September

 September brought an end to summer vacation and the start to school.  To end the summer, Eden had a friend over for a play date and everyone but Kimball got involved.  I'm so glad Eden could make good friends at preschool.

Fort time with Juliana.

The family also went to the State Fair.  We hadn't gone the last two years so everyone was eager to go.  Unfortunately, it was a rainy day, but it didn't prevent the kids from having fun on the rides and eating the food.

The first day of school was September 7.  I always loved the first day of school as a student and I still love it as a mom!

Kimball is a sophomore in high school.  Rebecah is in 7th grade.

Lincoln and Annika are in 2nd grade and Eden is in Kindergarten! 

The little ones were much more excited about the start of school than the two older kids.  Eden had a slow transition to school.  It has taken her a good three weeks to start eating all of her lunch.  I think she was just nervous and unable to eat.  She enjoys school. although, I didn't mind the extra long hugs I received from her after school the first few days.  She has one preschool friend in her kindergarten class and she always gets so excited to see her preschool friends at school.  There are about 10 preschool friends at the school.

There is one preschool friend who ISN'T at our elementary school.  We were so happy to discover Rowan at the soccer fields, though!  Rowan's older brother joined Lincoln and Annika's soccer team this fall, so Eden and Rowan get to hang out at most of the games.  

I took the kids to the back to school barbecue.  I used to dread this annual activity because Joseph always seemed to be working and I hated hanging out in the crowd by myself while the kids were playing with friends.  The good news about having so many kids is that I have made friends with the parents of their friends so I have people to chat with at this activity and I don't dread it anymore.

Lincoln and Joseph went to an SU football game.  It was a long game for a 7 year old so they didn't stay the entire time.  Too bad Lincoln couldn't hold out until the end because I hear SU scored at the very end of the game clinching the win.  

Rebecah made the school soccer team and her coach asked if there were any siblings who wanted to be ball boy/girl for the home games.  Lincoln was SO excited to be a ball boy.  He has been able to help at one game, and he did a great job.  It rained pretty hard during the game and he was wet and cold by the time the game ended.  I was proud of him for sticking it out even though the weather wasn't ideal.

You can see the hint of a rainbow on the left side of this picture.

Annika almost quit soccer this year. She felt like she wasn't a good player because she wasn't scoring three goals each game like Lincoln was.  (The coach and I finally had to tell Lincoln that his cap each game is three goals and after he scores three goals he needs to pass so other kids can have a chance to score.)  Annika finally scored her first goal September 24th.  The smile on her face was priceless!  Scoring that goal has boosted her confidence so much.  Everyone just wants to feel like they are succeeding, and sadly, in sports you are only a success if you win.

While Joseph and Annika went mountain biking, Lincoln, Eden and I went to Green Lakes for a walk.  It was a beautiful day and the kids ran at least half of the trail.  

Lincoln having some fun at his church activities.

In other less exciting news... Annette's grandma died on September 19th.  She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer August 23rd and a few weeks later she was gone.  It has been tough.  Grandma will be missed greatly.

Kimball and Rebecah also sustained concussions this month...on the same day!  How crazy is that?!?  Kimball was playing football and the snap went crazy so he jumped on the ball so the other team wouldn't recover it.  He followed what the coaches always taught during practice to pounce on the ball and just lay there to decrease the chance of being tackled.  I guess the idea is if the player and ball are on the ground there's no need to tackle the player that's already down.  Well, the other team doesn't play by that rule and Kimball was tackled hard, resulting in a mild concussions.  Kimball was out of practice for six days and then did a five day "return to play" protocol in order to return to football practice and games.  Rebecah's concussion happened during practice.  The goalie punted the ball and Rebecah didn't see it and the ball just hit her head.  Since she was stationary her head took all of the movement (Kimball said it worked from a Physics standpoint.) and resulted in a concussion.  Rebecah's headaches lasted longer than Kimball's, but she is finally in the "return to play" phase and hopes to finally play in her soccer game on October 5th.  No more concussions!

October is now here and we are gearing up for birthday week!!