October

Started off our October with a kayak trip with the kiddos.  The water level was low so there was a lot of paddling on this longer trip.

All that paddling and these kids wanted lots of stops and breaks.

Ella finishing the trip very proud!

Had my first hair appointment since May!!  It felt so good.

And what is October with out the annual Octoberfest stein holding competition. LOL!

I came in 2nd but should have held on longer. LAME! 

The kids painted their pumpkins double sided this year.  Eli did Luigi on one side 

And Mario on the other.

Josie did a pickle and Ella a witch

And then a ghost for J and spider for Ella on the other side. I don't think Ellas spider looks much like a spider....

We did our annual halloween camping where the kids get to go around the campground and trick or treat.  Ella is a zombie football player

Josie a ninja

And Eli is Luigi

The groups kids all dressed up

There were some very cool decorated campsites like this Mario themed one that Eli sure liked.  I mean Luigi liked!!

Josie looking so grown up!!!

The weather was so great our Halloween trip and it looked to be a repeat the next weekend and we wanted to take advantage.  Some camp grounds were closed because we were getting to the end of season.  We had such an amazing view from our site with the lake, sunrises and sunsets.  The weather was absolutely beautiful!

I took full advantage of golden hour.  Wish we were all dressed up and not in our camping clothes...

Merica!

Absolutely great day on the lake.  No swimming though cause the water was cold..it is the end of October.

And the kids school pictures came back and it is another year of good pictures!!

And the end of soccer as the CHAMPIONS!  Their team came in first place.  It was so fun and I am so proud of how the girls played!  Great job girls!

Pic with friends and their medals! whoop whoop!

And at the end of this month we lost my dad.  I will do a separate post but October ended with a cloud of gray.  More to come...

September

 September in full swing with back to work and school and that includes school pictures, even for me! LOL!  That is just a whole lot of me....

We had spirit week at work including hippy and twin day

Nailed twin day!

We were able to visit some friends after a soccer and it was SO GREAT to catch with them.  It had been WAY to long.  We met at their "lake house" and Ella got the taste of driving with a golf cart.

Clearly we all felt safe, including her! LOL

JK!  She did just fine.  She was a little nervous at first but by the end I had to tell her to SLOW down!

We had many soccer games and it was really fun to watch the girls play.  

And many practices too!  

Another Be the Light glow walk for suicide and mental health in the books 

And lets not forget about the awesome weather we had and were still able to boat.  We had quite the crew!  What fun!

And that is a wrap of September.  Back to schedules and routines with fun scattered in there!  

August-The Dog Days of Summer

Once we got back from Wisconsin trip 5 days later my BFF and her husband came for a visit!  

She is good for the soul! 

I didn't know how much I missed her until we hung out.  Life gets busy and since she is not always in Bowling Green when we are and kids and family stuff, we don't always get a visit in.  It was soooooo good to see her!  

And she stirred up all our college songs on her play list and that's all I have been wanting to listen too.

And we got them out on the boat! Lots of sun and laughter and catching up that weekend. 

With all the flight delays it took them 2 days to get home!  I am so mad about it cause I doubt they will come again after that debacle!

The next weekend was the LAST weekend before I had to go back to work.  And the YMCA happen to have roller skating going on.  

Of course, I ROCKED it ;)

Josie was a quick learner and was doing really good skating.  She was MVP for the night.

Eli fell at least 500x's in the first hour of skating.  He didn't give up and did get better and fell maybe 100x's after that.  Even with all of his falling he had a blast.  He was even getting daring and going under the bar by the end.  I gave Eli Most Improved for the night. 

And Ella, little Ella...She fell more than Eli, never really got the hang of it but some how won one of the games by crawling around on the floor!  She was the winner of that hat.  

All in all it was a FUN night with the kids and they all enjoyed it and want to do it again and it was something different here in Ottumwa.  I hope they do it again because we will all go again!

That was it.  Summer was "over" for me.  Back to work I went.  

Enough of that garbage

We were asked to play in golf tourney that next weekend and that was the SECOND time I golfed this summer.  Woah! Don't worry, it did not help my game!

Ella had been wanting her hair cut short and I FINALLY took her.  She changed the look up with some layers!  Here is the BEFORE!

And the AFTER!  She loves it and I am getting used to it! 

And just like that, the first day of school is here!

This is the girls' LAST year at this school. They will head to middle school next year and just CANNOT believe it.

Josie is going into 5th grade wanting "more weekends!"

Eli is going into 2nd grade and he will ROCK!

And Ella going into 5th grade as sweet and cute as ever!

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL year with lots of friends, learning and excitement!

And why not throw a little fender bender into the mix of this busy summer.  Thankfully it was only a fender bender and the truck is fixed and back already.

And that first weekend after school started we were home with NO PLANS!  It was NICE to just be at home, get stuff done around the house, relax and have a NIGHT swim.  It was an awesome night and the ambiance is not captured in these pictures.  Great at home family night!

And just like that August is over!  We are well into the swing of school and work and now all the fall activities again and Ella's face captures exactly how our schedules will be for a while....CRAZY!

More on the fall activities to come!