Class Parties

Halloween parties at school! Always exciting! I have more pictures of Paige because I helped out in her classroom this time (hopefully I'll be in Owen's room for Christmas!). I heard a lot of the kindergartners saying things like, "This is the best party ever!" so I will remember the strategy of costumes+candy for our next shindig.

Paige and a friend

Lining up for the parade!

All the girls received fun hair pieces and helped each other put them in! So cute!

Owen's teacher took this picture of him and some friends!

Dance-Soccer-Dress Up

Paige had a lot of activities the week before Halloween and they all wanted her to dress up in costume! She wasn't super pleased about it so we kind of compromised and went halfway with a cat-ear headband and pumpkin shirt. To be honest, it's pretty difficult to play soccer in most costumes so I'm not really sure why they told the kids to wear them!

Ready for some soccer!!

Dancing to the Monster Mash!

Pumpkin Carving

There are a lot of Halloween-themed blog posts coming up! First up-pumpkin carving! The kids planned out their designs and Pat and I assisted with our adulty knife skills. We all helped scoop out the pumpkin guts. You'll see the finished pumpkins in a later post!

Tournament #2

Another soccer tournament!? Yep. Another team asked Owen to join them in Michigan and he happily accepted. And then changed his mind. And then we had to remind him that it was too late to change his mind...Anyway, on to the fun stuff! They had two games on Saturday and won both! He was done playing by 1pm so we got some lunch, went swimming and then had some time to explore. We went to the River Raisin National Battlefield Park and then to the beach for some space to run around! The next morning Owen had a game at 8am so we were up before the sun. Unfortunately they lost and were knocked out of the tournament but they all played well. It was rough to see how dejected our team was as they crossed the field back to the parents. We got to head home early and we found out later that a team that had a couple of Owen's friends on it won their division!

Trying to stay calm before the first game!

Owen got a headache for a little bit in the first game but was able to join the game soon after he had time to calm down. He ended up scoring 3 goals throughout the tournament. 

Paige was wiped out after watching two games and fell asleep on the way to lunch!

There was a lot to learn about the battle. "Remember the Raisin!"

Fun at the beach!

This crazy frog was just hanging out on the beach and letting the water wash over him. 

Owen was not ready to wake up for his Sunday morning game! He got dressed and went back to sleep.

Dance

We got to enjoy some dancing up-close for viewing day at Paige's dance studio!

Field Trip

Owen's class took a trip to a local museum and I got to join them as a chaperone! We got to learn a lot about the history of our city and a little bit about what it was like to live in the late 1800s. My group started off in a room with World War I memorabilia and we were treated to a lot of very graphic stories. I thought some of it was bordering on inappropriate but the kids seemed super interested and we've since talked a few times about some of the stories from our tour guide. Then we got to tour the house where we were put in small rooms with very fragile and historically important artifacts.  A little stressful but we managed to get through without any problems!

The kids checked out some guns from the war.

Going up!

I think this was called a stereoscope. The kids were all fascinated by it and wanted multiple turns to see the two images merge into one.

Owen and his bus buddies enjoying the ride!

Fall Play

I've been trying to get the kids outside as much as possible while we're still having beautiful Fall weather! We met some friends at a playground and the kids had a blast playing and walking the trails!

Last game of the Season!

Owen's travel team had their last outdoor game of the season last weekend and they ended on a high note! They won their league! Yay! Not only that but it all came down to the last game against a team they have never beaten before so they had a few reasons to be pleased that day:)

Those crazy kids!

Nanny joined us for the game and we got to hang out for a little while after!

Mall Trip!

We took the kids out for a movie and dinner last weekend and it was a lovely family date:) It isn't often that we all get excited about the same movie but Hotel Transylvania 2 united us and we all enjoyed it! After dinner in the food court we went home and played games together before bed!

We found this picture spot in the mall and stopped on our way out. Paige is starting to get in on the crazy poses and peace signs!

Crafting

Tooth!

Paige lost her first tooth and she couldn't be happier about it! We had just gotten her settled in bed when she shouted to us so we all ran in and celebrated by jumping up and down and admiring it! I think her second one isn't too far behind!

Apples!

We took our yearly trip (this is where Jamie will point out that we missed last year! Sorry!) to Patterson's a couple weeks ago and the weather was terrible! That's ok though, if you search the blog for "patterson" you can see that sometimes the weather is amazing and other times we get out of there as fast as we can. We picked a couple pumpkins but that was our only outdoor stop. The rest of our time was used to eat apple slices and contemplate which would taste best in a pie and eyeing the bakery selections. Fritters! Doughnuts! Then we went back to my parent's house and made our yummy pies!

Pick your pumpkins! Quick! But stop and pose for this photo first!

Sprinkle doughnuts for a job well done!

Laney and grandpa getting in on the pie-making

Owen and Laney

Paige and Laney

My mom worked on the pie crusts while I prepped the apples. Smile!

These pictures are out of order but this was too cute not to include! Hi Aunt Jamie!

Zsa Zsa lounging comfortably on the floor:)

Harvestfest

Part 2! Paige and I made a quick stop at Harvestfest before we joined Pat and Owen at the soccer tournament. This is the first year Owen has missed so it felt a little sad to be going by ourselves but honestly, it worked out for everyone! Owen wasn't upset at all about missing and Paige was very excited we had time to fit it in! Here's a sneak peek at her Halloween costume! She shed the cape and wig before we even arrived at the event:)

This is Paige posing like Anna! I think she did a pretty good job!

We ran into her best friend in one of the stores! Yay!

A quick picture with the Minions before we had to leave. The minion on the right had stared Paige down with it's one eye and Paige thought it was hilarious!

Senior Day!

This is part 1 of what Paige and I were doing while Owen and Pat were starting the soccer tournament. Paige was invited, for the second year, to help escort some senior varsity players onto the field for Senior Day! She loved it last year and was super excited to participate again. The little girls got to play on the field before the game, escort the seniors out and join the team for the national anthem. Paige had the extra perk of joining the team on the bench during the game too! Paige had gotten close with one of the freshman, Sam, over the summer when she had assisted Paige's group at soccer camp and they were super excited to see each other again. Sam invited Paige to sit with her on the bench and Paige happily obliged. She was injured and sitting out that game anyway so it was perfect!

Gathering before the game!

The big moment!

National Anthem! Paige is the last little one in line.

Paige and her friend, or as Paige calls her-Sammy! Sammy! Sammy!

Tournament

Owen's soccer team participated in a tournament over the weekend and won 1st place! Sorry, didn't even give a spoiler alert there. They started off with a game very early Saturday morning (Paige and I were elsewhere so that will be another post...). While they were warming up, a crazy amount of fog rolled in and made for some awesome pictures! They won their first game and Paige and I joined them for the second later that afternoon when they won again. The next day they won their game at noon which meant they were in the finals! We had some time to waste so we joined most of the team at Panera before heading back to the fields until it was time for the final game. Owen played amazing all weekend and was doing great heading into the last game. He had just scored a goal when he got so overwhelmed by everything that he needed to come out of the game and relax for awhile. They ended up winning (you knew that already!) and the team received some trophies to remember the weekend!

Warmups in the fog! (I have no idea whose picture this was originally, not ours!)

There were a lot of spectators so Paige and I were clear down at one end of the field. Worked out for me to get this picture of Owen taking a corner kick!

Champs!

Pat finally busted out his smile to pose with Owen:)

Celebratory ice cream to end the weekend! 

Paige and I were there too!

Found!

We found this guy on the way home from school the other day! (Also, Paige found a Rice Krispie treat in her backpack from the weekend!)