Thank Goodness for Fridays

Fridays have taken on a whole new meaning around here. With Wade's crazy schedule and the rest of us being at home the last eleven (can you believe it?) years we fit school in wherever it fits best and sometimes take time off during the week, especially if Dad has the day off!

Now that Katie has to abide by the typical academic calendar...I must say I DO NOT like that aspect of school...and Wade seems to have more weekends off than he used to, weekends and vacations have become a much more valuable commodity!! Here is a pic of the after school trip we took to Smoothie King to kick off the weekend.

E and M had a birthday party to go to and K, W and I went to the high school homecoming football game. Last year we went to the homecoming game to see what it was like and hopefully, get Katie a little excited, as we were beginning to seriously consider enrolling her in high school. It was the first time we saw the school. I remember being impressed by their terrific marching band and that we thought it was so sweet that at this school the homecoming court (girls) are accompanied on to the football field by their dads!

September showers bring cheerful flowers

In mid September we are usually living at a crazed pace from one soccer practice, match, or tournament to the next. We love every tiring minute of it. However, THIS September we have had rain 17 of 26 days, in fact we have had at least a trace of rain 14 of the last 15 days. So due to soggy closed soccer fields this month has been unusually relaxing! I have loved all the rainy days but we will pay for them when we are freezing our tootsies off at soccer games rescheduled into December!

So, with all the extra time on our hands we have been working on quite a few projects. Here are a few... Madison created this lovely flowerpot with cupcake liners, pipe cleaners and a clay pot we had around the house. She made another, larger one for a friend's birthday.

and Ellie and Madison made some very cheerful sun catchers (see them at the end of the post) and friendship bracelets.

Unfortunately, Ellie came down with the flu- look what Madison made to cheer her up- :D --it kept her down for a couple of days with high temps and then she got better for about a day and a half. Unfortunately, her temp registered at 102 again tonight.

We pulled out our state quarters collection that had been neglected for a couple of years. Each of the girls has a collection from the Philly mint and from the Denver mint. We have been setting aside all our state quarters and had several hundred to sort thru. The "D"s are just about all complete but we are missing some of the Philly quarters yet. Madison made the handy "quarter sorter" grid.

They make even a rainy, dreary day seem cheerful, don't you think?

One of my favorite days of the year...

Two of my very favorite people in the whole world celebrate a birthday on September 16. In fact in 1994 one of these people received the best birthday gift he has ever received, no question about it. On Wade's 26th birthday Katie Grace was born. The picture below is of his 30th (duh, right!) and Katie's 4th birthdays.

More pictures of Katie at 4...so sweet!!

and Wade at about the same age~~guess you know where she gets it!!

I have taken a long break from blogging and have so much to catch you up on~~the biggest event is probably that Katie started high school after 8 years of home schooling. We start early around here and she is already in her sixth week of school...and tonight was the first night that she has had NO HOMEWORK!! Sweet birthday present, huh! We had dinner at one of our fave restaurants...Pei Wei...with our friends Tom and Kelley and went home for cheesecake and gifts.