Beautiful October

We had fun with Landon, but it was nice to get back to our more regular routine!  The tricky thing about adding a new kid to the mix is just all the unknowns-- you don't know if he can be left alone in a room for a minute or he'll bolt in the parking lot, so you have to be extra cautious until you have a better feeling for what to expect.  But Landon was quite easy-- he was very happy playing with all the toys we have, and was remarkably good about cleaning up when he was done.  I managed to take him with me to the store and he was great.  He didn't want to wear his mask, but a promise of Oreo cookies fixed that.  (I found out later that the mask laws are only for kids ages ten and up, but I hadn't known that at the time and I really didn't want to risk getting yelled at!)

Landon liked being Captain America!

His foster mom picked him up on Wednesday, and I have to admit, I was relieved that I could go to Costco all by myself!

And then we were back to our usual Zoom School routine!

I have a system worked out with my neighbor now where her daughter does her morning classes here with my kids, and then her mother takes them and does specials (art, music, PE, library) all together.  It went well last week, and Grandma was very sweet about sending me pictures of the kids working together!

PE

And doing art!

At my house, they tend to look more like this:

Eating pudding that Kendra made

Study break!

We went back to Ragged Mountain last week. It seems kind of lame to repeat the same location, but no one had really come before, so I wanted others to get to see it, and I wanted to go in reverse so we got to the floating bridge pretty fast.

Me plus my five, the Palmer 2, and the Seller 3 (Kristen is in the next picture with all four of hers!)

Totally got my finger in that shot-- I need Adam to take pictures!  It was nice to have Kristen to hike with!

So pretty!!!

Beth is adorable

Camille figured out how to use her walking stick to help her carry her lunchbox and Sydney's backpack!

All dressed for church (minus shoes and socks) and perched on the bunkbeds!

My kids are weird...

My butterfly bush isn't quite ready to admit that it's fall yet...