Wha's up

The fall decorations are up (ok, LIE. But I have it on my to-do list), the nights have turned cooler, there are sudden bursts of color already evident here and there, and the scent of fallish candles fills the house. I am excited for every change of season, but autumn is without question my favorite.

So what's going down in R-ville?

First off, my camera is finally fixed and returned!! Just in time for our Labor Day weekend camping trip with some of our favorite families from church. While the weather was a tad cooler than we would ideally like, and we experienced some heavy rain and wind the second night, it was overall a fantastic time! Campfires, laughs, yummy food, silly games, a time of Sunday morning reflection together, and just good times with friends. We already can't wait for next year!

Benj made friends with Mittens the dog, who was hereafter known as "My doggie" or "My Mittens".

LOTS of time for play and leisure!

Watching a kids vs. adults volleyball game and playing in the sand. He loved being able to just run wild with the other kids!

Kindergarten is in full swing for JJ. He and I both had to go through a period of adjustment these last couple of weeks. There were definitely nerves on both our parts. For awhile there, every morning brought with it protests of having to go to school. As he's made friends and learned the routine, however, that has happened less and less. I'm already amazed at what he has learned and am really happy with the teacher he has. I had been praying for just the right fit for his personality, and she seems to be it. I'm anxious for our parent-teacher conference in November to get the full scoop on how he spends his mornings.

Our sweet, mild-mannered Ben has apparently decided to fully embrace the terrible twos before he turns 3 in December. Somehow, my laid-back boy has disappeared and this growling, screaming, frustrated, red-faced whirling dervish has taken his place. Anything that doesn't go his way is cause for a meltdown. If we happen to need to be somewhere say, oh, before the turn of the next century and have to hurry along his attempts to "do it myself" we have a half-hour long fit on our hands. It's pretty unreal and pretty stressful. I have confidence that his sweetness will return so I'm just hanging on for the ride. On the upside he amazes me everyday at the things he IS able to do on his own and the patience he exhibits in making these attempts. While it's true he falls apart if we won't let him do something on his own, if we just give him the time he needs then he will make try after try to get it right and get it done. So I love to see that. He and JJ love to be together (although, honestly, I think Ben is a LITTLE relieved to have some alone time in the mornings now): wrestling, telling (non-sensical) jokes at the dinner table, using their imaginations, reading books, and hugging.

Grayson is firmly established as the family clown. He loves to laugh and make us laugh with him and can really be a total goofball. He has to do EVERYthing the older boys are doing whether that's playing outside, eating a lollipop, brushing his teeth, singing, running, or jabbering away telling stories. His personality is an interesting mix between Jeran and Ben. He has Jeran's non-stop energy (I mean NON.STOP. He's into absolutely everything all the time) combined with Ben's laid-backness, in the sense that he's pretty content with anything that's going on and will go with the flow. For the most part. He definitely has discovered he has a will of his own, even at only 17 months, and he works it out now and again.

As for the parental units of this brood, we are hanging in there. Life is a pretty wild and crazy ride right now. I won't lie: it's exhausting, it's chaotic, and there are a lot of times when all James and I can do at the end of the day is stare at each other blankly and wonder how we're going to do it all again tomorrow. Aside from parenting (and trying to do it well, no less) we are more and more involved with the new church we're a part of (which is officially off and running! More on that to come), not to mention trying to keep connected to one another and our family and friends. Our days are filled with lots of prayer for perseverance and guidance, and, despite what I may portray here at times, we do find joy in what God has given us during this season.

So that's some of the haps currently with us. What's new with u?