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My 3 Little Cutenesses,
I need to write fast so this actually gets done. So here’s a bullet point summary of our month (some of which include pictures, and some don't):
-Augusta County Fair with Nonni, Poppy, Mommy, Daddy, and the cousins
-Playdate with friends
-Sollenberger family reunion
-Mitchell’s 16th birthday party
-hiking at Sherando Lake & miniature golf with the Treehouse
-waterfall visit
-tractor trailer show
-Mason’s first fishing trip with Daddy and Uncle Wesley
(Thanks, to Uncle Wesley for taking a couple pictures!!)
-start of school (2 parent meetings, Open House, 2 half days)
-Uncle Ian’s 30th birthday meal celebration
-Baby Chloe born
-Daddy’s stay-at-home vacation
-solar eclipse
-back-to-school shopping (3 times)
-movie day at Nonni’s with the cousins
-fever day for each one of you, individually, with no other symptoms and quick recovery
Elli,
A week from today (when I’m writing this) you are going to turn one. In some ways it feels like you’ve always been here with us, but in other ways, it seems like I was just getting my c-section scheduled and packing our hospital bags! You are waving bye-bye, blowing kisses, crawling the big girl way, standing and moving along furniture -you’ve even let your hands go for a second or two-, and eating a ton of real food. Also, I want to add that you make both “yum yum yum” and “nom nom nom” noises. Like you actually make those sounds, just like a cartoon. You can almost say “kitty” (at least it sounds like it to me), and you say “dada” and “mama” more in association with us than you ever have. You are thrilled to see your brothers, you love Daddy, and you smile and laugh in the cutest ways. I can tell when you see Kitty Bitty (that’s the only consensus we have with Daddy on a name for the kitty...although we also sometimes call her Tiptwo; Daddy doesn’t like that name) because you make the happiest tiny scream/squeal. And the kitty is so sweet that she lets you touch her and grab her, and she barely reacts at all. You’re starting to get into everything. You’ve emptied many things, but your favorites right now are the magnets on the refrigerator and the clean diapers in the little container I keep them in. Hopefully it won’t escalate to a lot more anytime soon. (As I’m writing this, you’ve emptied the diapers and the basket with all of Rylan’s clothes). You really like music; you dance and/or head-bob when you hear any music turn on. You still just have two teeth, but you must be teething, because you haven’t let me get a good night’s sleep for almost a week.
Rylan,
You are transitioning pretty well to Mason being gone during the day...but it’s only been a few days. You ask me to play with you a lot more, and you are a lot more interested in me watching you. You are just the cutest thing. But you also do so many naughty things, that it’s a good thing you’re cute. You have started doing a new thing where you steal sweet things (granola bars, cookies, or candy) when I’m somewhere else (like in the bathroom or laying Elli down), then you lock yourself in a room, and you eat the treat. Mason went through a phase of doing the same thing at our old house, so hopefully you won’t do it many more times. You remember things the same way that Mason does; like you’ll remember a random fact that you heard one of us say 2 weeks ago that we forgot about. You LOVE making things dirty, and you love breaking things. Like I think you actually enjoy the breaking process....of your own toys! I don’t get it. You are as tough as ever. People have started saying that the Pool kids bounce; they don’t fall. Elli seems like she’ll be like you in that way. I think the two of you are going to have fun together the next couple years while Mason’s in school. You are also not scared of much. You will ride or jump on (or off) anything without even thinking about it first.
Mason,
You are in KINDERGARTEN!!! Can you believe it? I can’t. It’s been so weird to spend the past few days without you being here all day. But the awesome thing is that I’ve been hearing great things about you at school. Your teacher said you’ve been doing great, which makes me so proud of you. Nonni told you the same thing, and you told her, “I think I’m doing even more proud than you think!” You’re so cute. You’ve been telling me about your friends, listing your “best friends” (a term you never really used before), and explaining that you still really like some other kids even though you didn’t say they were one of your best friends. We’re going to have to figure out a schedule that works better for sleeping for you. You’re so tired when you get home, but a lot of times it doesn’t seem like there’s time to fit a nap in before bed. This morning was VERY rough, and I could tell you were overly tired. You screamed the entire way to school, and you even cried walking into the building. Thankfully your teacher was great, and you were calmed down by the time you went into your class. I hope your school day went much better than our morning together. I’m excited to see you learn new things and make new friends this year. I think you’re really going to love school, if this first week is any indication. You also loved your first fishing experience. You caught two fish, which beat Daddy and tied Uncle Wesley! We even got to eat the fishyou caught, which was pretty cool. You had two half Mommy-Mason dates this month. Both of them were centered around school shopping (which turned out to be harder than it sounds). We got treats from Micah’s Coffee both times too- you got a flavored milk the first time and a kids’ frappe-style strawberry cream thing the second time. During one of them, we went right during the solar eclipse, and there was a man at Micah’s with a welding mask, and he let me look through it to see the eclipse! It was pretty cool, because I couldn’t tell it looked like that at all without the mask. Even though you didn’t seem interested in it, I probably should have asked if you could look through too.....oh well. Next time? You also got to have a Daddy-Mason date this month, which you loved! Daddy took you on a special hike off of Coal Road, and you ended up hiking for about 5 miles! Daddy said you did so well, and you were so strong. You were also a little photographer the other day. You told me you had a scavenger hunt and that you had to get all these pictures of things. So I let me use my smaller camera, and you did great!
You took all of these pictures by yourself (except for the top row, which I obviously took of YOU being Mr. Photographer)!
For some reason, I don't have many quotes written down this month, but here's what I have!
“I think Daddy needs to practice fishing a lot more. He didn’t catch any, and I caught one on my first cast.”
“Where did you get that simon plate?”
“I need to make Blaze rusty dusty!”
“Daddy, can Elli read yet?”
“Does it hurt more to get bit by a snake or by Rylan?”
Well, I think that’s it for now, kids. We have a big West Virginia weekend coming up soon, Mommy has been working on a photography class for most of the month. It’s been very good, but very time-consuming along with everything else that we've been doing. Anyway, I love you all, always.