Welcome Fall!

Fall has arrived and exciting change is around the corner.  In the next month or so we will be moving out of our little 2 bedroom hotel condo that we've been living in for the past 3 months and into our new house! I'm not sure what we will do with all of the space. We've grown accustomed to our close-quarters living here.  It hasn't been bad at all here--it's actually been kind of nice! The kids have loved the pool and riding the elevators every day.  I am looking forward to a shorter drive to and from school for both kids--and I am looking forward to being back in our neighborhood. I am also looking forward to having our dog living with us again.  Marlon's sister and her husband have been kind enough to let Sophie live with them since mid-June and we are looking forward to having her back in the area next week!

The kids continue to enjoy school.  Kellan is very chatty about school each day--he will tell me who sat where, who got in trouble for what, who cried for their mom, who got prize box, etc.  He's just full of information!  He is really taking off in learning, too.  He's only had 8 days of school so far and he has learned the Pledge of A11iegence (well, a pretty close version of it!).  He loves watching the Leap Frog word fact0ry videos at home and has quickly picked up spelling some basic words (some of which are words Alex has had on her spelling tests for first grade--not saying Kellan is super smart, just observing that school takes their time teaching basic words!)  He can spell his first and last name as well.  Here are a few videos of him--I want to remember his sweet voice as he spells his first words :)

I think Alex is finally settling into life in first grade.  For the first month or so I was starting to worry that she wasn't really enjoying school, but I've seen a change in the past few weeks and she really seems to have fallen in love with her teachers and school in general again.  She has a sweet friend, Katie, who gave her her first BFF necklace that she made for her (SO sweet) and wrote her a note along with it.  They have exchanged a few notes back and forth and it's just so hard to imagine that my little girl is exchanging and writing notes with a friend--where has the time gone?!  She is also attending Pioneer Girls again and seems to really enjoy going even though she doesn't have many close friends that attend.  She is still playing soccer (and I am assistant coaching) and she is doing well although her team leaves a little to be desired.  It's not easy to get the attention of 7 6 & 7 year old girls--they would all much rather run around, chase each other, and giggle then do anything relating to soccer.  It will be interesting to see how much longer Alex continues to want to play--she seems to understand the game and make good decisions on the field--but she really needs to learn how to toughen up (and improve her skills a bit!).

A few weeks ago we had a visit from my brother (Josh), SIL Kendy, and my niece Kaylee. Here are Kaylee (who is not quite 4) and Alex (who is 6!) giving me a pose--I couldn't get both of them to look at the camera.

 It was a beautiful day for a soccer game!

And last but not least, these pictures were taken tonight. The kids were playing 1 v. 1 soccer, complete with winter hats and gloves--not sure why because they were sweating at the end.  But they made for cute photos!