November wrap-up

November was lovely! We got some beautiful weather and then also a spell of freeeezing (literally) weather. The leaves are beautiful, and unfortunately now falling. We are doing a ton of raking because the leaves have piled up so high we need to bag some of them and get them out of the way. We celebrated Thanksgiving and Ben and Rosie's birthdays, spent time with family, and wrapped up the first quarter of school.

Shug and Rachael came down to visit:

We covered the neighborhood pool for the season.

Ben and Rosie's writing about raking leaves:

Eleanor had a random day off school unexpectedly due to a storm that knocked the power out at her school. She got to hang out with grandma and make caramel macchiatos and then hang out with Bonnie (whose school was also out of power since she's in the same parking lot as Eleanor).

Ben reading during the PTA meeting in the school library:

Working on putting up Christmas lights before it gets too cold. 

Kids under the tent at church before it got torn down. Our church has maintained an outdoor service since Covid because it fits a need in our community and they are now tearing down the "temporary" tent to build a permanent structure. Some of our kids aren't even old enough to remember what church inside was like.

Jane on the jumbotron at a William & Mary basketball game. WJCC schools took all 5th graders on a field trip to this game. It was such a special and fun field trip!

We got to see cousin Sally get dedicated at church!

Kids being silly:

We sold our beloved chariot - it carried many a kid for many years and was arguably my favorite piece of baby equipment we ever owned. We haven't used it in a long time now though!

We also got ride of our kids' first waterbottles - from left to right is Rosie, Jane, Eleanor, and Ben.

Rosie and Jane made pancakes one day. Rosie with her stack vs. mine, hah!

Rosie dressing up and performing as Mira from K-pop demon hunters.

The girls and I saw Wicked For Good and it was so good!

We said goodbye to this giant chair that no one really sat in. But Ben was very sad to see it go!

Leaf collection day is coming up...Chris has been hard at work!

I cleaned out Jane's backpack while looking for something and man was it gross.

I love November and always hope to get myself set up to enjoy a peaceful December. We'll see how that goes! Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

Kid Dates 17

I am getting behind on these, but here's another round of kid dates! Eleanor and I did Busch Gardens for Howl-o-Scream one night.

Chris took Jane to McDonald's - her choice for lunch:

Chris and Ben went golfing - it's becoming an annual tradition on election day!

  

Rosie and I went to Busch Gardens and we got some ice cream and Christmas shopping in!

Jane's fall soccer season

Jane tried out this year for a travel soccer team. She had spent a season last year getting routinely rained out, playing for two teams (hers and Eleanor's where she was by far the youngest kid on the field), and we honestly didn't want her doing the same this year (where she, being 9 years old at the beginning of the season, would be going up against 16 year old boys if she played Eleanor's league in addition to her own). So we caved and let her try out, but it has been such a great fit for her. She is on a team of girls where they are all similarly aged, have similar dedication and ability, and they play challenging teams. 

Richmond United Red Premier 1-0 win! J played center mid the whole game. 

Their second league-play game ended 2-1 on a last minute shot. The girls had dominated possession the second half of the game so we were really excited for them!

Third game 3-1

Fourth game got canceled halfway through due to thunder and lightning but counted as a 1-0 win! Fifth game they lost 5-1.

Sixth game they won 2-1

They lost their 7th game, and tied their 8th 3-3. Then it was tournament time. Like their early season tournament, they got absolutely crushed. They still had a good time, but it's disheartening to go in and have all these very impressive teams play down a bracket so they can dominate.

Jane working on some clips for her tournament - they were very cute!

It was a great fall season!