10-25

kate turned EIGHT last sunday.
E-I-G-H-T. what in the world????
regardless she was so excited.  we had a big weekend of her birthday and came home just in time to hang out with family and her best birthday bud-papa bob!

kate finally got a new bike for her birthday.  you can catch the progression of excitement in the photos-poor baby has been bumping her knees on the handle bars for the past few months.  she trooped through it and got a brand new one, streamers and all on her big day!

she just uncovered her eyes.  

jumped right out of the camera frame. 

two peas in a pod.

8.

these two. i swear. 

31

well. halloween has come. and gone.
it was a weird one in our house.  adam is away on a trip and our neighbors who we hang with on halloween were invited to a party.  so it was just us three girls.  then mom and dad spoke up and showed up.  and it was GREAT!

the girls costumes were so cute.  self derived but not crazy weird. my mom helped with the make up (which I stink at).  the rain stopped for most of the treating.  it really turned out okay. for halloween.

sports

well.
i've always said 'i'll never be one of those moms that are running like a chicken with her head off to get to sports games/practices.'

guess what-it happened. this year.  i don't love it. but i love watching the girls...

anne has begun volleyball-it is so fun!  it's serious.  3 practices/games a week-but the team who has really never played organized volleyball is really coming along.  we just finished a two day tournament.  they played good.  they did not win, but their spirits were singing.

i'm really proud of anne.  she hasn't proven to be a star in any organized sport.  but in volleyball she is strong, confident, and just as cool as a cucumber.  serving still proves to be twitchy...but there is always areas of improvement

here it comes!

each game begun with prayer-we have two teams for 5th grade-we played each other in the tournament!

go time

sorry for the blur.  sports photog i am NOT.

then we have kate.  kate the great! ;)
she started soccer this year-she is two years behind in experience-but i have to admit-that girl is a scrappy little player.
today she ran the ball all the way to the goal-everyone was yelling GOOOOOO KATE---I looked up and was like OHMYGOSH THAT's KATE!  sadly-there was a goalie there.  :)  but boy was that fun to watch!
she doesn't let much get past her and even as square as she is is pretty quick on her feet.
we really love watching her play.

as busy and exhausting as this week was-we just had a blast.
so thankful to be around loving families and watch our kids grow together!

chat soon!

11...

so. today marks the 9/11.

honestly, I was kinda hoping to skip right over the day.
we were at piano lessons last night.  Anne Clara was doodling away on a note pad. I was correcting papers...she says....so.  Mr. A showed us a  video about 9/11.....watcha know about that?
my heart folded.  my stomach knotted.  I squared myself and said calmly....."what do you know about that Anne?"
she stated the absolute bare bone facts. and then had lots of questions....will it happen again? are we strong enough?  why did they do that?  what did we do wrong? 
I defaulted to.....hey. let's talk about this when we get home.....dad wants to chat too.....
she responded....WILL IT HAPPEN AGAIN?!

silence.

MOM?

hello?  anyone?  what does a mom say? 

mom says....I hope not.  and we have to trust in God. 

Anne says-  BUT I want to know.....will THEY do it again?

mom says- we will absolutely keep you safe.

and that was it.....sometimes being an adult is just not the most fun thing in the world. 
I wasn't trying to HIDE anything from sweet Anne-just want to keep her protected from all of that stuff. 

~chat soon!

be faithful, serve boldly.....

as the school year wrapped up and our church stuff did as well, we were given a mission to work on during the summer.  to be faithful, serve boldly, share Jesus.

we were to as a family, find a task/project, apply for a grant, and execute the project.

we thought, and thought.  then we decided we would do something with FOOD.

that's when we came up with PROJECT YUM-O.  we researched yummy soup recipes, talked to church to find out how many home bound members could benefit from a little yummy-ness, bought the supplies and went to work. 

it was a lot of work, but well worth it.

disclaimer---this looks like it was a great family project from the photos.  and it was for the most part.  but there were a few moments, when the girls pooped out and had to "rest", someone's eyes started watering from too many onions, the rice got scorched in the wildrice soup, i may have raised my voice.  but at the end of the day-we got it done.

~chat soon.

school has started

and so has homework. carpool. practices. lunchboxes. uniforms. form to fill out. meetings.
but we are doing good.
the transistion has gone fairly smooth-minus one explosive melt down from kate on a random thursday at 6:45am. but overall, it's been good.

girls love their new teachers.  anne is at the middle school campus and is LOVING it.  kate i think, is missing her sister at the elementary campus, but is finding her way just fine.

here are some pics from the first day-they aren't awesome. but they are, what they are. :)

loves her backpack!

i can see how nervous they were, now.

new grown up shoes. ;)

summer....

so. today. is the official last day of summer.  so sad.
BUT we have lots to celebrate....it was a great, great, great, summer!
the girls dutifully finished their library reading program and were proud to put the sign in the yard.
so cute!

Looking forward to an awesome school year!
~chat soon!