Fall!

A couple of random photos I had saved before we left for Disney....I'll leave them here for fun

Cruzin' 4 a Cure

Joey & Jeff on the float at the fall festival parade

Our float was featured in the paper; this is us with the Killingers, one of the sponsor families this year!

The annual group picture during C4C

We had another wildly successful Josiah's Ride: Cruzin' 4 a Cure event in mid-October.  This year we again had two sponsor families; Camden Cooper and Leah Killinger.  Fundraising throughout the year and the day of the ride provide support for Zionsville families (this year, Camden's and Leah's) who are battling pediatric leukemia/lymphoma.  We are also able to provide gift cards to families via the local hospitals.

Friend Time

Just some random pics of the kids having fun with friends

Melanie and Molly at the Zionsville fall festival

Joey & Henry at their first official Union Movie Night (Joey has always had to be accompanied by a parent volunteer as a preschooler; now that he's in K, he gets to attend by himself!!)

Joey and Ethan cuddled up watching TV

Melanie & Alexandra at 2nd grade jog-a-thon

Joey & Evan at kindergarten jog-a-thon

Melanie & Ellie at a Home Depot DIY clinic

Melanie & Molly at a sleepover to welcome Mel's new bunk beds

Joey's class on a field trip to Country Market

Four of SEVEN kindergarten boys who live on our street!  (Joey's glasses are just a fashion statement)

Fall Softball

Melanie chose softball over soccer this fall; the price could not be beat for the experience.  During her first game, she had two base hits (one RBI); she certainly wasn't the strongest player on the field, but she had a great time, and stuck with it through the very quick season.  There were only enough girls for two teams, so the same two teams played each other for all 6-ish games :)

Happy Birthday, Diane!

The highlights from Grandma Diane's birthday party; I love the one of all four grandkids battling it out over the candles!

First Day of Kindergarten & 2nd Grade

We are excited for the first day of Kindergarten for Joey; he has Mrs. Sorgen as a teacher.  We have loved Mrs. Sorgen from the moment Melanie had her for Kindergarten two years ago; her name was Miss Compton then!  He has a lot of friends in his class, and we look forward to watching him grow this year!

Melanie has been out of her mind all summer, ready for 2nd grade to start.  I'm not exaggerating when I say this is the most excited that either of my kids have ever been about anything.  Melanie has Mrs. Masters this year, and we are excited to get to know her.  Mel has several friends in her class as well, and seems to be adjusting well to the fact that she is separated from her friend Alexsandra for the first time.  Mrs. Master's daughter is in Joey's kindergarten class; so there's another link between the two (although we haven't met the daughter yet either).

The kids will continue in the BAC (before/after care) program, but rode the bus today to add to the first-day excitement.  And apparently the first-day confusion, as I just got a call from school asking why they weren't going to BAC.  I guess notes in both backpacks weren't enough :)  Glad for the system of checks & balances, though!

Summer Summary

As the kids headed back to school today, I thought I would summarize the summer we just had!  It was a whirlwind; it rained for about a month, but we had a lot of fun!

We started the summer by Joey learning how to swim!  We brought his preschool teacher, Mrs. Tuttila, to our neighborhood pool every day for a week for semi-private lessons with Joey & his buddy Hadley.  At the beginning of the week, I didn't even think Joey could go under water without water wings.  By the end of the week, he was even using his arms for strokes, and swimming the width of the pool!  He's somehow lost the arm motion over the summer, but he's still doing great, and has a lot of confidence.  Melanie snagged a couple of lessons from Mrs. Tuttila as well, and continues to love to swim.  Both kids took 2/week lessons through their summer camp, and we ended the summer with Melanie in level 8 and Joey in level 2 at camp.

The kids spent the summer at day camp through GROW at Pleasant View Elementary.  The camp consisted of weekly field trips, the previously-mentioned swim lessons, another swim "free day" each week, and weekly trips to the library.  It was good for them socially, and kept them out of trouble :)  Additionally, Melanie got bussed from "regular" camp to one week of volleyball camp and one week of basketball camp; easy ways for her to be exposed to those sports on a short-term basis.  Joey had Safety Camp toward the end of the summer; a kindergarten prep class offered through the schools as well.

They had some fun overnights; Melanie went with Aunt Julie to celebrate Molly's 7th birthday in a Sellersburg hotel with a pool, each kid stayed solo overnight with Gigi & Poppy, there were sleepovers at Grandma & Papa's, we had the Boscherts overnight once, Melanie had her first non-family/family friend sleepover by having Alexsandra overnight (Molly & Aunt Julie joined for that as well).

We took two brief trips; a day trip to Newport, Kentucky (just over the bridge from Cincinnati), with Gigi, Aunt Julie, and Molly, and a weekend trip to Holiday World, just the four of us.

We got a basketball goal installed, attended the Hotdog Festival and the State Fair, co-hosted a Walk for Wishes team to raise money for Make a Wish, and did a week of Vacation Bible School (Joey's first year!)

Cheesy summary, but I do want to continue with the blog as my own reference point, so I'm just putting it all here!