Happy Halloween!

This was how our Halloween dawned. That is one sick kiddo right there. I should have realized things were amiss when she fell asleep in the highchair the night before. We gave her medicine for a fever and put her in bed, fingers crossed. Well, the fever was worse the next morning. Fortunately, Matt had already planned to work from home, so I got this pathetic update a few hours in. I even had my room mom pick up extra medicine for me at the store (we ran out that morning, and she was stopping at the store anyway to pick up our Fall Rotations aka Halloween Party cupcakes).

Matt was supposed to go to Violet's Halloween party at school, and when I explained that neither of us would be making it now, she was understandably bummed. Poor thing. She already knows she draws the short end of the stick by being a teacher's kid. "But Daddy has regular work, so he can come!" she said. So I juggled things at work and begged for a substitute for the last 20 minutes of the day so I could sneak out and surprise her at her party. I'm glad I did - her face lit up when she spotted me.

Pretty pretty princesses!

Snow White and Superman!

Ms Courtney and Ms Megan! Love them so!

Trunk or Treat!

Ready to get some loot in the neighborhood!

Once home, we got ready, had our annual chili dinner with our neighbors, then got ready to head out. I opted to stay home with Annie, poor girl. The meds would kick in, she'd perk up, then fade again. We spent a lot of time on the couch, in between passing out candy.

It ended up being a cold, rainy night, so perhaps I got lucky. Not the most memorable of holidays. Oh well, we'll try again next year. Here's hoping this little pumpkin gets better soon!

Last Soccer Game

Violet and JT, soccer buddies!

Of course, we waited for the last game to play the hardest team.

Coach Angie and a trophy!

She did it! A whole season of soccer! And we did it! 8 weeks of leaving work early, remembering to pack soccer gear and snacks, hauling everyone to the field on Saturday morning, enduring scorching sun and freezing winds... (hey, I didn't get a trophy so this is all the recognition I'm going to get!)

We are so grateful to have gotten such a fabulous coach. Angie is a first grade teacher and she has taught kids' sports before, and it was abundantly obvious at every practice and game. I'm crossing my fingers that she decides to coach another season soon!

Violet was so excited to get a trophy (although possibly even more excited to get a cupcake!) She brought it around to show all the neighbors once we got home. The church league we were in (shout out to Creekside Methodist) was the perfect starting point for us - relaxed play, no score-keeping, a little positive devotional for everyone at half-time... Every week there was a word of the day and at practice Coach Angie would tell a little story to illustrate it. I don't remember the story that went with "initiative," but one afternoon in the car Violet got herself all buckled in before I had to ask her and when I thanked her, she said she was showing initiative. Yeah baby!

Hopefully Violet will want to play soccer again! For now, I think we're taking a break from extracurricular activities.

Only One More Practice

We sure do have fun at soccer practice, especially now that the weather is so nice. I can't believe our season is almost done!

Cat in the Hat

Every weekend someone in Violet's class gets to take home the Cat in the Hat stuffed animal. They take pictures of their adventures together and share with the class when they go back to school. (Oh, and the Cool Cat person gets to be line leader for the week as well, Violet reminded me 87 times.)

So this weekend we had the Cat, and here are our adventures...

First the Cat came to soccer practice...

He even tried kicking the ball!

Then he got tired and decided to watch from the sidelines.

Next up, movie night!

Frozen was playing...

Slumber party time!

Then Cat came with us to the pumpkin patch and played in the bouncy house!

Then Mommy packed him up in Violet's backpack so we wouldn't forget to take him back to school, and that's where he stayed the rest of the weekend, oops! But hey, we have plenty of photographic evidence that he was out and about with us quite a bit. Hopefully he had as much fun as we did!

Pumpkin Patch!

Last year our trip to the pumpkin patch looked like this...

And here we are this year!

We had another great visit to the pumpkin patch this year! For someone who had never been before having kids, we sure are making it a tradition. Violet had been talking about it forever, and we finally had a hole in our schedule, so off we went on a beautiful fall day. Violet is going to be so excited when she realizes her class field trip on Wednesday is right back here to Warbington Farm. Now we just have to find time to carve our pumpkin before Halloween!

On the tractor ride...

The two cutest pumpkins in the patch!

Loving the bouncy house!

But loving the corn pit even more!

Didn't try to eat a single kernel!

Insert "corny" caption here.

Lately

So I've become a rather inconsistent updater. Sorry folks. Sometimes I get so busy surviving living life, it's hard to document it on a regular basis. I'm trying not to feel too guilty about it. Updating should never feel like a chore. After all, the primary purpose of this space is to help me remember the little things we've been up to. I'm not changing the world in this little corner. Still, it's nice to look back and have a record of these crazy days as they fly by.

So in that light, here are a few things that have happened lately.

Violet took a field trip to the fire station. Next up - the pumpkin patch!

 I love that Violet gets to take so many field trips with her Pre-K class. Kindergarten and its three yearly outings is going to seem downright lame after all the excitement of the fire station, Build-a-Bear, the farm...

Why do I look so sad? Is it the hair? But Dad's high-heeled purple boots are fab!

And speaking of school, I'm amazed every day at all the new things Violet is learning. I got the best IEP progress report from her speech teacher - we are really seeing progress and it is awesome. Ks and Gs are being mastered around here! Next up, blends! Violet is also learning sight words and memorizing her address and phone number, two skills I still don't see consistently in my first graders, so yay for learning them early.

This silly crew....

For the past few days, Annie has only taken one long nap. She'll need this to transition up to the toddler room in the new year, but part of me is not ready for her to be growing up so fast! Although I was not sad to see formula or the bottles go. My kitchen counters are my own again, whew! The jury is still out on whether she has a milk allergy or not. Things have gotten stinkier since we made the switch to regular milk, let's just put it that way.

My big girl is off formula (cha-chinnnng!) and bottles (hello kitchen counters, I've missed you!)

Her toddling skills are amazing, however. I joke that we're going to dress her up like a zombie for Halloween, because she has this hilarious way of stomping around with her arms out, screeching like a, well, zombie. We've had a few spills and bumps along the way, but her thunder thighs are keeping her up for the most part. She's also still trying to climb the stairs, and today I caught her sitting on the open dishwasher lid, pulling butter knives out of the silverware basket. Awesome! She's definitely more fearless than Violet ever was, although I also had a bit more time to monitor Violet. Annie gets away with a lot more.

Sibling rivalry is already rearing its ugly head. When Annie is in my lap, Violet has the urgent need to be picked up. If Violet gets picked up, Annie cries. If they're both in my lap, someone is always shoving the other one away. Annie has discovered she can pull hair and get quite a reaction from her big sister. But they also have the best way of playing together, chasing each other around the living room. Ah, sisters...

Playdate!