271/366: The dogs aren’t allowed on the couch. Rufus turned 10 about a month ago and you can tell from the photo that he’s decided he just doesn’t give one single flip what I think about his presence on the couch anymore. Beagle does what beagle wants.

272/366: A trip to McDonalds to celebrate my car passing the 100,000 mile mark.

273/366: Watching the BNHS homecoming parade. Always a treat to live so close to the high school and to enjoy this little parade.

257/366: Sir fish taking a September swim.

258/366: My desk décor, inspired by the sniffles.

259/366: I feel like I post a photo similar to this almost every week—my son playing with some kind of builder toy—Legos, magnatiles, Tinkertoys, gears. He loves working with his hands and will spend hours on this stuff, so it’s kind of hard to get away from taking photos of this activity because it consumes most of his day, and he is my life and main photographic subject.

260/366: Friday Funday is over, now it’s time for PJ’s.

261/366: LSU day!! We were very excited to see a new quarterback in action, and since all of us were home together it warranted a trip to iFrattellis. Plus, I had a coupon for a free pizza from my birthday a few weeks ago. Pizza tastes super yum when it’s free. Also, in case you are wondering people do look at you when you take photos in a pizza parlor, but the pizza wasn’t ready yet, so what else am I suppose to do??

262/366: More pool time on a Sunday afternoon. My little guy know how to work the controller for the pool pump and water features so much better than I do. Turning all the gadgets on and off is an essential part of swimming for him.

263/366: Bringing his crazy straw game to a Monday morning.

250/366: This dog! If he’s inside, he wants out. If he’s outside, he wants in!! Drives me crazy, but we love him so.

251/366: When a box is the toy.

252/366: I suspect this will be the last swim of the season. The water was actually really warm still, but there was some rain over the weekend and cooler temps expected in the near future, so I don’t see the pool remaining at a swimming temp for very long. Daddy was home too, so we swam and grilled out for dinner as a last salute to swimming.

253/366: The hubs has been working A LOT recently, and so when he was home last Friday he and Holden decided to work on a special project together. I thought they were going to build a bird house for the backyard, but instead they constructed a catapult, because boys.

254/366: When your football game is on a rain delay, it’s time for a tickle fest.

255/366: Cleaning up, closing out Sunday night and getting ready for a fresh start to the week.

256/366: I love capturing small moments like this. Daddy and Holden enjoying some downtime on the couch.

244/366: A little after school snack time.

245/366: A surprise rain shower followed by a gorgeous rainbow. My son and I went for a bike ride and turned around at some point to see this vibrant rainbow. By the time we got home and I was able to nab my camera, the rainbow wasn’t as clear and I wasn’t in as great of a viewing spot, but it was still so pretty. Holden was super excited, because I don’t think he remembers ever having seen a rainbow before.

246/366: After a successful week back at school, we celebrated with some jump time at the trampoline place.

247/366: My boy loves riding his bike, but Texas doesn’t usually get the memo that it’s fall until sometime in November. We usually ride first thing in the morning if it’s not a school day. This boy took a 3 mile bike ride without a single complaint, which I think is pretty legit for a 4 year old. I love that he’s old enough now to actually do this stuff with me. So cool!

248/366: Birthday!! Some pretty flowers from my boys. My husband also got me the best gift—a new camera lens. Whoever said diamonds are a girl’s best friend was clearly not a photographer. We usually don’t do big gifts, and this wasn’t a milestone birthday for me, so it was really shocking that he went all out like that. Can’t wait to try out the new lens, I’m sure I’ll have some images taken with it for next week.

249/366: The hubs went back to work for Labor Day, go figure. It was just me and the little guy. We did some swimming, the splash park, a grocery run and then spent the rest of the day coloring and hanging out together. Plus, I am not going to lie I bought him some new colors but really I just wanted them for myself because it doesn’t feel like September without opening a fresh box of Crayolas.

250/366: Sleepy dog with a case of the Mondays on a Tuesday.

236/366: Met up with some friends at the coolest outdoor playground.

237/366: It’s been a surprisingly mild and rainy August, but my flowers are loving it!

238/366: Sonic pit stop before swimming.

239/366: Laundry, laundry oh my. The good times caught up to me, had to tackle mount laundry finally.

240/366: A completely impromptu trip to Hawaiian Falls! The husband was home and my sister wanted to come for a visit. We found someone selling their family four pack on a buy/sell site for super cheap, so we all went to the waterpark for an afternoon.

241/366: Last day of summer!! We kept things pretty busy between church and then visiting the splash park. We spent the last hour before bedtime playing magna-tiles and chilling out before the big day of pre-k ahead.

Back to school. I’m not sure who was more excited, me or Holden. He spent the day reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. My husband was unexpectedly home as well, so he got to accompany us for drop off. After school Holden had swim lessons, it was a BIG day for all of us and we decided to have a family pizza party to cap things off.

243/366: A little downtime after school.

229/366: Rain clouds were still looming, but we made it to the splash pad anyway. I could not stand another minute cooped up in the house, and neither could the boy. The rain stayed in check, and really the day ended up being pretty nice for August. Mid 80s, some overcast skies and a slight (albiet humid) breeze.

230/366: Wednesday is the uber exciting grocery day for me. I’ve been feeling a little down because of all the gloom. Plus, my husband has been out of town for work around 10 of the past 14 days, so things are feeling kind of lonely around these parts. The grocery cashier brightened my day by offering a free bouquet of roses. Apparently they were about to be past their ‘sell by’ date, so they were handing all these gorgeous arrangements out for free. Really brought a small bit of cheer to the day.

231/366: Trying to get a little work done, but this little fellow kept joining me in the office.

232/366: Caught red handed cleaning up his room!!!

233/366: Rain, rain go away. These should be flip flops by the backdoor, not rainboots.

234/366: Major excitement because the hubs was home AND we got free circus tickets from my sister. I haven’t been to a circus since I was probably 8, and Charlie hasn’t either. Holden had never been, so this was really fun. We had excellent seats, about 6 rows from the floor dead and center. I felt like the tigers were so close that if they really got upset they could scale the cage and have us as a snack. The only bad part about the circus was that I didn’t bring my real camera. I tried reading through the rules online and it said no video equipment. I was worried someone in security would classify my DSLR as video equipment, so I opted to play it on the safe side. Of course, no one even searched bags and I totally could have brought it in if I wanted. I guess it was nice to have my hands free and just enjoy the day though. Thus, the poopy phone pix.

235/366: Prepping for a birthday party, inspecting his name inside the card.

221/366: Yes, this is a photo of laundry. Keepin’ it real.

222/366: I’m a gold medalist in eating Blue Bell while watching others perform Olympic feats.

223/366: Vroom vroom.

224/366: The last day of “reading school” for my little guy. We started this journey about 5 months using a curriculum called, “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.” It has been a lot of work for mommy and daddy, and I am immensely proud of all that Holden has accomplished. This boy can straight up read at 4 years old, and I am so excited for him to go back to pre-K in the fall and show off his new skills. I know he loves reading and is really, really proud of himself too so that’s awesome.

225/366: Took my little to Krispy Kreme for the first time ever. This was a treat for completing his reading school. The donut machine was broken, and they had run out of ingredients to make plain, glazed donuts so I was miffed. However, to a four year old sprinkles are really the most important thing anyway so it all worked out.

226/366: Getting everything setup for little Benjamin’s newborn image reveal. It is always a fun day when I get to show off a final gallery.

227/366: Sent the pups to my dad’s house during our pool party. We went to pick them up later in the afternoon and here is Rufus reuniting with my husband.

228/366: When there is one raindrop in Texas, one must wear rain boots. Also, we had to make a pit stop at the manhole cover. My son is obsessed with sewers. Is this a boy thing?? When he rides his bike, he always makes sure to drive over the ‘sewer covers,’ and if he sees a manhole cover he likes to go investigate.