Ben is EIGHT years old! He weighs 65 pounds and is 55 inches tall (70.5% of the way to Chris' adult height). Ben is creative, clever, and funny. He does not like to lose, and he does not like to be told he did something wrong or is at fault for something. He has tons of friends and is very social. He runs around playing outside with several neighbors around his age and loves to play anything sport-related. He is trying flag football for the first time and is his team's quarterback. He also played lacrosse last spring (not his favorite), basketball, soccer, and swam for our summer swim team. He is a fast runner and still loves playing with cars. He also loves drawing. He is a good artist and likes to write comic books. Ben says he wants to be an athlete when he grows up.
Rosie is EIGHT years old! She weighs 58.8 pounds and is 53 inches tall (79% of the way to my adult height). Rosie is bright, fierce, independent, and curious. She is always pushing herself to do things her older sisters can do. She is strong - her teachers told me they often watch her at recess doing pull ups on the monkey bars. Rosie has a couple good buddies outside of school, but at school mostly hangs out with the boys in the class. She plays football, basketball, or four square and eats lunch with the boys. At home, she and Jane and Ben get along pretty well. She looks up to Eleanor. She likes to dress up, she loves Taylor Swift, and she likes to read graphic novels. She enjoys playing soccer and has spent a lot of time in goal this fall. She played lacrosse, swam for summer swim, and also played basketball this year. There are still some words she says incorrectly like "grav" for "grab" and "cavinets" for "cabinets." She says she wants to be an actress when she grows up.
Eleanor made the volleyball team officially at her middle school this year! We were very proud of her! It was a pretty new team this year - the two 7th graders from last year were the only returning players, and then Eleanor was the only returning 6th grader from last year. They kept a larger team this year - 12 8th graders and 5 7th graders. Eleanor actually got to play though, which was not true for all the kids.
Eleanor became the team's libero early on. Some sort of local photographer took some pictures at one of the games and these are from them:
She developed a pretty solid serve throughout the season and was very reliable.
Hannah came to see a game:
Gaby, my Aunt Eileen, and Grandma came to one, too!
It was close, but they made the playoffs! They were the last team in, at number 6 (of 9). Antelope and Bonnie were also able to go and these picture are from Lauren:
Pink out game for breast cancer:
And the proofs of her "official" pics:
They lost their first game in the playoffs ending their season, but it was a very fun season! We are so grateful she had the opportunity to play this year! Some highlights:
Happy Halloween! Halloween started a little early this year with the kids decorating book character pumpkins for school - Jane made the Cat in the Hat and crocheted the hat herself! Ben did pigeon from the Pigeon books and Rosie did Elephant and Piggie from that series. Then Jane dressed up with her soccer team as the ghosts from PacMan for a mini-games night.
Then it was off to the elementary school for the Halloween parade!
And then Halloween! Rosie and Jane optimistically tried to carve a pumpkin between school and trick or treating and didn't get very far.
Then we went by our neighbor's house right after school - they graciously host a little get together so the kids can see each other before everyone starts trick or treating.
The kids looked great in their costumes!
This year for the first time, the kids' friends came to trick or treat with them. The older kids are starting to branch off and go with friends more rather than as a family unit. We also ended up having another new neighbor tag along with our group. She is new to the neighborhood so hasn't met a lot of friends yet.
The kids had SO MUCH CANDY when we got home. I think it was a combined 26-27 pounds. Unreal.
Chris stayed home and manned the firepit in our driveway while passing out candy.
Happy Halloween from Taylor Swift (midnights era), Rey (Star Wars), Jayden Daniels (Commanders), and Heidi (but not really, she just wore Auntie Mollie's dirndl to dress as a German girl).
And a little bonus video of Ben and Rosie being silly:
