7QTs - Horses, Baseball and Soccer

Same old, same new... 

--- 1 ---

E was invited to a birthday party that was at a horse stable.... Aside from being super excited about the party there was much anticipation about...

WHY ARE THEY SO AFRAID OF TINY LITTLE DOGS???

Anyhow, riding horse was a hit and I will never understand the minds of my kids but I guess that goes with the parenting territory?

--- 2 ---

After such a great neighborhood gathering the night before we were supposed to have an end of summer pool party but the weather wasn't fantastic so we relocated to our house and just had a grandparental gathering : )

The girls and I made Rice Cream Pie... 

The crust materials

That's all the ice cream???

Deep in discussion over puzzle piece location 

The kids cannot get enough Berenstein Bears... Mama and Papa can so who better to read it than Jibbe

E and Grammy reading The Name Jar - it came up on Amazon when I bought a book for E's homework and she ended up really liking it

So good : ) 

--- 3 ---

E finished her second Kindergarten workbook - I think it was Brain Quest or something like that - and it was just over 300 pages. She's been working on it all summer and this is what she picked out for completing it: 

There was much thought put into this purchase. She ALMOST left it and was going to put the prize $$$ on a gift card so she could save up for a bigger set BUT you know how it is being 5.

She surprisingly did the bulk of it by herself. She still likes to skip a step or part of a step here and there and I'm wondering if that didn't happen this time. As you can see we had to 'engineer' the plane a bit taller in the middle (note the bottom of the nose and top of the tail have gaps) because the people did not fit in the cabin area. Well whatever... she has been playing with it and she was going to bring it for show-and-tell Friday but then we are getting off the exit for school and I hear "I forgot my show-and-tell"

A. Opps... forgot to check the calendar
B. Exactly right, you forgot it. Don't point the finger at me (though I do like to give a general reminder)
C. Can you find something in the van to bring? Haha... yes of course! Have you seen our van?

This was what the van looked like on Wednesday morning after we had church on Tuesday night and then we stopped for dinner and didn't waltz in the door until oh... say 9:50

--- 4 ---

Now if Saturday birthday party and neighborhood gathering and Sunday church and family cookout weren't enough... Monday was Labor Day and we (sans M who got to hang out with Jibbe) trekked out to a baseball game with some families from church. 

So stinkin' cute in the oversized hat

Waiting... Not so patiently for the gates to open

Big hat + big chair

Lee and I were quite impressed how much of the game they actually sat and watched

No baseball game would be complete without cotton candy (gag!)

Silly sisters

So terrified of the mascot : ) 

So we had a blast of a weekend which made getting in the groove for Tuesday's regularly scheduled school madness just that much more hard to get back to. 

--- 5 ---

See what I mean... 

R is very attentive to Olaf's nap time spot

You think it is hard being a snowman? Try being 3!

--- 6 ---

This is worthy of it's own post... 

R headed off to 3 yr old class... More pics on that later

--- 7 ---

And lastly... but not least-ly...

Soccer started this week. Practice was good until 2 of the 3 kids - that would be our kids - left the field in tears... Bets as to which one (ehem... the eldest). Also it was the first practice so it was a little crazier than usual. Fortunately Papa was there to corral in M for the bulk of practice but there are several other younger siblings on the team so she is in good company. 

Now how do you go about explaining being aggressive but not being mean about it to a 5 yr old? PLEASE... insight. E continues to be frustrated as she wants to score goals but so does every other kid out there - except for R who was messing with her shoes during our scrimmage : )