Volleyball

This year Eleanor tried a new sport...volleyball! And she tried it at the middle school. 6th graders are only allowed to be managers (rather than players) so she and one other 6th grade girl managed the team. They were allowed to play in all the practices and in the scrimmages, but not the games.

She learned so much about the sport this year.

The team on game days dressed alike, especially toward the beginning of the season.

Eleanor's serve (by the end of the season, she was able to serve overhand!):

They went to a W&M volleyball game together.

And just had a great season.

So far, she is saying she wants to try out again next year. Go Eleanor go!

Pumpking Carving

Right before Halloween we had the annual pumpkin carving and soup potluck down at the marina. It was a beautiful evening! Usually there is a hayride, but unfortunately the hayride wagon broke, so the guy who has done it the last 20+ years is retiring from it. But we actually carved our pumpkin down there for the first time!

There were little crafts for kids.

We also got to watch the sun set.

Eleanor carved the cat on the top left:

Rosie was my champion carver, though, and carved a standard face. She really stuck with it all evening!

The littles also had a pumpkin decorating contest at school where they were supposed to decorate the pumpkin as a book character. Rosie picked Lil' Petey:

Jane did Betsy from Betsy-Tacy:

Ben did Dogman - and then rotated his pumpkin and drew 80HD and Big and Lil' Petey, too.

Lots of pumpkin fun this month!

Rosie and Ben's birthdays!

Rosie and Ben's birthdays actually started out the morning before their birthday with a breakfast out with dad! Due to our schedule on their birthday, we weren't going to be able to fit it in that morning. They went out to Chick-fil-A and hung out at Kidsburg.

Last pictures with my 6 year olds! We read Dr. Suess' Happy Birthday To You before they went to bed.

Then the birthday kids woke up bright and early to follow their birthday string.

Ben and Rosie both got some very fun birthday presents this year, some sweet and fun cards, and some great new books that they are excited about reading!

From there we headed in two different directions...Eleanor was off to an adopt-a-highway road clean up for the morning, and Chris took Ben to the park to have donuts with his friends, Tucker, Anthony, Will, and Ned.

Rosie, Jane, and I all headed out to the local recreation centers where they both had separate basketball practice and soccer clinics.

Then we came back together and hosted our small group for an evening get together. The kids did a mystery that involved a mix-up where the grown ups all bought different types of candy at different stores and the kids had to sort out who bought what where. Chris obviously was the architect behind this game. They loved it and had a great time! Then we did dinner and the kids watched The Wild Robot. Sadly, Rosie started getting a stomach ache and ended up not feeling well that evening. But she still hung in there.

The next days we were allllmost all birthday-ed out, but we hadn't done cake yet. So Rosie helped make and decorate their cake.

We went off to church and then in the afternoon, Rosie's buddies from school came over to decorate cookies. It was so interesting because she doesn't talk about a lot of friends from school and it was good to have them over and watch the interactions. She said she had a great time, but definitely was a little stand-offish and seemed a bit overwhelmed. We kept it short and she seemed to have enjoyed it.

Rosie with her buddies Ruby, Lizzy, Elle, and Nora (Ben was in the mix, too!):

And last but not least, we did cake!

Happiest of birthdays to our seven year olds! I can't believe how fast they are growing up!