Hello, October.

October snuck up on me.  It's already my favorite time of the year! I find myself happy and sad at the same time, realizing that this is our last fall here in Virginia.  It is so beautiful here around this time.  The leaves are slowly starting to change and the weather today was amazing. 

Brooke Kate is growing like a little weed.  Seriously.  She weighed 10 pounds 4 ounces at her one-month check-up...and she had grown two inches.  She is awake for longer periods of time now and is already smiling and cooing.  She is still a sweet baby, even though she has figured out that if she cries she will get held...so now, she wants to be held all the time when she's awake...and you know what? I hold her.  I really don't care if I'm spoiling her.  I put on my baby carrier and I try to do things with her around the house.  It's proven to be a little challenging...but they are this little for such a short time...

Scott is in love with this little girl.  He's a good daddy.

Brielle and Braden are always trying to be helpful and loving.  (Brooke doesn't seem so comfy in the picture with Braden.) :)

This little baby's facial expressions are so funny! We get a kick out of her.

Can you just tell that we are all in love with our little Brooke? Even when she's crying...:)

Brielle loves to sing to her when she gets fussy.  She's becoming such a good little singer and knows the words to so many songs.  Brooke likes it when her big sister sings to her...most of the time...:)

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My brother is back from his travels.  It's always so nice to have him back.  I'm so glad he safely made it home.  He came two weeks earlier than I had anticipated...I was home and someone knocked on my door.  I went to answer and it was him! It was a nice surprise for all of us. 

As always, my brother cultures my children.  I'm so grateful that they get to experience the world through Kem.  He brought them some chop sticks from China and taught them how to eat with chop sticks.

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He came a few days before his birthday.  We, of course, went out to celebrate with him.  It was the big 3-0 for him.  He wanted sushi.  So we went to this super fun Japanese restaurant I had seen but we had never been before. 

It was a blast!

It's one of those restaurants where they cook your order in front of you.  The atmosphere is so much fun. You sit around this cooking area and with people you don't really know.

Brooke was mesmerized.

 Kemchu got his sushi and everyone at our table sang him 'happy birthday'.

The chef was so fun to watch and interact with...he threw a piece of meat to everyone at our table to see if we could catch it with our mouth.  Braden was so excited when his turn came...but he wasn't lucky enough to catch it!:)

They got to practice their chop stick eating skills.

It was such a fun night.  I'm glad we got to be with Kemchu for this birthday.

When we got home, the kiddos were dying to light the cake we had made for him earlier and sing to him.  Children make life so much fun.  They get so excited about birthdays. They had been waiting all day to eat the cake...and even though we were all full we had some cake.

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A couple of Saturdays ago, I got everyone out the door on a walk.  The kids wanted to ride their bikes so, we headed to a trail.

It was a nice day and this was Brooke's first recreational family outing.

She slept the whole time but it was so nice to get out as a family, the 5 of us. 

We all had a fun time together.  The kids found tons of little grasshoppers along the trail.  Scott caught one and they had a blast holding it.  They are so brave. I'm so not fond of touching insects.

Life has been crazy, busy, tiring, fun around here lately.  Brielle has adjusted well to kindergarden and is learning so much.  She comes home exhausted and starving! I don't know if she's not eating lunch very well at school or what but she comes home ravenous.  Braden has such an amazing teacher at preschool this year and is already making friends.  The dynamics at our house have changed since Brielle is gone all day at school.  Now, Braden is asking me to play with him.  He gets bored without his big sister around.  It's amazing how much those two distract each other. 

Scott sent off his residency application two weeks ago and has been lucky enough to get a bunch of interviews already.  It took him long enough, but he finally decided to do internal medicine, which will give him a chance to specialize in gastroenterology, cardiology, pulmonology or intensive care after 3 years of the internal medicine residency. I'm excited to see where we will end up for 3 years.  The next few months he will interview all over the country and we will find out where he matches in March. 

I have mixed feelings.  I have LOVED D.C.

I will miss the fall and the cherry blossoms in the spring. 

But I can finally see the light at the end of the medical school road.