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Halloween

Sawyer's 42 lb pumpkin and below is Audrey's 33lb pumpkin. You may ask why, as I also ask myself, we have 75 lbs of pumpkin. There is an explanation. Usually we go to a big pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins. You rarely find ones this big. Due to my broken foot we went to a roadside stand and they pretty much only had HUGE pumpkins. So, we came home with 75 lbs o' pumpkin.

Sawyer much preferred a pumpkin where he didn't have to touch the insides. We had less gagging from the texture and smell this year but still at little. He was willing to pick out seeds if we scooped the guts out onto the table. He did that for a few minutes before he retreated to the family room where it didn't smell like pumpkin.
Spiderman for Spiderman and Sparty for the MSU Cheerleader
Bad Ass Spiderman, or "Fidaman" as Sawyer says it, shooting webs

Buddies ready to trick or treat
"Will run for CANDY!"
Audrey and her 143 pieces - organized, counted and sorted. She did all of this before she even ate one. This girl is the master of delaying gratification. She does it all the time and it amazes me that a 6 year old can do this. Sawyer on the other hand stuck his hand in his pumpkin and ate the first thing he pulled out.


Every year I want the kids to be something coordinating. The only time it happened was when Sawyer couldn't talk and they were Mickey and Minnie. Ever since then he's had a serious opinion and knowing how stubborn he is I knew it just wasn't worth the argument. Plus, Halloween is a true "kids' holiday" so I figure I should just butt out. Sawyer was sold on being Spiderman as of November 1, 2010. He didn't forget over the year so Spiderman he was. I had a vision of Audrey being the MSU Cheerleader and Sawyer being the Sparty Football Player. Oh well. He declared that next year he is going to be Darth Vader, so unless I can convince Audrey to be Princess Leah I won't be getting my wish for Halloween 2012 either.

School Parties

Sawyer's 3 year old preschool class
Audrey's class (1/2 split)
I had to put this one on because that's Audrey's "friend" next to her in the parade. She was so excited that he was a MSU football player. You should have seen her face, OH BOY!

Football and my Foot

I'm trying to find the silver lining in a very annoying situation. Being that I'm fairly superstitious, I'm also trying to look for a sign for the Spartan football team. Here it goes. My senior year of college I broke my foot in October. MSU had a great football season that year. I remember a football season full of me hobbling around at all the tailgate parties wearing my big walking cast. We ended up only losing 1 game (I think) and went on to defeat Florida in the Citrus Bowl.

Flash-forward to October of 2011. I walk (or fall) off my front porch and break the same foot in a different spot. This time it has been MUCH more painful. I was on crutches for 10 days and will be in the boot for 4-6 weeks with no exercise for 8-10. It's been 2 1/2 weeks and it's still purple. However, the Spartans are kicking ass on the football field. I think it all comes down to my foot. Let's just hope we can make a Rose Bowl appearance this year and it might just make this whole foot trouble worth it (probably not because this has been REALLY bad), but I'm just trying to look for a silver lining.

Star Student

Here's a little something I forgot to report on in September: Audrey came home on the second Friday of school and while I was cleaning out her backpack I found a sharing bag and other information about the Star Student. I held it up and asked her what it was. She said, "Oh yeah, I'm the Star Student." I would have thought she would have come running off the bus to tell me. She was super excited once she remembered but the 20 minute bus ride home must have had her 6 year old mind focused on other things.

Anyways, I was probably as excited as she was! She was the first one to be chosen in her 1/2 split class. The teacher explained on their class website that the Star Student had to be a good role model, be kind to everyone, be a hard worker and make good choices. I know Audrey is a very good listener and good student, but to have her picked first in her whole class made me a super proud mom!

The Star Student had a lot of responsibilities for the week (meaning if I forgot any of them I was in big trouble). On Monday she had to fill a bag with items to tell the class about herself and her family. On Tuesday she had to bring her favorite book to read to the class. On Wednesday we had to write a letter about Audrey for the teacher to read to the class. On Thursday, I got to bring her lunch and eat in the cafeteria with her. And on Friday her classmates made a book for her. She also got to be line leader for the week. So, the whole thing was a big deal to Audrey but it was for me as well. Ben and I are very proud of her!

Pumpkinfest

They had an awesome face painter.
Had to post this picture of Sawyer's favorite part of the parade. A genuine Batmobile! He's still talking about it 3 days later.
Audrey and some of the 18 girls in her Daisy troop!

This past weekend was South Lyon's annual Pumpkinfest, which includes a parade and lots of kiddie activities, plus a beer tent for the adults. It is a tradition that every year it is either rainy or FREEZING for Pumpkinfest. Last year we actually did not go because the weather was so bad. As I type this today the weather is 75 and sunny. The forecast for the next 7 days is 70s and sunny. Last weekend it was 41 with a brisk, 20 mile per hour wind from the north, go figure. We couldn't get out of the festivities this year because Audrey walked in the parade with her Girl Scout troop. I didn't think she'd like it because she's more of a sitter than a walker. She proved me wrong and had a great time waving and holding her troop's banner.

After the parade we had to go home for 2 hours and warm up. Once we were 80% warmed we went back for the bounce houses, elephant ears and face painting. The kids love the event and didn't seem to mind the cold as much as Ben and myself did. On the bright side, at least it wasn't rainy this year!

Something about Sawyer

There's just something about Sawyer that makes me laugh. He says the funniest things. It isn't that what he says is always funny, but how he says it. It's hard to replicate on the blog because you just have to hear his voice. Think Boston accent, mixed with Long Island, mixed with a typical 3 year old voice.

Here's some of his thoughts lately (quotes directly from his mouth):

• "Squirrels (sqwils) are the best battle fighters because the have big tails and can walk on lines."
• "I am the best battle fighter though, better than sqwils." (Don't ask me what a battle fighter is or where he heard the term battle fighter. Also, I think it's funny that he thinks that squirrels are good fighters).
• "I'm one crazy (cwazy) dude."
• "I don't want to eat chicken ribs (spare ribs) for dinner." (This is partially my fault because anytime we have meat I just put the word chicken in front of it so he'll eat it. He's even eaten calamari and liked it because I told him it was a chicken tender. Other examples are, chicken pork, chicken turkey, etc...)

I just had to record these for my sake so I don't forget.

Sawyer's First Days of Preschool

After a summer of saying he wouldn't go to school without me and that I had to stay with him I was slightly worried for 3 year old preschool to begin. The first day of class the parents come with the children and stay for about an hour. The second day the kids are on their own. The first day went well, as I knew it would. He was clingy but that's normal for him when he's in a new environment. Two days before his first "real" day he started saying, "I'm going to school with no moms and no dads". Once he made up his mind that this is what he was going to do, there was no looking back. He loved the first day and I even got there a little early to pick him up. I of course spied on him and he seemed to be having a great time playing with a little girl in one of their wooden boats. He kept bringing her hard hats and football helmets, they'd put on the hats, rock for a while and then he'd go get them different helmets. It was pretty funny. He goes tomorrow for his second solo day and he's excited. However, he does still say that he's going to Michigan State with me, we'll remind him of that when he's 18. I think I'd be a real damper on his college fun, even though I was tons of fun in college!

We have a first grader!!

I can't believe we have a first grader! Audrey was super excited for her first day. We convinced her to go to bed early last night because it would just make the day come sooner. I didn't sleep much because I just kept thinking how hard it is to believe that she's in first grade. I think this year will be a big transition for all of us, Sawyer included. He is really going to miss his sister. They play together all day and let's face it, I'm not as exciting to play with as she is.

Her class is a 1/2 split. This will be great for her with reading because she'll be able to read second grade books all year and not waste anymore time like she did in Kindergarten. She will go to another first grade classroom for a little while in the afternoon for the science and social studies curriculum. I'm happy about that because it will give her an opportunity to be with more first graders (there are only 10 in her class). All literacy and math instruction will be done in the split class. I'm a little worried for her to go to gym with well over half the class being a year older than her. Most of you know, athletics are not her thing. Hopefully this doesn't intimidate her and make her dislike gym even more. Last year she told me her gym teacher was "too sporty".

As for myself, it is hard for me to think she is going to spend more time with this random teacher than at home with me. It's been six years and there have only been a handful of days where she hasn't spent the majority of her time with me. But, she is very ready to be in school all day, even if I might not be. I know we've done a good job preparing her for school and I know she'll do great. Although it's hard, it's our job as her parents to let her go.

So, here's to another great school year!

South Carolina Vacation

I have so many pictures from this trip it was hard to choose. We had a great vacation with my parents in a big beach house in Surfside Beach, South Carolina. Due to the bad weather we always experience when we go up north, we decided to head south for our big trip. Boy was it worth it! We had wonderful weather, warm ocean breezes, a great beach and a VERY warm ocean. My kind of vacation.
Kids hitching a ride at Muriel's Inlet
Audrey got a hole in one!

Sawyer playing with his favorite bulldozer that used to be his Daddy's.

Eating peanuts with papa
Audrey learning to play the crazy bocce/cornhole game.

Sawyer loved riding the waves
Audrey loved digging for clams
We had a kid free night out
Happy Gilmore playing beach golf
Thanks Grandma and Papa for a great trip!
Everyone also loved the pool that was partially under our house. It was nice to have some shade.

Downtown Detroit Fireworks

Some of the neighborhood gang
More of the neighborhood gang

My gang

Notice there is a theme with the word gang in the above photos. We took a trip to The D and witnessed a lot of gangster activity. Let's just say the rumors about Detroit being a shitty city are true. My neighbor Bonnie works for GM and was nice enough to take 30 people from our sub to the secured GM lot to watch the fireworks. We were right on the river in a fenced in lot with the thugs surrounding us. Oh well, our kids are from South Lyon and need some culture sometimes. As for the fireworks, they were amazing. I took pictures but the don't do justice to how great the fireworks really were. I don't think I'd go back again unless I was on the rooftop on the RenCen Building. Let's just say free events in Detroit aren't for people from the 'burbs.

Up North

Boys going fishing
Audrey reading in her cabana (Little House on the Prairie). She's read it 3 times now.
Happy Father's Day to the #1 Daddy!

Beautiful Otsego Lake sunset

Although we decided not to take our long summer trip up north this year we had to get in a long weekend. As a general rule, the weather sucks up there but I still love it. We went for Father's Day weekend and we actually got one full day of amazing weather! That's like hitting the lotto up there. We went to Otsego Lake, as always, and the kids had a great time. We did lots of swimming, fishing, playing in the sand, bike rides and campfires.

Taylor Swift

Taylor floating in her balcony, this made me nervous.
Friends before the concert at Red Robin
First concert ticket

Only Audrey could have me excited about attending a country concert. I've actually grown to like Taylor Swift over the past year or so. This was Audrey's first concert. It was a hit for sure. She especially loved the fact that Taylor changed her outfit about 15 times during the show. Every time she went back stage Audrey would say, "I wonder what dress she'll wear next?" It was fun to watch her dance around and sing the songs, even if she did mess up 50% of the words. Hopefully she'll always like this wholesome type of music. I'm not counting on it though.