Today officially marks the end of fall sports and the beginning of winter sports.   Unfortunately, the month of October is a month of overlap, so it's a little chaotic. I can't guarantee that life will slow down, but at least we can focus a little more.      

All 3 played soccer this fall, with Coach Andrew also stepping in to help with the Kiddie Kicker level.   Nadia loved having her Daddy as coach.    He was given the team of all girls.   It was a little challenging to manage all the giggling and gymnastic tricks.   The girls had to be reminded they were playing soccer and not gymnastics.   I give Andrew an "A" in the patience category.   

Ethan played Ames Parks and Recreation.   He was a little frustrated this season.   There were only 3 teams in his age groups, so he played each team several times.   His other complaint was that the competition was not very challenging.   He was bored.  

Ben had a very successful season with the Gilbert Soccer Club.   He is looking forward to Spring season.  He really had fun playing with new group of friends.

Saturday was the first hockey game of the season.  It was Ethan and Andrew' first game.   They played very well, but ending with a tie and a loss.    They have high hopes for the season.  

 

Ben decided to earn a little money this Hockey season.   He took the USA hockey official class with his friend, Seth.    Saturday was his first game.    He was very nervous.   The Referee-in-Chief for Ames Hockey came to help him.   After the game, Ben expressed how hard it was.   He was pretty sure that he did terrible.    The Referee-in-Chief assured him that he did great for his first time.   He spent some time after the game giving him some pointers.   I hope Ben works a few more games to increase his confidence.   He looks so cute in his official uniform.     

 

The tooth fairy made a visit to our house this week.    This was Nadia's first lost tooth and she was super excited to have reached this milestone.    She was even more excited in the morning when she found her dollar.     She exclaimed, "The tooth fairy is real!"     Maybe we should not have told her the truth about Santa Clause?!

 On Saturday,  the kids and I headed down to the farm, to enjoy a day of harvest.   We have made it a bit of an annual tradition.   They were working on beans; Jason was driving the combine and Grandpa was shuttling the beans to the storage bins.    Here a few photos to summarize our day. 




Ethan and Elijah stroll the field while waiting their turn in the combine.

 Uncle Jay is the combine / chauffeur / driver. 

 After Uncle Jay fills the combine, he unloads to the grain cart, which unloads to the semi, which is sent to the farm to be unloaded in the storage bins. 











 Grandpa's jacket matches his semi-truck as he watches the beans unload.

  The kids love to play in the grain.  It's almost like the sand at the beach but better.   Unfortunately,  the grain cart fills the semi to full for safe play.   I was really worried they were going to fall off the edge.  I remember spending hours playing in the wagons that were 1/2 full.   That's was before the big combine and grain cart. 

Grandma and Aunt Sarah "shoot the breeze"  while waiting to help move equipment to the other fields. 

Andrew and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary this weekend.  We didn't really plan ahead, as usual, but Andrew brought some flowers home after work (1/2 price! Thanks Groupon!), and we decided to leave the kids at home and head out for dinner.  Little did we know it was parents day at ISU and every restaurant on Duff and beyond was packed full of college families having some quality family time, and leaving us with a 1/2 hr or more wait (we grew a little annoyed...).  We started out trying Hickory Park, as we hadn't been there in a while, and who doesn't love their chocolate peanut butter shakes...and we ended up at Okoboji after trying several other places in between. Our last stop, before we bailed on the idea, was going to be Cafe Northwest, but 'Boji had a 15  minute wait. So we finally managed to find some food, and enjoy some time together.

We often find our anniversary a little difficult to celebrate in the midst of all our life's craziness, but I'm glad we took a few hours and did something together...after 16 years, we keep saying we'll take a "real vacation away together someday"...maybe we'll actually do that someday.