Life as We Know it

Summer is ending and we are gearing up for something called weather. Living in Southern California for the past 7 years, this is a foreign concept to us. So far, the warm temperatures are still holding, but natives assure us that this is unusual and about to come to an end. I have been trying to soak up as much warm sunshine as possible in these last few weeks. Here is Claire playing in her flower sprinkler (Thanks Caty! Claire made you guys a video, but I haven't edited it yet!)

Tomorrow I am going with Claire on her very first field trip! We're going to a pumpkin patch. It should be a really fun time. Because visiting a pumpkin patch is the official signal that fall is here, I'm burning a pumpkin spice candle, drinking chai, and folding long sleeved shirts. This is truly my favorite time of year! I love everything about autumn: the colors, the crisp air, the cozy clothes, the aromas of nutmeg, cinnamon, and earth. This is going to be a good season, I can tell! Bring it on, Colorado!

Kevin's parents were just here visiting for the last week and a half. We had lots of fun! We played, went to a huge consignment sale where I bought warm clothes for the kids, went on walks, and even got a chance to do a date night of frozen yogurt with friends! Toward the end of the week we headed over to visit Garden of the Gods and let the kids scramble all over the rocks.

In addition to the date night, we also utilized the grandparents' presence for some much needed appointments. We were able to finalize all the design options for our house! Here's a picture of most of our choices. The color swatch paper is the exterior paint choices. The only big thing not shown in the photo is the rock we picked for the exterior and the fireplace. It was a really fun experience being able to choose everything that was going into our house!

This week I went to the DMV and got our new CO plates, my driver's license, and registered to vote. I am officially a citizen of Colorado!...Again. (I was born about 45 minutes up the road from here.)

Another big change: Claire got her first haircut! She decided she wanted short hair, like Mommy and Rapunzle at the end of Tangled. She was bummed that cutting her hair would not also result in it turing brown, but she was willing to move past that. I took her to a super cute kids' hair cutting place where she got to sit in a hot rod car while they cut it. (She choose the hot rod over the pink princess station with the feather boa and tiara.) After it was cut, the lady pulled part of it up into a knot, and sprayed glitter in her hair. Claire LOVED the whole experience and keeps showing everyone her "new short hair." It looks super cute- even better than I had expected! People ask to take pictures of it so they can cut their daughter's hair the same way. It fits her saucy personality, to be sure!

Looking excited!

The first cut:

The finished product:

That's all of now. We love you all!