September 2015

September officially started the full on craziness that is the fall. Life just blew up this month and we are just barely holding on for the ride.

We started out the month with Labor Day. Todd goes out of town every year for a hunting trip over Labor Day so it was just the kids and me for 5 days. It was a pretty stressful 5 days because I still went to work, had my first 2 tests, and played single mom the entire time. We managed to make it through the weekend with minimal drama, but I was pretty glad when it was over.

Mason started back to preschool on the 9th. There is such a big difference between his teachers this year and last year. Last year's teachers were ok, but I never really got the warm fuzzies like you expect with preschool teachers. This year's teachers, however all warm and fuzzy all over. We were so excited for him to start this year after meeting them and he fed off that excitement. The first day was a little tough for him, but his teachers said he had a great day so it all ended well.

Mason also started soccer again this month. I haven't been able to go to any of the sessions, yet so I have no pictures to share for him. But, he says he's having fun and wants to play in real games when he turns 4. We're also starting to look at some other options for sports for him so he doesn't get overshadowed by Aubrey's busy activities. Most of the sports will start at age 4, so by January he should be ready to go.

Aubrey finally had her first football games to cheer for this month. The first scheduled game was a disaster because there was a big lack of communication between the cheer coaches and the parents. And we had no uniforms until week 3. But, it all came together by week 3 and Aubrey is enjoying being a cheerleader.

Game 2. No uniforms for this game, but she still had a blast. She's on the end of the 1st row.

Game 3 she finally got her uniform and loved it.

After much begging, Aubrey convinced me to come to her school's fun run that raises money for the new buildings. It got bumped a day because of the rain so I couldn't stay long, but she had a good time.

Our lives involve very little besides school and running back and forth between practices right now. But, I wouldn't trade it for anything else. 

August 2015

Life has picked back up for the fall so I'm 2 months behind. Again. Me thinks this will be life on the regular for the next 4.5 years. I started back to school in mid-August and am crazy busy with just 2 classes. But, I hope to not get too far behind in my blogging. The kids' baby books are rather sad but I've managed to keep this little piece of the internet current for the past 7 years so I guess that balances it all out.

August was pretty quiet for the kids. They enjoyed plenty of downtime and playing before the craziness of school started.

Aubrey was so excited to get her first library card. She has become quite the reader and plows through books at a crazy speed.

They love "playing" corn hole in the backyard.

We spent an afternoon at Monkey Joe's the weekend before school started. I think it has lost its appeal as the kids have gotten bigger. They got bored pretty fast.

Sadly, the summer ended for Aubrey on August 24th. I cannot believe this girl is now a first grader. She survived the disappointment of being separated from most of her friends (as we were promised last year because of all of the Kindergarten drama). Her teacher this year is Mrs. Johnston and so far she is having a great year.

Aubrey also started her 4th year of dance and 2nd year of tumbling. She added a pre-pointe ballet class to this mix this year and surprisingly loves it. I was shocked because she usually doesn't love structure and pre-pointe is very strict and structured. But I am glad she has taken an interest in ballet because it will help her across the board.

We also made the decision to let Aubrey start cheerleading for Optimist football this year. She had so much fun cheering at the MICS cheer camp this past winter and really wanted to try it out. I have been really, really underwhelmed at the organization and concern this particular Optimist club shows for their cheerleaders, but we committed so she will finish out the year.

So, that was August. It really was the calm before the storm of the school year and I miss it already.