The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

     That's right, it's the most wonderful time of the year - FALL!  This weekend begins my favorite three months: September, October, and November.  Yes, I know Christmas is supposed to be the most wonderful time, and for some people it is, but for us, Autumn in Asheville just can't be beat!
     But we have definitely enjoyed our summer, too.  It's been pretty perfect, actually.  Not too much rain, not too hot, plenty of sun, etc.  It might be a doozy of a winter (so they say) but we're enjoying right now to the max.
     Marcus and Mark play baseball pretty much every day and Titus does his best to imitate.  He even walks around with a ball glove on his hand when he wants to go play.  Titus understands the concept of swinging a bat, but doesn't have the skills to pull it around quite yet.  He'll get there, though.  Marcus, on the other hand, is quite the athlete.  He bats right and hits VERY well, especially for a 3 year old.  Mark pitches to him underhand and sometimes overhand and he knocks it quite a ways.  They work on pitching, too, since Mark was a pitcher, and Marcus is a lefty.  If he's any good (and since he's a lefty) he might can pay for his own college! :)
     We have also done some extra fun things, lately.  We went to the WNC Nature Center with a friend and saw all kinds of wonderful animals in their natural habitat.  We also have been to the pool a time or two, but I think the highlight for both boys was when they took a Glow-In-The-Dark bath.  I got a huge pack of glow sticks on clearance. We broke them all open, put them into a fresh bath, turned out the lights and just watched as the boys marveled at the fun lights.  It might've been the longest bath of their lives.  Afterwards, I hung the glow sticks and bracelets from the shower curtain and Marcus had "target practice" with them using his dart gun.  Way fun, y'all!
     In other news, I have been on the hunt for a good babysitter who's available during the day.  Our current sitters are all still in high school and are in class.  I "interviewed" a gal the other day who is one of 8 kids, was homeschooled, and was just LOVELY!  She works with 4 or 5 other families during the week, but most of the time, it's in the afternoons and evenings.  I "stalked" her facebook page to see what she's really about and was so impressed.  She didn't have 25 selfies, she actually wore appropriate clothing (aka - didn't dress like a skank), and she had tons of pictures of her and the children she works with.  So YAY for getting a new sitter that I can trust to love-on and care for our boys every once in a while. 
  
    

Playing in our "pool"

Marcus & Titus dancing - oh how I love this picture!

It CRACKS US UP when he dances.

Mark teaching The Gospel to the kids at VBS.

Titus loves his Sunday morning doughnut at church each week.

The otters were so entertaining and fun.  Both boys LOVED them!

Titus and the sheep

Marcus and his friend Adelyn inside of pretend eggs.

Kids eat free at Firehouse Subs on Sunday.  Now that Titus eats more than Marcus, this is a GREAT deal for us!

Being silly in the parking lot of Ingles while Daddy pulls up.

Glow in the dark bath - fun!

Glow in the dark target practice.  He knew he hit one when they moved.

Another fun restaurant is Brixx Pizza.  On Tuesday nights kids eat free, there's a balloon artist, and they even bring the kids a piece of pizza dough to form into whatever shapes they want.  They boys didn't care about the dough.  But loved their balloon swords.

Reading at the library.

Tar Heel born and Tar Heel bred.

Helping Daddy on his bread truck.

Sweet Titus had 2 DOUBLE ear infections in 5 weeks.  Hopefully we won't see any more of those any time soon. 

A few new children moved into our neighborhood and Marcus couldn't be happier about it. 

Cheesin' in their pj's

Trying on his new fleece that we bought him at Wee Trade.

Wearing daddy's hat from when he played baseball in Canada.

Making sock bubbles on the porch wasn't as fun as we anticipated.  It might've helped if he blew instead of sucking bubbles into his mouth...

I love how they love each other.

Every kid needs ice cream every once in a while, right?

Schooling has started and he's doing an amazing job.  In these pictures, he's working on projects from the book, "Chicka Chicka Boom! Boom!"

Trying to "help" with supper.

One day last week we had a date at the park with our friend, Lily. 

Titus loves walking around the park on his own. 

Peek-a-boo!

Learning how to go down this on his own was a large accomplishment.

Titus' head is almost as big as Marcus'!

Sporting Jays clothes and a Braves cap to go see the Tourists play.

Fun times with Adelyn and family again at the Tourists game.

My sweet boys dressed just alike to go to church. <3