Walker's become obsessed with checkers lately... he played it first on webkinz and then wanted to play on a "real gameboard". Can you believe we didn't own a checkerboard?? Grabbed one at Walmart the other day and surprised him when he got home from school. He was so excited... yelling, "Thank you Mommy for the checkers!" followed by big hugs... love these moments.

So anyway we sat down and played 6 games that day...

He definitely caught on quickly and is surprisingly good at strategy. Yesterday Stewart showed him how to do the infamous double jumps!

Yesterday we went to the ISU Girls Soccer game...

We couldn't have asked for better weather, usually when we plan something like this its snowing. Ainsley was so cute waving her sign in the air. We stood for the National Anthem and just as it's silent Ainsley screams, "Daddy get it OFF ME!!" There was a gnat on her shirt! Poor thing then she got all embarrassed and started to cry. Thank goodness the game started and she was able to take a few deep breaths.

At half time the kiddos got to go down to the field and try to kick a goal past Benny (the mascot). Here they are in the sea of Gate City Soccer Kids...

Walker was all about the food... "When is it going to be a little bit for a hot dog?" "I see people with hot dogs!" "Where do you get the hot dogs?" Finally he got one... and silence.

It was a really good game... always helps when your team wins as well.

Hard to believe how big the "official field" is from always seeing the kids size fields. The kids watched the game but were mostly into the surroundings... they'd throw up shirts to the crowd... give away coupons to the loudest screamers etc. Happy to say that Mommy and Daddy did a pretty good job catching...

Ainsley's Parent/Teacher conference went well... her teacher wishes she had a whole room full of Ainsley's.

She spent the Friday on the couch with a fever...

She rallied for her not one but TWO soccer games on Saturday, thankfully Walker just had one game. As we get to this part of the season I start counting down the games left... sitting out in 28 degree weather with the wind blowing is so NOT FUN. Just two weekends left!

It was back to school on Monday after 5 days off for Walker and 4 days off for Ainsley. She was really excited to head back... even ready for spelling tests and homework...

Yesterday she had Jazz class which she still really loves. When we drop her off we head to the Library, Walker picked out a few books and when we got home he showed her. Ainsley said, "Oh I can read you this if you want?" Love this..

I had Walker's Parent-Teacher conference yesterday and much to my surprise his teacher said he's a bit loud!!!

What my kid???...Loud?? Ha!!

The exact words were... Works quietly when appropriate which he received a (-). Besides that he excels in everything else... can count past 100... knows all the numbers... shapes... can write his name... knows rhyming and syllables. He for some reason couldn't identify Uppercase E and U?? I'm thinking E???...it's in your name!! But he knew all the lowercase letters and when tested for the Reading Indicator given in Idaho, his scores are already what they should be by the end of this school year.

Besides from the occasionally "gets distracted during large group activities" (depends on who he sits next to) we are pretty proud of him... loud and all.

I have Ainsley's conference today... then were off to find some long sleeves and sweaters for this cold weather!!

Look what made it's way to our house yesterday...

We've been talking about a piano for the last year or so... had even gone shopping 6 months ago and decided we'd wait until we could find a great deal. Well that "great deal" was yesterday! On a whim we headed to the piano gallery yesterday after work to check out the entry level Clavinova pianos or ask about a used acoustic piano. We noticed a lot of the pianos had "sticky notes" on them. They were getting ready for a huge sale in Rexburg over the weekend and were loading them up into a truck as we looked around. An hour later we decided this was the deal we'd been looking for. We found a Kawai digital piano and much to our surprise we loved it more than the Clavinova that we had previously been researching. So home it came with us!!! The sound is amazing... Stewart is giddy with happiness... Ainsley is ecstatic to learn she is going to start taking lessons... and I loved hearing music coming from the living room last night.

Here's a new "self portrait" of Ainsley. She drew herself as a pumpkin... check out the missing teeth... just like her mouth!!

Today officially marks the begin of Cocoa season at our house since it has snowed more than 1" already this morning!

Mulan was happy to have a change of scenery out the window today...

I grabbed this beauty first thing after dropping off the kiddos to school...

Lastly... the "Posers" Ainsley and Walker both wanted me to take their picture yesterday after they had their typical poses down... Ainsley playing the "fairy princess" and Walker playing the tough "Battle Force 5 Hotwheels dude."

Woke up yesterday to squeals... "It snowed!!" Followed by, "Can we go sledding??" So the yard was covered but it looked like this...

No sledding took place but we did head to the library for Art... making kites... they actually flew too! Not sure if Little Bug's is going to make it through the day today (since it's an inside kite at of the moment for it's 33 degrees!)

Yesterday we finalized Ainsley's Halloween costume... she's going to be a Fortune teller. I love the Crystal Ball that we made, I think it makes her whole costume. Here's a couple pictures of how it looks in the light...

And then in the dark...

Planning to work on Walker's costume today (it's another day off from school) he's planning on being a Ranger... pretty easy but the hat is proving to be a bit of work.

Goodbye September... it sure has been a crazy busy one!

Here's a few pictures of the last week or so... made some yummy apple pie filling...

Walker made countless Lego creations which he insists needs to be photographed...

Picture day at school came...

Tree climbing was attempted...

Soccer everything took place...

And last but not least, leaf masks were made...

Really looking forward to October... hot apple cider... homemade soups... soccer finishing up... Pumpkin carving and cooler weather!

Yesterday we sat down for a quick dinner before heading off to Ainsley's soccer game. Walker decides instead of saying a prayer... the pledge of allegiance is better for tonight... he tells us, "Put your hand over your heart!..begin."

He gets most of the words correctly... but there is one sentence that cracks me up... he says, "And to the republic for witches stand!" It was hard not to laugh, but we did because he was so serious about it.

Other times the pledge of allegiance can be heard coming from the upstairs bathroom... while playing with legos... or while washing hands. You can tell it's an important part of his daily routine at school... something new.

Ainsley had her first Jazz class last night and LOVED it... but her little feet were sore after an hour of dancing. She really wanted to do a dance class and finding the "right one" for us took a bit of searching, but I'm glad we found one. It is just the right size of class... just 4 girls total in the class.