Before heading to South Carolina for Thanksgiving, we enjoyed November in Northern Virginia. Loved fall and loved watching our boys grow individually and in their friendship together.

Colt called that tree the Fireball!

Making his way through Halloween candy. Lasted us all the way until February!

Finn!

1 Year, 2.5 months

Playing on our way home from school.

Sweet Spiderman!

More dandelions.

We have a little sunroom off of our main floor living room. It’s where I have my desk & computer and it’s the play room for the kids on the first floor. I love having spaces on each level of the house where the kids can play freely without us feeling like our entire house is overwhelmed by kids’ stuff. That being said, they do love to tear that room apart – especially Finn. I think this picture was taken after I decided to wash dishes in the kitchen for 15 minutes while they played together…

One step forward, two steps back.

Being silly in the kitchen.

Back yard leaf pile!

Fun for all!

Let’s just say I’m looking more enthusiastic than I felt that day, but doing my duty nonetheless…

This guy, though, will always bring a smile to my face.

Bath bros.

Adore.

Finn!

Quick visit from my in laws!

Dinner!

I’ll always take snuggles with this little one!

Watching them sleep never gets old.

Spiderman throwing leaves everywhere!

My Coltchie love.

Colt was so excited to have Dad go to the Thanksgiving performance at his school.

Can you find Colt?

Colt and Dad!

Last fall, I decided to hire a photographer to get some family pictures. We hadn’t done pictures of our own family since Colt was 5 months old so I felt like it was about time! Our photographer was a girl who I used to go to church with in DC back in 2008/09 and she did a great job capturing some beautiful pictures despite the fact that Colt was essentially in melt-down mode the entire time. (He doesn’t nap anymore but somehow that day had fallen asleep and was NOT happy to be woken up for pictures and never really got himself together. Funny because I had totally prepared for Finn to be difficult but thought Colt would be a star and in fact it was the complete opposite.) At any rate, I highly recommend Jenny B Photography if you ever need photos! Here are some of my favs!

October was wonderful – diving deeper into fall, enjoying our neighborhood, Michael’s marathon, visits from family and our first USA Halloween with the kids!

First, a couple of shots from a friend’s birthday party at the local fire station!

Here I attempted to take both kids on a fun day out to a local pumpkin patch / farm extravaganza. We were supposed to meet up with Colt’s class, however we were running a few minutes late and once we arrived and I saw how PACKED the place was, it was clear that we probably wouldn’t be connecting with anyone. We did have fun with the petting zoo and some other things but it was also a total mess for me trying to handle both kids in that environment. For example, when Colt needed to use the potty we had to stand in line for a porta-john. Then, he was totally weirded out by it (who can blame him?!) so I needed to be in there with him but he was freaked out so he wouldn’t go! All the while, Finn is in the stroller parked outside so I kept having to open the door to make sure he was OK. Or the slides — there were lots of great, big, fun slide options but Colt didn’t want to try them since I couldn’t go down with him as I needed to stay with Finn. Finally I convinced Colt to try one that seemed more mild so Finn and I went to the top with him and sent him off. About 1/4 of the way down he started spinning around and screaming. When he reached the bottom he was hysterically crying. Meanwhile I was struggling to run down this big hill with Finn in the stroller (and I about flipped him right out!) but since Colt was faster than we were, all of these people came up to him at the bottom of the slide like, “Where is your mom you poor thing!?” Anyway, just stuff like that… I actually think it would have been a total home run had there been two parents but we still made some funny memories.

Colt at the petting zoo at Cox Farms.

Coltchie Goat.

Finn!

Picnic time!

King of the mountain!

Brothers.

Back at home and around the neighborhood.

Little Finn.

Stick-loving brothers.

My little raccoon!

Scooting through the park to school!

Mom creepily trying to sneak a pic of Colt in his classroom.

After school picnic in the park.

Feeding the squirrels.

Enjoying a quick visit from Uncle Joe.

Sidewalk chalk in the front yard as Superman, because, why not?

And my Aunt Sheryl visited!!

Story time with Aunt Sheryl.

After brunch!

As part of Michael’s birthday present I had gotten us tickets for the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. We hadn’t been to the Kennedy Center since we’d been back and we love the symphony! It knocked our socks off.

NSO.

Outside at the Kennedy Center.

Also scheduled for that same weekend, Michael and I went to see Adele in concert which had been part of Michael’s birthday gift to me back in March! She was absolutely incredible!! It was awesome!

Adele. Unbelievable.

More pumpkin-patch fun at a church down the street!

So many pumpkins!

Finn is really a gourd man.

Pumpkin bros.

Followed by a trip to the playground!

Off on another adventure!

Long Branch Nature Center

Colt teaching Finn all about the dinosaurs.

Sweet yard bunny out the front door!

Family pic from a quick weekend away with friends! 

Colt always finding the biggest stick around.

Watching the trees begin to change.

Finding dandelions.

And blowing them for Finn.

Finn’s turn.

Joy!

Sweet brothers.

Creative Colt.

Demonstrating “Pumpkin Pose” that he learned in his yoga class at school.

Bedroom playing.

The sheep says “baa!”

Cozy morning Fincher.

We were happy to have my parents come visit for a few days!

Off to a black-tie event. They always have their own things going on as well when they visit.

Basement creations.

My mom joined Colt at school for lunch. So cute!

My parents also gave Colt his Halloween costume. He was pretty excited to try it on!

Spiderman!

And we carved pumpkins!

Getting out the seeds.

Colt got to draw the face on the pumpkin and Michael carved it exactly as he drew it.

End product. Colt thinks it’s awesome.

I was pretty impressed by Colt’s skeleton drawing at school.

Peeking in on bedtime poems with Dad.

October 30 Michael ran the Marine Corps Marathon!

Cheering on our hero!

Sweet Fincher face.

Snack bros.

Like I said before, it had been years since we celebrated Halloween in the US and we had never done it with kids, living in a neighborhood, etc. so we were pretty shocked by how much FUN it all was. Our neighborhood is super sweet, full of young families and kids. Many of the houses were fully decorated and a few were even passing out drinks for the parents. We tried explaining the whole “trick-or-treat” concept to Colt but the first few houses he kept just walking up saying, “Treat!” because he wanted to be sure he got a treat and not a trick. After a few houses though he got the hang of it and soon was excited to run up to front doors, ring the bell, say trick or treat and then thank you. And he was extra happy if he was allowed to choose two or three treats!

Halloween superhero bros! Ready to hit the streets!

Such a sweet Spiderman.

Bravely going up on his own!

Finn isn’t so sure about everything going on here…

The kids also loved handing out candy at our house. Only two costumes made Finn cry (ha!). Anyway, I’ve never thought of myself as much of a Halloween person so it was such a surprise to me how much fun it was to do with the kids — we are already looking forward to next year!

After living abroad for 4 years, 2016 was the first fall season that I have experienced in a while and was certainly the first fall with kiddos, and something about it REALLY struck a chord with me. The changing of the leaves. The changing of the weather. The sudden appearance of school busses creating happy traffic throughout our neighborhood and the stream of kids who started walking by our house each day on their way to the middle school down the street. Something about it felt magical. It was also the first time I ever really taught Colt about seasons and, the biggest change that we experienced in the fall is Colt started “school.”

We had considered “school” in Brazil but at Colt’s young age we felt that it wasn’t necessary, especially since we had a wonderful apartment complex full of young kids. But, after moving to Virginia and being new to the area with fewer friends and a young baby bro whose schedule sometimes prevented us from doing quite as much as we liked, we thought that school would be a positive addition to Colt’s life. Furthermore, while Colt excels at “academic endeavors” and is sweet as can be, he is a little shy and seems the most nervous / sensitive around other kids. He came out of his shell a ton around his second birthday but still, we felt that he would grow a lot socially in a school environment. And, by God’s GRACE there is the sweetest little preschool just 3 blocks from our house. We walk, stroll, or, in Colt’s case, ride the scooter through a charming park and 10 minutes later we arrive.

Colt goes 3 mornings/week for about 3.5 hours/day. He has 2 teachers and there are 15 kids in his class, all of whom had to be 3 years old by September. This meant that Colt is on the younger end, having just turned 3 in July, but the class ages are pretty evenly spread with birthdays throughout the year.

For the first day of school, his teachers actually had parents stay with their kids. To prevent the room from being too chaotic, they split the class in half and just had us go for an hour each. The second day of school was all of the kids but it was a shorter day and this “soft-launch” into school was really helpful. As a parent I really enjoyed getting to stay a closer for the first day and getting to meet some other kids and parents in the class. It also helped the kids develop a higher comfort level with the classroom, teachers and other kids before having to take it on, solo. All that being said, it still felt like such a MOMENT to be starting school. It was the start of a new chapter that will only continue until he leaves our home. It’s weird. It’s great. But it’s heartbreaking too…

Colt’s first day with me (and Finn!) went great and the second day, he waltzed right in without even looking back. However, at pickup, Colt was crying and the teachers said that he had been upset for the past 30 minutes. Apparently during play time one of the kids had knocked into him (in what the teachers described as totally normal play – nothing malicious) and he had started to cry and never fully recovered. I was prepared for our “goodbye” to be difficult (which, as I said, it wasn’t!) but I was REALLY thrown by him crying at pickup. It made me question our decision to put him in school and made me want to be there beside him and protect him. But it also reinforced that one of the big reasons we wanted him to be in school in the first place was to grow socially, to gain confidence with other kids and to learn how to roll with things a little more. The following week (his next school day) the teachers reported that a similar incident had taken place where Colt cried a little but was able to recover more quickly and since then I think he has been totally tear-free at school!! Anyway, we have already seen him grow so much through his school experience AND we are constantly blown away by the adorable things that he is doing, learning, creating, etc. Between his precious classroom, wonderful teachers, sweet classmates, and the weekly science class, math class, art class, yoga, chapel, outdoor explorations and other fun celebrations that take place, there is always something fun going on. We love it and truly thank God for FLP!

First day of school pics!

Walking to school. We have the sweetest walk through the park across the street.

First day with half the kids + mommas.

Striped handprints.

Jumping right into the play dough station.

September 9th we were so happy to celebrate Michael’s 34th birthday!

Presents!

Brownies.

Date night.

More fun from September:

Fun day at the Georgetown Waterfront!

Finn is interested in the paddle-boarders. 

Picnic & fun!

Finn, gaining balance and coordination.

No pants allowed. Also, all the heart eyes…

Chins!

Stacking blocks.

Swinging!

Park playtime!

Cooking up something!

So fun having Tim & Cristina come visit! Dinner out in DC.

Also, very special for me in September is that my BESTIE from Brazil, Paige Hudson, was going to be in New York for a week. The Hudsons moved from Brazil to South Africa so Paige is normally on the other side of the planet. To have her just a couple of hours away was just too much so we really wanted to make something work. Enter my awesome father-in-law, Ollie!!

Papa to the rescue!

He came from Arizona to be with the kids while Michael was at work during the day. I was gone from a Monday afternoon – Wednesday night so he also took Colt to school, strolled Finn along for everything, did lunches, naps, diapers, ETC! He is extremely impressive and the best part is that the boys had a blast. Well, maybe the best best part is that I got to LEAVE and go to NEW YORK BY MYSELF!!!

On the train and soaking in my ALONE TIME.

Brazil Buddies! Brett, Paige, Joe, Jana & me!

Dinner at Brushstroke.

Hanging out at Paige’s sister, Hannah’s cool, cozy NYC apartment.

Walking! And kind of twinning.

Stopping by Joe’s apartment!

Train ride home…

Loved my time away but also LOVE coming home to these boys.

Successful alligator project.

Walking his other alligator down the sidewalk.

Love these boys.

Finn!

A little boy in a cardigan is just too much.

Local library fun!