another preschool field trip-pumpkin patch edition

What October would be complete without a field trip to a pumpkin patch.  I know Kella's kindergarten class took one.  Kinley's preschool took one, too.  This is always one of my favorite trips because the pumpkin patches are close to our house and we don't have to get ready quite as early those mornings.  This day was no exception.  Kinley and I took our time getting to the patch, and still made it there a good 20 minutes before everyone else.  Plenty of time to take pictures.

It was a windy day.  The sky was clear, but it was cool, jacket weather. 

We found a stick. It was awesome.

The kids got to play in an area with a tunnel slide that started at the top of a hill.  Kinley loves slides.

She also loves to drive stationary, wooden tractors...

She does not like to help her mom take selfies.

And, we even got to picnic lunch it at the golden arches-our favorite restaurant.

Oh yeah, soccer season ended...

So, many weeks ago, the boys played their final weekend of soccer.  I don't miss the running around to practices and coordinating attendance at 4 different games at at least 2 different locations, that's for sure.  Pretty sure we saw improvement in all the boys.  Or, at least they had fun, which is important, too.

Liam-got more confident with his playing.  He is quite the good little passer and helped get the ball to the right player to score a goal.

Happy that he got a medal!

So many possibilities on these empty fields....game day at Noblesville.

This is a picture of one the last games Cale played this season.  He was matched up against that big orange guy in the picture.  Orange was a good player and Cale's job was to keep Orange from going up the middle of the field to score.  Mission accomplished.

Ewan's team finished with an 0-whatever record.  They won no games.  They might have tied one.  Should be interesting to see how the team looks in the spring.

Cale's team came through and won their division!  Those boys were super-excited.  As was their coach.  These kids played so hard and deserved this.  Of course, Cale was thrilled.

And, there we go.  Soccer is behind us and we have already started basketball season.  The never-ending sports cycle continues.

Cale's fall choir concert 10/04/16

Last week, we got to see the choirs perform in their fall concert.  There were 4 choirs-the 6th grade choir, the 7th/8th grade choir and 2 high school choirs.  They each sang 2-3 songs, with a theme on local and international folk songs for this concert.  Then, all the choirs sang together at the end.  I was able to bring Ewan, Liam, Kella and Kinley with me.  You know, all the people who are able to sit still and be patient and appreciate art and performance.  It's good for them.  We got there an hour early to drop Cale off and snagged some killer seats in the front row.  45 minutes later, I was starting to question how good those seats were as my children started to turn on each other.  But, we made it.  I thought the choir sounded good for a choir that practices during homeroom every day.  And, I think Liam and Kinley liked watching and listening to the music.  Kinley was even "singing" along with the choirs.  And, there were cookies and punch after the program.  Well worth going, then, in everyone's opinion.

Just some selfie fun.

This little lady loves to take selfies.  We have lots of fun with the camera.

The girls like getting their pictures taken solo, too.

Kinley goes to preschool

Kinley started preschool at the beginning of September.  This year she is in the Jumpstart class, also known as as the "blue" class.  She goes twice a week for a little over two hours.  Kinley loves going to preschool and loves being done with preschool and coming home.  So far, she has only been in the director's office once for having a Kinley temper tantrum (because she wanted to paint some more).  No one that knows her was surprised that this happened.

First day of preschool.  Sleeping in.  The one day we need to get moving, the child does not want to wake up. 

But, we made it with time to still play in centers.  And, to get a first day pic.

First day went great!  Kinley was a little confused at first and tried to go in her class from last year.  She really loved her yellow class.  

Also in September, the annual field trip to the apple orchard happened.  Andy and I have been on this trip more times than we can count.  And that day was a rough start for Kinley.  She didn't want to go to school.  She didn't want to ride with me to the orchard.  She didn't want her picture taken with her class.  It took a little bit for her to be happy.

Then, she had a apple cider slushie and everything was better.

We got to go on a tractor wagon ride and pick a couple apples.  Kinley is a big apple fan and we ate our apples on the way home from the orchard.

Ewan turns 10!

Our Ewan celebrated his 10th birthday a couple weeks ago.  He had been counting down the days to his special day.  He's one of the lucky ones that had to celebrate his birthday on a school night, but we were able to make extra time for Ewan.

Ewan asked for a planet destroyer cake like from Star Wars.  Also, he wanted ice cream in the middle.  I think these kids like to test me to see if I can come through. I did.  Mission accomplished.

A boy and his presents.  We let Ewan open one before school to tide him over.  The other presents he had to find by going on a scavenger hunt-something all the kids like doing.  Then it was time for cake and ice cream.  

With his cake.  It's a very simple version of the death planet, but it was great for Ewan.  The cake held up until we cut into it and then the ice cream core collapsed on itself just like in the movies.

A little bit of light-saber fighting with his new weapon.

Chewbacca came to visit.

being held like a baby-another tradition

and with his momma

#conversationswithLiam

I really enjoy the one on one time I have with Liam when I'm driving him to soccer practice.  I love the way his brain thinks and I love hearing what he has to say.  This week I had the privilege to drive Liam to soccer 3 times.  Our conversations in the car were about....

Monday: potential and kinetic energy

Tuesday: he read through department offerings at M.I.T. to see what classes he can take when he goes there #MITbound

Thursday: astronomy, different types of planets, what classifies as a planet, creating your own solar system

Last night, Liam said that he when he grows up, he wants to be a "robot inventor, and archaeologist and a dog sitter".  I think now, he is planning on creating a robot to help watch the dogs.

Andy goes to Liam's parent-teacher conference in a few weeks.  Can't wait to hear how that goes.