September

 On one of my morning runs I saw an otter cross the road and jump into a canal. I tried to get a good picture of it, but he was swimming around looking for fish to eat and ignored me completely. It was so cool!

Rett has really started to love reading and will sit and read like this for so long! It is so exciting to me when they get pulled into a good book, that was my favorite thing to do as a kid (and as an adult!)

James has been working really hard at karate. This is him doing one of his tests for his next belt rank.

The bees were doing something weird on the porch one morning...

The boys were invited to a birthday party at the bouncy house place down the street. All the kids at the party were so excited to play together, it felt like sooooo long since they got to play as a group.

Rett turned 7! We didn't plan a party, just a low key celebration at home the day of his birthday and then a surprise trip to a surprise place the next day. Rett decided to secretly tell his entire class at school that he was having a birthday party that night at the bouncy house place.... and then didn't tell me anything about it!! So I got a call from his teacher asking when the party was because other parents were asking her and a few kids even went to the place, expecting a birthday party!!! I felt so bad. Rett told them the next school day that they could still bring him a present, even though he didn't actually have a party (!!!) Can you believe this kid???

Rett fell asleep in the car while Anthony was putting corn out for the deer. It was a long day!

The morning started with a few presents and I let the boys break this tiny pinata I found at target. It was so cute, I couldn't resist!

Later in the evening, we did more presents and Rett got to blow out the candles on the singing, spinning candle that I had for James's birthday. Rett was a little afraid of it!

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After he blew out the candles Rett said he didn't want cake because he didn't like chocolate cake...even though he specifically requested chocolate cake a few days earlier!!! This is going to be a fun age.

The next day we went to his surprise place: a go kart/arcade place in Melbourne. They loved it!

Always making goofy faces at the camera:

They got to play a VR game and they thought it was the coolest thing ever.

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Baymax sucking his thumb again:

It's always time for a Harry Potter movie:

On Anthony's birthday, he decided to stake out a corner of our yard where the game camera has caught a few deer hanging around. He ended up shooting an 8 point deer with his crossbow! It was the perfect birthday present for him.

James had a hike with the cub scouts at a local park. This year our pack joined another pack since we each were so small, so it is nice to have larger numbers and more kids for activities together.

Anthony's birthday cake. I put 42 candles on it and lit them all. It took at least 5 minutes.

James is now a Webelo! It is so hard to believe that he is old enough to be in the tan boy scout uniform, but here we are.

First pack meeting of the year:

More karate advancements: