After this fall found us celebrating Sam’s fourth birthday with her first birthday party, the season offered up many more firsts.

Halloween marked our first in our new neighborhood. The candy here at home flowed out our bowl so fast I confess to recycling our loot from the church trunk or treat the night before. In the middle of it all Levi returned early, and half asleep to let Sam finish out the night with her dad (who hadn’t trick-or-treated this legitimately or this profitably since his own childhood).

Then we bought our fist minivan, and everyone cheered. The only down side is that transporting 3 kids under the age of four no longer qualifies as Mom’s daily workout.

When Eliza turned 6 months old, everyone walking breathed a little easier, and walked a little taller. She can sit up by herself, she started solid foods, and she laughs at just about everything Levi does. I feel like we’ve finally rounded the corner of “new baby” transition. Now if we could all tear ourselves away from our infatuated dealings with that adorable little baby, we might get something done around here.

As mentioned in the title, we lost our first family pets- all our fish but one met their end after our first tank cleaning a few weeks ago. We admit their passing was not well honored, but we did learn a few lessons, and hope to make amends in the future.

Finally, we just returned from our first family camping trip. Inspired by Levi’s latest allergic emergency, we decided to forego a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for campfire and a little fishing. All I can say is- why oh why did we not do this sooner? We had a great day!