The End of Summer

Elise occasionally talked about getting her ears pierced. I let it simmer, figuring she would let me know when she was really ready. Well, apparently in September she was REALLY ready. And we must have all been bored, because all four sibling decided to come with her for moral support. Elijah helped by trying to destroy the entire store while Seth and Catherine 'watched' him.

Elise was really excited for the whole thing up until it was time to get in the chair. Thank heaven that the girl doing the piercing was hands down the most amazing, gentle, wise soul when it came to working with children. If I had had any other kids who would one day want ears pierced, I would have gotten them all done that day. She was that amazing. 

Extremely hesitant about the process by the time we got to this point.

But she was THRILLED with the outcome!

Little tiny butterflies.

Adorable!

Catherine used her time in Claire's to scout out some new sea turtle earrings.

But despite being extra careful about cleaning and following all the rules, Elise's ears just didn't really appreciate earrings. Catherine's did a similar thing. Not quite infected, but still gross. Catherine finally healed hers by removing her earrings for six months. Whatever was wrong sorted itself out and now she can wear whatever she wants. With that in mind, I ended up taking Elise's earrings out and just occasionally putting them back in to prevent the holes from closing up. Between that process and buying her plated earrings, it seems to have cleared up (knock on wood!). 

September is a good time for chard and tomatoes:

Dear Future Megan:

Thirteen tomato plants was WAAAAAY too much.

Please restrain yourself in the future. 

We also finally finagled a fix for the bike trailer, so Elijah was able to go for a ride!

Took us long enough to get to the point where we can do family bike rides again!

Only problem now is that Jon and Seth are sharing Jon's nice bike.

Guess we need another adult bike around here!

For Labor Day we met up with Uhligs, Knoxes and Timmy at Eden Mill. We grilled way too much delicious food and enjoyed some chatting and games. We are truly lucky in our friends here! 

I didn't take many pictures since I was busy enjoying just being there, but at some point the kids found some berries that they mashed into a dye. Soon all the kids were covered in war paint (as were my and Anna's legs). I did snap this picture of Elijah's beautiful designs:

Despite the stupidness of Covid still hanging around, we had a really lovely summer spent with friends and family.