Brooke playing fall soccer

Brooke has started her first "organized" activity, playing fall soccer.  As expected, it's hysterical watching 3 and 4 year old's "learn" to play soccer.  Many are more interested in:

• chasing each other about,
• sticking like glue to their parents on the sidelines,
• waving to their parents on the sidelines,
• playing in the goal net,
• picking grass,
• looking for bugs,
• oh, and the best, post-game snack!

Mom volunteered to coach the team, which proved to be a learning lesson for Mom's patience and expectations!

We had missed "picture day" so we attempted to re-create some of those classic shots, like the "player with the ball by the net."

Keira watching on, confined to her stroller, loaded up with endless snacks, and this day she has Chief by her side.

Action shots from the field of play...

Team huddle!  What are we learning today?  Soccer is a "hands-free" game!  Don't pick up the ball!!!

Fun Time around the House

Brooke already dressing up as a bride!

Fun sistertime!

Keira in the midst of daily stroller races.

Brooke's 1st Day of Preschool

Brooke started preschool (3 years old), going two mornings a week.  Her teachers are Mrs. Ek and Mrs. O.  She was very excited!

She has a hallway hook where she hangs up her backpack and coat.  She also has a "mailbox" with her picture on it, for Mom to collect artwork, permission slips, newsletters, etc.

The end of a successful day with Mrs. Ek.

Keira helps Brooke celebrate a great day on the school steps.

Football Season Kick Off!

We celebrate by dressing up in our Iowa Hawkeyes gear!  Go Hawkeyes!  Go Irish!  Go Bears!

  

Zoo Time!

As summer drew to a close, we made a visit to the zoo with Erin and William, and had a great time!  Keira, while being "stuck" in the stroller, found some great things to see in the 2nd half of the zoo tour.

Brooke and William enjoyed sizing themselves up to see how big they compared to the baby elephant, Mario Lemieux,  etc.

I love the progression of Brooke's face in the next two shots.  In the 2nd one, she's laughing so hard at William's antics.

Ah, the Mama Elephant and the Baby Elephant!

"FINALLY!"  Keira says, as she's 'released' from the stroller.  In the aquarium, she could wonder about and see the fish up close at her level.  And boy, did she like what she saw!

The polar bear exhibit proved to be a lot of fun too!  The bear was jumping around in the water, throwing one of his "toys" in and leaping after it. 

Brooke finds a camel to ride!  At the very end of the zoo, they have a "live" area you can walk through...walking amongst deer and some other animals.  But the favorite part of the whole zoo for Brooke and William was the playground at the end.  Lots of "animals" to climb on, slides to down, etc.  By then it's 4pm, everyone's exhausted and we have to wrangle the children back to the cars.

More Sister Love

Ah, I hear my girls playing together much more these days, and nicely most of the time.  Lately they've been crawling into a chair together in the playroom and reading books.  I had to sneak so in for photo opportunities!
Here they're nicely looking at a sticker book together.

A couple days later, I hear them together in the chair again.  This time, it didn't end as nicely.

Classic.

Nap Shananigans

Ah, does she sleep or not at naptime?  Lately, not much.  There's just a lot of running around her bedroom, trying on clothes, emptying drawers, etc. 

On this occasion, she put her friends down for a nap -- see all the stuffed animals lined up on the pillows, with blankets over them?  And then she fell asleep...thus the lone leg laying in the bottom right corner.

Visiting the park - Chicagostyle

While in the Chicago area for a week, we made it down to visit Suzanne, Rob and their children Jake and Emme for a couple nights.  To Brooke's excitement, a great sprinkler ball was pulled out for the children for water to play in and laugh. 

Brooke and Jake starting to get wet.

Jake's younger sister Emme joining in the fun. Keira on the other hand didn't like it so much.

After a drying off and moving inside, they resorted to what all children love to do: play underneath the dining room table!

The next day we took a city walk.  Much different for Brooke and Keira from our suburban neighborhood walks!  Nothing like cruising up Southport with the Radio Flyer and a double stroller. (when Mom and Dad first met, Dad lived right off Southport, so they "cruised" there too, but looking for restaurants and bars, not parks!)

At the park, Suzanne helped Emme to a drink.  It was a hot hot day in the city!

For Brooke, this was certainly a different park from what she was used to back home.  Where were the woodchips and grass?

Great time in Chicago!  Thank you to Suzanne and Rob for hosting us a couple days!

Which is the real dog?

I think Sherman may have made a blog post in the past.  After being in the house for probably two years, I sometimes still mistake him for Maddie!  Couldn't pass up these shots of them laying side by side.

Happy Birthday Dad and Grandpa!

Big Birthday Wishes to Grandpa and Dad!  Grandpa turned 70 so we ventured to Cinci to celebrate his birthday.  It was a great family gathering, with Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Matt coming in as well.  With nice weather, we enjoyed lots of time on the deck.

Dinner time!

One of the two Birthday Boys!

Ah, ducks enjoying dinner out too.  Brooke and her dad feed them some bread.

Uncle Matt and Aunt Kathleen are all smiles.

Birthday Cake!

Mimi is happy to have the family together.

Playtime outside: Keira rides Mom's old Fisher Price Explorer truck, that Mom rode when she was Keira's age!  Brooke enjoyed swinging her stroller in circles and circles and circles.

Ah, joy rides on the grandparent's golf cart!  Aunt Kathleen and Mom have the same picture of us at Keira and Brooke's age on our grandparents golf cart in Sun City, AZ.