at the tailgate enjoying the yummy food to prep for the game!
Zach’s family is pretty hardcore about the local high school football but since I didn’t grow up here it’s not really special to me…but being at a VSU game? Brought back SO many happy memories and felt like coming HOME in such a big way. I loved being there again and loved having ALL the kids with us!
The bigs got to be part of the action and were able to run out on the field before the team. Of course it quickly turned into a competition with Kye and Britt to race and Tessie did her own thing 😉
We were able to enjoy all the pre-game fun but the game barely started and the rain came DOWN. With a game delay that would last who knows how long I went ahead and left with Spear to get him dry and down for the night. Zach and the bigs stayed for a bit but ended up calling it a night soon after and stopped and got some fun snow cones on the way home.
While it wasn’t the IDEAL game it was still a fun time for our family!
Over the summer I saw that Lysa Terkeurst was coming to town to speak at a local church event and I KNEW I HAD to be there. I not only adore Lysa and her content but I actually babysat for her nieces and nephew in college and adore their sweet family! Her book Uninvited is one of my top life-changing books!
Of course Katie, my always down for whatever sidekick, was on board to go see her speak. I knew her talk would probably highlight a lot from her newer book, Forgiving What You Can’t Forget, so I read that leading up to the event and it is SO GOOD. Even if you don’t think you NEED help in forgiveness, you do 😉
Sure enough she touched a good bit on the topic of forgiveness and it was SO, so wonderful. Katie isn’t as familiar with her or her content but she walked away taking so much from it too.
We both agreed that we are so blessed to have each other as our 2 am phone call kinda friend. Everyone needs a person and we have each other no matter what 🙂
A big takeaway for me is that forgiveness is a PROCESS. We forgive what someone did. But the walk in forgiving the IMPACT they caused is the process part.
I also love how she talked about what a GOOD Father God is in that He doesn’t hit us with alllll the impact at one time. Can you imagine? So when we get triggered, when that impact is felt, it’s good to remember we’re being given a GIFT of spreading out that pain to better be able to walk in it and through it. They are a reminder, a chance, to forgive more.
I had a Mommy outing this month with the kids to browse and brainstorm for their Christmas lists and it was SO fun! It was great that Spear was old enough now to “get it” and be excited and take his time browsing too!
I’m always super proud of their choices and how they think through what they want to ask for and do a great job sticking within budget and limiting their number of items, etc.
Even Spear did a great job in putting things back and understanding that we weren’t buying anything that day!
I love having my kids make their lists EARLY. They have to “set ’em in stone” by October which gives me PLENTY of time to do my shopping!
Afterward we went to get some dinner together at Cici’s and I loved spending some quality time together with the kids doing something fun!
Zach and I had a chance for two date nights this month. We had one before his infusion in Atlanta and one after his infusion in Atlanta and they were def two different vibes of outings.
I think our quick dinner and movie date night was probably one of my fav date nights we’ve EVER had together! We both wore comfy clothes (I had micro needling done that morning so my face was BRIGHT red ha!) and snuggled up and watched Free Guy which was hilarious and just so perfect and exactly what we needed!
The kids had a G-Mama outing this month too with a fun dinner and shopping together for something fun – she loves to spoil ’em!
Spear’s teacher called me one day during school to let me know that Spear had fallen. He fell on the concrete and it was pretty bad. He is SO tough but his lip was very swollen and clearly by the pics you can tell he had some damage to his teeth and gums.
I’m writing this in Jan and we’re still keeping an eye on it but we’re 99% sure his front tooth is dead so I’m eager to go to the dentist in a couple weeks and see our options!
Thankfully we have SEVERAL dental hygienists as church and they all said there isn’t much to do but WAIT. It all healed up well on its own so far!
Summer may be over but we still had us some fun family nights of homemade pizza and s’mores. Even Lily enjoyed a treat!
Our schools don’t play around when it comes to dress up days. SO MANY DRESS UP DAYS.
I love that the kids enjoy it and love a good theme and that they get so into it. Even Kye in 7th grade! I let them completely handle it all and they have so much fun coming up with outfits.
Kye helped the girls a good bit with a couple of the dress up days. For Celebrity day Britt did Taylor Swift, Tess did Walt Disney and Kye dressed as himself, Kye the News Guy 😉
80s day was FOR SURE my fav though. They used my phone on our way home from church to google up 80s icons and even though they didn’t know who they were they did awesome with their outfits! Kye was from Back to the Future, Tess was Michael Jackson and Britt was Demi Moore 🙂 Oh and Spear was a fireman 😉
Spear and I had a chance to get a little Cam time this month before school one morning and I just ADORE seeing these two together. They love each other so much! It was PRECIOUS that they both showed up wearing boots too 🙂
Running errands before school is my favorite thing with Spear. I LOVE our mornings together hitting up “Sam’s Jams” or Publix or Target 😉 He brings me so much joy!
I’m so happy that the kids are finally starting to use our basketball goal! It only took a couple years haha!
They also have been loving their scooters and they’ve been such a great item to encourage outdoor fun and staying active.
I took the kids to walk through a new build in our neighborhood (who doesn’t love doing that?!) and they were STRESSED OUT about it. So funny!
I was able to do a breakfast with Lindsay which I loved and we had Katie over and I just love this picture of Zach and Katie together. Zach is always wanting to show us funny videos and I love how he’s rewatching the video over her shoulder and laughing!
We are loving our Lily! It was hilarious one day at school that BOTH girls had on their brother’s shorts – Britt wore Kye’s to school and Tessie had on Spear’s haha! I love that both of the girls were super excited to be running at school bc I was def the kid who tried to get an excuse to get out of running 😉 Kye made a cell shirt for a school project!
Spear is becoming more proud of his school work and loves to show me everything he does in the classroom. Tess is a little business owner – she had the idea of doing a lemonade stand and she put everrrrryone else to work for it 😉 Mom bought the supplies, Kye made the sign and set it all up, Britt made most of the cookies and packaged most of the treats…yet it was called “Tess’s Treats” HILARIOUS.
Tessie asked for a walk just us one night and I loved getting to go around the neighborhood with her. Spear got into the girl’s stuff they had packed to change into after gymnastics before church and STOLE TESS’S Pants. So she went to church with just her leotard and a shirt over it and then the next week Britt FORGOT pants and had to do the same thing. CLASSSSSIC.
I always store the older kids stuff in the attic for the younger ones to use later and we have learned that shoes do NOT store well in the attic. OOPS. Everything fallllls apart!
I usually write the kids a note with a small snack for school each day and sometimes the kids take over the note duties and sweet Britt wrote such sweet notes to Kye and Tessie!
Tess lost a tooth at school (which is like the DREAM for the kids they think it’s so awesome) and wrote a note to her too. I had a company reach out about sending the BOYS some fun Batman swag which I LOVE. So often brands send the girls things but not the boys and both Kye and Spear were SO pumped about it 🙂
Kye LOVES family game nights so we spent nap time on a Sunday while Spear was sleeping playing games together and it just fed his heart for sure. Britt did a little work for me and did a great job. Super proud of Spear for getting super star status at school!!!
I LOVE that Tess will STILL fall asleep in the car!!! It is so precious to me!
Spear was so cute one morning watching Mickey and went to grab his own Mickey to watch too 🙂 He and Kye also have their own guy-time when the girls are in gymnastics to watch Spidey together. I love any opportunity to pour into their bonds!
Something extra to note about this month was a special phone call I got from my dad. He doesn’t call me often (typically just holidays…which I mean with as many kids as we have it is decently often) and it was just this awesome incredible GOD MOMENT that he called at the exact moment and time that he did. Totally out of the blue and totally exactly what I needed and I truly feel like the Holy Spirit was using my Dad so I could hear what God wanted me to hear. That He’s proud of me. That I can do hard things. It was a beautiful moment that filled my heart so incredibly full and one that I will never forget.
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