our little kicker

we let the kids pick one activity to participate in when they turn 3. sometimes, it is something necessary but disliked, like swim lessons, and sometimes, it is something they would like to try like ballet. 

this year, miller chose soccer.

 it began in september. september in memphis is constantly a uv code red or whatever indicating that children and the elderly and pets and anyone with common sense should not be outside.

 and, soccer was on sundays from 2-3 p.m. nice.

 on day one, miller was so excited to be at soccer.

 so excited, he randomly gave thumbs up to strangers.

 he ran and ran.

 while his personal cheerleader . . .

 cheered and cheered.

 he appeared to have some moves. we saw promise.

 then, the leaves began to fall . . .

 and the weather began to cool . . .

 and soccer became not so exciting. maybe it was the lack of naps. it was on sundays, so we were all making that sacrifice.

 miller followed through--a life lesson we all have to learn. he finished the six (turned eight) week sport, but he just doesn't seem to have the skills to be the next david beckham.

even if he does look adorable sitting on a soccer ball.

falling for fall

i love holidays. it could possibly be considered an obsession, an unhealthy obsession at that. it starts in september/october with halloween. halloween has become one of my favorite holidays. to me, it is more of a child's holiday, a holiday that celebrates imagination and creativity and self confidence. those things are much better than the halloweens of the past, right??

i love halloween so much i have a tree. a small black wire-y tree that we decorate with handmade paper ornaments each year.

and, i definitely think i could create an advent-type calendar for this time, too. we have several yearly traditions, like the pumpkin patch.

we go to the same one every year. this year, because josh works from home, we were able to go during the day. interestingly enough, the sun shines right through all the trees leaving bright sun spots and weird shadows that you have to watch when taking pictures. note to self: next year, go in the afternoon even if it is fall break ;)

someone kept dropping all the pumpkins we were trying to show her and hand to her. sometimes, it is overwhelming when you are the youngest.

we picked out 6 pie size pumpkins for school projects and carving and one really cool green/gray pumpkin that we never took a picture of. too bad because it was the most perfect pumpkin even if its friend was housing a black widow spider-yikes!

the next day, we headed to do something i have been wanting to do for years. this was definitely a good year to start.

the maze!

we spent lots of time walking in the dusty dustiness. yes, it was so dusty it needed to be reiterated. it was so fun . . . even if we didn't always agree.

but, somehow, we made it out even with so many opinions.

then, just a few days before halloween, we had our annual pumpkin carving night with our friends, the tillmans.

i was inspired by martha's october magazine cover to use pie pumpkins instead of regular pumpkins. it was so much easier! each child had their own pumpkin and there wasn't so much work for us when they decided after the second scoop they were done cleaning it out.

and, they looked adorable in my kitchen window!