A Lady and Three Men : Puppy Love, Beginnings of Fall, a Week at Nana's, and the GA National Fair

As September drew to a close and I turned the page on my calendar for the month of October I quickly realized that it was going to be a busy month for the Hawk family.

As of now, we only have four days in the month of October that we don't have something going on - Fall Festival(s), RF's birthday and party, field trips, and a trip to the cabin in the mountains of NC. Fall is my absolute favorite season of the year and we plan on enjoying every minute of the cool(er) weather and fun, fall activities.

Lately in the Hawk house...

PUPPY LOVE

This big boy is the sweetest...

Puppy kisses to Gracie from Gus...

EVERY TIME I sit down in my chair...this happens.

No more picture's mama...

Sleepy beagle with a sleepy little boy...

After a week at Nana's house, some snuggles with daddy were warranted...

A little one-on-one time with my oldest called for a solo trip to the park for him to run and play.

Soon-to-be FIVE year old...

A little daddy and oldest son time replacing the garbage disposal...

Ellis was the note-taker during the garbage disposal replacement task - i.e. not interested in the least...

I bought this at Lowe's when RF was a newborn just knowing that we'd have a kid (or two) that enjoyed building...

Hammer, hammer...

Ellis's turn...

Real concentration with his tongue stuck out...

Proud of their accomplishment...

THE BEGINNINGS OF FALL

We decided to take a walk around the local town square one Sunday evening...such a big boy...

It's FALL!

Happy as can be just wandering...

RF noticed these on the square and thought it was really cool. A quick text to daddy (he was out of town) revealed that they were seeds from a magnolia tree...

So the boys decided to collect some...

Ok...maybe a whole bunch...

He was mad that I told him he could only take two home for daddy...not all 73 that he collected...

Sweetness on the square...

Mommy and brother date night...

We call RF the "feather finder"- he found two really pretty feathers during our walk through downtown. We seriously have a collection of dozens of feathers that we find.

Waiting on daddy to get home - TRAIN TIME!

Flowerbed beauty...

Ellis having fun on the playground at school...

Spider lilies out early this year (unfortunately this heat has caused them to die already...)

Early Fall evenings at the fire pit...

Big smiles...

EHS Homecoming 2017...the theme was Under the Stars - the drawing of Starry Night was done by two of our art students - so talented!

Garden party...

FREE Homecoming decorations - wood from fallen trees after Hurricane Irma came through the area...

Once the lights were turned off and the sun went down, the lanterns were glowing, and there were string lights hanging throughout the Commons area. The students had a great time.

Happy that the letter he mailed to our house from his school arrived. He got to meet a mail lady, put the stamp on his envelope, and put the envelope in her mail truck. He LOVED it.

RF's class does a Star Student of the Week program and the night before your week as Star Student you get to take home Ginger the Giraffe. RF loves fall, so Ginger the Giraffe helped us put out some of the pumpkin decor on the dining room table.

And we read the book about a giraffe...

And we drew a picture of our weekend - playing outside and having pizza for dinner.

Unfortunately, Mr. Ellis ran a high fever one Sunday night that left us at home on Monday and make a trip to the pediatrician found yet another diagnosis of strep...

So sick...so pitiful...

Ooh-ooh-ah-ah keeping him safe...

Fell asleep while waiting for the dr.

Resting back at home. When we left the dr.'s office we drove straight to the pharmacy to pick up his prescription. Unfortunately, they said that it had not been called in yet (not true - I watched the pediatrician submit it electronically). Ugh. So, I picked up my phone to call the pediatrician's office to ask that it be resubmitted - time on my phone was 12:01 - guess what happens at the pediatrician's office at 12:00? They close for lunch. UGH. Ellis was getting irritated - sick and feverish. The pharmacist wasn't the most understanding person, so I sat down on bench in the pharmacy area to give it a few minutes to see if the prescription was just delayed for some reason. 12:15, 12:20, 12:25 - nothing. I was seriously upset at this point - exhausted from a night of tossing and turning with a sick one and Ellis was even more irritated when I turned around and our pediatrician turned the corner! She asked if I was still waiting on the prescription for Ellis and when I said yes...let's just say - she handled it. Within 3 minutes, we had the prescription and were in the car on the way home to get E down to rest.

Strep really takes a lot out of Ellis, so a call to Nana reassured us that he could come spend a few days recovering at her house. After a few days at Nana's + some fresh air + struggling to get the antibiotic (second one - first one he REFUSED to take - seriously - spit it out at me numerous times) in him and we started to see our sweet Ellis back to his normal self. So thankful for supportive grandparents.

I got to experience my first Open House with RF - so much fun to see his work and his classroom.

Building his house using shapes...

Journal artwork...

Such a sweet response...

We had to complete a scavenger hunt as we moved throughout the classroom - such a fun experience!

RF's favorite part - introducing me to the class pet - Butterscotch...

Beautiful sunrise on the way to school one morning...

A teacher work day gave me the schedule to do drop off one morning - selfie smiles in car rider line with my big boy.

RA and I got to come to RF's school to eat lunch with him during his Star Student celebration...

Such a cool experience for the students...

Telling us the responses to his homework from earlier in the year about what all he enjoys and likes...he did a great job!

A Week at Nana and Babu's House

Walmart with his Babu...

Looking cute after his haircut...

Building a fort in Nana's utility room...

Now this one...he was not happy about having his haircut and misbehaved quite a bit. I was quite upset about his behavior, but the next day he made me realize he's paying attention to our words and learning how to handle his emotions.

STORMTROOPER ROBERT!

Nana and Babu had a surprise for RF and Ellis and didn't tell them what their surprise was until they arrived (a trip to a local farm to ride a tractor - a friend of the family).

RF surprised us by telling Nana when they got in the car and he (unsolicited) needed to go see Ms. Lacey - the lady that cuts his hair to apologize. Nana said he walked in and apologized to her for his behavior. All on his own. Such a big boy. Very proud of him realizing his mistake and working to correct it.

Hard to see him, but RF is in it and had a BLAST!

He had so much fun! Ellis was a little scared of the noise and didn't want to ride in the tractor, but RF thought he was a farmer for the day! They were plowing up the corn to plant the next crop.