Hooray for Halloween!

Halloween preparation started early this year, when Avery found a decoration at Lowe's at the end of August that he absolutely loooooved.  It was a 6 foot tall animatronic skeleton in a large cage, whose eyes glowed red and all of the bones intermittently shook.  It was also $179 dollars.  Sooo.....based on price and limited amount of storage space we have here, I had to pass on that decoration. (Fast forward three months to mid-November when Avery told Ninny that he was saving up the money in his pirate chest to buy that shaking skeleton....*heart breaking*....worst. mother. ever). 

 

Seeing that skeleton got Avery in the mood for Halloween, and he spent the next two months drawing all kinds of pictures with scary witches, ghosts, werewolves, and vampires.

Of course, we had to bust out the personalized Halloween shirts that Ninny made for the kids last year.  Everyone on the playground commented on them.

 The kids had to break in their Halloween costumes of a ninja and fairy one month early.

 Avery loved coloring the fall puppets MawMaw sent him.

We attended a pumpkin carving party a few weeks before Halloween.  Note: there is no picture of the final pumpkin because apparently I can not carve art into the side of a gourd.  I am not surprised.

 My pumpkin is the one with the bat on it....or the pumpkin that looks like it got shot in the face at close range.

 We had to have fun at the Halloween/party stores, trying on masks and wigs.

 In lieu of the disappointing carving job by Mommy, we decided to paint the rest of our pumpkins.  Thank God the kids have more creative artistic talent than I do.

And finally, the night of Halloween arrived!  We enjoyed trick or treating with Avery's little buddy down the street.  And I don't know what is going to happen in February when the plastic pumpkins are finally empty and the kids realize that dinner is not automatically followed by a piece of Halloween candy.  Prepare for mutiny!

Kayla's Soccer Season: Fall 2014

Kayla played soccer for the second time this year.  The first season was rough, as she didn't start enjoying playing and listening to the coach until almost the end of the season.  On the day of her first practice during this new season, it looked like she was going to do the same thing again.  She was reluctant to get dressed and sat out most of the practice, just watching everyone.

 However, Coach Fred (who is the most amazing coach, by the way) eventually drew her out onto the field.  By the end of practice, she was glued to Coach Fred's side.  He even let her stay for the next practice and had her show the next team all of the drills.

Kayla loved the soccer practices.  She was by far the toughest girl on the team (there was a total of two, haha), and she could keep up with the biggest of the boys.

 

Games were a little different.  Kayla tended to hang back and follow the clump of three year olds chasing the ball (anyone who has watched three year olds play soccer knows exactly what I am talking about).  She didn't like to take the ball away from anyone (I guess we taught her well???).  However, once that ball was fair game and there was no one around to take it from her, she was a machine!  I think for a three year old, she had pretty great dribbling and maneuverability skills.  And every goal she kicked was with her left foot.

Kayla was so smitten with Coach Fred, constantly hugging him and following him around.  In this picture, she was taking a rest break in between plays but kept a hand on Coach's leg the entire time.

 Kayla was so excited to get her second trophy and medal!

 Here are a couple of videos of Kayla playing soccer:

Avery's Soccer Season: Fall 2014

 Avery played soccer again this fall, making this his 3rd soccer season played.  He has played with his buddy, Garrett, and has been coached by Garrett's dad since he was three years old.  Most of this season's team were together in the spring, and their familiarity with one another along with Coach Brandon's fabulous guidance resulted in a season full of wins or ties.  During this season, Avery worked extremely hard on running faster, being more aggressive, and taking more shots at the goal.  He was also really good at passing the ball, which is a skill that hasn't be taught yet at this age.  I am so proud of Avery for all of his hard work this fall.

Like the bad mommy I am, I realized that I did not have many (any) pictures of Avery playing.  Most of my pictures from his games are of Kayla on the sidelines, who preferred the lap of our friend, who is the team mom, over mine.

 Luckily, Avery's Super Daddy paid attention during every game and had lots of videos to share.

Avery's last Saturday game of the season was cancelled due to a drop in temperatures (in the 40's) and was made up the following Monday evening.  It was our first experience at a night game and it was pretty cool!  Even though the kids were tired from a long day at school, they still had a great time hustling under the Monday Night Lights!

Avery was proud to collect his 5th trophy and medal for playing sports.