I’ve got a camera catch up post here today! Just some pictures and thoughts about what we’ve been up to lately.
From Niva’s latest antics to a fall celebration, we’ve had a bit of everything going on—as per usual! So, let’s jump in. 😊
Why don’t we start with Niva? Our Houdini escape artist pup who is giving me gray hair. Jimmy’s stepdad simply opened our front door the other day and Niva ran straight out the door. She’s such an opportunist! If she sees an out, she will take it.
She ran the neighborhood, looking for trouble. Unfortunately, there’s no use chasing a husky, so we always need to wait until she decides to come home or someone somehow grabs her. Well, this time my neighbor texted us…
Her favorite thing lately has been going to the neighborhood daycare and somehow getting inside?! I literally can’t make this stuff up at this point. After she got out of the daycare (the police couldn’t even catch her 😵💫), she went to another person’s house and tried to terrorize their chickens. In the process, she destroyed their flower beds.
Eventually our neighbor was able to lure her into her car. The police paid us a third visit in the past few months and we spent a while apologizing to the other neighbor about her flower beds.
Jimmy and I say it all the time: our one dog is harder than our three kids combined. 😮💨 I realized I wrote this story like it’s just another Monday in the Zottola home, because it is. But now I’m rereading it and realizing just how desensitized we are to the absurdity of our dog. 😂
Moving on to fall celebrations! We attended one of the top ten Oktoberfests in the country last weekend. We headed a few towns over to Canonsburg to walk the streets and take in the sights.
The kids rode a couple of carnival rides, we popped into a few shops (a thrift store, waffle restaurant, and book store—swoon!), checked out all the vendors, and ordered kettle corn. It was a really nice way to kick off our weekend and the start of fall.
One of my favorite things continues to be our hot tub. You’ll find me in there daily if at all possible! The chlorine levels were on the high side recently, so we didn’t bring Dakota in. She enjoyed watching from the sidelines, though.
Lately, when my mom visits, I’ve been taking Sadie to Starbucks to do her homeschool lessons. It’s so great! Sadie feels fancy because she gets a treat and one-on-one time with me, we zoom through our lessons (no toddler distractions!), and the littles get time with my mom! Everyone wins in this situation. Thanks, mom 😊
Our school year is going well! We’re reading through this Bible at the moment, Sadie’s language arts curriculum (All About Reading) continues to be a strong point for her. She has developed a love for reading graphic novels and even has a favorite author. I really love seeing her totally lost in her own reading world!
Math, however, feels like a bit of a grind! We are working on it, slowly but surely. We’re still redoing The Good and the Beautiful Math Level 1 just to really cement basic math concepts in her brain. We’re also adding in Life of Fred math books, which are weird and different and funny.
Outside of school time, Sadie has been enjoying collecting Pokémon cards and playing with her friends, building Lego sets, and riding her scooter!
Mordecai has been learning to ride his “big boy” bike! He has mastered a balance bike no problem, and now he’s working on a regular bike.
He loves his cars, trains, and magnetic tiles. He talks nonstop. He has really deep thoughts, too. He enjoys helping me in the kitchen (crescent rolls are a favorite lately!) and going to Dollar Tree to get a gum ball from the candy machines.
I recently gave him a haircut and our family was very divided on it! Sadie and I liked it and Jimmy didn’t. What do you think? I went short on the sides and a little longer on top. I honestly have no clue what I’m doing but I know it saves us $20-$30!
Sadie and Mordecai continue to play together all day lately and it’s the sweetest. They invent all sorts of imaginary games and even include Dakota now. Siblings are the best.
I sure do love these three crazy kids!
Other Notes and Thoughts 📝
- Scripture I’m loving: But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 🙏🏻
- I started writing my next devotional book (the first one is here) and it feels so good! I’ll have a post coming soon with an excerpt! 📖
- The second children’s book (first one is here!) I wrote is in the illustration phase. I can’t wait to see it! 👀
- Books I’m reading: Be Ready When the Luck Happens, book #2 in this series, and Simple Abundance. 📚
- Two hobbies I’ve been into lately are junk journaling and candle making! I love how freeform junk journaling is. It feels like relaxed scrapbooking combined with collaging. Candle making has been super specific and scientific (almost like baking!), and has been fun to experiment with. 🕯️
- Mordecai and I were snuggling in bed and he thought a black t-shirt crumpled up at the end of the bed was Malcolm, our cat. Happens to me all the time! 😹
- Recipes I’ve made recently: energy bites, copycat Eggo waffles, and gluten free brownies.
Thanks for joining me for a catch up! As per usual, I have a lot more to share. We celebrated Sadie turning eight! Jimmy has had some long work days in Erie, PA, and we’re headed to more fall celebrations this weekend. Busy with all good things. I can’t wait to catch up again soon. 😊
