Busy – that pretty much sums it up. Let’s see if I can remember everything they’ve been up to the past year.

Adam: He’s settled on soccer as his sport. He played on the modifed team last year in 8th grade and also on a travel team this past year. He also kept busy (there’s that word again) with school and finished middle school with three high school credits. He found out today that he made the JV soccer team and we are so excited for him.

Luke: I love how much Luke loves baseball. He played on a house league team this past summer and recently made a travel team for the upcoming year. This was a big goal of his and he worked so hard to achieve it. We could not be more proud of him. Luke also played basketball this past winter. He did very well his first year in middle school and participated in orchestra (violin) and chorus too.

Maggie: Maggie is all about dance. She was on her studio’s lyrical competition team this year. She also took lessons in ballet, hip hop, tap, and acro. Maggie took a tumbling class as well and sang in a youth choir. She also took part in chorus and band (trumpet) in school. She’ll be dancing a solo next year and can’t wait.

Annie: Annie rocked kindergarten this year. She was in gymnastics this past year and took ballet and tap classes as well. She also loves soccer. She loves math and has been working really hard on her speech and reading. Annie keeps saying she’s interested in softball, we’ll have to see how that will fit in.

So yeah, busy. We are definitely that. I love watching the kids do what they love though and I’m so glad that we’re able to provide these opportunities for them.

Just remind me of that in the middle of September when we are trying to figure out how to be in four places at once.

Last month the girls’ dance studio had a week where guests were invited to sit in on classes and see what they’ve been working on.

Maggie is taking five different classes/styles of dance this year and my favorite to watch was her acro class.

Maggie is so strong and so intentional with her movements.

It was really awesome to see her so focused.

And incredibly impressive too.

But, not entirely surprising either – she is constantly practicing at home.

Acro was also the first class I sat in on, and I think I used up all of my paparazzi energy there. The other classes were great too though.

Annie takes a ballet class and a tap class.

Tap is her favorite because it’s so fun. It’s not letting me share the Annie video links the same way that I was able to post Maggie’s, but here they are:

https://youtube.com/shorts/l-c0yKE3wbU

https://youtube.com/shorts/FJuaqup0gdU

She’s adorable.

Annie helped me with a sign for the library.

It turned out great!

One of my students felt bad that Annie was sick on Halloween and brought in a bag of her own candy for her.

We didn’t have any less leaves this year.

The cats still look the same.

My school’s football team had a heck of a season and we got to watch them play at the Bills Stadium. It was an incredible experience (made even better because they won).

The girls’ school did a special breakfast for Veterans Day and so Dave got to spend the morning with them.

That kind of fast-forwarded us through the first half of November, but there you go!

Here’s more from our October. Maggie’s teacher challenged them to decorate a pumpkin like a book character. Maggie picked Charlotte, the spider from “Charlotte’s Web.” Then, after learning that a classmate had picked the same arachnid, changed to Wilbur.

Adam and I went to a football game at my school.

Halloween didn’t go exactly as expected. Annie had a great day at school.

As a special surprise, Mabel went in and did a craft with Annie and her classmates.

But poor Annie got sick on the bus ride home and wasn’t able to go trick-or-treating.

Thankfully Aunt Amanda stepped in to take the older three out until Dave was able to get out of work.

If the costumes look familiar, you’re right. They were supposed to be last year’s costumes, until we were quarantined due to covid.

Annie is hoping the mailman costume fits next year so that she can try again. The poor girl was really looking forward to trick-or-treating (she doesn’t ever remember going). Thankfully the bug was just a 24-hour thing.

And that wraps up October!

Annie learned about fire safety at school.

The girls and I went for a nature walk and saw a snake (not pictured).

And we saw a wedding about to start (also not pictured).

One of my high school volunteers made these for the library.

And we put the cats in Halloween costumes (they did not approve).

Well, actually, soccer has been over for Adam for almost two weeks now, but I still wanted to share these pictures.

His team did really well overall. It was great seeing them work (and have fun) together.

They got to play a couple of games under the lights – which would have been a lot more fun for everyone if the weather had cooperated. Both times the temperature was under 40 degrees and it was raining/sleeting/snowing.

I’m not sure when in the season he decided that mismatched socks would be his thing, but it made him happy.

#1 was definitely my #1 this season. 🙂

The girls got their school pictures back last week. They both turned out great!

Annie wore the same outfit that Maggie wore when she was in kindergarten.

If you’re someone that I normally send pictures too, those will be coming soon!

Last Monday the kids and I were off from school. Luke had a follow-up appointment for his finger. They did x-rays again and doctor said everything was healing nicely. He still has to avoid football and basketball for another week, but other than that is cleared for normal activities.

We also added in an eye appointment for Adam.

Wednesday Adam had a soccer game.

Thursday is Annie’s dance night.

Here’s a cute picture of the girls making a snack together.

Saturday morning Annie had her final soccer game of the season. It was raining and freezing.

Despite it all, Annie had a great game. She scored three goals and had an assist (which she’ll tell you was only because a boy on her team took the ball way from her). She also slipped and fell twice – but didn’t let that stop her.

Saturday afternoon we went to my littlest nephew’s first birthday party and then stopped to check out some Halloween decorations on our way home.

This house is one of our favorites. It’s amazing and my video doesn’t even come close to capturing how incredible it is.

When the girls and I stopped the other night the inventor that created the display was out and spent some time talking to them and answering their questions.

Sunday we spent the day relaxing, recharging, and watching the Bills win!

Luke wasn’t able to play the violin while we waited for his finger to heal. Now that he’s back at it, he had a special song for me (my favorite part is the smile at the end).

Maggie had her first trumpet lesson this week. She’s been looking forward to this since the end of last year when she found out that she’d be playing it (her top three choices were trumpet, flute, and percussion).

The girls and I checked out some fun Halloween decorations near their dance studio.

This house changes their display each week, depending on who the Bills are playing.

Another house had a fun fairy mailbox. There was a sign that said if you left your name in the mailbox, the fairies would bring you a pumpkin the next morning.

The girls were so excited to find their names on pumpkins.

The fairies gave them each a small toy too.

Each kindergarten student has a fifth grade reading buddy. Annie’s teacher shared this cute picture of Annie with her buddy.

Adam had three soccer games. Two of the games ended in a tie and they won one of them.

Friday, poor Annie got off of the bus in tears. After a trip to urgent care and some antibiotics for an ear infection, she’s feeling much better.

On Saturday, I took Maggie to a football game at my school.

I had mentioned to some of my students that Maggie was excited to see real cheerleaders. One of the girls talked to her coach and asked if Maggie could join them before the game.

She let Maggie borrow her pom poms and taught her a cheer.

They even put Maggie up into a stunt. It was the sweetest thing ever and Maggie had the biggest smile the whole time.