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- The biggest news of the week: our Christmas Tree is UP. It has lights on it, but no ornaments until after Leander’s birthday (that’s our rule). It’s so good to have it standing there glowing on these cold dark mornings & early nights – I love it.
- Speaking of Christmas – I’ve officially started Christmas shopping! I mean, I’ve been buying little things here & there, but my Mom & sister & I actually went Christmas shopping this week! I’m probably about 30% there – so, it’s progress!
- Last Sunday was Halloween (man, that seems like a million years ago, it’s been a busy week) –
Braelynn & I actually went to Kennywood for a few hours on the last day of Fall Fest! We left Derrick & Leander at home, because Derrick was still getting over the cold that we all had (and he was the last to get it) but we wanted to go get our last rides on Phantom for the year!! We had so much fun together & are already counting down the days to Holiday Lights!
And then of course, we went trick or treating that night. It was so cute & fun – obviously Braelynn knew what trick or treating was, but Leander really had no clue what he was getting into. After 2 or 3 houses, he got it and man was it cute! After about 20 minutes, he bag was too heavy for him to carry – it was adorable. Braelynn loved showing her brother the ropes & of course, they both have been gorging on candy all week long! - Braelynn lost another tooth this week (that’s #6, if you’re counting) and then actually lost her tooth. She pulled it out upstairs in the bathroom while I was downstairs making breakfast & then ran down to show me – and in her excitement, she couldn’t remember what she did with the tooth. She thought she brought it down with her, but I never saw it.
We hunted high & low – scouring the bathroom & the kitchen, the steps, the living room – no luck. We could not find this missing tooth.
Until the next day – I was pulling the tablecloth off of our dining room table to be washed & there it was. - We had our own family photos done this week! We have never waited this late in the year to do our family photos, so I was started to panic a bit over the weather & the leaves (especially after the week of rain we had last week!!) But it all worked out & turned out fantastic! It was a little chilly, but that’s okay! (My sister, Ellen & I are both photographers and so we swap family sessions every year for each other!) I shared one image really quick over on my Instagram – the rest will have to wait for closer to the holidays (I traditionally share our family photos around Thanksgiving – which is right around the corner!)
- On Wednesday, I went to Greendance Winery for the first time for an engagement session – how have I never been there before?! It was amazing & gorgeous & so much fun! I will definitely be gong back – hopefully soon!
- Also, speaking of photo locations: why have I not been back to Renzie Park in over a decade? I rode past it this week & was like: dang, I always forget about it there & it’s such a beautiful place! I need to compile a list of good locations so I stop just “reaching” for the same places on auto-pilot every time someone asks for my opinion!!
- It finally got cold this week (we finally turned our heat on!) & we’ve had our first frosts! One morning this week, as we were walking out to our car to go somewhere, Braelynn showed Leander & told him it was “moss” – hehe.
- Derrick will hit 10k followers today on instagram. Ten thousand. That was our goal to hit by the end of 2021 & here we are hitting it almost a full 2 months early. It feels SO good to finally get good, solid traction & growth for him on that account! We’ve put a lot of hard work & time into building his audience there (it’s a great way to reach new people for his YouTube channel!) and it’s just really satisfying to see results from all our hard work!! (In case you’re confused as to why I keep saying “Derrick’s Instagram account”, but referring to it as “ours” – I took over management of his Instagram last summer. So, I schedule out all of his posts, write all of his captions, do his hashtags & do his follow-Friday stuff. It’s a lot of work, but when I “took over” his account, he had somewhere around 2,500 followers – and in 18 months, we’ve grown it to 10k!!)
- Rolling into wedding #3 in a row today! The good news is: it’s going to be a gorgeous day – the first wedding day I’ve had this fall without rain in the forecast! And it’s 100% local!! I’m SO excited to go celebrate with Kristin & Brad today!!
