It’s been really great, and it’s not even actual Halloween yet! So I thought I’d share some pictures. Enjoy!
October so far…
Back in the saddle
School started 2 weeks ago, and man, is it off and running!
The girls both have cross country practice after school each day, with meets once a week or once every two for Della and once or twice a week for Lana. Morrison is playing fall ball with Little League and flag football again, so those games and practices are once a week. I’m waiting to sign the twins up for their next round of swim lessons until this winter, mainly so the family calendar doesn’t burst into flames and my head keeps from exploding. 😀
We did make sure to have a lot of fun that last weekend before school began again, though. Obvisouly Donut Monster, Della went on her annual up north trip with her best friend and her family, Ryan took the other 4 up to Sheboygan Falls for dinner with his family and a hometown high-school football game, and those here did a few nights of backyard camping. Well, not me. I don’t camp. But I did put up the tent and get it all situated for them. 😉
I went to Parent Orientation for the boys this week, and I absolutely love getting the peeks into their daily lives at school when they’re away from me. I hope to god our schools always stay safe and keep them protected. But they all have fantastic teachers and are off to a great start, so I think it’s going to be a wonderful year!
And we’re off!
School got out exactly 1 week ago, and it’s already been a whirlwind! The kids all had a half day that last day, then we got home, ate lunch, and immediately drove to Peoria for our annual summer weekend with family. It always coincides with Father’s Day, so I get to see my dad and Ryan gets the best Father’s Day gift every year – silence. We spent a day at my mom’s on the tail end of that trip, then we got home and their true summer break began.
So far this week we’ve worked on flipping our rental house before a new tenant arrives, and the big kids have been absolute rock stars helping with everything. The twins have done a great job entertaining themselves so we can get all that done, Lana and I have started our summer morning walks together, and we’re getting ready for our first of 2 trips this summer. Morrison’s spring/summer Little League is winding down next week, Lana starts cross country camp next week, the twins start tennis lessons the week after next, Della starts lacrosse lessons the week after next, and she started online driver’s ed today!
I love this season so much. My work will unfortunately be busier than usual this summer, but that’s ok; we’ll still have fun. Let’s go summer vacation!!
Merry & Bright
So, 2024 was…. fine. Let’s rock n’ roll, 2025!
One last time…
November was most likely our last annual fall trip up to Eagle River, and it really bummed us all out. We’ve been going each year with our friends since the twins were born, so this was our 7th trip. It stinks that it was our last, but the owners are selling the whole place and our friend’s family whose timeshare it was isn’t continuing on with the new ownership. Can’t blame them, but now the week getaway we so looked forward to each fall is gone, too.
Here is a big photo dump from our last hurrah. Thank you for all the years and great memories, Lake Forest Resort! We’ll miss you! And maybe someday we’ll make it back to our favorite hike to see if Lana’s stick is still there…
End School –> Summer –> Start School
As usual, I am far behind over here, but such is a busy life with 5 kids and a full-time job. Said kids all passed their grade levels last year, whew!, we had a fun-filled summer vacation, then they all started back to school within the past 2 weeks. We are now in 3 different schools for the duration with Della starting high school and Lana starting middle school, so that’s a big change, too!
Here are pictures from the last day of school in June and the first days of school this month, but I’m not going to photo dump everything from summer in here. So sorry, that would take forever. I’ll mix a couple summer fun pics in that I might not have posted on social, but our vacations (late winter/early spring break in Florida, Canada in July, and St. Thomas in August) would be entire posts all their own and I just don’t feel like doing that. 😁 But that little Instagram box in the right sidebar here rotates through all my Instagram pictures so they’ll pop up over there, and if you follow me personally on Facebook then you’ve seen most of them there, too. And if you haven’t, just use your imagination! 🤣
Fall Ball Champs!
Morrison’s Minors team won the Fall Ball playoffs! I couldn’t believe it! He was on the Dodgers this fall after starting his Little League career on the Marauders in Pee Wees this spring/summer.
Minors started off so much different than Pee Wees, it was almost disheartening. Kids on the team made fun of his stuff, the coaches were far less engaged than the ones in Pee Wees were, and I was afraid it was going to turn him off from baseball completely. I came to find out this unfortunately isn’t unusual in Minors so it wasn’t just Morrison, but that’s still stupid – it’s kids’ baseball! But in typical Morrison fashion, his kind heart and sweet attitude triumphed and he did awesome. When he told me about the dumb comments, I told him how sorry I was that it happened and that generally when kids make fun of other kids, it’s because they’re actually jealous so don’t even listen to them. And that turned out to ring so true. He said he didn’t let their comments bother him, he just ignored them and focused on the game, and all he wanted was to have fun. I about cried when he said that, because that was all him. A heart of gold and spirit of pure joy this one has, and my pride is endless.
He is SUCH a natural athlete, it’s incredible. His Pee Wees coach said he was by far the most improved from the beginning of that season to the end on their team, and he just kept getting better and better this fall. His confidence was through the roof, and when his teammates realized that the new kid was ready to kick their butts, they quickly shut the F up. Go Morrison!
So that was a fun and very unexpected end to his first Fall Ball season. The playoffs were a one-day, three one-hour-games event. They won their first one and I was like oh fun, we’ll just stay up here and I’ll get him a cheeseburger for lunch from the ballpark grill (which he’d been wanting all year!), then we’ll see what happens in game #2. Then they won that one, too! By this time I saw his Pee Wees coach and told him how they were doing and he came over to cheer Morrison on during his at bat, which totally made Morrison’s day. Then they tapped a keg of local beer for all the parents, so that was awesome, too. And then they won the second game! I was giving Ryan the play-by-play the whole time, and he got too superstitious so said he’d better not come up to the park so he didn’t jinx it. But by the end of game #3, when it looked like they might actually win the thing, he hopped on his ebike and got up there as fast as he could. He arrived just in time to see them win it all! I don’t think we’ve ever seen Morrison smile so big and so hard. They got medals, they got ice cream, and his young life was made.
This kid fills my heart, and everyone who knows him can feel the happiness he carries through life. Great job, my love! We are SO proud of you and can’t wait to see the greatness that lies ahead of you on the baseball field and off.
