A Beautiful October

It's been a beautiful month!

We celebrated Decker's 7th birthday on the 6th. He was pretty excited to receive two new toys: a big worm by the Tuff brand that he loves and a lobster from Maine. We love our sweet boy!

Mia was so sweet and wanted to surprise Lily with a little treat on the day she passed her drivers test. She bought her this beautiful fresh bouquet of flowers, and a balloon on top of a jar of candy. The candy was about half Starburst and half bubble gum, but Mia knows Lily much prefers Starburst, so she bought extra Starburst and switched them out beforehand. I love how thoughtful and generous this was of Mia to celebrate a big milestone for Lily!

Mia recently discovered a Bind Date with a Book seller available on Etsy. I always love doing this when we go to Asheville, so we were both excited when she ordered this. The seller sent a cool-looking teen dystopian novel which is Mia's current favorite genre. She also included a bookmark, stickers, and a packet of hot chocolate to enjoy while reading. Mia couldn't wait to finish the book she was in the middle of to get started on this one!

Mia has been loving her practicum sewing class with Mrs. Wilkinson at school. They started with some basics and have been growing quickly. She recently made this pillowcase. It's so soft! It has the regular pillowcase material then has a beautiful flannel end piece with a lovely burnt orange trim layer. I'm so proud of how quickly Mia has taken to this lifelong skill!

We bought this poster at camp over the summer and have finally gotten around to framing it and hanging it up downstairs. I love it! Camp Crestridge is such a special place for our girls; we are glad to have this beautiful reminder hanging up year-round.

I'm still enjoying ordering different foods from Goldbelly! They had a pizza sale recently, so I ordered a sampler pack from Arcaro & Genell in Pennsylvania. This is the "Old Forge" style of pizza which we had never tried before. Our pack included one traditional red cheese pizza and one white pizza with olive oil and rosemary. Both were pretty tasty. This is such a fun little dining adventure each time!

The Stonehaven varsity girls volleyball team had a great season! They made it to the regional tournament just after Lily's birthday which was cool. They placed high enough to then advance to the state tournament which was really awesome! The school held a pep rally to see them off as they had to leave school early that day. The girls played hard but unfortunately lost in the first round. Since we have no seniors graduating, we can truly say, "we'll get 'em next year!"

Our Halloween was lots of fun. It was a beautiful evening which was nice. We made fun little cheeseburgers for dinner.

Our friends, the Hurst family, have never been trick or treating before. They asked if they could come over to our neighborhood since it's close to them, and if we could go trick or treating with them. We were happy to oblige! The girls put together some fun costumes. Lily went as El from Stranger Things and Mia was a theater lover (she hand painted the sweatpants!). They both looked so cute!

Alyssa came as Tris from Divergent and Audrey Grace was a precious kitten. These four girls had a lot of fun trick or treating around the neighborhood together before engaging in a good old fashion candy swap with one another. It was a fun evening!

What a great month it's been!