Birthdays & My Takeaway Lesson from Fall Break

Grandparents made their annual fall pilgrimage to visit my fall birthday boys (and the rest of us). October ends up being a month of birthday celebrations with various parties, special meals, cakes and pies (Levi's request for the past two years has been a pumpkin pie for his birthday cake).  

Here's two of my favorite pictures from days past:

Luke at about 4 years old (pre-glasses)

Levi, about 2 years old

We always have adventures while Nana and Opa visit:  this year the boys went to a Japanese restaurant -- the kind where the chef cooks at your table.  What great entertainment and laughter!

The boys also went rock climbing again -- an activity that all three boys really enjoy.  The gym we were at had a cool balance board they all tried (I'm thinking this would make a fun Christmas present to master):

(As an aside, the cake with candles was lovingly made by Grandma! -- she sure knows how to show the boys love)

Lessons from Fall Break: This was the first time in years that we've had a fall break -- and it was both wonderful and stressful!

Our break occurred after approximately 8 weeks of Challenge for Ben and I and six weeks of foundations and essentials for Luke and Levi.  As usual, I should have planned our days better - but something about planning out vacation seems too ironic for me, so we just go with the flow and deal with the damage as it comes.  When we have only one week's worth of work to do across two weeks, we all tend to procrastinate a bit too much; you would think after 40+ years and 6+ years of higher education that I would learn not to procrastinate but find rest and peace in hard work....but some lessons are hard to (re)learn!

However, we have another opportunity to make better choices when we get a week off for Thanksgiving!