The girls had their 4 year check up last week. I am continually amazed at how closely they stay in weight and height. Remember Ellie was born 2 oz smaller than claire and I can’t remember a time when she hasn’t always been just a couple of ounces smaller.
Eleanore weighed 34.6 pounds (27%) and was 41 & 1/4 inches tall (50%).
Claire weighed 35 pounds (30% and was 41 & 1/2 inches tall (56%).
Charlie had his well child check up – this is technically his 6 year old check up – even though he is 6.5 years old.
He is 54 pounds (75%) and 48 inches tall (70%). He is still a dense kid! Love him and his strong legs though.
This year – I wasn’t that keen on doing the carving pumpkin thing. Call me lazy, but I hate the mess and I’m definitely not that artistic to carve pumpkins into magical things like some of my friends. Well – Ms Mary changed that as she sent the girls home with pumpkins to carve. UGH! Thankfully, Bill was home pretty early that day so he helped man it.
The girls dressed up for school on Friday the 30th – that day they decided to repeat and be Elsas. They crack me up. Always changing their minds, etc, which is exactly why I didn’t go out and hunt down just the right costume for them. We have tons of pretty dresses and they like to change it up.
Saturday – they were READY all day! The number of tears we had because it wasn’t time to trick or treat yet was incredible. We were also waiting for our friends – the Dickerhoofs – to come over to do a round with us.
At this point: Charlie was a knight, Ellie was Elsa, Claire was a princess with fairy wings because why not.
normal smiles are just hard.
the kids decorated our door – I loved it!
charlie with his knight hat on.
the clan ready to go. Sadly it was cold and rainy, but they were pumped anyway!
Landon was a hotdog, Claire changed into a princess with a mask, Britton was a spy, Charlie knight, Braxton a Buckeye.
here came Ellie. Still as Elsa.
pretty good shot!
we did a loop in our neighborhood and still the kids got a TON of candy. Charlie had over 3 lbs! They had so much fun sorting through it and mixing it around and such.
the next morning – Sunday – sorting and sharing and trading candy.
I’ve only helped myself to a few million pieces – ha!
Since I was WAY behind in scheduling a family photographer – when Bubba was here we went to Manito Park and took a few shots that duplicated some we had taken the year prior. I just love these photos and yes – I did my burp trick to get them to smile.
So precious! Ellie. Charlie. Claire
our one family shot that was somewhat decent. I was squinty from the sun, but at least no one is picking their nose!
The Oaks focuses on public speaking and they do this in a few ways. One is that when kids answer they must stand up and put their hands by their sides and give their answer in a complete sentence. The other is that they have a speech meet each year and as the years go on the kids are required to have a certain number of verses or lines. You can choose a poem or Bible verse to say.
We chose Ephesians 3:14-21 for Charlie to recite.
Here are the girls waiting for the start.
Charlie was seated in the middle of his class on the second half of the room.
the girls did an awesome job waiting during the hour long meet.
Charlie had been sitting for 30 minutes when it came to his turn. He jumped on a stage a bit early and wanted to jump into his speech, but the judges were still judging so his amazing teach Mrs. Holland gently told Charlie to wait a second. He ran back to his seat and I could see his sweet face turning red. I went up to him and just reassured him that it was not a big deal and that he was going to do great and to take a deep breath and go slow. He then started over and did awesome. I was BEYOND proud of him (and so were all of our friends and family I sent the video to). All I wanted him to be was proud of his work. He didn’t miss a word and was clear. He is definitely a competitive kid and wants to win and the first thing he said when I picked him up was that “I didn’t win the medal”. I love that he aspires to do great work – but I wanted to just squeeze and shake him and remind him how great he did. There is always next year! We love you Charlie and are so proud of the way you are proclaiming God’s word.
Charlie was on the same team as last year – except his friend Drew joined the team too. The longer we are on this team the more thankful I am for our random placement onto it. We have met awesome people and had great, encouraging coaches and families to make the sport fun. Don’t get me wrong, Charlie’s team is really good – with exceptional players, but they don’t push, fight, whine, pout, get sassy when things aren’t going their way.
The boys warming up with Coach Micky.
Charlie – #2
go Charlie!
on the sidelines!
Charlie and Mitch
with Colin
Coach Chad and Coach Micky – the kids doing a tunnel for the parents.
the full team. Micky, Drew, Charlie, Colin, Tyler, Justin, Mitch, Chad.
always ends with a tackle.
We ended the game with a pizza party at our house. It was so much fun!
To continue with the theme of our Fall – our October was a busy one. We had lots of visitors which we loved.
Charlie’s art work he brought home.
When my parents were in town we headed to Greenbluff and went to a Pumpkin Patch. I never really get pumpkin patches and this reminded me why.
Greenbluff is really cute, but a patch still looks this depressing.
Charlie and Claire.
Ellie & Claire
we ran into a Pumpkin princess when we were out and the girls were stunned!
me and C
A week or so later – Bubba arrived! The kids loved it.
the picture before I asked them to smile. Then I burped and used my trick and got some great smiles.
C, E and C
we are getting ready to trick or treat now…so more come
