A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

During the middle of October we took advantage of a beautiful Saturday afternoon and took a trip to a pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins for Halloween.

 Sammy wasn't sure where to begin. 

 We were all having a great time!

 Found the ones that were going home with us.

 Heading in to the corn maze.

 Sammy made it out first!

It was a great family outing!

Freshman Volleyball

Megan spent her summer and first 3 months of school playing on one of the two freshman volleyball teams at her high school (she goes to a huge high school - 1200 freshmen).  She continued playing middle blocker.  Even though her team didn't have a great season, we enjoyed watching her play and seeing her develop and improve her game. 

This is a friend from church that played on the other freshman team.  These two were both born on the exact same day! 

 Megan's 3 best buddies on the team.  These girls had a lot of fun together.

Megan with her coach.  This was at their awards banquet after he had cake smashed in his face by one of the girls.

Megan's First Homecoming

Apparently a lot has changed since we were in High School.  Back in our day, you went to the school Homecoming Dance with a date. While that is still true today, kids also go to the dance without a date. They just go with a group of friends instead.  After much persuasion, Megan finally wore us down and talked us into letting her go with some good friends.  We hustled to find a dress, and in the end she looked beautiful.

 Getting ready for the big night

All ready to go!

 Close up

 With her friends at PF Changs before the dance.

End of Summer Party

Sammy had been bugging us to let her have a summer party with her friends, but we had a hard time fitting anything in before school started.  Instead we had a party on the Friday night after school started.

We started by meeting at the pool for a pool party.  

They did lots of swimming, and then ate pizza for dinner.

After swimming, we came back to our house for cupcakes and a movie.

 It was really warm, so I should have put my cake in the refrigerator.  Since I didn't the frosting started to sink in the middle - oh well!

School Begins

The summer seemed to end too quickly, and then it was time to send all the kids back to school.  I decided to end summer with a fun idea that I got from some friends - ice cream for dinner! 

 I didn't tell the kids, I just waited for them to come to the table.

This was the reaction I got from the girls:

It's hard to tell from this picture of Megan, but they all loved it.  I think she had brain freeze. 

We had some big changes that came with a new school year starting.  The first was that Megan started high school this year.  Her first day of school came a day early when I got to spend the day with her at the school walking through her entire schedule.  It was a long day, and I'm glad that I don't have to go back and do it again.  She is in a class of 1200 freshman!  I wasn't allowed to take any pictures at the school - Megan's rule, but we took a couple before she left.  

 We were able to take an extra long lunch and go out to eat with some of her friends.

This next day was Sammy and Noah's turn.  It was also the second big change - Noah starting Kindergarten.  My kids are all in school all day long, and I am now an empty nester!

 The morning started out well.  He was so excited.

 Sammy and Ms. Keovanpheng

 This picture was right before the tears began - first mine, then his.  It was a rough morning.

This was the happy sight at the end of a great first day of school!