Fall activities and colors

We've really enjoyed this fall. The kids really like their weekly activities, and the weeks always fly by for me and AJ. Friendships are continuing to grow, and we're feeling more and more at home here. My favorite weekly activities have been the marriage course we took at church the last 10ish weeks and MOPS. It's been great to have scheduled time to talk about deeper issues with AJ. It feels like our marriage is better than ever! My friendships at MOPS have been a big blessing. It's a place where I feel at ease and enjoy the relationships I'm forming there. I also really miss Midland friends lately, but I know it takes time to allow friendships to grow.


I'm not sure what Drew's highlight has been this fall. Maybe the morning that the trash truck comes by our house. He's been pretty happy wherever he goes, as long as they have trucks and choo choo trains. I love Wednesday nights with him. We go on a date while his sisters are at AWANA and Daddy works. If you ask what we do on our dates, he'll tell you we give kisses (such a treat to just hold one kid and love on him a bunch!), go on walks in the stroller, and go shopping. The church where we go to AWANA is a long way from our house so we spend the evening doing errands. Drew's beginning to sing (his favorite is "Hot Cross Buns") and remember books that we read often which are the books with trucks or trains.


The girls' favorite part of the week is AWANA. It warmed my heart recently when we were reading bedtime stories, and they starting quoting AWANA verses that correlate with the Bible stories we were reading.


A few weeks ago we had the huge privilege of bringing home Cubbie Bear (actually two of them). Each week one kid (or one set of twins) gets to take Cubbie home to take care of him. I think it may have been the biggest highlight of the girls' little lives so far! Big hug for Cubbie from Jenna.


Gymnastics has been another big highlight, and it's been helpful to learn some skills we can work on at home too. We're in our last month of taking gymnastics because it's too expensive, but we'll keep doing gymnastics at home.


And this is the view I've enjoyed out our kitchen and dining room windows in the last week. We love living in the woods!


Another big highlight this fall was last weekend. The kids went to stay with Grandma and Poppie's. AJ's brother and wife and a Midland friend and his fiancee came to visit. We went to see Wicked together and just hung out, talked, and played games. It was so refreshing! When they headed home, AJ and I redeemed a gift certificate we received at Christmas and went to a lodge on Arkansas's highest point: Mt. Magazine. The fall colors were beautiful, and we loved the one-on-one relaxing time!