Slowing down just isn't our style. After a couple of dentist appointments Daddy and Mommy got to spend time with the teachers at Back to School night to get this school year going! It was during gymnastics, so it was the first time the girls practiced without Mommy. Now that Mommy is officially an employee of the YMCA gymnastics center, it probably won't happen too often : ) It was also book fair week. Kaylee spent her money wisely with help of her teacher, then Mommy got to go during Cienna's time at the end of Wednesday. Just so happened that the power went out right in the middle, and it was a cool 90 degrees. We all made it through just fine until midnight when the power finally turned back on.
Kamryn came over for a play date on Grandpa Kim's birthday before the first soccer and party weekend. We all enjoyed Haiden's wonderfully planned out reptile Birthday after soccer. Then we enjoyed a family brunch on Sunday before creating a bike train to venture around the neighborhood.
Cienna got her braces off after 15 months for this first phase. Kaylee enjoyed making Australian pikelets (sweet pancakes) with her class. Then the girls got free dress for picture day at school.
The next soccer/party weekend included Carver's first birthday party which was right up our alley being Circus theme in the middle of our soccer games! Next we went to Ulysse's Knight themed 9th Birthday down the street. That Sunday, Daddy went to help out Mac tear down a wall in preparation for a new 13' header to support a sliding glass door.
One week after braces came off, Cienna got her retainer. After one day of help she mastered taking it on and off by herself. The end of that week was a successful Carver Olympics which Mommy got to watch the girls meet some Olympians and see their medals up close before engaging in their own Olympic games.
Since Halloween is coming, the girls truly enjoyed deciding on and designing their costumes and going to the fabric store to make the idea a reality! Mommy had a wonderful time making them with a sewing machine that didn't need to be fixed one time and the girls made Mommy and Daddy some interesting costumes as well in the meantime.
We had a short but wonderful visit with Uncle RJ and Auntie Megan who came in Saturday night to run in the LB half marathon on Sunday morning before we got to all hang out and enjoy a great brunch before they set off back to Norther Cal. and we headed to Tanaka Farms for a Daisy excursion. We got to take a trailer ride around the farm, go to a corn maze, a petting zoo, pick some veggies, and then the girls got to pick any pumpkin from the patch that they could carry to the check out lane. The only caveat is that it couldn't be over 20 lbs. Of course both of them were. Cienna's was just over and they almost didn't let Kaylee keep hers since it was closer to 23lbs. But she did carry it almost a quarter mile by herself and so they let her take it if she carried it the rest of the way to the parking lot.
Class picture day came before the Friday that included a Brownie meeting (also a play date with Addy for Mommy and Kaylee), followed by Cienna going to Paint and Glaze for Shawna's 9th Birthday while Kaylee, Mommy, and Daddy went to date night nearby. That Saturday we all played soccer yet again and Daddy got in the 4th game of the day refereeing to earn volunteer credits for Cienna's team. Sunday Mommy played another game and a half of soccer, Daddy started brew for the Thanksgiving holiday, we set up Halloween decorations, tracked down the ice cream man for the girls very first time, and got a hand me down bike that is just right for Cienna and just right for Kaylee to move up to Cienna's old one.
School is underway and Cienna is so excited to be learning so many new things including more advanced multiplication, and writing cursive. She has aced her spelling, math, and science tests so far. The girls are all maturing a little, so it is interesting to here about all the new drama that is happening, however Cienna's goal is to stop the drama and all be friends :) She thought it was funny to be getting her braces off when 3 of her classmates were just getting them on. She was excited, but wasn't so sure about the retainer. Once she got used to it (in a a day) she thought it was neat to be the only third grader to have one.
Kaylee is excelling in reading and becoming more confident everyday. She easily has the best handwriting in her class... probably in the family. She may not get all words correct in her practice spelling test but works hard during the week and has gotten all of them correct on her final tests! She's got math down, and is loving the science projects as well. She gets to now use Cienna's bigger bike when we go on family runs which makes us nervous because she had already been pacing us with 8 minute miles (until we tell her to slow down) on her tiny bike which she had to pedal twice as fast... uh oh.
Life is GOOD.
https://goo.gl/photos/uvR4jjzZMfeYFj936
