Halloween

I find myself posting in bursts this school year.  I've been really busy doing PTO stuff for Audrey's school.  Sawyer is at school for 2 1/2 hours every morning which actually only gives me 2 hours of free time.  It goes by soooo fast.  If I try to get on the computer when Sawyer is home from school he gets antsy.  He expects me to entertain him at all times lately.  I guess I should enjoy this since next year it's off to Kindergarten full time.

So, here's some pictures from the kids' class parties and Halloween night.  Enjoy!

 Sawyer's Young 5s Class

 Audrey's 2nd Grade Class

 Sawyer was set on this costume from early September.  It's actually a red Power Ranger but he calls it a red ninja.  He likes Ninjago and the red guy is his favorite.  Once he's made up his mind on something there's no changing it so I didn't even try to tell him this really wasn't a Ninjago costume.  In his mind it was. I think the reason he really wanted it was that he would get a sword to go with.  Audrey had her heart set on being Hermione from Harry Potter.  She has been reading Harry Potter since first grade and she relates to the bookworm, Hermione.  Once again, not the costume I would have picked, it's not very cute, but it's a holiday that is all about kids so I always let them pick.  I did make her wear a sparkly hair thing and sparkly boots.  I don't think Hogwarts would have liked that but oh well.  

 The four kids before trick or treating.  We had miserable weather this Halloween due to Hurricane Sandy, VERY windy and misty rain all day.  They didn't care though.  We didn't even take the wagon.  The kids ran to every single house in our sub, that's about 90 houses.  Needless to say, we have enough candy to last us until next Halloween.  

Fall Fun

 The winning pumpkins

 Helping me rake the little leaves we have. Every year the pile gets bigger.

 Buddies

 Carving night - Sawyer actually cleaned his out without gagging this year.

Best Buddies!  Trip to 3 Cedars Farm.

Panthers Season

This was our first year doing Panthers.  There are over 600 kids in SL involved in the organization.  It starts in first grade and goes through eighth.   It was a big commitment but for the most part Audrey really enjoyed it.  It started on August 1st with practices 5 days a week for an hour and 15 minutes.  After 2 weeks it moved to 3 days a week for an hour and a half.  Games started the last week of August and we had 7 games at 9am every Saturday morning!  None of us liked that.  Some of them were 45 minutes away and none of us are morning people!  We lucked out weather wise except for our last game when it was pouring and a balmy 38 degrees.  That let us know it was time for the season to end.  Our 1/2 grade football team went undefeated.  They don't technically keep score but you know they really are.

The season ended with Cheerfest.  Audrey's team did a cheer and pom routine, plus their sideline cheer.  The competition really brought back good memories for me.  It was run much the same way as my old high school competitions were.  They received a gold medal all around, although all the 1/2 grade teams do, but we won't tell Audrey that.  They worked really hard and actually looked pretty good!

Young 5s

Sawyer started Young 5s a couple weeks ago.  I never considered sending him to Kindergarten with his late birthday.  He really LOVES his class. He goes five mornings a week for 2 1/2 hours.  He's already told me that Young 5s is way better than 4 year old preschool.  The teacher places a lot more responsibility on the kids and makes them feel successful.  There isn't a whole lot of sugar coating in Young 5s, which I was thankful for.  His teacher seems very fair and consistent and doesn't cut them much slack.  I think the kids realize she has high expectations of them and know what these expectations are.  I really like that style of teaching.

I think he's clicked pretty good with his teacher, Mrs. Stephenson.  She is very no nonsense and not the warm and fuzzy, typical preschool teacher type.  Her personality is more like mine which is what Sawyer likes.  He doesn't care for the teacher that gets in his face, acts all cute and asks him a bunch of questions.  His teacher seems to understand that most kids take time to warm up to strangers and doesn't try to stuff anything down their throats. Sawyer's not really into any cutsie stuff so this class suits him well.  The class has 14 boys and 2 girls.  This Sawyer also likes.  Mrs. Stephenson seems very well suited for teaching boys and it reminds me a lot of my days in special ed when I'd have 18 boys and 4 girls on my caseload.

I know Sawyer will have a great school year this year and that the Young 5s class will prepare him for Kindergarten by making him feel confident and ready, even if it was almost $3,000 =)

In front of the ECC

Sawyer's first day of Young 5s and Derek's first day of 3s

Second Grader!

Super Excited

Mad that Sawyer kept trying to sneak in her photo shoot.

Can't remember what I said to make her happy but there was probably a bribe involved.

Audrey and one of our neighbors, Maddie.  I love their giant backpacks.

Her own locker.

Getting off the bus after the first day.

In her class.  Her teacher is Mr. Iverson.  Audrey wasn't sure how she felt about having a boy put after the first day she said she loved him and he was the best teacher ever.

Check out some of the kids at our stop.  There are several more that weren't in the shot.  Notice Derek and Sawyer trying to be part of the fun,  Sawyer really is mad that he doesn't get to go this year.

Finally!

Is what Audrey said when she lost her first tooth.  This happened during the last week of summer vacation.  She was so happy it came out before school started so she wouldn't be the only second grader that hadn't yet lost a tooth. I had the honor of pulling it out which I was excited about.  I love pulling teeth.

Audrey has shark teeth.  Her two bottom adult teeth are already coming in behind the baby ones.  Her jaw is very small and already overcrowded.  A large orthodontic bill is surely in our future.

The tooth fairy brought Audrey $10!  That's the trouble with losing a tooth after all your friends.  She heard from everyone what they got for their first tooth and the consensus was that $10 was the going rate these days.  Much better than the $1 we got in the 80s.  The funniest part was she made a survey for the tooth fairy to complete.  It included questions for the fairy to circle such as BOY or GIRL?  She left blanks for the tooth fairy to fill in for first, middle and last name.  Then asked about her flying techniques.  Sawyer also spent 10 minutes brushing and flossing his teeth that night because he was worried the tooth fairy would peek in on his teeth while she was in the house!

Panthers

Audrey started cheer/pom in August. Panthers is serious stuff here in South Lyon. In August she practiced 5 days a week. Now we are down to 3 with games on Saturday morning at 9 am. YUCK! She really has liked it so far which is good because she needs some physical activity since they only get gym for 50 minutes a week.

A couple weeks ago we had our Jamboree which is the opening day for the Panthers organization. There are over 600 kids in South Lyon who play football or cheer for the Panthers organization.

Audrey's had a great time cheering for her football playing friends. The girls have a competition at the end of October when they will do a pom and cheer routine and a sideline cheer. More on that to follow for sure.

Cousins!

A couple weeks ago we got to meet our new nephew, Breccan. I tried not to be a baby hog but couldn't help myself. Audrey is definitely following in her mama's footsteps and loves to hold babies as well. Breccan MADD his debut on June 25 and was a 9+ ponder but still seemed so small and cuddly!

Elkow Olympics

As you all know,we have a very fun neighborhood. We've had white trash parties,prom parties, we have our own 501 Club because it's always 5:00 somewhere and this summer we added an Olympics to the mix. It was Ben's birthday dream come true.

Each couple picked their own country name and many dressed accordingly. We had several different games and of course medals. Ben made a chariot out of his tractor which carried the keg. Good times!

Ben's 35th bday cake. He ate Beiber's head and made all the little girls cry. 

Summer Concerts

We've had the opportunity to go to some fun concerts this summer. I had a girls' night at Rascal Flats. I don't know their music well but it was a great concert. Then we went to Jimmy Buffet with some of our neighbors. It was a wild and crazy time, MSU tailgate similarities for sure. Finally, Ben and I went to see Coldplay for our birthdays. Hands down, best concert ever!

Oh NO!

Audrey broke her wrist while roller skating about 2 weeks ago.  I was holding her hand and she rolled over my foot.  I let go and down she went.  Thankfully, the break isn't bad and she will be in the hard cast for 4 weeks.  They will then re-xray and see if she needs a soft one for 2.  I'm hoping she won't need anything.  She started cheer/pom this week and a cast doesn't make things easy.

The crazy thing was that she didn't cry during the whole thing.  The doctors at the urgent care said they'd never done X-rays on a kid with a broken bone who hasn't cried. She was very brave and honestly I don't think I've heard her complain about the cast even once.  It is water proof so she can swim, thank goodness!  Otherwise I'm sure I'd be hearing lots of complaints.

The women in the our family have had a little bit of bad luck when it comes to broken bones.  I broke my foot in October.  Sue broke her wrist in June at my brother's wedding and my mom had a frozen shoulder and had to have surgery last fall as well.  Watch out Aunt Emily! You better not be next!

Surfside Beach Vacation

Due to my parents generosity we were able to have a second beach vacation this year! They rented a great beach house big enough to hold all of us.  Ryan and Justin got to come this year as well.  We had a great week relaxing on the beach, eating, drinking and playing games.  If you need a good game for a big group I highly recommend Telestrations.  You will get tons of laughs out of that one. 

Ben fulfilled his life long dream of catching a shark.  Yes, it was a baby, but it's still a shark.  He's standing on the pier that was just down a ways from our house.  If you went in the evening you could see 6-8 foot black tips swimming beneath the pier.  Kind of freaky considering we swam all week in that water just about a quarter mile down the beach.

Isn't she pretty?

 On my birthday we had a great dinner at Murrel's Inlet.  We walked along the boardwalk afterwards and then played putt-putt.

Family photo shoot

These are the fun beach time photos. Also featured is Uncle Ryan and Audrey making their clam documentary.  They would dig up clams and place them along the surf and watch them dig into the sand. It took Ryan and I over 30 years to realize clams could do this.  The kids are learning young.

 We had our own pool at our house.  The kids really enjoyed it.  Audrey even learned to walk on water while we were there.

 Fourth of July fireworks on the beach.  It was crazy.  I've never seen so many fireworks in my life. It also was a little scary because they were just going off everywhere.  They don't have strict firework regulations in the south.  Take a bunch of half drunk vacationers and some red necks and it makes for a very interesting fire work display.

Another exciting evening at the house....Miller, Bud and Yuengling taste test.  Ryan and Justin won getting all 3 correct. Much to our brother in law Rodney's disappointment, Ben and I mixed up Miller and Bud.  Rodney is a Miller sales rep.