Monday, October 22, 2012

Fall is in the air...and flying by

Here we are nearly 2 months into the school year.  It's already almost Halloween, although if you went by the decor at some of the stores you'd think Christmas was right around the corner.  Which I suppose it it...by 2 months.

It's been a busy fall.  J and E both did soccer clinics which lasted 3 weeks.  A kept us the busiest by doing fall field hockey and playing recreation soccer.  And she shined on both fields, when she wasn't too busy gnawing on her mouth guard.  In her last game of the season I caught at least 8 saves on camera!  Here's one she dived for but it ended up going very wide of goal.


Chris has been busy with his new job.  He's actually going on to trips to warmer climates - once to Orlando, then to Atlanta.  Unfortunately due to the cost of travel we won't be joining him.  I think I nearly keeled over when I priced round trip flights to Florida at nearly 500 per person.  Playing solo parent for 5 days in a row should be interesting...not only for me but for those I work with also.  I've been warning them so that they can be prepared for any untypical behavior from me.

Besides sports we've started up a new year of Girl Scouts.  We've got a good size group this year - 8 brownies and 3 daisies.  My goal is to try and do a few more field trips than we did last year.  Which means I'm going to have to remember to plan ahead so that I can get all my paperwork done in time.  Both girls seem very excited to be joining.  J is a little bummed at being stuck as an honorary Girl Scout but I keep telling him it'll be next year before he knows it.

Another fun part of fall is school pictures.  I do like how they came out, yet I am left once again wondering how the background went from the requested gray to orange on J's.  Oh well...they didn't charge me.  Which is good because it's not cheap purchasing a school package times three!

 

Of course we did our annual apple picking.  Well...annual for me and the kids.  And once again I left the orchard wondering why I put us through that.  While every other family was laughing and enjoying themselves my kids just kept bickering and snarling like rabid animals.  Ok, so that might be a bit of an exaggeration but they definitely weren't like all the others.

And we got some pumpkins!  I grew sugar pumpkins this year so that they made better eating (think cookies and bread and pie, oh my).  We bought 3 pumpkins at $5 each from Seabreeze Farms in Friendship.  They came in all sizes.  My new requirement - you have to be able to lift your own pumpkin, and be able to clean it out without turning to the relief cleaner.


before...once we hauled them into the backyard with a wagon

I remember when she hated the goo...now she couldn't get enough

hey Lizzy...since yours is done, wanna do mine?
and the final product for 2012!


Since it was still fairly warm when we got done carving and cleaning up I decided we should tackle the front yard.  Hopefully some of the decorations will hold up longer than last year, so long as the neighbor kids stick to their own side of the yard...

front stoop with graveyard and signs

walkway done with repurposed pumpkins.  They used to be lights but we have no outlet!

tree hangings

a better shot of the graveyard

Jacob's milestones

  • weight/length @ 7: 55.6lbs, 48.75"
  • weight/length @ 5: 42lbs, 43.5"
  • weight/length @ 4: 36 lbs, 39+"
  • weight/length@ 3: 32lbs, 36.5 inches
  • weight/length @ 2 years: 26lbs, 33.5 inches
  • weight/length @ 1 year: 18lbs, 29 inches
  • walking: 11/17/08
  • standing: 3/31/08
  • crawling: army, 2/5/08
  • first time rolling: 9/30/07, belly to back
  • first smile: 9/7/07
  • birth date/time: 7/8/07, 12:49am
  • birth length: 19.5 inches
  • birth weight: 6lbs, 1oz

Elizabeth's milestones

  • weight/length @7: 53lbs, 47.75"
  • weight/length @ 5: 40 lbs, 42.25"
  • weight/length @ 4: 34lbs, 38"
  • weight/length 3 years: 28lbs, 35.5 inches
  • weight/length 2 years: 24lbs, 6oz 33 inches
  • weight/length 1 year: 18lbs, 1oz 27.5 inches
  • walking: 9/1/08
  • standing: 4/4/08
  • crawling: army 3/16/08
  • sitting alone: 2/29/08
  • first time rolling: 11/23/07, back to belly
  • first smile: 9/7/07
  • birth date/time: 7/8/07, 12:50am
  • birth length: 18.75 inches
  • birth weight: 5lbs, 8oz

Alexa's milestones

  • weight/height @ 10 (really 10.8): 186, 5'3"
  • weight/height @ 8.4 years: 113 lbs, 55.5 inches
  • weight/height @ 5 years: 61lbs, 4oz 45.25 inches
  • weight/length @ 4 years: 49lbs, 42 inches
  • weight/length @ 3 years: 38lbs, 38 inches
  • weight/length @ 2 years: 32lbs, 8oz 35.75 inches
  • weight/length @ 1 year: 22lbs, 3 oz 29.5 inches
  • 1st day of preschool: 9/3/08
  • solo somersault: 3/4/08
  • whistling: 3/2/08
  • potty training: 10/7/05
  • walking: 12/21/04
  • standing: 8/23/04
  • crawling: 8/21/04, only a week, then became a butt scoot
  • first wave: 7/27/04
  • rolling: 5/2/04, belly to back
  • sleeping thru the night: 3/1/04
  • first smile: 1/20/04
  • birth date/time: 12/4/03, 10:41pm
  • birth length: 20 inches
  • birth weight: 7lbs