Happy Halloween!

We will jump ahead for a more timely post to show our sweet girls in their Halloween costumes. What a cold night it was! According to Jeremy and the radio, it was our 5th coldest Halloween in history.  Thankfully, in true Iowan-speak, once the wind died down a bit it was much more bearable!

The girls didn't seem to get cold, and actually, Jeremy and I ended up walking around mostly by ourselves. The girls each found friends and left us quickly. It is just a reminder they are getting older! 

Lots of candy was collected, and once again, we ended our night with a Jack-o-Lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's. Yum! Our Barbie and Black Cat ended the night with a full stomach and a smile. 

1st Day of School

With all our fun summer activities, we are getting to the first day of school post two months into the year! The start of this school year was a milestone, as Aud transitioned away from elementary school into the land of middle school. It has been an adjustment, of course, but she has been working hard!  After struggling with opening her locker, she is now a pro. After getting a few tardies for classes, she is now on time. She has remained fairly organized with her class work and seems to enjoy changing up classes every 40 minutes. Social issues pop up almost daily, but I think we are in the thick of that for the next few years.  We have been proud of her adjustment!

Kate started fourth grade and settled back in quickly. She wasn't put with any of her best friends, but she loves her teacher, Mrs. Sanborn, and sees her friends at recess. She really does love school, except for the archery unit in PE.🙂 We are so proud of how hard she works.

Here's to a great year!

Kernels Game

To wrap up summer, Kate was chosen at the end of the previous school year by her teacher, Mrs. L, to get to participate in our school's day at the Kernels game. We thought she was going to get to run the bases, but instead, she was able to say, "Play Ball!" before the game started. It was so cool!

Thankfully something was cool because the weather was SO hot. Like, 100 degrees hot. Our seats were in the shade, which helped, but it was still a very slim crowd. Thanks to the slim crowd, our family also got to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" for the 7th inning stretch. 

We may have felt slightly affected by heat stroke, but it was a wonderful day to celebrate our wonderful former 3rd grader!

Cousins

The final weekend before school started we were able to soak in some extra time with cousins in Elkader. One highlight was getting in a last swim of the season. The girls and Lizzie thought it would be funny to recreate a picture from when my sisters and I were younger. It turned out pretty great!

While we were up there, Art in the Park was also going on. The girls were able to experience their first henna tattoos. It was pretty cool and a fun decoration for the start of the school year!

Flatland Ridge

One beautiful evening toward the end of summer, Geeka and Grandma invited us to go listen to a band they really enjoy. The band, Flatland Ridge, was playing along the river in Manchester. Plus, there were going to be free tacos! Win, win! 

The band was really enjoyable, the tacos were decent, and the girls danced almost the WHOLE night. It was so sweet! They both wore dresses and had their hair up, and it made us all smile to watch them dance without a care.  The only care the whole evening came when Aud was worried nuts were going to fall from a tree on her head. We ended up tricking her a few times and placing some on her chair.

What fun summer memories!