Soccer and Apples

Fall is here, so that means the beginning of a very busy time for us.  Soccer, apples, pumpkins, and festivals will begin to fill our schedule and not stop until they are taken over by Christmas activities!  Both kids are playing soccer, so our Saturday mornings are spent on the fields.  Luckily we really like both teams that the kids are on - the kids and the parents! 

 

Olivia is the player (in the long sleeve white shirt) that is getting ready to kick the ball.  Her age division is expected to follow most of the rules of soccer including offsides, which is a difficult concept for them to grasp at times! 

 

I think that the Rockstars needed a bit more communication with this play! 

Olivia is dribbling the ball down the field.  

 

Ethan is the little guy kicking the ball.  His age group has the coaches on the field with the players and many rules are overlooked (offsides, keeping feet on the ground during a throw in, accidental hand balls, etc), which can make for a fun game to watch.  

This is how Ethan spends much of his time on the field - dancing.  He is also known to kick the ball one time, do a two minute celebration about kicking the ball, and then not follow up for a second kick.

 



This weekend we also went apple picking with the kids, Grammy, and Grandpa Brett.  We decided to give Eckert's Orchard a try this year over Broom's Orchard.  Even though Eckert's was a lot of fun with way too much to do, we all decided to return to Broom's next year.  We like the small town vibe of Broom's and the focus on only apples and pumpkins.  One thing that the kids did love about Eckert's was the camel - Ethan's favorite animal is a camel, and here he was actually able to ride one!

 





 

 

 

Since Olivia was very young, we have made it a priority to go apple picking with the kids.  We will not go to an orchard that does not allow you to pick your own since I have such great memories of picking apples as a child.  We also love sampling many apples while picking as well!

 



I also have a nicely posed picture of the kids but decided to post this one instead since it pretty much shows what they are like in real life.

 



First Day of School

Olivia and Ethan started school on August 20.  Olivia was thrilled to return to school, but Ethan remains a bit uncertain about whether or not he loves kindergarten.  I believe that he enjoys school, but he doesn't exactly love having a full day schedule to follow as he has always loved being independent on activity choice.  I, on the other hand, LOVE having them both in school! ;)

 

Here is Ethan on his first day of kindergarten.  He is very proud that he gets to ride the bus with Olivia.  The bandaid on his forehead is hiding 24 (!) stitches that he has from a fall on the local water park's slide.  He now has a perfect Harry Potter scar.

 

Olivia on her first day of third grade.  She is in a classroom with many of her friends, and loves her teacher.  It is a big year for her with multiplication, division, and cursive writing in the agenda.

Hard to believe, but sometimes Olivia and Ethan get along!  Time has flown these past eight years, but I will admit that I am really enjoying this stage - both are old enough to play board games, be fairly independent in their play and daily needs, and yet they are still young and naive enough to hold my hand in public and not be embarrassed to be silly.  Good times before teenage angst!

Summer 2012

The last month of summer went by in a blur.  We were busy with many activites that were on our summer to do list but it was just too hot in July to actually do them!  Here is a taste of August...

 

Olivia and her permanent mural from art camp.  The campers created the design and painted it on the wall.

 

 

We had an Olympic themed playdate with friends that Olivia and Ethan have known since infancy.  Activities included discuss, water balloon toss, ping pong ball toss, a frozen tshirt race, and here is a picture from the javelin competition.

 

Our Olympians and their medals of completion.

 

Of course we went to the IL State Fair many times!  The kids have always loved walking through the animal areas, especially the "big fat piggies".  This year we searched for the pig with the curliest tail.

The traditional butter cow picture.  

Tie dye cast and tie dye slushie.

 



The kids had fun playing at the St. Louis City Park before a Cardinals game.  This park is a fantastic area of water play and art to explore.

 



The kids at one of our many Cardinals games.

 



Feeding the ducks, geese and swans at Washington Park.  The drought really turned the lagoon into a muddy puddle.

 



 

Exploring Washington Park.

 

Olivia's water proof cast allowed her to have plenty of water play in August.