Catching Up (After Labor Day to Halloween)

Okay, now to catch up on the second half of the time since our trip.  Oh my goodness!  So much happened!

The first thing that started after Labor Day was soccer season.  Three weeknights of practice and 2-3 games on the weekends.  This year, Eric is the head coach for Ashlynn's team and the assistant coach for Carter's team.  We were pretty exhausted by soccer by the end of September.

Brian was one of two assistant coaches for Ashlynn's team.

In mid September, Ashlynn and I attended a lovely baby shower for Emily and James at the Arboretum.  After, the two of us spent a couple of hours talking and exploring the gardens.

 It started to rain while we were walking around. That made it more of an adventure!

 That same evening, we attended CVHS's Korean BBQ fundraiser and got to enjoy the Jazz Band.

 Carter drumming along

 Carter jumped around at Pump it Up! for his friend Mackenzie's seventh birthday party.

 Our kids love to read!

Ashlynn ran for Student Council for school and won!

 Eric and I got to join our friends for a fancy auction for an organization called Project Access.  Last year I felt sick in the limo.  This year I planned ahead and took Bonine, in addition to having a seat with a good view out and an A/C vent.

 Opp!  More soccer.

 Pretty much every one of Ashlynn's games were either 8:00AM, which is not the best time for my not-a-morning-person girl, or at a time when the temperature was over 90 degrees.  Blah!

One huge thing about our fall was Eric's dad, Phil, had double bypass surgery.  He went in for an angiogram, and they discovered he needed bypass surgery.  It was a big, taxing surgery, and even now in November, he is still very much in recovery.  Here are the kids on a visit to see him.

 I got to participate in supporting my teachers' union through negotiations for a long overdue contract.

Ashlynn celebrated her tenth birthday on a very busy Saturday that included soccer pictures, soccer games, and the huge playground build at the kids' school.  We celebrated her special day that evening with dinner at Tokyo Lobby.

 Ashlynn tried some new kinds of sushi.  I think she discovered she's more of a California Roll girl, but I'm glad that she tried.

Ugh.  It was hot here in So Cal during this fall.  We did what we could to keep cool, knowing that using water to keep cool was not much of an option this year with our drought.  Popsicles did the trick a few times.

 We took time to enjoy the sunrise a few times.

One of Ashlynn's first official duties for student council took place the morning of the playground build's ribbon cutting ceremony.  She always manages to find Lydia, who is on Renaissance this year.

 Cute kids at the ribbon cutting ceremony

 After many speeches, and the cutting of a ribbon by a ridiculously large pair of scissors, the kids got to play on the equipment.

That week of school had minimum days for parent conferences, so we did a last minute birthday party with Ashlynn's school friends right after school that Monday after her birthday.  It was the first party I did that didn't have a theme and Eric was a work while it happened.  I do think the girls had fun, and Ashlynn felt celebrated, so it was a success.

 Most of the girls

 They decided to play Hot Potato while they waited for the final friend to arrive.

They also danced.  It was fun to dance with them to songs like "Watch Me".  I'm sure it won't be long until they won't think it's fun to dance with Ashlynn's mom.

 The main activity of the party was a crazy fashion show.  We picked names to create three teams who worked together to create outfits based on a theme for each round.

The first round was to be inspired by a place.

 The second round was inspired by a book.

 We took a break for ice cream sundaes.

 The final dress up round was open to their imaginations.  Oh dear!

 Like I said, oh my!

 Because Ashlynn loves writing stories, the favor for the party was a journal and pen.

 More soccer!

 And more hot soccer games.

 We did get to swim with our friends, the Mountains, on a hot October day.

 As of this publish date, Ashlynn's one goal of the soccer season came in a game when she was actually playing for the other team because they were so short players.  Yep, her one goal was scored on her own team.  Awkward.

 This is how Carter feels about watching soccer games.

 Just a pic of my cute girl before school one day!

 Carter really enjoyed watching the presidential primary debates on TV.  Seriously, he was content to just watch, listen, and ask questions.

 The big event of October was Brian and Anna's wedding on October 17th.  Eric served as the best man, Ashlynn was the flower girl, and Carter was the ring bearer.  The day started early when the wedding party gathered at a hotel near our house.  It was a beautiful day!

 We arrived at the wedding site for pictures before the ceremony.  Let me say, my boys were handsome and my girl looked so pretty.

 Carter took his job of carrying the ring box very seriously.

 The wedding took place at the church next to the Gamble House in Pasadena, so they had some lovely backgrounds for their photos.

 It was an outdoor ceremony, so it was wonderful that the weather was so nice.

 Father of the groom

 Introduced for the first time as husband and wife.

 David and his girlfriend, Kayla

Ashlyn B. and Ashlynn V.

 The reception was in a courtyard on the same property.

 Eric giving his best man toast

 Carter raised his glass high

 Carter helped himself to the dessert bar.

 Brian danced with Aunt Laurie

 Daddy-daughter dancing

 Ashlynn and Carter (especially Carter!) had so much fun dancing

 The bouquet toss and garter toss

 Money dance

 Dancing until the end

 Carter and Judah

We stayed and helped clean up.  It was a long day.

 And.... back to soccer

 We realized that our lives had been filled to the top with commitments, so we tried to do some quick, fun things like picking up lunch at Dog Haus in Pasadena for the first time.

 And going to the drive thru car wash.  "It's like we're in a crazy storm!"

 I let Ashlynn try to paint her own toenails.  This was the result.  Yikes.

 Halloween snuck up on us, so rather than going to a charming pumpkin patch, we grabbed a few pumpkins at Trader Joe's after school.  It's just one of those years!

Carter always wants to be a classic Halloween character, so this year he was a bat.  I made his costume with black pants and shirt from Target, a black cape from Dollar Tree (wings), a dollar foam sun visor from Michael's (ears), and plastic fangs from Dollar Tree.  He was really excited about how it turned out, which made me happy.

Because Halloween fell on a Saturday this year and my school district had an in-service day the day before Halloween, Halloween was celebrated over three days.  Thursday was the costume parade at my school.

 Friday was a costume parade at the kids' school.  Carter's class all dressed up as Sneetches.  I was at my in-service, but Eric had taken a personal day and my friend, Gretchen, texted me a photo.

 Halloween morning started with two 8 o'clock soccer games.

 After the games, we carved our pumpkins into Jack O' Lanterns.

In the evening, some school friends came over and we went trick-or-treating together.  This was a change from past years when our two kids just went up and down our street.

 The pirate ship house was cool as always!

 We ended at the Lee house, before we all headed home with bags full of candy.

And now it is November.  I was so happy to have October behind us.  Now onto Thanksgiving and Christmas!