September 2024

 
September is here. This is probably my favorite month. The days are warm and the evenings are really pleasant, but it's not crazy hot. We love seeing that leaves slowly turn in our neighborhood and we love our evening walks. The only thing that makes me sad about September is that I can absolutely see that these getting shorter and the sun setting starting around 6:30 and that makes me sad because I love the sunlight. Believe it or not this September we actually started our Christmas 2024 planning.

The big thing that we're doing for the girls is that we are redoing the rooms. Our goal is to maximize their small rooms and make it really functional now that they are both in midd, we have three phases that we will implement and we knew we needed to start it earlier, especially with the warm weather.

Phase 1 is redoing the girls closet. Their closets have been tiny and really just use the storage storage for the last 10 years. But now we are realizing that we prefer to use the closet to store not close but books and toys and crafts and things like that. So over Labor Day weekend after we went to the Louisville Labor Day parade, Tyson spent the entire day building their closet to look more like built-in shelves. We then hired someone to caulk and paint the shelves, so it looks really built-in. Then I bought some more storage bins since the girls use that for anything and everything. It really turned out great and makes the room so much more functional.

Phase 2 was their desk. We knew that the girls love having a desk, but the small IKEA desk that we bought two years ago did not cut it. They were hard to work in the girls need more storage and honestly they love having stand-up fest. So I found some cheap standup desk on Amazon and believe it or not it was actually cheaper than an IKEA desk. So we bought the desk we put them together and the girls are in love. We also did buy two IKEA cabinets so that they can have a lot of storage for their crafts a all the things that they like to keep next to their desk.

So those are phase 1 phase 2, and the final phase 3 will actually happen at Christmas, which is new bedding and new decor for the room. I feel really privileged that we can be intentional with this type of gift for the girls and even though they don't really think it's the most exciting type of gift. I know that it's going to be something that can really help them and feel anchored as they enter middle school and high school.

Another fun thing about September is all of the fall festivals the parades and the start of Halloween decorations. We have been to a few parades and a few festivals and they've been OK. Honestly, the girls are getting a little too big for them, but I love the idea of traditions, and I love the memories that we make with them. The girls have been busy with dance and women's and soaking up the last few warm evenings by going on long walks and really awesome bike rides. We love walking into our park behind the house and seeing if any friends are there and especially we can always count on the Floyd family being there and Sydney getting to see Emma and we really like that. 

On Saturday, September 28, we had our annual Harlan Street fall fest! This year was a much smaller and intimate group we had about 18 people come. I called this our core group just because they are the neighbors that we talk to the most. But it was still super fine. This show was something different where the Gerbers hosted dinner and their backyard and then about an hour into it. We moved over to the Zandee's front yard work. Kristen had this awesome smore Bar and a fire pit and it was just lovely. The weather was perfect. We could not have asked for a better situation.

Earlier that day, we did go take some family photos and it was really really fun not a stressful. I really hope that they turn out OK and that we get a few good pics. The girls were being silly and loved the bubble machines provided. 

besides, just enjoying the last few weeks of warm weather, we had Tyson teach a great lesson on missionary work in Church, and we've been putting up our Halloween decorations and lights.

We've been loving our nightly walks and just really thankful to live in the area that we live. I always tell Tyson how lucky we are to live in the area that we live in and it's true. We really live in such a great beautiful area.