Official Portrait

We got Evan's official school senior portrait yesterday:

 He is not a fan of a tux, but he sure does look good in one!

A Catch Up...

Last week was a whirlwind! Evan was inducted into the National Honor Society:

I think you can tell how thrilled he was to attend the ceremony. Dinner at Nomad after helped:

We also had some Halloween fun. My team embodied strong female Supreme Court Justices, although once of us was stick and had to be on a stick:

Brad and I enjoyed a date night passing our candy on Halloween:

We have it down to a system complete with a fire bowl. We love seeing all the kids, and we don't miss chasing kids.

I've also been doing a lot of reading. Book 33 gives the story behind the dragon bonding in one of my favorite series:

Book 34 was the next in the Throne of Glass series:

Sarah J Mass is a great author, and I am loving how these characters are developing!

 

He's a Senior!

Evan has never been one for doing things because they have always been done or being photographed, so his senior year is a new experience for me. He was not enthused about the idea of senior pictures, but he did concede that other people might want some. The compromise is we did a family trip to Duke Gardens and Issa was the photographer:

The other compromise is that he could be authentically himself. No poses he hated or clothes he would only wear for pictures:

Issa is still doing a lot of cropping and editing, but the end result is uniquely Evan and makes my heart happy:

He also took the first round of wrestling pictures:

The season officially started yesterday, and he is starting 150 this year! Bring it on!
 

Fall Fun and Book 32

We are enjoying fall around here. Evan just finished up his fall break, but Brad and I are still going at a break-neck pace at work. That means we are really trying to squeeze in fun around the edges. Enter Jack:

He is a very sophisticated gentleman skeleton. Many of our neighbors have various skeletons on their mailboxes, and Brad is hoping it takes over the whole street.

Evan did a wrestling workshop this weekend. He and Will probably had too much fun:

He is really looking forward to senior season!

I also finished book 32:

It's our next book club read, and I really think the author just ran out of steam at the end. I did not love it.
 

Book 31

I finished book 31 earlier this week:

The first book in the Throne of Glass did not disappoint. I did not see where it was going at all, but I love the character development, and I can't wait to see where the next book takes her!
 

Books 29 and 30

I have decided Sarah J. Maas is trying to take me out. I loved her Court of Thorns and Roses series, and I'm anxiously awaiting the next two books to see what happens to those characters. In the meantime, I started her other series, The Throne of Glass series. Book 29 was actually the prequel to that series, and it left me unwell:

It's actually five novellas, and the last one absolutely tore my heart out. I don't want to leave any spoilers, but it was such a well-written story, and I'm already in love with the main character.

Book 30 was the next book club book:

 This is our Halloween read, and I don't usually love monster books. However, I truly didn't want to put this one down. It drew upon a lot of mythologies, and it really has you wondering what exactly is the invasive species. I can't wait to talk about it with the group.

A Dip into Fall

When Issa announced she wasn't coming home for her birthday and Evan announced he probably wouldn't be home next Labor Day, Brad announced we were going to the mountains for Labor Day. We usually try to sneak in a fall weekend away, and the stars aligned for this.

We found a great cabin near Grayson Highlands, and we drove up Friday. We made our annual trek to the bookstore to get a new game, and we packed in all of our favorite fall foods for a cozy weekend.

Saturday, we went to an apple orchard!

It was the first weekend of picking, so the apples were plentiful and delicious. It looks a little different when Brad boosts Evan to get the top apples now:

Issa was an excellent spotter:

We did find one worm:

We also tried our hands at the apple cannon:

And the children tolerated me when I asked to take the how tall pictures:

We left with ciders, apples, and slushies. We went back to the cabin and made pie, which was delicious! Sunday the weather was not ideal, but it was a great excuse to just cozy in and play. I think we all took a nap, and it was fun to watch the storm come in across the mountains.

Monday, we packed up and then drove into the Highlands and a cloud:

The cloud was too dense to see ponies, but it was one of the coolest hikes I've ever done, and Evan loved the opportunity to do some climbing:

We made it all the way to the Listening Rock. It was a bit high, hence my death grip on Evan, but it was beautiful. 

It was a lovely mix of adventure and rest, and most importantly some true quality time for the four of us.