Moments 09.2020 – We welcomed fall with open arms, enjoying time as a family and getting into our homeschool groove.

I can’t remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they pass.”

Welcome to “Moments” here on JoyFoodSunshine. At the end of every month I share a recap of our family’s favorite moments!  So here it is for September 2020! 

Life with my tribe

We welcomed fall with open arms, enjoying time as a family and getting into our homeschool groove.

Baby 25 weeks

Our sweet baby boy has officially been growing for 25 weeks.  I’m feeling really good this time around – significantly better than my last pregnancy with Keilah. 

This time my hands aren’t swelling (read: My wedding rings still fit LOL) and certain other undesirable/painful things haven’t started happening yet (I’ll spare you the details haha) when they started at 15 weeks with K (I guess she just wanted to make me work for it). I have been a lot more careful this pregnancy to try my best to delay the onset of certain symptoms. I don’t carry Keilah up or down the stairs (as much as I can help it), I ask Ritch or Bethany to put her in her high chair, car seat, etc. and I really think it’s making a difference. 

Gabe

I think Gabe has really come around to the idea of a little brother. My three oldest kids started cross country this month, and one day during practice after he pointed out his two sisters, another boy on the team asked him, “Do you have ANY brothers?!?” He said, “I have 4 sisters and one brother – but he’s in my mom’s tummy.” Melt my heart! <3

Ritch felt him move!

One night after the kids had gone to bed and we were sitting and relaxing together the baby was kicking a ton, and Ritch finally felt him for the first time! I always love when that happens because the rest of the family gets to experience the joy of the new baby with me! 

Reset button

I’m getting more excited to meet this baby boy, but also nervous about hitting the “reset” button again. We are in a groove, the kids are easy, and adding a new baby always means a reset on the family dynamic. It’s always wonderful and we can never imagine life without the newest member, but I really am struggling with Keilah not being the baby anymore. 

Baby Registry

If any new mommas are reading this, I recently updated my Baby Registry List. We are as minimalistic as possible when it comes to baby stuff, and typically around 20 weeks is when you start putting a registry together, so I recommend checking it out! Plus, this isn’t my first rodeo so you can be sure the things we’ve used have stood the test of time – and 5 (almost 6) babies.

Homeschool

I had the hardest time making the switch from fun summer mom to homeschool teacher this year. It took a solid month, but I feel like we finally found our groove. Naomi is reading better every day, we’ve settled into our routine and the little girls are great at entertaining each other (most of the time). 

We have even had the margin to do fun experiments. We’re studying botany this year and we’ve planted an indoor herb garden, learned how to create a detailed scientific journal and so much more. I have a great feeling about this school year now! 

Keilah – 19 Months

Sweet baby K is 19 months old. She is starting to talk even more – some of my favorite new words she says are: blanket, taco (whenever I ask her what she wants for any meal, including breakfast, she says “taco!”), and of course the way she sings “free falling!” 

Hiking

The pool is closed, the weather is cooler, which can only mean one thing – HIKING SEASON is back! We kicked off our fall hikes going to Silver Lake. It’s more of a walk in the mountains than a hike, but it was just what we needed. Fresh mountain air, beautiful sunny weather, and time for the kids to just be free. We even saw two Moose extremely close up! 

We decided to let Keilah walk instead of tossing her in the hiking carrier, and she loved it. She ran around just like the big kids – climbing, throwing rocks into the lake, getting dirty – she had a blast! 

Camping

Every year Ritch takes the potty trained kids camping for a night in the mountains. His recap: It was an awesome—albeit exhausting—trip. The older two kids were a bit more experienced with camping, and loved every part of it. 

Naomi didn’t complain much either, and her highlight was probably lighting her marshmallow stick on fire and poking other people with it (either intentionally, or not—the jury is still out on that one). 

Mara, on the other hand, was not quite prepared for sharing a blowup mattress with others. She is our LEAST snuggly kid, by far. Very early in the night (about 11:00pm) she woke up in a fit of rage, kicking off her sleeping bag and punching pillows. I tried to settle her down, but then I realized that she was not ALL the way awake! As I was trying (unsuccessfully) to calm her down, her final protest was to swan dive off of the mattress into a pile of extra blankets.

I let her sit there for about a minute, shivering, before I asked her if she wanted to snuggle up with me and get warm. She reluctantly agreed, and soon fell asleep. Then about 20-30 minutes later, she did the same thing all over again. That cycle repeated every half-hour or so until 8am…when she promptly sat up with a big smile on her face…completely oblivious to the whole event. She still tells everyone that her favorite part of camping was “sleeping” in the tent with daddy.

Apple Picking

Picking apples is one of my favorite fall activities. We used to go all the time in IL, but we hadn’t been able to find a U-pick apple Orchard remotely close to us since moving to UT 7 years ago – until this year! We went to the Big Red Barn and it was so, so fun! 

We gave each kid a bag and they got to pick as many apples as they wanted! It was so great. 

A few of my favorite things…

Here are a few products and other things I have loved in September!

Indoor Herb Garden

As I said above, we are studying botany and instead of planting plants that we wouldn’t really use, I decided to have the kids plant and care for an herb garden! This one is so cute, and it was really easy to plant! We made a grow box with this grow light and I can’t wait for the kids to see the fruits of their labor! 

Ladle

This might be hard to believe, but I didn’t own a ladle! I finally bought one (for all the yummy soups we’re making right now) and it’s so great (so much better than a serving spoon hahaha)! Plus it’s only $10! Total win! 

Elderberry Syrup

I take this every day (I think it has helped heal my hives), and give it to my kids if it seems like a cold is coming on. Time to start stocking your pantry with wellness staples before there’s a run on them during flu season! 😉 

Recipes I’m Making on Repeat

Here are a few recipes we enjoyed in September!

Burrata Salad

Yes, I’m still obsessed with burrata. I think it’s my spirit cheese! 😉 

Guacamole

I’ve been craving guac a lot this pregnancy. This homemade guacamole is so easy and so good. 

Balsamic Vinaigrette

This is, hands down, my favorite salad dressing. And it’s make with only 5 ingredients in 3 minutes. Healthy & delicious!

 

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