Fall Fest... and stuff...

School and fall activities are in full swing around here. We are definitely in a routine now, and I am missing the spontaneity of summer. I am loving the cooler weather we have had lately. Last week we did not run our AC at all because it was so nice outside! It rained almost every day and we left our windows open. I love the freshness of rain and just letting the cool breeze in our house. Those of you who know me well, know that I love saving money too. I figure our retirement fund and the girls' college funds will thank me later.

Last weekend was Denison High School's Homecoming. We enjoyed the game which was, thankfully, not rained out. Some of our youth group girls were Homecoming Sweethearts or a Homecoming Nominee and a few of our guys were the escorts. It was neat to see them all dressed up. We had a blast cheering for them. The girls always have questions about the game. Some are pretty cute - I really need to write them down. As I was thumbing through the sports program I was showing Avery all the sports and band pictures. I told her that she might enjoy being a part of those activities when she got older. She replied, "No, I am just going to play soccer." She really does love it.

We had a great time on Tuesday night cheering on some of our teens who play volleyball for DHS. We have some pretty talented gals. There were some tense and exciting moments. It made me miss being a part of a team sport. Abby enjoyed dancing in the stands to the pregame music. Avery kept us informed of the score.

This Tuesday we started our Ladies Bible Study up again. This year, we decided to join a group from the Western Heights Church of Christ in Sherman. We are studying the book A Spirit for the Rest of Us by Tim Woodroof. Has anyone else read this? I would love to hear what you thought about it.

I had a routine conference with Avery's teacher this week. Mrs. Pughe wanted to go over Avery's TPRI and DIBELS scores. She scored above the goal set for the END of the year of first grade! Woo Hoo! She scored in the 95th percentile and above on several parts of the test. Yay! We were so proud of her. Last week the gifted and talented teacher worked with Avery on some activities to challenge her and she gave Mrs. Pughe some other ideas to use through out the year. We are so thankful to God that both of our girls love learning.

Lately, Abby has enjoyed working in some workbooks that Granny got her. They are just those Prekindergarten-Kindergarten workbooks that have fun educational activities for children to do. I don't ask her to do them. She just gets them out and starts working on them. Often, Avery and her play school and work on them. Avery has her own set for her grade level. I gave them stickers too that they like to give each other when they finish a page correctly. It is pretty cute to watch.

Speaking of "cute" - Abby made us laugh the other night at dinner. She made a funny face or something and I said, "Abby, you look cute!" She responded, "You look cute... but not as cute as God. He is the cutest!" We are pretty sure she came up with that because we often stress with the girls that we should love God over everything and everyone else. Abby has told us several times, "I love you, but not as much as I love God." Ha!

On Thursday I took Avery to the doctor. She has had this ongoing cough for a while. Some days she would only cough once or twice, other days it would be worse. She hasn't had any other symptoms: no runny nose, no fever. It really hasn't slowed her down at all. Two different nurses told me not to worry about it at first, but after a while I finally took her in. The doctor was pretty sure it was allergy related and put her on a prescription allergy pill and gave her an inhaler as well. Hopefully her allergies won't get as bad as mine were in elementary. I started getting allergies and asthma pretty bad in about the 4th grade. We had to get rid of my sister's cat (Heather, thanks for forgiving me for that), and I had to get a series of shots right away. Later on in high school I learned how to give myself shots on a weekly basis so that we wouldn't have to make a trip to the doctor's office all the time.

Friday ended the PTO fundraiser for Avery's school. My friend and I are the co-vice presidents and we were responsible for this year's fundraiser. We had to count all the money and make sure all forms were filled out accurately. We counted about $10,000 and we will have more trickle in this week. The PTO gets to keep half of what was brought in. It was a little stressful counting all that money and being responsible for all of it. I was glad that we were able to hand it off to our treasurer at the end of the day. The whole process took about 4 hours in the library at the school. I had Abby with me and she was awesome! She worked in her workbooks that she brought most of the time. She also ate her lunch and looked around the library. I was so glad she behaved and let us work. You just never know how it is going to be with a 4 year old sometimes, especially one that is missing her regular nap. :)

Yesterday, we went to Sherman's annual fall festival where the girls got to be in the Teddy Bear Parade with their dear friend, Sybil, once again. They had a lot of fun following the high school band around the block waving to the onlookers. We got a hoot out of Abby dancing down the street. She would push her bear in the stroller up ahead of her then dance to it. People on the sidewalks were cracking up too. Soon after the parade Grandpa joined us for lots of free crafts, bounce houses, and lunch.

Sybil, Avery, and Abby waiting for the grand Teddy Bear Parade.


Three amigos having a blast!


Abby and Avery in dance mode.

Abby stopping her jumping to say, "Hi".


Sybil and Avery having fun!


Bouncing never gets old for these three.


Waiting for the clown to make their balloon creations. Don't ask about Abby's meltdown when her strawberry balloon popped when it fell to the ground a few minutes after she got it. The clown kindly made another one for her when he saw her tears.

After lunch we rushed over to the soccer fields for Avery's first soccer game. She was supposed to have one last week. However, it had been raining 3 straight days; and while it looked like the rain might hold off, when we got there it started to drizzle. Surprisingly, the little girls didn't seem to mind and kept practicing and warming up. They were all set in their places to start the game when the ref blew the whistle saying the games were just called off. We were pretty bummed. We were all wet anyways, so a little drizzle wasn't going to hurt us. Oh well. We'll make that game up. Anyways, back to yesterday's game - it was so much fun! Our team, the Denison Ponies (don't laugh) won 6-0! Yay! Avery played great, hustling everywhere and defending our goal well. This was the first sports activity we have had where I got to cheer for our own girls. It was exhilarating! I am sure it is the first of many! We have cheered for our teens on numerous occasions. It is a different feeling when it is your own child. I was so into the game I didn't even get any pictures. Oh well, she has a game every Saturday, so surely I will get some decent pictures sometime. Abby cheered some for her sister, but mostly she played with Sybil and one of Avery's teammate's little brother. The Slechtas and Grandpa were kind enough to come support Avery.

Avery about to make a goal at soccer practice the day before.


Abby patiently watching her sister practice and working in her workbooks.

This next question is for those of you who are going to ACU's Homecoming. Wes and I are planning on attending since it is our 10th year reunion. Are any of you going to the dinner on Saturday night? If you are, are you bringing your kids? I know they have childcare, but I thought it might be neat to see each others children. I am torn...

Here's one last picture of the girls snuggled up together watching Between the Lions. I love how much they love each other.