My kids this Fall

This morning Charlotte saw I was wearing my navy and white striped shirt and ran into her room and found her navy and white striped top. She wanted to match me...

Twinsies!

Naturally I went to Hannah's closet and found a similar-ish striped romper and asked Hannah if she wanted to match us. She firmly responded "Um no!" and marched that romper back to its proper place and chose a pink dress instead. 

Well joke is on you Hannah because you are my twin every day regardless of what you are wearing! You are my mini-me. Take that Hannah! 

Right before I snapped that blue mouthed photo she informed me that it is a good thing they gave her two straws because her mouth is way bigger than one straw. Makes perfect sense. Oh four year olds! Just on the cusp of logical thinking. And that brand new logic is adorable. 

Something else I think is adorable is the fact that Charlotte periodically mentions the fact that we should move. Like to a new city and state. Because we've lived here long enough "it's boring. We go to all the same places and do all the same things". Apparently 15 months in one location is too much for her! The first time she told me this I was shocked because she is NOT normally my adventurous child. But I guess moving isn't an adventure in her mind. Just a regular part of her little life. She has lived in 4 states in  6 years (not including the two states we stayed in for away rotations). Which is the complete opposite of my childhood during which I lived in two different houses that are within 10 miles of each other. (My parents recently moved 70 miles to a new town after being in their current home for 25 years! I was shocked that they actually did it.)

Same old boring fall festival we went to last year and this year. ;-) 

Nothing says FALL quite like tank tops and snow cones, right?!? Oh how I miss autumn. With real pumpkin patches and apple orchards and changing leaves. Jeans and boots. I know I'm becoming a broken record about this lack of seasons here but fall is just my favorite! And I miss it. If Joe keeps us here after residency....errrr....I mean we choose to stay I WILL be flying "home" every fall. I just need my time in Autumn. 

Moving on. Levi has entered the always enjoyable toddler-must-accompany-his-mother-to-the-bathroom stage. And lucky for me our master bathroom has no lock on it and easily pulls open. Because going to the bathroom with an audience is just so much fun. ;-) Before the kids completely broke the toilet seat off their toilet I would sometimes use their bathroom with a lock much to Levi's great disdain. Until that toilet gets fixed its back to having an audience for me. He's also into exploring his diaper these days. Grrr. The other night at bath time I discovered a toy he had stowed away in there. I have to give him credit for creativity. His outfit had NO pockets so he had to improvise. Enough bathroom talk. 

Isaiah joined Cub Scouts this year and he's really enjoying it. And I'm so relieved he likes it because truthfully it was a consolation activity. His first choice was karate. Which I thought would be really good for him. But holy buckets THAT is an expensive sport for having very little equipment. It just isn't in our second year of residency budget. Hopefully next year (i.e. The year Joe can moonlight and make extra money)! But oh my how handsome and grown up is he in that uniform? I'll answer that. Too handsome and so grown up!  And most important: he's happy. 

So fourth grade at Isaiah's school involves a lot more writing than third grade (or so we've been told). Isaiah is typically quite reluctant to write. (Read: he's been known to spend an entire evening at the kitchen table refusing to write 4-5 sentences for one assignment.). However he says he likes the way his new teacher teaches writing and he's been enjoying his writing assignments. Small miracle! Joe was checking his vocabulary journal recently and he stumbled upon this gem. Under the definition of "BLISS" Isaiah had written, "My mom was in bliss when she was at the hospital having my baby brother."   I think it's hilarious that he chose that experience to use the word bliss. I suppose he is partially correct. It was quite blissful after I delivered his baby brother and was holding him in my arms. Which is the part Isaiah experienced:)

Last and most certainly least...

Last month Frankie (the tortoise) turned ONE! And earlier this month (10/9/16) was the one year anniversary of Frankie living with us. Clearly I'm not a very good pet person. I completely missed both of those dates. Oops. Happy One Year Frankie! I can't believe we actually kept you alive for an entire year. 

P.S. That last picture is deceiving. Levi is not the least bit afraid of the tortoise. It's quite the opposite. Levi is his biggest fan! He must visit his "turtle" daily.