And now it's fall...

The kids started school! I had to post this picture because I LOVE Erick's face. I was trying to get them to look into the sun for the picture and you can see how well that worked out. :-) Anyway, they all seem to be doing great, and having the extra time with Matt during the days is a lot of fun! We babysit two little ones twice a week, Matt's friend Angelo and Angelo's little sister. It's a lot of fun for Matt and I think is good for us both, but that still leaves us three days a week to run our errands and do other fun stuff. Matt says frequently as we're pulling out of the driveway, "We sure are busy people, mom!"

We learned to tie-dye! These is Erick's pillowcase - the kids tagged along with me to a YW activity this fall and had a blast doing their own tie dye. I think I'll invest in a small kit, and Izzie's thinking about doing a tie-dye theme for her birthday party in January. I think we'll be glad for the unfinished basement!

And to continue the theme we made tie-dye cupcakes, which will also make an appearance at the birthday party. Should be fun! Aren't they gorgeous?

Erick's back into cubscouts, as a bear this year. For pack night in August they launched model rockets and I have to say it was pretty awesome.

Such cute little boys! Matt sure loves his big brother, and Erick's a great one. Notice he came to pack night straight from soccer practice? I love the uniform combination.

Audrey's really into curls, and we have a new favorite method for doing her hair! This was done following these instructions, and I love that it's no-heat and overnight. I'm still planning to try it with my own hair one of these days.

Last Thursday night we spent a lovely evening on Art Hill in Forest Park watching the free St. Louis Symphony concert. The weather was amazing, the sunset was beautiful, and all the kids really enjoyed the concert! We took a blanket and picnic and the symphony played songs from familiar cartoons, waltzes, and a little John Williams. They finished off with the John Sousa march and an amazing fireworks display! Seriously, this will be a new tradition for us, it was a lot of fun!

Saturday morning we started soccer! I wish I had more pictures but I'll get more as the season continues. Izzie's game was first and she was an animal! She scored two of her team's four goals and as you can imagine has been unbearable to live with since then. ;-) She did great! Audrey's game was next - look how cute she is! She's a full head shorter than just about everyone else on the team and really likes chatting on the sideline eating oranges as well or better than she does playing in the games. But she still has fun and I think that's what matters most. Erick's game was last and their team tied the other one. He was playing goalie and allowed them to score twice so he was a little bummed, but the team played great and I was SO glad once again we found this team. The coach on the other team was unbelievable. I'd never send my kids to play again if we had him for any of our teams. Not to mention one of the parents for the other team made an idiot of himself telling off a sweet woman who asked him not to shout at the refs. It's in the rulebook the parents aren't allowed to correct the refs, and she's our league coordinator so was the only one brave enough to say anything at all. When he turned on her, threatened her and told her to mind her own business I could have died. It was so tacky. Anyway, I love the people my kids play with, I love the people we sit with, I love the coaches, and once again, I love that they don't play Sundays. I feel as though we've really found a "team" on a lot of levels and hope the kids will enjoy playing.

Saturday was Purina Family Day at Purina Farms. They fed us and entertained us and the kids all afternoon. Erick was selected as an assistant for the juggler and thought that was pretty cool. He was a plate spinner and told us it was pretty easy. I'm not letting him try it on my plates at home just yet though.

You can bet Matt's highlight was climbing around the firetruck! The cotton candy was free and unlimited and I think each child had 2-3 different Nestle IceCream bars, so while it's no Six Flags (what they USED to do for family day) as long as my kids are little I think they'll enjoy this, too.

Anyway, and now I'm caught up on photos! Whew!