Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

I went with Aubrey and her kindergarten class on a field trip to the pumpkin patch last week. It was a perfect fall day. It was fun to be with Aubrey. Three kindergarten pumpkin patch field trips down, one to go!

I should have had Aubrey take her pumpkin out of the plastic sack for this photo, but I didn't, so here's Aubs with her plastic bag.



Aubrey and her little school friend, Jemima

Great Grandpa & Grandma Moffat took Grant for the morning, so I could go on the field trip. I so appreciate them and their willingness to spend time with their great-grandkids. Grant "helped" Grandpa blow/rake leaves in front of their house and had a great time. When I went to pick him up, they said they could only understand half of what Grant said but that he didn't seem to mind and was happy. The treats, hot cocoa, bin of toys to himself, and the complete attention of his great-grandparents might have had something to do with his happiness. :-) Grant and Aubrey undid some of the leaf work on our way home. Leaves are so much fun when you're a kid!

Aren't those trees against the blue sky lovely? There were a couple weeks of solid rain at the beginning of October that had us worried about the rest of the soccer season, but it didn't last, and we've had weeks of beautiful fall weather. I took this photo with my phone from my car while waiting in line to pick up the big kids from school. The amazing colors are one of the reasons fall is my favorite season. I'm amazed by the beauty of God's creation every September and October.

This is what most of our soccer season has looked like. So nice!

Kinder girl

Aubrey's class performed in all-school assembly on Wednesday, so Grant, Grandma A., and I went to watch her class sign the pledge of allegiance in song form. It was pretty cute. She signed it for us at home, so Greg could see. She was pretty good at it, very rhythmic and smooth. We were impressed. :)

Aubrey is so social. I love seeing the huge smile on her face as she walks into school with Kari and Joel and their friends, chatting away with them all. She just loves finally getting to be one of the "big kids." Kindergarten has been a little bit of an adjustment, though. She loves it, she really does, but being the emotional little thing that she is, she's had a few teary days at school.  I received a phone call one morning from her teacher (I always panic a bit when I see "East Orient" on the caller ID). She said Aubrey was crying and just needed to talk to me on the phone. Apparently, they were pulling kids out of class for an assessment of some kind down the hallway in a different classroom, and Aubrey got scared and fell apart. The teacher put her on the phone, and I talked to her, trying to calm her down and reassure her that she was safe and everything would be ok. She was SO pitiful, still crying and trying to catch her breath. She was able to finish the morning and cried some more when she was telling me about it at home, but then she was ok and had no problem going back the next day.

Another day she came home and told us that the teacher gave out jobs, but she didn't take one. I asked why she didn't take one, and she said, "Because I didn't want a job!" When told her it was not ok for her to tell teacher "no," she said, "But Mom, I said, "No, thank you!" So, we had a little talk about how everyone does jobs at school, just like everyone does chores at home and does their part to help out. The next week she accepted the job offered to her. It was a coveted job, line leader, which made me wonder if that was coincidence or teacher planned. She has accepted other jobs, though, too, so I think we're past that little hurdle.

 She was teary coming off the bus one day last week because the teacher changed all the seating arrangements, and Aubrey was no longer at a table with her friend, Makayla. We talked about the friends she could make at her new table, and she decided new friends could be good. Sigh! This child of ours! I helped out in her classroom yesterday, and it was good for me to see that there are other much more needy, high maintenance children in her class and that Aubrey did just fine, obeyed the rules, and was respectful. It will be interesting to hear what her teacher has to say at our parent-teacher conference next month. :-) She's just more dramatic and emotional than Kari and Joel were/are, and we're learning, as we go, how to deal with that and help her navigate all those emotions. I think she'll make it through kindergarten, at least! ;-)

8 years of photos at Liepolds

We have tons of photos of our family at this place, not our whole family every year (didn't think to start doing that until we'd been going for a few years), but lots and lots of the kids going through the corn maze and choosing pumpkins. It's so fun to look back and see how our kids have grown. Look at how little Kari and Joel were that first year we went through the corn maze! She was younger than Grant is now; she was not quite three, and Joel was 10 months.

2006

 

2007


 

2008

2009

 

2010

2011

2012

2013

 

Lieopold's 2013

This is one my favorite activities of the year--love the time with family, love the colors, love the cool crisp fall morning air, love the pumpkins--and we were able to make it happen again this year. The kids were all excited go. We're wondering if this is the last year Greg will have to carry a child through the corn maze. I didn't carry Grant at all, and Greg only had to towards the end.  We did decide this will likely be the last year we buy pumpkins at Liepolds. The kids all chose BIG ones. It was NOT cheap. We'll go to Al's Garden Center for our pumpkins (or Grandpa's garden) and just take photos in the pumpkins at Liepolds, if/when we come next year. :-) Maybe let them chose little ones...maybe.
Thank you to Natalie for the family photo! It was fun to see the Fredericks there, too. We didn't have to ask strangers to take our pictures. :)

 

More Soccer and Sickness

We're starting the fall with a big ol' round of illness here. We had colds a couple weeks ago, which turned into a sinus infection for Aubrey. Then Joel got sick with a high fever and sore throat and ended up with pneumonia. That was no fun! Poor guy! We thought he was better and let him play in his soccer game on Wednesday evening, but he came down the stairs Thursday morning all hunched over, saying it hurt his back and chest to breathe. A couple visits to the doctor, with a chest x-ray in between, confirmed he had pneumonia. Thankfully, it was the bacterial kind that antibiotics take care of quickly. Oh, and I ended up with an eye infection of some kind in the middle of all this and had to go to the doctor that day, too. I was so thankful Mom (Moffat) was able to come stay with the kids and help me out that day!

Grant got a fever on Wednesday night along with a nasty case of tonsillitis. He's doing better today (Sunday) and is finally fever-free. Now Kari is feverish and feeling icky, and Joel threw up early this morning. He had a bad headache all afternoon/evening yesterday, so I'm not sure if this is a new virus that will run through the whole family or if Joel's bout was pain-related. We'll see, I suppose. Greg is leading music for church this morning, so just he and Aubrey went today. The rest of us are home this morning. I'm ready for some wellness now, not another week of illness. I can handle kids' fevers and sore throats much better than vomit. Stomach bugs make me grumpy and depressed.

We had a beautiful day for soccer yesterday, though! Joel was feeling much better (no longer hurt to breathe!) and was able to play in his game, but I didn't get any photos of him because I was at Kari's game at the same time on a different field. He played goalie the first half, and Greg said he did great, stopping several balls.

Kari played well, considering she was getting sick (didn't know it at the time) and almost scored a goal. It was so close!

Aubrey had a great time in her game and scored a goal from almost half field. It rolled slowly on in. :)

 

Aunt Brenda Visit

It was great to have Aunt Brenda here for a visit. Dad and Uncle Dennis were up at "Vicki's Villa" moose hunting, so she came down and hung out with Mom for the week. It was fun to see her and catch up a little. I do wish Alaska wasn't quite so far away!