Since our last post things have been going well. Gabriella and Thomas are back into "the swing of
things" with school. Gabriella is realizing first grade is a bit different than Kindergarten. She has 3-4 tests a week. Sight words, plus facts for math and reading homework every night and 2-3 nights of additional homework, typically a worksheet. Sometimes we are okay with homework, other times you would think the world is coming to an end!
Soccer is going well for both kids. Thomas finishes up the first weekend in October. He's had a great season and has done well. He has great control of the ball and has scored several goals. Unlike most 5 year olds (who bunch up and huddle around the ball trying to kick it), Thomas stands back alittle in the field waiting for the ball to come his way (or be passed to him as he yells "pass ball"). With him wide open and standing by himself, the ball comes his way and he is good to go to bring the ball to the goal.
Gabriella's soccer ends the last weekend in October. They have played in 3 games so far and have done good. The first two games Gabriella was a bit difficult since it was hot and humid. However, this past Sunday (with the cooler weather) Gabriella showed alot more interest and played much better.
Gabriella's dance and Girl Scouts has also started up again.
Thomas is a monkey (watch him climb, he actually uses his toes!) and has great upper body strength. So, we signed him up for gymnastics. I realized if I signed Gabriella up too, their class would be at the same time and I would have an hour of quite while they are burning off some energy. So, we signed her up! They have been going for 4 weeks and love it (so much that they both agreed to have their birthday party there!).
The night I have been waiting for all summer has finally come....Thursday night...the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy. This is my absolute favorite show! Our friend Heather (refer back to frog post) is like family to us. We invite her over on Thursdays (for the past 2 years) for dinner, dessert and great tv. She's so much like family that last night she put the coffee up! Grandpa knows about our Thursday tradition and decided to join us (without Grandma who was left at home to go to work!). He headed up this way on Wednesday. On Thursday, Thomas' school went on a fieldtrip to the apple orchard and Grandpa joined us. Following the apple orchard trip, (which was from 11:00-2:00) we came home and started to lower the water level in the pool to prepare it for closing. At 3:30 we got Gabriella off the bus, came home and completed homework. At 4:30 we left for gymnastics (5:00-6:00) and after gymanstics took Thomas to soccer (6:00-7:00). Upon arriving home, we had about another inch of water to drain but we proceeded with covering the pool due to the expected rain. Heather arrived at 7:15 thinking she was late for dinner and was informed in order to be fed, she must help cover the pool! (Thank goodness for friends). With the wind blowing and SEVERAL comdey of errors, we got the huge ass cover on (with our light source being flashlights!), finished up and ate dinner at 8:30 (by the way, I told Grandpa dinner was going to be PB&J in the car on the way from gymnastics to soccer- he disapproved! Next time, he might be okay with it!) The kids were in bed by 9:15, dessert was in the oven and we spent the rest of the night glued to the tv. It was a great night!
Below are some pictures (compliments of Grandpa) of Thomas' apple orchard fieldtrip. We hope you enjoy them and remember to check back for more posts! 
