Wait, It's September Already?! . . .

Then I guess I should do a quick recap of our August happenings since we're well into September now.  And oooof course, there's already so much to journal about for this month already - Labor Day weekend festivities, first day of school excitement, Ethan's fun week off of work with us - but that will have to wait until next time.  Life definitely feels busy!  Back to August . . .

Ethan celebrated his 31st birthday in August.  After feeling like I had no idea what to get him this year, it finally came to me at the last minute.  Whew!  We don't spend that much on each other, but we do like to surprise each other with things we'll really like, and we rarely take suggestions.  I always feel like the surprise is all the fun - otherwise you might as well just go buy it yourself.  :)  So, happy birthday to my babes!  Love him.

And oh, I do want to mention the actual festivities - I arranged a babysitter for Ethan's actual birthday on Thursday (a surprise, middle of the week date), and we went out to dinner.  After, we decided to go swimming in some monstrous waves - without kids.  So fun!  Exhausted by the wave pounding, we went home and put the kiddos to bed, and snuggled up to watch a movie of Ethan's choosing.  The next day we grilled steaks, and had a yummy birthday dinner with the kiddos . . . who always want to be part of the celebrating.

We went to the Marquette County Fair, and it was a perfect morning.  Both grandpa's wanted to come with us (Dewey and Chuck), and we got there right after it opened around 10:30am.  The weather was perfect, and there were no crowds.  We took our time looking at all the animals, the kids each chose two rides to go on, and we ate some yummy fair food. 

I love the picture above, because we have one with Anna and Benjamin around this same age at the fair, seeing a horse for the first time.  And I'm pretty sure Ethan is holding them in each picture.  Sweet.  Caleb still does not talk much - yet - but he does do a lot of animal noises (which his speech pathologist counts as words :), so Caleb thought the whole fair experience was pretty fun.  Getting to see the animals in real life that he imitates so often at home. 

There was an obstacle course bounce house (for FREE!) provided by the National Guard.  The kids loved it, and since there weren't many people around yet, they went about 10 times in a row, no waiting.  I thought it was funny that this cool bounce house was located right next to the small, lame one you had to pay tickets to go on.  Glad Grampa Chuck spotted it! 

So, we wondered if Caleb would be tall enough to ride any of the rides (with an adult, of course), and when we had him go over to the sign, he was a good few inches over the line.  No worries for our tall, McChubbertins.   I was worried that Caleb would want to get off the Carousel (his first ride ever), but he loved it.  Thanks to Grampa Dew for taking him. :) 

Anna was playing with her belly dancing costume one day (the one Grampa Chuck got for her at a Turkish Bazaar last year), and the boys wanted to get in on the fun too.  She let Caleb wear her hat . . . that barely fit, Benjamin wore her gypsy shoes, and they all did crazy, funny dances together.  These two pictures remind me that even though it's a lot of work having three young kiddos at home, I really do prefer it over the busy-ness of the school year.  And we're only a week in to it!  The summer is so much more relaxed and carefree.  And those babies are always keeping me entertained with their shenanigans.  hehe.  Love them.

I got together a few times with a dear friend who was in town visiting this summer, and it was SO good to catch up and spend time together (and meet her sweet little guy!).  A few other high school friends got together too . . . and as you can see, Anna was completely out-numbered!  Six boys, one Anna.  (Another friend who visited from out of town, not pictured, has a little boy and is expecting her 2nd boy.  Thank goodness Anna likes boys, 'cause she was the minority. :) 

Ooo, we did a garage sale in August with a friend of ours, and a few other families.  This was my second one ever, and I had forgotten how much work it is . . . especially when you're bringing all of your things to another location.  But, I sold a lot of stuff - yay! - and the kids had lots of fun selling lemonade and cookies with their good friend.  What cuties!  So, I'm listing a few things that didn't sell on Craigslist, and brought the rest to goodwill, AND sold 8+ bins of stuff and other bigger items.  It's a really good feeling. :)  I don't think I'll do another garage sale, just Craigslist stuff or Goodwill stuff.  But, with so much baby/little kid items we could get rid of, now that we're done having kids, I'm glad we did this one. 

Ok.  Final thing I'm going to mention for August - Anna and her friend took swim lessons!  Yay!  It was six lessons, just the two of them, at NMU's gym.  I loved her teacher, and I loved that she got to do it with one friend, not a big group.  I was so surprised how comfortable she got.  Anna loves the water, baths, and the beach, but she wasn't too motivated to learn how to swim.  (Probably because you can have so much fun at the beach without needing to know how to swim, as opposed to a city pool, which we don't have in Marquette anyway.)  So, before the lessons, she'd put her face in the water, but only very quickly.  By the end, she was dunking and trying to see how long she could stay under, fearlessly jumping off the diving board (with life jacket on), swimming the length of the pool and back with just a paddle board or noodle, and trying out doggy-paddling very short distances on her own.  Good progress!  I think we'll try to get her lessons one more time in the spring, and then practice what she learns all next summer.  I feel like she's so close to being a full-fledged swimmer.  So proud of Miss Anna! 

Well, this entry is just a "this is what we've been up to lately" kind of entry, but I just don't have time for more right now.  Maybe next time I'll throw on a "gratitude list" or let you know what's been weighing on my mind lately.  Hope all your back-to-school stuff went smoothly!  Have a great weekend!