September/October

 There wasn't much to report in the month of September. We finally got the house all put together and fixed from the water damage and even got to turn our hidden room into a little office/homework space for the kids.

Caleb got to finish up his 5 month sleeve process.

My brother and family were finally able to come down for a visit. We've scheduled so many times over the last couple years and the weather or sickness has made us have to cancel for every single one. We had so much fun.

They got some sour candy on their treasure hunt.

We also got to carve some pumpkins. Caleb even joined in for his first ever pumpkin carving.

And last but certainly not least, we got to enjoy our first Virginia chestnuts of the year. I love that we have an orchard so close. We opted to stay in for Halloween this year with some fun Halloween movies and candy baskets that I got to make up for the kids.

Also, here's a psa to put a goodie bin out for your delivery drivers this time of year.  We have so much fun with it and the drivers love it!

August

 August was kind of a doozy for us.

An extremely loud noise while in the shower turned out to be a tree limb through our roof during a storm.  An entire night of crazy rain while there's a tree in your roof turns out to be quite a bit of water damage.  Caleb and I spent the evening changing out buckets while watching the water spread.  Thankfully, companies came and it's all been dried out, however, our ceilings in two rooms still look like this and our roof is currently under tarp.  Hopefully in the next update it will be a little better news.

On a happier note, Caleb and I celebrated 13 years.

With all that was going on with the house we didn't get to do as much as we like, but stopping by our favorite local brewery was really fun.

And I just have to say, I think this year has been a harder one as far as outside factors, but when it comes to being married, we've both said it's been our favorite by far. 

Caleb's had his left sleeve done for close to five years now and this year started on his right arm.  He's been having work done on it since July, but it's a lengthy process with such a big piece and all the healing time in between.  Most of it so far has been working from the back to the front in layers so it isn't quite completed, but he got one section fully done and it looks amazing.

And lastly, it seemed like the summer flew by and on August 22 the kids started school.  Casen is now in 7th grade and Arya is in 4th.  They've been doing awesome and we're really proud of them.

July

 July was our annual trip to New York to visit family.  We weren't able to make it up last year so this year was extra special.

I was especially terrible with pictures this year.  I'm glad twinner knew what was up and took them for this lady.

We started at mom and dads and got to celebrate his birthday as well as enjoy lots of cousin time.  We got spoiled with lots of yummy food too.

We were just missing two of my nieces

We got to celebrate a birthday with Caleb's parents too

Caleb got to be the pie maker this year

We also got to squeeze in some quick visits with Doug and the two oldest, next time I will remember a picture!

Our final destination was Jonathan and Liz's house.  The only time I had my camera, unfortunately Liz and Naomi weren't able to join, but one of these days I'll get the full gang.

The month came to an end with us enjoying being back at our favorite place to be, home.  

And I gotta say, August has already not been the month for us.

May/June

 We've had a busy few summer months.

After the concert we celebrated Mother's Day.  Caleb got me a record player and it's been really fun listening.  I can't wait for some White Christmas on it.

The kids finished school June 2 so we've already had quite a bit of summer.

Arya got to go to a few nights of theme park camping with a friend.

Caleb got the start of a really really amazing second sleeve, but I don't want to post pics until it's finished, which I suppose will be months from now.

Casen also got to spend a few days with friends.  He worked putting in hay on a horse farm making a few extra bucks and he also got to go on a chartered fishing boat for a birthday.

Casen got to spend a week at summer tech camp, which he really enjoyed.  He did some 3d printing, flying drones with coding, and even putting characters in video games.

Arya will be heading to a theater summer camp next week.  I'm so thankful their schools are offering so many opportunities in these no school months.

We celebrated Father's Day and my birthday.  They're only one day apart and Caleb unfortunately had to work Father's Day, so we did a little joint fancy dinner at our favorite local steak house.

I also was surprised when amazing Crumbl cookies were delivered to my doorstep.  Twins really do know what ya need.

Since Caleb works midnights, summer months can be a little tricky for us.  The kids don't have school to keep them busy during the day time sleeping hours so I tried something new this summer and so far it's been working really well.  

I made them summer binders.  It has full calendars of all the planned activities and events i'm aware of as well as Caleb's work schedule. It has a daily loose schedule of tasks my kids somehow forget are supposed to be done daily. I added a lego build challenge calendar (which I think has been the biggest hit.)  They have a reading challenge calendar, which Casen has already gone through once.  I really didn't expect five long chapter books to be done as quick as he did.  Lastly, it has a schedule of the days they're in charge of their own laundry (learning to wash loads themselves, dry, fold) and day's they're in charge of dinner.  They find the recipes, they come with me on grocery shopping days with a list and get their own ingredients, and they're in charge of cooking.  It has been so much fun.  I'm thankful they're learning really important life skills and we're able to make it into enjoyable activities.  Also...highly highly recommend summer binders!

Casen chose a salmon sheet pan dinner as one of his meals

And lastly, Casen somehow turned 12.  I say somehow, but his age is definitely showing these days.  He's way too cool for us, is finally liking sleep, and would choose video games over most else.

He informed me he may be too old to have birthday decorations, but that doesn't really fly with me, even Caleb gets the cheesy decor.

The kids always get to pick anything they want for birthdays.  Casen had simple requests.  He wanted blts for lunch, dad's homemade wings for dinner, get to play games with his friends during the day, and play games with us for the evening.  We had a lot of fun.  If you have older kids, you should definitely check out the game You've Got Crabs.  And his last birthday request was chocolate cupcakes with chocolate orange frosting and he wanted to make them himself.  They turned out delicious!

Now onto July, which means the annual New York trip :)