September 2018

September is one of my favorite months. The weather cools off, we start celebrating Fall and its my birthday month. 

We kicked off September by painting pumpkins, making pumpkin pancakes and watching Curious George Boo Fest, one of our favorite Fall movies. 

The kids each picked an idea from pinterest that they wanted to recreate with their pumpkins. They both only needed a little help from me. Their finished pumpkins were so beautiful that we decorated the coffee bar with their festive art. 

Growing up I loved playing Sequence with my Mom. Ezra and I played for the first time and he was so excited. 

For my birthday Ezra bought me a present that he picked out himself.. he chose Mouse Trap because he knows I love playing games with him. I thought it was a GREAT birthday present. It was the first present he's ever picked out all by himself. 

We had a couple of celebrations on my birthday. Luke and I went out on a lunch date. Then our friends came over for dinner and later we had another cake at small group which happened to fall on my birthday too. 

My precious friend down the street made this cake from scratch and baked it beautifully! So so sweet!

This was the cake we shared with our small group. In India tradition we feed cake to others and then someone feeds cake to us. Its a fun tradition. 

At church the kids had a choir performance. Some songs were in Hindi and some in English. I was really proud of how well Ezra tried to learn and sing the Hindi songs. 

I planned several different fun Fall activities for the kids and I to do each week and one of our favorites is decorating sugar cookies. Our decorated pumpkin and leaf shaped cookies and they were creative and delicious. 

Ezra's class had an open house presentation at school. They sang songs, answered questions and each gave a small presentation on an assigned subject. Ezra's was on hovercraft automobiles. 

These super tall slides are all over our city. They make me nervous that the kids might fall down but the kids LOVE them.. especially Madelyn. She's braver than I would like sometimes. 

These two are so great at playing with each other. Even though there is a 2.5 year gap they play all day and call each other their "best friend." Its precious and I'm encouraging it for as long as possible. 

For teacher's day I helped the kids make beautiful personalized cards for their teachers to express love and appreciation. They have really sweet teachers and I'm so thankful. 

This big yellow door is the entry door to the community center behind our house. One day it was locked closed and it just seemed so bright and beautiful that I bribed the kids with candy to pose in front of it. 

After school one day the kids went to the big mall grocery store with me and poor Madelyn was so worn out that she fell asleep in the cart. It was hilarious and adorable. 

We took this family photo at the Rock Garden with friends and I love it. 

I can't express how thankful I am for this large community center behind our house.. perfect for sports and bike riding. And its peaceful which can be hard to find in a city of 2 million people. 

One of my absolute favorite meals is grilled kebabs. We buy the chicken premartinated  from the local meat shop and then Luke grills it. Yum! 

Down the street is another family from the US and their daughter is Madelyn's age. They are precious friends. 

Monsoon season is almost over. We have loved the rain, even if it means playing soccer while holding an umbrella because we can't stay inside ALL day..