All Hallow's Eve

Well...here are the kids' costumes. Megan is a bumblebee, and Ben is a swamp monster. They love their new costumes.




So today we spent the day getting ready for Halloween tomorrow and our annual "Halloween Party" (a tradition since 2007.) Also, our friends the Manchesters invited us to join them up at the Country Club for a Halloween Party. The kids got to play games, decorate caramel apples, decorate pumpkins, and eat lots of snacks. Best of all they got to try out their costumes.

"Congratulations Bees!"

Tonight was our "soccer party" to celebrate the end of the season for Megan's soccer team. The party was at our friends' house. There was pizza, cupcakes, and of course trophies for the kids. At one point of the night the party turned into a big "dress up" party as everyone raided one of the girls costume chests. At the end of the party I handed out the trophies and I asked each kid what their favorite thing about playing soccer was. The best line of the night was from one of the boys. His favorite part of playing soccer was "the snacks."
Anyway, Megan did great playing her first season of soccer. Turns out she has a real talent for the sport. She and I had a fun time playing together. As I told some of the parents tonight, as your child gets older you'll see teams and seasons come and go and they'll eventually start to blur together. But you'll always remember the first time they played a sport. You'll always remember their very first team.

Once Upon A Dream

As I mentioned below Megan had to leave her soccer game early in order to make it to her dance recital in time. (She was even wearing her leotard under her soccer uniform at the game.) She's been taking a ballet class for the past 2 months, and today her class performed a dance to the song "Once Upon A Dream." Ben and I were at his soccer game at the time, so it was just Jenny who saw it live. But I have here some pictures and video from the the show. Megan is the 2nd from the right. As you will see she did great. (By the way, I apologize for the videography. My wife needs some practice with the camcorder.)

The Tornadoes - Game 8

Today was also Ben's last soccer game of the season. They were also the "white" team but no "win" for them today (the team they played was the best in our age group.) Still though all the boys had a fun time playing their last game. We had several shots go wide of the goal and we even had 2 hit the post. It was just one of those games where the ball doesn't bounce your way. Ben sure has made a lot of friends through soccer over the years. He and his friend Parker (Sean's son) first started playing together when they were 4. (Those are the last two pictures at the end.) They've been playing together ever since. It was a little sad today to say goodbye to "Midland Soccer" for a while. We've all made a lot of friends.

The Bees - Game 8

Today was Megan's last game of the season. We were the "white" team and good news...our team won 9 - 4. Megan played the first quarter but then she had to rush off to her dance recital. But everyone else picked up the slack. The kids definitely saved their best game for last today. It was nice to end our season with such an impressive win. Ironically, the team we played today was also the one that beat us at our first game this season. So today was a true benchmark on how much the kids improved over the season. Anyway, we had a great season. I'm so proud of Megan and the rest of the kids. They had a great time and they learned a lot.