September was a great month! We did a lot of traveling in September and even had a unique weather situation that caused us to miss two days of school due to the hurricanes that were moving through. This has been quite a hurricane season and our thoughts and prayers are with those still recovering in Texas, Florida, and throughout the Caribbean.
The highlight of the month for Emma was the fact that she had to get glasses! She was SO EXCITED and they really look super cute on her! She has been saying that she was having trouble seeing the board clearly and the eye doctor agreed. Her glasses make her seem even older though…more mature and still so beautiful! She was most excited that she got them in time to wear them to Memphis to show Aunt Katie!
For Labor Day weekend we headed to Memphis to catch up with my sister and her family. Our kids and their kids are growing so fast that we always try to get time together even if it’s a quick visit! We had the best time visiting some of our favorite Memphis places, swimming in the way too cold pool, checking out Uncle Deedle’s new office space, and just having fun together. We even had a night where all the adults went out while a babysitter kept the kids. What a treat! We drove home early enough on Labor Day that Clint was able to go to the new Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta to see his Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets go down in a close one against Tennessee as part of the Chick-fil-A college football kickoff weekend. The weekend started with a home football game that Friday night and we packed a ton in between then and school on Tuesday morning!
When we arrived back in Georgia, Emma and I finished putting together the new bedding that we ordered for her room. She wanted something a little older looking than her bright pink bedding from when she moved into a big girl bed. Eli was a big help too…he played cars in his room during most of the hard work! Emma had some cross country races this month and had some friends over to play and to spend the night. It’s fun to hear the little girls talking about what’s important to them to learn what’s going on in their sweet hearts. We are so blessed that Emma has such precious friends!
We started hearing about the hurricane warnings a few days in advance and the weather turned noticeably cooler…definitely a treat! Our family spent a whole Saturday at Six Flags to close out the season. We got to ride several rides and enjoyed just getting to spend time together! The next day we went to church and then ran some errands to get ready to be home for a few days with the rain and wind that was predicted. Eli and Clint did several outdoor projects to get things ready…we mowed and straightened up the yard and brought in all of our outdoor things that we didn’t want to blow away. Eli cleaned our outside trash can so that it wouldn’t make the garage smell bad when we had to put it in there for the storms. What a hard worker Eli is! Emma and I also straightened up the kitchen and got things organized to eat at home for a few days. Emma did a great job organizing the pantry!
The last week of September was Fall Break. I surprised Emma and we did a girl’s afternoon to get our nails done while Clint and Eli visited Home Depot and did “man projects”. I went to the Creation Museum in Kentucky with some teachers from NCCS for the first couple of days of Fall Break and had a great time with them! We learned a lot, but really enjoyed each other’s company! When we got home, we spent the afternoon packing up and hit the road at 5am Wednesday morning headed to the beach.
We arrived in Destin around 9:30am and were so happy for the sunshine and smell of salt in the air! We were able to check in to our condo early and get ourselves unpacked and down to the water! Over the course of the next few days, we hit all of our favorite restaurants, swam a TON, played together, enjoyed the cooler than normal beach temperatures, lingered over dinner on the porch, and just had a great time together. Destin is one of our favorite beaches and it was such a blast to be able to spend some time together!
September was a great month full of making memories and laughing together. Emma and Eli are growing up so fast and it’s an absolute joy to treasure these moments. Our goal as a family continues to be that we would intentionally enjoy time together so that, when our kids get older and can choose to do other things…they will still want to do things with our family. Andy Stanley shared that several years ago in a message and I was so blessed to hear that. What a great goal to look forward to!
