Fall is for Fun

So, after I blogged about how Chris and I are doing, I realized that I forgot to answer the third question I get asked all the time - How are the girls doing?  Actually, they are doing much better than anticipated.  I was worried about how this deployment was going to affect the girls since they were older and we hadn't done one in a few years, but they seem to take it in stride.  Afterwords I realized it was probably because he is in-and-out so often even when he's here that they are already pros at handling this.  So I've only had to deal with my emotional issues, which is good.  We do end up with a lot of sleepovers in Mom's bed, but I'm totally okay with that. :)

 

So we've just been truckin' on with all of our usual craziness, which I will discuss below.  But first, a couple pictures of my beautiful Autumn wreath I got and the pumpkins we had on display (we had to display them in the house so they wouldn't rot outside in the 80 degree weather!)

 

This Fall Aly and Kate wanted to do soccer.  This was Kate's first time doing an extra activity like this and I was interested to see how it would go.  It was interesting to say the least.  Kate loved playing with the other kids and seeing her friends on other teams, but the fact that there was a ball on the field was superfluous to her.  She said she liked practice better than the games because everybody got their own ball at practice.  She also liked running over to the sidelines to give me hugs during the game and LOVED the trophy she got at the end.  So yeah, I'm glad we stuck it through to the end, but I'm not sure soccer is going to be Kate's muse.  Maybe in a few more years if she wants to do it we'll let her try again.

 

Aly had a great season this year.  Her team did not win very many games, but I would give them the "Most Improved Team" award.  All of the girls on her team were really nice and had fun playing  together and encouraging each other, which is what I liked the most.  Aly learned more ball handling skills and how to be more aggressive, as well as doing a couple of assists on goal.  I'm really proud of her and how hard she worked.

At the end of the season I had another mom ask me if I was glad soccer was going to be over or if I was sad because it had kept me busy while Chris was gone. The answer is - both. I loved getting out in the sunshine and cheering on the girls and it was nice to make the first couple months go by quickly, but by the time Halloween hit I was ready to be done and just have some quiet nights to ourselves where we didn't need to go anywhere!

Kylie is my little ray of sunshine and happy as long as we're going somewhere or doing something.  She LOVED going to watch the girls play soccer and was the best echo cheerleader there was.  If I yelled "Go Aly" she'd yell "Go Aly", etc.  It was super cute.

 Kylie also loves having playdates with her friends and going to playgroup.  She also loves "coloring fireworks" (see picture below).  Her hair is finally long enough to put into a ponytail and she is adorable with that or pigtails.  I'm trying to hold onto that natural curl as long as possible! (The downside to the ponytails though, are that she asks me to tighten them every five minutes - no joke!)

Kate is doing well in school.  She just finished her 2nd Card at Mile Club and likes to have Kylie and I come have lunch with her at school.

Analise has been a gem during all the soccer craziness.  I think she was just happy for the times I'd let her stay home and have the quiet house to herself while I took everyone else to soccer.  She was even willing to unload the dishwasher or fold laundry for me while we were gone.  Here she is at her classes' Fall Party doing the candy corn relay.  I was there to help with pumpkin bowling and it was a lot of fun.  Analise's teacher has really helped Analise to bloom this year and made her "a quiet leader" by putting her in charge of groups sometimes to help her out of her shell a little bit.  She has also recognized Analise's great strength/passion for writing and told me "I hope Analise becomes an author one day", which is awesome, because Analise is always writing stories/newspapers/letters at home.  The girls have it planned out that when they grow up Lise is going to write books, Kate is going to illustrate them, and Aly is going to be the publisher.  Sounds good to me.

Aly has been my other great helper while Chris has been gone and loves staying as busy as ever.  She just finished her 5th card at Mile Club (25 Miles of running!) and is loving Chorus as well.  She had a solo in the Veteran's Day program and did a great job.  She's also been doing a little babysitting - Man! if she's this busy now, she's going to be hard to keep up with as a teenager!

Here was our setup for Conference in October.  The thing that impressed me most was how much the girls came in and listened with me while playing Conference Bingo or coloring.  I only require them to listen to the Sunday Morning Session and whenever the prophet speaks at the beginning and end, but they were with me the entire Saturday Morning Session and parts of the other two sessions as well.  I loved sharing that with them, because Conference is awesome!

Another thing we did in October was hit the pool a couple last times before it got too cold.  I told the girls how lucky they were to be swimming in October because in Utah when I grew up, more often than not it would snow at least once before Halloween and we would end up wearing our coats over our costumes.  My kids are spoiled, what can I say?

Another day we went to a state park on the bay with a bunch of families in the ward to play and go on nature walks in the woods.  Also, we had our great Military friends who were stationed with us at 2 military bases come to visit us for a weekend.  We had a blast while they were here!  We decided to try out some snorkeling -which was a great adventure.  Also, there was a massive aquarium in the making with some rather large hermit crabs.   October is one of my favorite months in the South - the weather is beautiful. 

 

And then, of course, there were the usual Halloween festivities.  Here is a picture of Aly as a 3 Musketeer - although we couldn't pin down the other musketeer to get a picture of them together.  Aly ended up being a cowgirl on Halloween itself.  Analise was a gypsy this year, Kylie was a bride, and Kate was a cheerleader for trunk-or-treat and a princess on Halloween.  I guess that's the thing about trunk-or-treats, they allow you to do multiple costumes in a year.

We did the annual "decorating of the pumpkins" - I wasn't up to carving this year - with the traditional pictures where you pose like the face you drew on your pumpkin.  I was also able to go to Kate's class party, which was a lot of fun.  When we went Trick-or-Treating this was Kylie's first year to really get into it.  Plus she was so cute and polite with her please and thank-you's that the people just gobbled it up. 

And finally, Aly turned 11 on Thanksgiving this year.  (More on that later).  She had a small party a couple days ahead of time, which mainly turned into a Wii Wipeout party.  But there was Oreo ice cream cake to be had, so all was well.  Only one more year until young women's - craziness!  I really am impressed with the young woman that Aly is growing into and I am excited to see her continue to grow and develop her talents.