Breakfast with Santa and The Reds

We were so blessed this Christmas season to get the opportunity to attend Breakfast with Santa and the Reds.  This was a new event at Redsfest and since my parents are season ticket holders, we got to go! 

The kids were BEYOND excited to see Santa!  Sadly though, as soon as the mascots came into the room, poor Santa was pretty much ignored.  The Redsfest staff gave us a great picture of the kids with Santa, so there were none on my camera, but I got some great pictures with the mascots!!  The food at this event was super yummy and it was somewhat exclusive, so there weren't very many kiddos there.  This meant that our kids got a lot of one of one time with the mascots!  Gapper colored with them, several mascots played "catch" and "hot potato" with them...so fun!

I'm A Little Turkey, My Name is Ted

One of our biggest events at the preschool is our Thanksgiving Dinner.  The teachers plan a program for the students and we have huge Thanksgiving meal in the hall downstairs after the program.  We usually feed about 250 people.  This year was no different, EXCEPT Lilah is a preschooler this year!

She was soooooo excited to sing her turkey song in front of everyone.  She's about the furthest thing from shy, so putting her in front of a crowd is right up her alley.  She made it VERY clear that any family member not in attendance would be in TROUBLE.

Not to anyone's surprise the little ham did a great job during the program.  Again, thanks to Teri for these photos.  Mama was too busy being in charge of the event to take any of her own!

U6 Soccer

This fall was Brian's last season for U6 soccer.  Technically, we should have moved him to U8, but we wanted to give him one more season in U6 to see if it clicked.  He has played since he was just 4 years old and while he enjoyed it, it didn't seem like he would ever have an aggressive enough personality to really "get it." 

Well much to our excitement, he finally got it this season!  He scored 4 goals (jn 6 games) and really seemed to understand the concept of defense by the end of the season.  It was awesome to see.  His first goal came after a bribe from Nana, but once he scored and got a taste of success, he was determined to do it again and again!  He's such a perfectionist that he insisted on scoring by dribbling right into the net, so he had the ball A LOT and only scored when the situation was perfect for him. If we can get him to take shots from further out, he could score many more goals going forward.  He'll have to adjust to U8 in the spring, of course, so we'll see how it goes!

It was so exciting to see him doing so well though.  The best part was his little celebration run back down the field after scoring.  He looked just like his Daddy when he played in high school.  Some things are just genetic!

So in the spring, we will move onto U8.  It won't be long though before we'll be back on the U6 field with Lilah next fall.  

Photo creds go to Aunt Teri.  Thanks, Teri!

Halloween 2014

Brrrrr!  It in the low 40s for Trick or Treat this year.  BUT it wasn't raining, so we bundled up and made our rounds.  I had both kids in their snow suits under their costumes (I wore my snow pants too!) so they looked a little bulky, but they were warm!!

Our kids aren't big candy crazies, but they love getting outside in their costumes and seeing their friends.  They were sooooo excited!  October is a long month anyway, so there's a lot of build up!

They have had NO candy at this point...

Brian and his buddy Joe.

Getting LIPSTICK for the big night!!

Rollin' on the River

For Mom's birthday we took a Duck Boat ride.  Brian had seen one driving around downtown and he decided we should "surprise" Nana with a ride.  She wasn't all that surprised I'm pretty sure, but it was a SUCH a fun time.

The weather was great and the tour guide was a laugh a minute.  They played appropriate songs (like Rollin' on the River) and asked that we all quack along on our duck calls we were given for riding.  We even learned a thing or too about the area that we didn't know before.  This is definitely a tour I'd recommend to others! 

Yes, I am playing catch up.  I know Mom's birthday is in September :)

A Little Fall Fun

Picking apples! 

Our pumpkin patch!

We have been really lucky and caught some great fall days on the weekends!  We have never gotten to carve pumpkins outside...awesome! Hardly any mess.  I keep telling myself all of this makes up for the predicted 45 degree, rainy weather predicted for Halloween night...