September 2019

Now, onto the month of September! This month, we really started to get back into the grind with school all month, soccer games every Saturday, birthday parties, etc. It was a full but good month!

Abigail and Barrett at Cici’s house for Sunday lunch – so cute!

Sweet sleeping baby girl :)

Brooklyn has a special relationship with Gabby! They love each other, and Gabby still sleeps on Brooklyn’s bed more often than not.

Everyday memories – Daddy and Brooklyn watching TV and Savannah and Abigail reading their Bibles :)

Brooklyn read 20 books during the month of August and got to turn in her list for a class coupon. She was so excited to draw the coupon in front of the whole class :) Her coupon was for bringing a stuffed animal to school for the day. She decided to bring Brownie, her very first stuffed animal, on September 3rd. Brownie sat on her desk all day, and Brooklyn said Brownie helped her with her work! ;)

Music class is always fun – Abigail is slowly getting more comfortable with not sitting in my lap the whole time.

Brooklyn is like a little whirlwind. She hurries around from activity to activity and is always leaving a mess behind her. She is still one of our messiest eaters even though she is the oldest ;)

“I think I’ll wear Mommy’s shoes today…”

“…and maybe Brooklyn’s soccer cleats too!”

Savannah always makes sure to bring a few friends along when we are going somewhere in the car.

On September 5th, Alisha and I met at the HAMOM consigment sale to drop our stuff off. We took turns taking things inside while our kids sat in the van and watched 101 Dalmatians. Yay for having an easy way to keep everyone entertained!

September 5th was also Grandparents Day at school. Avery’s grandmother sent me this picture that she took of Brooklyn and Avery…so sweet :)

Future JCHS Jets :)

Backyard wagon rides :)

I noticed these spots on Abigail’s leg sometime in mid-August, but didn’t think too much of it initially. They never went away though, so I finally took her to see Dr. Dudley. She thought it could be ringworm, so we treated it with an anti-fungal cream for a couple of weeks and the spots finally went away. Kids are always good at throwing new unexpected medical stuff at you, but I’m just glad it was something simple!

On September 6th, Brooklyn went to Avery’s birthday party at a roller skating rink in Huntsville. They requested no gifts, but Brooklyn did draw this picture for her :)

This was Brooklyn’s first time to roller skate, and oh my. It was so entertaining ;)

I lost count of how many times she fell down out there. I kept trying to convince her to slow down and take it easy until she got the hang of it, but that advice runs counter to her personality ;) So she kept charging ahead as fast as she could and wiping out every few seconds.

They apparently have these PVC pipe things called “skate trainers” that help kids balance when they are first learning to skate. I don’t remember those being around when I was a kid…I guess we just had to learn the hard way! Even with the skate trainer, she was almost constantly falling down at first.

She did make progress over the course of the party. It was just painful to watch! ;) She even participated in the limbo game they had for all the kids…skate trainer and all.

Toward the last few minutes of the party, though, Brooklyn got brave and left the skate trainer behind! She did pretty good, and it was sweet to watch Avery holding her hand :)

It was a fun night, and Brooklyn had a blast! Thankfully, she didn’t break any bones ;)

Soccer game #3 – 9/7/19

Today’s game was against Avery’s team (funny coincidence since it was the morning after the birthday party). When I told Brooklyn that she would see Avery out there, Brooklyn asked, “Will Avery be playing on my team??” When I told her Avery would be playing against her, Brooklyn declared that she didn’t want to play then. Haha ;)

Brooklyn showed great sportsmanship today. She never complained when she didn’t score…she congratulated Darby and Hattie when they scored…and she helped Avery up when she fell.

We were very proud of her!

These friends played hard!

Before the game that morning, Brooklyn’s team had individiual and team pictures taken. I thought this one turned out cute!

Here is the team photo with *most* of the girls in it. L to R (front): Mabry and Hattie; L to R (back): Travis, Brooklyn, Darby, and Coach Craig

But, this was my favorite picture of all! Since Travis was the assistant coach this season, we got an extra picture taken of just him and Brooklyn. I just love how it turned out!

An “All about Apples” page that Brooklyn wrote for Carter. It says: “Apples are juicy. Apples are red, green, and yellow. Apples are a fruit. Apples have seeds in the middle of them. Apples have a core. Apples are round. Apples grow on trees.”

On September 9th and 10th, we walked to school a few minutes early to hold campaign signs at the corner of Balch and Mill. September 10th was a big day for our city where citizens would be voting on a proposed tax increase to raise money for our schools. Several other families decided to make signs and hold them up during the morning school rush, so it was fun to be out there with friends.

Brooklyn and Savannah enjoyed being part of it. That’s about as politically involved as I’ll ever get, other than voting itself. Politics are not my thing, but when it comes to our schools, you better believe I’ll be out there!

I always love to see the girls pull out books and sit side by side to look at them :)

I helped make a tent for Savannah and Abigail to play in upstairs, and they enjoyed that…

Wheeee! Playing on the couch cushions is just as fun though :)

On September 12th, Brooklyn drew a picture that she wanted to submit for the Galaxy of Lights art contest. It didn’t win anything, but she had fun drawing it!

Here was her finished product!

Brooklyn and Savannah scootered to school on September 13th…

…but first, they had to do a little warm-up riding in the driveway ;)

Soccer game #4 – 9/14/19

It rained for pretty much the entire game. I actually didn’t mind too much because at least it wasn’t hot!

Brooklyn scored her first goal of the season!! She was so excited…she looked over at me with a huge grin, sprinted back to Coach Craig, and did a little leap in the air :)

Brooklyn has been doing much better with having good sportsmanship since that first game of the season. This game ended in a tie. The girls played hard and had fun out there. Of course, their favorite thing of all is running through the “tunnel” and eating the snacks at the end of the game ;)

On September 15th, I got the sweetest pictures of Brooklyn and Savannah wearing some matching dresses that my mom had saved from when Jenn and I were little.

These are definitely some of the best pictures I’ve ever taken of the two of them!

Just for kicks, Mom found the picture of Jenn and I wearing those same dresses…26 years ago! I love the huge bows, my bowl cut, and the fact that I was carrying a purse at age 6…haha

It’s fun to look back at pictures of when we were the same age as my girls are now! I’m glad Mom saved those dresses for so many years :)

Abigail didn’t have a matching dress to wear that morning, but she still looked cute sleeping in Daddy’s lap :)

That afternoon, Brooklyn decided that she wanted to have an art competition at our house, and she would be the judge. Travis and I were the participants, and she set up paper for each of us that had our names on it: “Mommy Grant” and “Daddy Grant”. We were allowed to use pencils and crayons, and that was all.

I was supposed to draw Santa, and Travis had to draw a Christmas tree. Travis got a point taken away for using a glitter crayon…haha. Only regular crayons were allowed ;) In the end, she told us we both scored 10 points and it was a tie…haha

This isn’t the same baby doll stroller we had when Brooklyn was little, but all three girls have loved pushing around a stroller when they were this age.

Sweet girl!

Brooklyn decided to spend some of her allowance money on a small pumpkin at Sprouts, and she was excited to paint it after school on September 17th!

Of course, the other girls had to paint something too! :)

Brooklyn also decided that she wanted to pick her potatoes that afternoon. I was shocked when we started digging in the pot to find so many potatoes in there! Most of them were tiny, but it didn’t matter to Brooklyn. She was really excited! This was the last harvest of the season, and we definitely have to give credit to Cici for helping her get everything planted properly to begin with. I think Cici may have passed on her love of gardening to her granddaughter!

This year, Rock Your School day was on September 19th. It was jungle/camo themed, so we hunted around town for camo stuff for Brooklyn to wear. I lucked out at the thrift store and Once Upon a Child and found a few different shirts for cheap. Brooklyn was excited about it! They always go all out and decorate the whole school and do lots of activities to get the kids excited about learning.

This year, I am one of two room moms for Ms. Carter’s class. The other mom, Kaitlin, is super crafty and creative. She wanted to decorate Ms. Carter’s door and outside of the classroom. She had the vision, and I just came and helped cut and tape ;) I thought everything turned out so cute!

“It’s a jungle in here” – probably true all year round! ;)

I loved this picture of Ms. Carter with the whole class in the rotunda. The PTA and other helpers did such a great job with the decorations!

Ms. Carter turned their tables into Jeeps :)

It was a fun day of learning!

My two little helpers brought along their baby dolls to the grocery store :)

September was such a HOT month this year. Savannah and Chloe sat in the shade while waiting for their big sisters to come out after school.

Soccer game #5 – 9/21/19

Coach Craig let Brooklyn take a lot of goal kicks this season because she usually did a pretty good job of kicking it hard!

We had some issues this season with a couple of the girls being pretty unreliable and not showing up for practices/games, but this was one of the few games where all 6 of them were there! It was nice to have 2 subs so that the girls didn’t get quite so worn out by the end.

Brooklyn scored another goal today! She played REALLY hard and isn’t afraid to get in there and collide with the other girls trying to take the ball away. I was proud of her effort today!

“1, 2, 3…Rainbow Unicorns!”

This game, they happened to play the team that one of Brooklyn’s friends from her kindergarten class was on. So I made sure to get a quick picture of Brooklyn and Ella afterward. It was fun this season to see several familiar faces out there on other teams.

Travis took Brooklyn and Savannah to the library later that afternoon for a special bird show. They had a hawk and 2 owls. Travis said it was really neat, and he learned several things he didn’t know!

Brooklyn was hoping to see a bald eagle, but apparently bald eagles have an 8-ft wingspan, so they probably don’t travel too well ;)

On September 22nd, we celebrated Luke and Barrett’s birthdays at Cici’s house. It’s hard to believe they are THREE years old. The more kids we’ve added to our families, the faster the time has gone…

Music class – September 24th

Savannah and Abigail were ready for a bright and sunny walk to school! :)

I love it when Brooklyn comes out of school wearing a hat she made in class. This one was about things that start with the “ph” sound…

I caught Savannah brushing Abigail’s hair while Abigail was looking at a book in her room. Sweet sister moments…they aren’t all like this, but I hope these will be the ones that I remember most! :)

September 26th was Johnny Appleseed Day! To celebrate, the 1st grade classes had an apple tasting day where they got to taste lots of different apple things: apple pie, apple chips, apple slices, apple juice, etc. I got to help pass out the apple pies to all the kids, and it was fun to see them march up and down the hall collecting all of the apple goodies.

Brooklyn loves apples, but she especially loved the caramel dip and requested a second helping :) It was a fun afternoon!

Such a full cart at Walmart that I barely had room for my littlest helper in there!

Soccer game #6 – 9/28/19

The game was at 11 AM, so it was very hot, and they only had 4 of the 6 girls there. That meant all 4 girls had to play the entire game with no subs. They did great! Brooklyn scored one goal and played great defense. They all tried so hard and ended up only losing by 1, even though the other team had 2 subs.

Go Rainbow Unicorns!

That afternoon, I took Brooklyn to Maddie’s birthday party at our neighborhood clubhouse. It was mermaid themed, and Brooklyn had a great time painting her own “treasure box”/filling it up with treasure and eating lots of junk food.

They got to bob for powdered donuts, which was pretty funny to watch!

I may have to remember this for a future party…all the girls thought it was so fun!

When we got home from the party, Travis was reading to Savannah and Abigail on the couch. So sweet!

On September 30th, the 1st graders performed in the monthly PTA meeting.

Brooklyn had told me she was a little nervous after school on our walk home, but that night she wasn’t nervous at all! She did great and looked so happy up there. They sang a couple of “fall” songs and recited a poem about reading. It was very cute!

Paw had a full lap during the meeting. He is very loved by his granddaughters!

After the PTA meeting was over, we walked down to the library to shop at the book fair. We ran into Pete the Cat in the hallway, and the girls were excited to get their picture made with him :) It was a fun night!

Notes and Quotes from September:

• 9/7/19 – We went to the Bible Bowl picnic tonight, and they had ice cream sundaes for dessert. Aunt Debbie asked Savannah what toppings she wanted, and Savannah answered, “Yes”…haha. So she got a little bit of everything on her ice cream! That’s one way to do it :)
• 9/9/19 – Savannah: “How will we get to heaven? On a stepstool?”
• 9/11/19 – Abigail loves to hand me things and announce, “Here, Mommy!” She also demands, “SING! SING!” when I tuck her in bed now ;)
• 9/12/19 – Abigail came into our bedroom while I was ironing. I hadn’t made the bed yet, and she saw all the pillows stacked in the corner. She said, “Help with the pillows!” I’m pretty sure that was her longest sentence/phrase yet. It was definitely clear what she was saying.
• 9/13/19 – Abigail can point out the “Ze-bas”, eh-phants, and “giraffes” in the Lion King book by name now :)
• 9/16/19 – This week, Abigail is talking up a storm! So many new words/phrases that she’s never said before. Today, she ran to Savannah’s door when it was time for us to go pick up Brooklyn, tried to open the door, and exclaimed, “Wake up, San-uh-na!”
• 9/17/19 – Today we had music class. Up until today, through every session, Abigail has been mostly a silent observer during music class. She will play with the instruments, but is usually pretty stoic/serious the whole time and wants to sit in my lap or be held if we are standing up during class. Today, something changed, and she was suddenly sitting beside me on the rug with her legs “criss cross applesauce”, giggling when we used the stretchy band, and she did NOT want to be held when we were “dancing” around the room. I think she thinks she’s a big girl now!
• 9/23/19 – Abigail is finally answering “YES” to yes/no questions. For the longest, she has always said “no” even if she means “yes”. I feel like this is a huge milestone!
• 9/24/19 – Savannah: “When I grow up, I want to help fix trains that have a flat tire.” :)

Thanks for reading!! Hope you have a great weekend!