V-Ball Season in Full Swing

Volleyball Season has descended upon us like a tornado. I love coaching and like my team very much, but I will be the first to admit that it is crazy in our house for the 12 weeks of season. I had them over for a pizza/t-shirt decorating extravaganza last Friday. Combined with Adalyn's recent sleeping habits and an increase in hours at work, I am one tired puppy. I could really use a Rumba, one of those automatic vacuum cleaners but I think the massive amounts of dog hair would really bog it down.

No teeth on my baby yet, but I can't figure out the magic sleep schedule that will help get me more than 3-4 hours of sleep in a row. We are just so busy as a family that trying to get her into a schedule is more difficult than I would have imagined. But we muddle through. By this time next month we will be in playoffs with Varsity and hopefully doing well. And after that, I will have more time to figure out how to work this whole 3 kid thing.

Still, we try to have fun despite our crazy schedule. We've been hitting a local Farmers' Market regularly and last week we found the largest head of broccoli I've ever seen. After that picture I cut it down to a more manageable size and nearly cut my middle finger off. Did I mention how tired I was?

And we met a couple friends to go on a short little hayride on one of our fabulous Fall days. I love Fall and it always seem to fly by me with lightening speed. My tomatoes in my garden took a while to get going but really produced well. And it turns out, that since I am the only one who likes fresh tomatoes in our house, 7 plants was a few too many. Our co-workers got to enjoy much of our harvest as well as some family. Still there were many tomatoes I could not get to and I think they will reseed next year and try to invade the house!

Changing Pad Chuckles

Why are babies so happy on the changing pad? I remember with each one that that's where they always giggled and cooed and just thought they were the funniest things ever! This one has sound affects that I should try and get on video. It's like an elongated growl, which she tried to make all through dinner the other night. Not sure, but she may have her first little tooth poking through. She slept awful this week and last night finally slept through the night again. But I'm almost certain I felt something poking my finger when I checked. If only she'd stop wriggling so much!

School Firsts

Denver was off bright and early to start 1st grade. She was ready an hour ahead of time and asked every 5 minutes if it was time to go. She has a new teacher this year and while I am a little nervous that she only graduated last year, I don't want to be age-ist(?). I'm sure she will do fine!
Willa started going to the Pre-K program here and today was her first day on the bus. She did great and was just about as excited for school as she was that Daddy got to come home to see her get on the bus! She still had time for a quick finger snuggle(for those who don't get to see her often, she will frequently suck on her two fingers and place the other hand on her cheek. She insists that she is NOT tired!)

Firsts

As I write, the girls are at school for the first day this year. Denver starting 1st grade and Willa starting Pre-K(Pics coming soon but not yet). But before school started, we had a few other firsts too. First of the firsts, the girls went camping. Without us. A fact that did not make them shed one tear. The famous Aunt Tia took them to Jellystone Campground.

They have a very nice camper that they took and the girls felt right at home! It looked like a wonderful place for kids. Waterslides, hayrides, sandy beach, paddleboats, crafts, build a stuffed animal, playgrounds, miniature golf.. the list is endless! They had a blast, never cried once, and I'm sure must have yelled, "Aunt Tia" about 1000 times! They did not have cell phone service so I could only check up with them through a little IMing via FB. I did miss them but knowing they were having such a great time minimized the crazies that can sometimes go with missing your kids. And strange to me is the idea that they now have all these memories that have nothing to with Wayne or me. Happily my niece and nephew were able to join them and also another friend of ours and her son too. I am sad I missed it but between Ady and v-ball, there was just no way I could go.

Also a first for us was a garage sale. Usually I am the one stopping at them. I love a good deal. But this time it was for us to put on. There were so many things of Grandpas still in the basement that the family decided to hold a garage sale. I kept some things that I loved even if the memories from them were much before my time. And I was surprised at how great the urge was to snatch back some things, not wanting to part with the little threads of Grandpa. Surprised at how much it still stung to not have him here. What did not sell was donated to the Blessing Barn. A couple from my parents church that help out people who have nothing. Grandpa would have liked that.

Long ago, to be specific it was the day of Grandpa's funeral, a little boy accidentally rolled a ball into one of our basement windows. It had broken and we had temporarily put a piece of cardboard up to cover it and used some painters tape to keep it there. We always meant to fix it but like so many home repairs, it got pushed to the back burner. Well, a year and a half later, we finally got around to it. And when I say we, I really mean Wayne. There are some home projects you put off, thinking they will be long and involved and likely expensive. I guess this poor window made us cringe at the thought. But turns out it was easy and now looks quite nice. (Granted, I didn't actually do any of the work so when I say easy, it's because it required less than 10 trips to the hardware store and was done in a reasonable amount of time and I heard no swearing or mutterings during the repair) It's rare that a home project doesn't turn into something bigger than intended so what a nice change to have a weekend project, take less than an actual weekend!





There was still a bit of time for the excellent craftsman to pose for pictures!