September Highlights

In September, we tried to pretend it was Fall even though it mostly felt like summer still all month. 

Walter worked hard and was generally adorable...

Conrad was inspired by learning about the Wright brothers and tried to invent his own flying machine. It was successful in the sense that we all had a blast watching him, but less successful in actually flying. And of course, he played soccer! 

Orson generally avoided pictures this month, but had lots of fun. He found a short chapter book series he loved and devoured all four books. That's the first time he's read so avidly, and it was fun to see him enjoy it so much. 

Lenora started a tumbling class, was a great model for Eliza in her photography class, and generally had a blast with friends. 

Eliza and Hazel grew their book club this year to a "Humanities society" and hosted a poetry tea party. With the help of AI they named themselves "The Refined Spirits Society." They plan to read several classic novels, host a Colonial Christmas ball, and more. 

Eliza also had fun taking Ember to the park and performed in her first Concert Choir fireside. She's loving choir and it's so fun having her and Hazel in there together. 

Both Hazel and Eliza enjoyed the Summit Ball. Sadly, these were the best pictures we got of them. 

Hazel enjoyed a "turn about the park" with Annabelle. They got some strange looks but had a blast. 

Meanwhile, Michael and I had a blast at the UVU table for the Sego Lily Gala. This year the theme was Witches and Wizards, so we went as a Young Dumboldore and Young McGonagal. 

We also had fun posing for pictures for the girls' photography class. 

Backpack

Lenora taught Walter how to ride piggy back and called it a "backpack." Before we knew what had happened, this kid became obsessed with asking everyone for backpacks. He will walk up behind you and demand a "pack-pack" ALL. THE. TIME. It's so cute, and we all loved it. Though some days he drives us all crazy with his backpack request. 

He can't get enough backpacks. So sometimes he wears his backpack while asking for more backpacks....

And sometimes the kids get silly and put a backpack on another backpack. Haha! It's a whole thing in our house right now (enough so that the kids said I had to put it on the blog).

Occasionally he'll let you carry him some other way, but most of the time, it's a backpack that he wants. 

While we're blogging about the adorable Walter, he's a few more things he's doing that are just the cutest... He loves his "babies" and sometimes wants them all to sleep with. For a while he was stealing babies (aka more lovies) from other kids, but thankfully he's back to just a few now. 

Also, he no longer calls Orson by his name. Instead he always says Silly. He can say Orson and did for a while, then one day it became Silly. (I can't imagine how Orson earned that name - not!) We'll see how long before Orson has a name again, but for now it's so cute.

Finally, some adorable pictures of Walter. Can you tell we just adore this little boy???

Saying "bye" to a passing car

"Cheese"

Helping (Obviously)

Loving Dinner

Bedhead buddies at Forest School

How can you possibly say no to someone so cute!?!

Back to School

- Conrad 1st Grade -

Conrad's becoming an awesome reader! He's excited to learn more and read more books on his own. While he says school is boring sometimes, once he stops playing and sits down, he loves learning and willingly flies through his work. 

- Orson 3rd Grade -

No idea how this little boy is in third grade! For some reason third grade just feels big to me. Orson loves math and is challenging himself with a tricky math curriculum this year and loving it! He loves our new homeschool group Vanguard. He hates handwriting.

- Lenora 5th Grade - 

Cute Lenora is also loving Vanguard and all she's learning there. She loves reading and her book club. She also is excited to learn more typing this year and has a goal to learn cursive. She and her dear friends Olive and Ruby are doing art together weekly, and she can't wait.

- Eliza 8th Grade - 

Eliza is diving in to a much harder academic load this year and is thriving. She's in the Seniors program at Vanguard and keeping up amazingly with all the work. She's also joined the science class I teach Hazel and their two friends, and she's taking an in-person pre-algebra class. She's most excited about photography (and took all these great back to school pictures for me!)

- Hazel 10th Grade -

Hazel continues her awesome work in school. She's LOVING that Vanguard keeps her busy across so many subjects (seriously, this has been a huge blessing for my older kids. They want to learn, but finding the time to prep so many things for high school is rough. With Vanguard they're getting a ton each week and reading so many great books). She's also so excited about the older girls book club which has transformed in to the Refined Spirits Society. They'll study all sorts of humanities topics, dress up, and read three tricky classics over the school year. She's also awake without fail for her early morning seminary class at 6:30am. 

- Walter- 

And of course cute Walter. He's a tag-along that mostly makes school more chaotic but is also an adorable distraction when someone needs a break. He did not want a first day of school picture, so Eliza took this lovely shot instead.