Fall is Here...

We are really seeing the season change over to fall!  The kids are keeping busy with fall activities and fun outings.  Cassidy is playing both volleyball and cross country for her school's team.  She's working so hard and we are so proud of her great effort and positive attitude with both sports.  She also completed a school research project recently for her Social Studies class.  They were studying various tribes/groups in history, and she chose to research the "Mound Builders."  She worked hard to plan and create the visuals for her presentation.  Tyler and I enjoyed going to see all the 5th grade presenters!  Cassie continues to do pencil drawings in her spare time, and I posted below a photo of one she completed while we were in Florida in August.  She calls is "Nature Girl."  It's fascinating to see her artistic ability come to life in her drawings, and she just loves it so much.

Tyler has been busy the past few weeks practicing his bike-riding skills.  He was tentative at first, and it took some good practice, but he's up and riding!  His mohawk helmet was at the top of his birthday wish list this year.

Gavin and his great buddy Will got a nice treat when Erik and Dan, Will's dad, surprised the boys with last-minute tickets to a Wednesday night Cubs game (a school night!).  While we wouldn't normally have Gavin out that late with school the next day, this was a special circumstance - this was game 4 of the NLCS against the Dodgers.  If the Cubs lost, it would have been their final game for the season.  But as luck would have it, they won!  The boys got to see a fantastic win at Wrigley together, under the lights!  (Unfortunately, they went on to lose the next game, so the Cubs season ended there!)  Erik had another fun Chicago sports outing, this time with Cassidy - they went together to the Bears game.  They had an amazing tailgate with some fun friends and all sat together for the game.  The Bears beat the Carolina Panthers, so another fun win.