Tuesday, October 30, 2018

October Happenings

October has been full of sports, activities, family outings and Halloween prep!  Here are some photos of the fun we've been having...

Cassidy continues to enjoy her fall sports seasons.  She has been running in cross country meets as well as playing volleyball for SFX.  She was very excited to get her first serve over the net during a game this week.  She worked hard on that and we are so proud of her!  Her sweet teammates rallied around her to celebrate and I happened to catch a photo.  Keep doing your best out there, Cassidy!






I was able to join Tyler's Kindergarten class for a field trip to the pumpkin patch!  We had a beautiful sunny day.  They taught us about pumpkins, corn, and farm animals.  We made our way through a corn maze and rode on a wagon.  It was great fun!





We took a family outing to Lego Land to see their Halloween exhibit.  We always have fun here!







Cassidy competed once again in a Halloween-themed Irish dance competition, known as a feis (pronounced "fesh").  She entered into 3 specific dance competitions.  She earned a 3rd place ribbon in a dance known as the reel.  Congrats, Cassie!




Gavin is having a blast with his fall house league baseball team.  They made it all the way to the final game in the playoffs.  We've had so much fun watching them play.  Great job, boys!




Time to carve pumpkins!  Each of the kids had their own ideas on what they wanted their pumpkins to look like.  Cassidy was going for a Lego character name Uni-kitty; Gavin wanted a scary face with toothpicks mixed in; Tyler opted for a traditional jack-o-lantern face.  As always, Dad lends a hand with the messy part.  Ha ha.




 

Chicago Botanic Garden hosts an annual jack-o-lantern festival that features the carving work of artists.  Its so impressive and neat to see their creations.  Some artists are carving on-site as you walk by.  These were a few of our favorites!




Tyler loves to help out in the kitchen and I always welcome his assistance.  With the temps turning cooler, we have made some warm pretzel bites and some pumpkin pie.  Good job Ty.


Tyler also loves to draw and work on his words and labeling.  We love seeing what he creates!
Lastly - a shot of the backyard...the pretty fall colors have arrived!

Monday, October 15, 2018

Fun with New Phones

It was time for me to upgrade my phone, which meant a couple things.  First, we decided to surprise Cassidy by passing down my old phone to her, so she now has her own phone for the first time.  Second, my new phone has the new "portrait mode" feature, so my kids got to endure a fun photo session with Mom!  Haha.  I still need to play around with it, but I had fun snapping away at 3 kids I adore!  And Cassidy is enjoying reaching out to family and friends to say hello and text lots of pre-teen emojis.  Haha.
Surprise!