Looking back at pictures from the month of September, it was definitely a whirlwind! Soccer was in full swing this month, and we also had two field trips, a couple of birthday parties, and a baby shower on the calendar. Somewhere in there, we also caught the flu! Here’s the recap:
Abigail can’t decide whether she wants to be a big kid and walk to school in the afternoons with me to pick up Brooklyn and Savannah, or whether she wants to be “little” and ride in the stroller. So she does some of both, depending on the day. Sometimes she even falls asleep on the way if she’s feeling extra tired ;) I love it!
Brooklyn likes to borrow my phone to take pictures of Gabby. She loves it when she finds Gabby hanging out in her room when she gets home from school.
Savannah had soccer practice on Thursdays this season. It was so nice to have our Friday nights free for the first time in several soccer seasons!
I was amused by this sign that Savannah hung on the door of her room ;)
September 2nd was a half day of school since it was the Friday before Labor Day weekend. It was the first house day of the school year, and the girls were excited to wear their red house shirts and meet with their house families. They both said they watched a little bit of Inside Out and played some “get to know you” games. I like how this gives them opportunities to get to know students from other grades that they might otherwise never meet.
That night, we went to our second Trash Pandas game…this time with Paw and Rae Rae!! After our first experience with the fireworks mishap, we emailed them to let them know what happened to us, and the GM called Travis and offered us free tickets to come back to another game. He also offered for the girls to get to do some of the pre-game activities on the field!!
We asked the girls ahead of time and after some deliberating, they decided that Savannah would throw out the first pitch, Brooklyn would yell “play ball” before the game started, and Abigail would carry the game ball out to the umpire with Sprocket, the mascot. They all seemed a little nervous beforehand, but we tried to assure them it would be fun! We decided to meet Paw and Rae Rae at Super Chix for supper before the game. I’d never eaten there before, but their chicken was really good!
We got to the baseball stadium around 5:45 and checked in at guest services. We didn’t realize it until we got there, but there were actually several other people who were throwing out a first pitch that night, not just Savannah. She was one of only two kids though!
She and Travis had practiced a couple of times in the backyard because she’d never thrown a baseball before, and she did a great job! They were standing pretty far back, so the ball didn’t quite make it to home plate, but it got close. They announced her name over the loudspeaker and everything, which was pretty neat :)
The kids enjoyed meeting Sprocket and giving him high fives…
One of my favorite parts of the evening was watching Brooklyn dance with Sprocket and seeing the pure joy on her face :)
Abigail gave Sprocket lots of hugs while she had the chance. Meeting him was her favorite part of the evening. She said she wanted to live with him…haha :)
She and Sprocket waved on camera for about 10 seconds, which was shown on the big screen! She did a GREAT job and looked SO cute!!
It’s hard to tell, but she was waving live on the big screen. I was a little nervous, but she followed directions and did exactly what they asked!
When Abigail delivered the game ball to the umpire, she said he asked how old she was, and she told him she was five :)
After Abigail was finished, we had to wait a few minutes for Brooklyn’s turn to do her “job”, which came right after the national anthem…
She got to yell “Play ball!” over the loudspeaker right before the game started. She was feeling more comfortable with the idea by this point…I think having fun with Sprocket helped her loosen up.
She decided to jump and throw her hands up in the air when she yelled “play ball!”
She did a great job (especially since she has declared she isn’t a baseball fan…haha). We were really proud of how well each of them did! We also met the GM before the game, and he was really nice to go out of his way to introduce himself to us.
Our seats at this game were much better than sitting on the berm because we were much closer to the action on the field. We also had a better view of all the fun things they did between innings and could actually see the video screen this time.
The girls had fun! Travis took them over to the playground for a few minutes, and we also got shaved ice this time. We stayed for the whole game. Unfortunately the Trash Pandas didn’t win the game (they lost 4-2), but we still had a lot of fun.
We stayed for the fireworks, and they all went vertical this time…whew! The girls were nervous (Brooklyn most of all), but hopefully fireworks will be less traumatic each time we see them from now on. We were glad Paw and Rae Rae were able to join us!! It was a fun evening, and we appreciated the Trash Pandas for making our second game a very memorable one!!
On the way out, we checked with guest services and found Travis’s baseball gloves!! We realized earlier in the week that we must have left them on the berm during the fireworks mayhem last month and we didn’t even put it together for weeks. Thankfully someone turned them in, and they kept them at guest services for a whole month in lost and found!! That was a great way to cap off the night!
September 3rd was Soccer Saturday #2 of the season. Savannah’s game was up first at 9:30 at Dublin 4. She and the Magical Mighty Unicorns played great!
Savannah scored two goals, and her team ended up winning 10-3. Apparently the other team scored all their goals while Savannah was subbed out on the sideline ;) She is definitely the heart of their defense, according to Coach MJ!
Coach MJ taught them to raise their arm before taking a corner kick. Savannah was looking like a professional! :)
Popsicles all around after their hard work!
Abigail’s game was at 10:15 on Dublin 7, so she and I left Savannah’s game early to walk up the hill to her field in time. It took a bit for everyone to show up, but they finally got started warming up and stretching :)
I didn’t keep up with the final score, but Abigail scored 4 goals and played hard!
She is so tenacious!! She runs so fast and hard, and many times she just beat the other kids to the ball on a breakaway and dribbled it down and scored. Pretty crazy since this is her first season!
She also got knocked down a couple of times and got right back up, and she tried to help up her teammate who fell down. She is so excited about this season and is having a blast. She is constantly asking how many more days until her next game :)
Brooklyn’s game was at 11 AM at Palmer 8. Abigail and I missed almost the whole first quarter by the time we got there, but at least we got to see most of her game. She played defender and midfield the whole time and did get to sub out for half of the 3rd quarter I think. She played great!
Brooklyn scored one goal and came close to scoring a second time. Her team was down 2-1 and came back to win 5-2!
Savannah had a moth join her to watch part of Brooklyn’s game :) It was a hot but fun morning.
We took care of Pixie, the Johnsons’ cat, over the weekend. The girls love petting and brushing her while we are there.
We eat at Cici’s for lunch almost every Sunday, but we were on our own for lunch on September 4th because Cici and the Loveless family were all sick. We decided to go out to eat at Luigi’s, a local Italian restaurant that we’d tried once before. The food was delicious!
It was nice to sleep a little later on Labor Day, and the girls had some time to just play in their pajamas that morning.
Savannah was invited to Hannah’s birthday party that afternoon at our neighborhood pool. She was excited to get to swim one more time before the weather cooled off and the pool closed for the season.
The kids got to decorate cupcakes, which is always a big hit!
Savannah had a great time!
The big annual fundraiser at Mill Creek for the last couple of years has been a read-a-thon. This year, they had a spirit day at school each time the kids raised another $5,000. September 6th was Backwards Day, and the kids could even wear their backpacks on their front :)
Grandparents Day at school was on September 8th and 9th. I think this was the first year that grandparents were invited to come since before COVID! Unfortunately, 2nd grade and 4th grade were on different days this year, and no one could come on Brooklyn’s day. (She said she didn’t mind and that most of her classmates didn’t have a grandparent come either). But Rae Rae was able to come on Savannah’s day!
The grandparents all stopped by the cafeteria for muffins before going to the classroom to see their grandkids. I liked how Ms. Kuenzli assigned an extra kid or two to each grandparent so that no kids felt left out if they didn’t have someone there. Rae Rae got to have Jude as her honorary grandkid for the morning!
Ms. Kuenzli also had an activity planned for the grandparents to do with the kids while they were there. Rae Rae said it was quite the challenge!!!
Working hard to save Fred together! ;) Savannah was so thrilled that Rae Rae could come!
Gabby is quite the snuggle bug but doesn’t normally climb into anyone’s lap but mine. She made an exception for Brooklyn though after school on September 8th!
Savannah wanted her picture taken with Gabby too ;)
Brooklyn’s math teacher, Mrs. Dixon, dressed up as “Dr. Distributive” on September 9th when they had a lesson about the distributive property of multiplication :)
Brooklyn learned from her covid days about wearing her mask under her chin…haha. Sounded like a fun way to learn a new math concept!
Cici came home sick from her trip over Labor Day weekend, so Savannah and Abigail made a get well card for her :)
September 10th was another soccer Saturday! It rained some the night before and was lightly raining that morning, so we were surprised to find out the fields weren’t closed, and the games were on! Somehow we lucked out and had the girls’ games on Dublin 2, 3, and 4…all side by side with time in between to get to each field!
Abigail played at 8 AM at Dublin 2. I didn’t keep score, but the other team scored a lot! The Unicorn Butterflies scored several goals too, and Abigail scored one of them! She had a lot of fun and didn’t like having to sit out when it was her turn ;) She couldn’t wait to get back in there.
Brooklyn was excited to see her old teammate, Karleigh, at the game. Karleigh’s little sisters were both on the team that Abigail’s team was playing.
Savannah’s game was next at 9:30 on Dublin 4. We had to wait a few minutes for it to get started. Her team played a team who had just played another game right before ours, so we had an advantage from the start.
Savannah’s team ended up winning in a very lopsided match. Savannah scored one of the goals and had a couple of other shots. When she subbed out, she was sitting right on the edge of her chair because she was so into the game watching. These girls truly love soccer.
Coach MJ was still coaching, even during halftime ;)
Orange slices gave them energy for the second half!
These girls played hard!
Brooklyn’s game was last at 11 AM on Dublin 3. I had to leave before her game started to help get things ready for Sylvia’s baby shower. Travis said they played a great game! Her team won 8-1, and Brooklyn scored two of the goals.
Brooklyn told me she played every position except goalie, and she had a lot of fun.
Sylvia’s baby shower went really well! Vera helped me make this diaper cake…it was the first one I’d made in quite a while. Thankfully, rolling all the diapers didn’t take as long as I remembered, especially with someone else helping.
We had the shower at Olivia’s house, and we kept the food pretty simple. I made some mini vanilla cupcakes with a new recipe I found online. They turned out good! The other hostesses took care of the rest of the food.
We were so glad that we could find a time that worked for Sylvia to come into town for the shower. It was so fun to be able to celebrate her!
She got so many cute baby things…and a basket full of books! It was a great afternoon.
Savannah and Abigail played soccer in the backyard after school on September 12th :)
Savannah made this at school with dried flowers, and I thought it was such a cute craft idea!!
I found this “Do you want to build a snowman?” idea on Pinterest for Abigail’s Frozen birthday party, but we didn’t end up actually doing it that day. I’d already cut out the eyes and carrot noses though, so Abigail had been asking if we could do it later. I finally wrapped her up as a snowman a few weeks later, and she thought it was great! :)
More snuggles with Gabby :)
Brooklyn and Savannah both came home after school not feeling well on Tuesday, September 13th. They were both running fevers. Savannah had a headache, and Brooklyn had a sore throat. Abigail didn’t eat much lunch, and I realized after I checked her temp that she was running a fever after school too. This was the start of a long week!
I started feeling bad overnight that night. We were all coughing by a few days later. We all ran fevers for several days. Savannah’s temp even got up over 103. I took the girls to the doctor the next morning, and the girls were negative for covid and strep. I asked about the flu, and Dr. Dudley said it wasn’t really going around yet. So we were just thinking it was some other virus. I liked how Dr. Dudley wrote an “excuse” for Abigail too even though she doesn’t go to school yet. It said “no chores” until she felt better…haha.
We watched a lot of movies and took a lot of naps that week. I wasn’t sad about the extra snuggles with my girls who are getting so big. And somehow Travis never got sick!!
Brooklyn and Savannah still hadn’t been fever free for 24 hours, so they had to miss their soccer games on September 17th. Abigail was able to play, but probably shouldn’t have because she definitely wasn’t 100%…
Travis took her to the game, and he said it was obvious after just a few minutes. She played the 1st and 3rd quarters and sat out the other two. He said she just didn’t have the same energy level. She told me afterward it wasn’t fun because she didn’t score a goal and she didn’t feel good ;) Poor thing!
Fast forward to Sunday afternoon, and Savannah’s temps had been slowly coming down for a few days until she spiked another fever up over 101 that afternoon. So I took Savannah and Abigail back to the doctor on Monday. (Brooklyn was able to go back to school on Monday…thankfully). Abigail was still pretty congested and still just acted like she didn’t feel well.
By this point, we had found out that over half of Savannah’s bible class at church also had the flu or a flu-like illness. And some of her classmates at school had the flu by the end of the previous week. My theory is that the girls caught the flu from someone at church on Sunday, and then Savannah spread it to her classmates at school on Tuesday when she wasn’t feeling well. She tested positive for the flu on Monday the 19th after we told Dr. Dudley we were suspicious that’s what it was. Sure enough…it was! Thankfully, she didn’t run a fever all day on Monday and was able to go back to school the next day. She missed 4 days of school and Brooklyn missed 3! It was hard to get Brooklyn caught back up at school, especially in math. It’s not as easy to miss that many days of school in 4th grade! I can’t remember having the flu since I was a kid unless I’ve had it and not known it. Hopefully this means that we won’t get it again this winter since we knocked it out in mid-September ;) I feel confident that we were some of the first flu cases this fall in Madison County…haha!
In the middle of our flu quarantine, Brooklyn was excited to finally lose a tooth for the first time in a long time. I think this was tooth #9!
Savannah and Abigail felt well enough to get outside and ride their bikes on the last day that Savannah was home sick. It was a welcome relief when we all turned the corner!
On one of the days that Savannah was out sick, Gabe’s uncle, who is a horticulturist, came to talk to the class about trees and their importance. I was sad that Savannah missed it! He also donated a tree to Ms. Kuenzli’s class for them to plant at school. I was glad that Savannah was there when they planted it the next week!!
They planted the tree in an open area near the track…
Class picture with their newly planted tree!
I liked reading about Savannah’s “hero” in her journal this month…
Abigail has the sweetest friends in her preschool bible class!!
Leslie sent us this picture after class on September 21st. She said they talked about how Moses’ sister, Miriam, was a big helper to her mommy and made a list of ways that they could be helpers too :)
Brooklyn and Savannah both had soccer practice on Thursday nights at Palmer Park, but their fields were on opposites ends of the park. Generally, we would drop Brooklyn off at her practice and then I’d walk to Savannah’s field and stay with her until it was time to pick Brooklyn back up. Sometimes Travis was able to go with us and stay at one field or the other. We found ways to make it work!
I was excited to be able to go with Savannah and her class on their first field trip of the school year on September 23rd. They were going to Bob Jones High School to see a Junie B. Jones play!
Ms. Kuenzli’s class, excited for the play to start!
Even though Junie B. Jones is not my favorite kids’ book series, I still thought the high schoolers did a good job putting on the show. Savannah and her classmates seemed to enjoy it too!
I got home from the field trip to find Abigail asleep on the couch, and it wasn’t even 11 AM yet…haha. Travis was working from home that day, but not able to play or do fun things with her ;)
Later that afternoon, after Ms. Kuenzli’s class was back at school, Nolan’s mom helped Savannah and her classmates make leaf people! Such a fun idea!
I loved seeing how all their leaf people turned out differently!
Luke and Barrett’s birthday party was that evening…
How is it possible that they are already SIX years old??
We had a fun time celebrating them!
On September 24th, Abigail had the first game of the day at 8 AM at Palmer 5. (Her game had to be moved to Palmer due to a swim meet at Dublin).
The Loveless crew and Cici all came to the games today!
Abigail played hard and scored a goal toward the end of the game!
It still seemed like she didn’t have all her energy back after being sick though. The flu really knocked us down!
Brooklyn played next at 9:45 at Palmer 8. Her team won 4-1! Brooklyn played really hard, and we were very proud of her.
She took a penalty kick and missed, but later scored a goal toward the end of the game. She ran up and got the ball after a goal kick and dribbled it up and scored. She had several other shots on goal that just didn’t go in. She had a great game!
Savannah team won too. They played at 11:30 at Dublin 4 and played a team they played just a couple of weeks ago…
Savannah didn’t score but played hard and came close to scoring a time or two. She prides herself on playing great defense!
It was a long day already…we didn’t get home until about 1 PM and had about an hour to eat lunch/rest before we decided to go to New Market to watch Carter play in his game. It was going to be our only real opportunity to see him play this season since our Saturday mornings are always crazy. He is now in 10U like Brooklyn, and it was crazy to see how much faster the boys’ games are than the girls’. Carter did a great job. His team didn’t win, but they played hard!
We had a bunch of helpers to push/pull our wagon up the hill for us after the game! :)
Everybody loves Mr. Mike, especially Abigail, his birthday buddy!!
On September 26th, Abigail and I went over to Emily’s house for the kids to do some fall crafts and eat lunch together. We had a great time!
There was plenty of time for dress up and playing outside too :)
That day, Savannah’s class celebrated Johnny Appleseed day by rotating around to the different 2nd grade cottages and doing apple experiments and crafts.
They learned about the life cycle of the apple and whether an apple would float or sink in different kinds of liquid.
On September 27th, Savannah wrote about the best present she’s ever received. I wasn’t too surprised to read that it was her big polar bear, Icer!
Abigail came out of her room on September 28th with her soccer shinguards on and a Minnie Mouse necklace. She’s a good mix of sporty and girly all at the same time!
Abigail and I went down the greenway on September 29th, and she enjoyed throwing rocks in the creek for a little while.
Brooklyn’s team practiced right next to the playground at Palmer Park on Thursday nights, so Savannah and Abigail got to play for a few minutes before we headed to Savannah’s practice at a different field.
On September 30th, Savannah had her second field trip of the month! This time, her class went to Huntsville Botanical Gardens. Her 1st grade class also went to the botanical gardens on a field trip, but this visit had a slightly different focus…
After we arrived, the kids spent the first couple of hours learning all about trees and leaves. They collected leaves on a walk and made leaf rubbings with them.
We stopped at a gazebo where the group leader told the kids more about trees :)
One of the most memorable parts of the day was seeing the flies inside of a Venus Fly Trap!
We then walked around and the group leader helped the kids identify different types of trees that we saw.
After an early lunch, Ms. Kuenzli split the class up into groups assigned to one or two chaperones. I was with Savannah and three of her classmates, Aubrey, Tenley, and Carrigan. Aubrey’s mom was also with us! We had a couple of hours to explore and let the kids play…
We saw some pretty creative scarecrows on the scarecrow trail!
We thought this one with Gru and a couple of Minions was really fun!
I also liked this donut scarecrow :)
The girls spent a long time playing in the children’s garden, and they discovered a new area that I’d never seen before with several cute playhouses.
We checked out the butterfly garden before it was time to meet back up with the rest of the class…
It was a fun day!
After school that day, Brooklyn had her friend, Dylan, over to play and hang out for a while. He was one of her best friends from 3rd grade, but they don’t see each other much this year because he is in the other “team” of teachers. She was glad to spend some time with him!
Notes and Quotes from September 2022:
- 9/9/22 – During the girls’ bedtime Bible story, Travis asked, “Abigail, do you remember the last prophet who spoke to the people in the Old Testament?” Abigail replied, “Ezramiah? God?? JESUS??” :)
- 9/21/22 – Abigail: “How do bees make honey? They don’t have all of the ingredients.”
- 9/21/22 – We were talking about who we might meet in heaven one day. Travis told Abigail she might be able to meet Jonah there. Abigail replied, “I don’t want to meet Jonah!” “Why not?” he asked. “Because he was in a big belly!!”