making a {Fall} exception...

Eden requested (begged) a few weeks ago that we make her room feel like fall.  So here is her room before we added some accents:

And here we are for the after, all curated by her:

Eden's room was the catalyst...

When we decided to start decorating, we were in a heat wave with hurricane Kay bringing rain and winds.  When you looked outside, it looked like fall, so I decided to pull out the Fall box.  I generally don't like to decorate early, but we just went for it.  It's pretty simple this year.

Our Fall books are my favorite:

Our fireplace room:

A little nook in our kitchen:

Dining Room:

And a  few pumpkins on our book shelves:

(And yes, football can be very much synonymous with Fall in a house that Ryder lives in...)

We are excited about all the things that come with this season.  I can't wait for all the memories that we will make and traditions we will share...

changing plans...

 This weekend, we have been navigating a possible hurricane kay. There has been a heat wave and winds, and because of that, ALL of our soccer activities were cancelled on Saturday.  Ryder was supposed to have his first game to ref, and the kids were supposed to have games.  So we decided to beat the heat with a special breakfast, movies, and frozen treats.  

I love that we were given this day together, and even though it wasn't what we planned, we had a really sweet time together!

End of an era...

 On September 8, Queen Elizabeth II passed away.  She was 96 and has reigned for 70 years and 214 days, the longest of any British monarch and the longest recored of any female head of state in history.

It's the end of the era.  It is nostalgic to think of all the life that she had seen in her years on this earth. 

In her happy place...

Eden is in her happiest place when she is creating.  It doesn't matter if she is making slime, painting, building things with cardboard, jewelry making, making knot bracelets, she is so full of joy in the process.  She has recently gotten into hand crochet and can't get enough... 

I see her the most alive and feeling like herself when she creates and I am here for it!

Costa Mesa Tournament (with a little brawl thrown in...)

 This last weekend, Ryder and his Tustin Fire team go to participate in the McMillan Soccer tournament in Costa Mesa.  We made it to the Championship game and lost 0-1 but my goodness, these guys played their hearts out.  The tournament also happened to coincide with a heat wave of temperatures in the 100's!

 

I am so proud of these boys and I can't wait to watch how the season goes for these boys.  Also, I could not be more proud of my son and watching him on and off the field.  He is such a leader!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Side story, after the second game on Saturday, after the game was finished and we had won, a child on the other team went to take down one of our players.  There had been calls made that the other team hadn't liked.  One of our boys had said that they should just let the ref do his job and the other boy did NOT like that.  So, long story short, Ryder broke up a fight on the field.  He actually pulled one player off of another player.  His first time being part of a fight and he made it stop.  He put distance between the two players while the coaches came up to figure out what was going on.  I will tell you, I am SO proud of our kid.  We don't encourage fighting, but we DO encourage defending and protecting friends when the situation calls for it.  It made the tournament eventful for sure...

Back to school...

Last week was Ryder's first back to school night.  They weren't able to do it with Covid so it was so fun to see him in his classroom with his teachers.  A few snapshots of the night:

He shared an art project about himself that I loved:

❤︎❤︎❤︎

I love his school, his teachers, and the relationships that he is already made!

Kit is heading out...

 Today, Kit is leaving to meet up with his brother Andrew for their annual hunting trip in Colorado.  They will be gone 11 days. He has been preparing for this for months.  Out last date day was at the archery range where he was siting his bow with his broadhead arrowheads.  He was grouping bullseyes at 60 yards with his bow.

I am so excited that they have this time together!