Trick or Treating at Trane

I've gotten to be a Halloween scrooge the older my kids get.  I use to at least do a costume for the kids and actively go to the Church Trunk R Treat or a carnival.  This year, I just really didn't want all the candy, the money and time spent on costumes.  I just wasn't feeling it.  Thankfully, Grammy rescued us all by helping Ava do a Trunk at church and my kids were pretty content with that.

We actually almost forgot about the Trick or Treating at Keith's work.  Monday after school we managed to scrounge up some costumes and head over for some fun and games!

Drew was not a fan of all the dressing up - even the pretty princesses were not to his liking!  :)

Halloween night we actually had a few trick or treaters, despite the porch light being off and it raining.  The girls are picky when it comes to candy so our visitors got what the girls wouldn't eat.  Better than it going in the trash.  And our neighbors are pretty awesome too.  The Stricklands from across the way asked if the girls could come by to get some treats.  Homemade cookies and decorated Halloween bags.  :)  Mr. Strickland even dressed up for the night!

Texas Glory Scrimmage and Fundraiser

On Saturday Carli had her first scrimmage as a member of the Texas Glory 2526 team.  She was pretty excited to get her new uniform and sweatshirt.  She's really taken to the girls and showed absolutely no nerves about being back on the mound in a game situation.  Are we sure this kid is mine?!

The morning started off with a scrimmage against another 10u team.  Carli did really well on the mound.  As the lineup went on, she really got in her groove.  It was a good experience.  The batted through the line-up twice.  Carli struck out 10 of the 20 batters she faced.  She only walked 2 and hit one.  Not too shabby.  Carli's pitching coach has always said she's a contact pitcher.  This was a little rec team, so we really expect in the tournament next wkd for her to have more hits off of her pitches, but she's got a good defense behind her to take care of that!  Overall, she was very pleased and had a lot of fun!

After the scrimmage, the team had several fundraisers to do.  All the girls had gotten pledges for a hit-a-thon.  Carli had challenged her Daddy that she could beat him in money raised and she did!  They hit off the pitching machine, which Carli has never done until she joined this team.  I was pleased she got over her mental block about hitting off the machine.  She hit the ball 130 ft.  She actually hit one that would have gone further but she nailed the coach who was doing the machine!  Over all, Carli raised $448.50 in pledges and Keith raised $130.  Keith also participated in the homerun derby and got 3rd, hitting 3 over.  Carli got 3rd in the base running contest, running the bases in 14.8 seconds!

The best part of the day was that Grammy, Pa, Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Johnny all came out to cheer on Carli.  Their presence in addition to all our friends and family who sponsored Carli in her hit-a-thon was just an amazing example of the support system our girls have.  We couldn't be more blessed!

2017 Trunk R Treak

While we knew Carli would be busy on Saturday of Trunk R Treat, Ava was not and she very passionately wanted to do a trunk!  Her Momma really isn't into the whole dressing up for Halloween thing...the candy, the prep work, the trick-or-treating...but thankfully, her retired school teacher Grammy came to her rescue!  Ava and Grammy planned their trunk and I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Ava came up with the game and painted all her Monster cans herself with very little help from her Mom.  The game was actually a pretty big hit much to Ava's delight!  Grammy even found vampire emoji balls to use to knock them down!

Carli was able to make it back half way through and join in on the fun!  Grammy had some awesome décor and was much more creative than I could have been at this.  She even found Mewmaw's old wash pot and got some dry ice to use as a cauldron!  That was a cool feature that lots of the kids oohed and ahhed over!

 Drew and I spent a lot of time in the front of the car watching "big trucks" on YouTube and playing with a balloon.  Drew was not a fan of all the costumes!  Thankfully Pa and Keith brought Carli and they helped keep Drew entertained too!

 

Thanks Grammy for such an awesome night and all your work to help make Ava's "vision" come to light!

Red Ribbon Week 2017

Much to my surprise both girls decided they would participate all week long in Red Ribbon Week.  Last year, neither was interested in participating and I didn't push it.  But this year...they were all in...

Monday:  Wear Red - CHECK!

Ava came home minus her socks with very stinky feet!!!

Tuesday:  Mismatch Day.  This was the day I thought they would balk at.  Last year, Carli tried so hard to participate in this day but she just couldn't handle not matching.  She was to the point of tears!  But this year, they were almost late b/c they had to make sure absolutely NOTHING matched...even their hair.  And Ava came home without the leggings on...this trend of undressing at school is new...

 Wednesday:  Minion Day for "Drugs are Despicable!"  I refused to go shopping for anything...so that didn't stop the girls from participating!  They dug through the container of clothes I had gotten out to sort through and found a couple of shirts.  Busted out Pinterest and BOOM!  Minion shirts!  I was impressed!

Thursday:  Team up Against Sports...and it was so easy, I forgot to take a picture of them!

Friday:  Crazy Hair day...crazy hair day about did me in. It verified I do not have the ability to read my child's mind and create awesome emoji hair even with the extra 30 minutes we gave ourselves this morning. Pinterest was of no help. And while she was a good sport the creation did not meet her expectations...and great Mom...now we are late was the cherry on top of the obvious hair flop. So if you could just have a little grace, it'd save me some heartache at the end of the day...

Now, where's my Dr pepper....

Playing with Drew

Drew LOVES to slide.  He loves to be outside.  Most of the time his big sisters will entertain him but when their friends come down to play, Drew and Momma must play without the girls!  He couldn't understand why Momma would slide with him but we got really good at "Ready, Set, Go!" and "1, 2, 3, Go!"  :)

Fall Ball Champions

The girls finished out their fall ball season with Troup Thunder today.  They won 1st place!  They even got rings to show off their hard work.  They played two games today and had a great time.  The team went 8 and 2 only losing their first two games of the season.  Not too shabby for a team that just moved up to coach pitch from tball.  Only two of the girls will be going to 10u in the Spring (Carli & Kadaisha).  Lots of good things in store for this group of girls!

Meanwhile, Drew was a trooper and the center of attention between games with all his dirt tools and buckets!

My Stubborn Ava

Turns out...Ava inherited her mother's stubborn streak.
Turns out...her mother is more stubborn much to Ava's dismay.

She didn't want to take her vitamin and I've put my food down that she has to take it now.  It makes such a difference in her attitude and overall demeanor. 

Scarecrow Trail 2017

This summer Grammy started working with the Master Gardener's and one of their annual fundraisers is the host the Scarecrow Trail each year.  Originally we thought we might do up a scarecrow but kind of let time slip up on us.  So instead we spent Saturday morning walking the trail to get ideas on what we might could do next year!  Drew and Ava thoroughly enjoyed the scarecrows.  Ava is convinced we can make a softball player scarecrow sliding into home plate next year.  Carli found hobbit houses amongst the scarecrows and it's become her new obsession!

 

They also had some belly dancers and face painting.  Drew was very unsure of the belly dancers!

 Drew did find some big trucks amongst the scarecrows and was just as thrilled to see them and even touch a couple of them as he was running around finding scarecrows!

Curly Haired Boy

I never liked my curly hair til I was in college and realized how blessed I was to have it!  I've said since then I wanted my girls to have curly hair and both are straight as a board.  We joked it'd be our boy that had the curly hair...and what do you know...God has a wonderful sense of humor!

Thunder Fall Ball

After deciding it was in our family's best interest to part ways with the Sassy Sluggers, the girls were missing playing some softball.  Thankfully our Troup family welcomed them back with open arms to their fall ball team.  It worked out pretty well b/c in ASA rules Carli could still play 8u.  She wasn't sure she wanted to play 8u again but once she got on the field she had a blast!

It was pretty fun to get to see both my girls on the same field again.  Ava played pitcher and Carli played 3rd base.  It was great practice for Carli playing a position she didn't normally play.  Drew ended up back to his very important job of playing the dirt and wearing himself out!  It also worked well to play fall ball b/c it was much closer to home making it easier for some of our favorite people to come watch the girls play!

Texas Glory 2526

This kid. She amazes me every day. The last month hasn't been the easiest for her but she's just kept going. She just kept believing and today, she played 2 games with her fall ball team this morning then came out to a 3 hr practice/tryout. She did awesome. I can't even explain how proud I am. She knew no one, but she went anyway. And today became the newest member of the Texas Glory 2526 team.

Drew + Hula Hoop

The girls think we take them to hitting lessons just for them.  Turns out, Drew looks forward to Friday evenings at Coach Jeff's so much more than they do!  If he's not playing with the big trucks in the big pile of dirt, or trying to convince Keith or I to come play with him on the swings or slide, he's finding new toys to try out!  He thought the Hula Hoop was a hoot!!

Fall Picture Day

Picture day...I failed this year in getting the girls to wear something besides t-shirts, but I did make them wear their hair down much to their dismay.

Bed Time Stories

Not going to lie...this made Carli so happy that Drew "allowed" her to read him some bedtime stories.  Usually she tries to mother him and he goes in full rebellion mode!  

Carli's Birthday Celebrations

Carli's big birthday celebration was a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge the wkd before her birthday but she was able to enjoy many other small birthday blessings!

Posing with her rock painting book from Grammy & Pa!

She picked to have lunch at Chuy's on her birthday and enjoyed getting to open a few presents from Grammy, Pa, Uncle Tone and Aunt Holli.

Her favorite, Red Velvet Bundt Cake!

I took Ava and Drew to pick out a birthday present for Carli and was reminded why I did not like to shop!  Ha!  Thankfully these two had a blast!

She celebrated her birthday with her classmates the day after her actual birthday since it fell on a Sunday.  She sported her new birthday outfit.  Her shirts says, "Brave, Bold, Strong."

Carli loves school and was so pleased that we brought mini bundt cakes, ice cream and water for her class to enjoy and celebrate with her!  She really loves her teacher, Mrs. Hultberg!

All in all, Carli had several great birthday celebrations and felt the love of those from all around her!