September craziness

I have only had my camera with me once in the past two weeks!  Oops!  But here's what we've been up to lately:

Two weeks ago, Chris was in Italy all week.  It was the busiest week ever here at home, of course.  I somehow managed to drag the girls to two meet-the-teacher nights, a soccer game, two soccer practices, a ballet class, Katie's allergist checkup, and a tutoring session.  All after school.  We were wiped out by the end of the week.

But being the crazies that we are, we packed up Saturday morning to head to East Lansing for the ND-MSU game!  Chris drove straight from the airport to MSU and tailgated with us all afternoon.  Mom and Dad hosted a great party with tons of food, and we had a great time with them and all the guests.  Erica, Joe, and Stephanies flew in from Colorado, and Aunt Jenny, Aunt Christine, and Uncle Brian came from Ottawa Lake.  I didn't bring my camera, but Aunt Jenny posted some great pics:

Confused girls, decked out in part ND and part MSU

Joe's friends were great sports to play with the girls all afternoon.  They had fun playing soccer, ladderball, climbing trees, and slipping ice cubes down everyone's backs.  We all walked over to the stadium before the game to watch the band march in, and Erica wound up finding a pair of tickets for face value in the ND section, so she took Katie with her!  They had a fun time, especially being in the happy section of the stadium!  I drove jet-lagged Chris and overtired Meg & Jess home, and I listened to the first half on the radio, and watched the second half at home.  Yay Notre Dame!

Erica drove Katie back to our house on Sunday morning, and we enjoyed a full day of soccer.  All three girls had games, and all three did very well.  Erica stayed until Tuesday night, and we had tons of fun while she was here.

This past week was busy with three soccer practices AND three ballet practices in the mix.  Friday was the school's opening mass and was a half-day of school.  Jessica had a classmate's birthday party to attend, so I farmed out Katie and Megan to friends' houses for the afternoon so I could go to the party, too.  It was great to meet the other parents of Young 5's Fabulous Frogs!  And the girls were ecstatic to get playdates with their friends.

Friday night was the school's Fall Festival - fun times!

Jessi's first time rock-climbing

Jessi on more bouncy things

Katie tried the mechanical bull

All three girls got airbrush tattoos.

 There was also a photo booth, carnival games, horse-drawn wagon rides, a DJ tent, a cake walk, donuts and cider, and more.

Saturday was Chris' favorite race of the year - Dances With Dirt, a 50 mile trail relay race.  I have no idea why he likes to pay money to run through mud, but he does.  Here are his two teams this year.  They did great, and it only poured rain on one of his three legs of the race.

We had two soccer games yesterday - Katie's team won 4-0 and she played midfield very well, and Megan's team won 4-1 and she scored two goals.  Today we had two soccer games - Katie's team lost a close game 3-2 to a team that beat them 8-0 the first game of the year.  Jessi played tonight and had her lowest number of goals of the year, only six.  BUT she became BFFs with a little girl on her team, and they decided to "stick together."  They kept passing the ball back and forth to each other down the field.  It was the most adorable sight ever!  It is rare for 4-5 year olds to think about other players on their own team, they usually steal the ball from their own teammate without thinking twice.  So it really warmed my heart to see these two TRY to help each other score goals!  They kept looking for each other, calling each other's name, and kicking it to each other!  Just precious.

This week will have the usual afterschool craziness, but Katie's soccer winds down in just two weeks, so we'll survive.  Next weekend we have two soccer games per day, and Chris runs the Brooksie Way half-marathon on Sunday.  We can't wait for another fun weekend!