October Fun!

Mike went to Kate's very last "Parents at PE" class with Kate and worked up a sweat! Always a fun class competing against these VERY competitive Cure' kids!

Molly had her last regular season tournament of the season - the EKL in Prairie Village. Grandpa Don came to watch, after just returning from his Camino hike in Spain. 

She ended the regular season ranked 9th in the state in doubles. 

Next weekend = Regionals in Topeka!

A few pix from Kate's volleyball game the night of her birthday last week! One of the kids she babysits for came to cheer for her and watch her play for the 2nd time this season!  Kate asked her if she wanted to sit on the bench with the team - and she was thrilled!

Love a HOME GAME on your birthday! 

We brought macaroons to have between the 2 games 

as it was a doubleheader Friday night lights!

Some sweet friends came to cheer them on too!

Molly is part of of an SJA Strong group at school this year where they make videos to share with the school on positive reminders - mentorship, anti-bullying, etc. So proud of her, using her talents for such good!

And to add a little laugh at the end of this post - the girls are constantly switching up our profiles on the Disney and Netflix accounts on our TV's - I feel like where they have us now is very fitting. :) 

And if you ever feel stressed, just watch Bear peacefully sleep. :) Always keeping us grounded and coming home to rest after our crazy days!

8th Grade Class Retreat with Kate . . .

 

Kate asked me to be one of the chaperones for her 8th grade class retreat to Camp Tekawitha all day yesterday and it was the MOST gorgeous day to skip work and play outside with Kate and her friends!

Love these 70 kids who have been all together with in church and school since even before Kindergarten! Almost their whole lives have been spent together!  

I must have grabbed the lucky straw as I had the 

best group of 4 girls and 2 boys with me all day . . .

I already knew them all so that made it easy to not leave anyone behind!

{Ollie, Conner, Kate F, Reece, Caroline C, Caroline L, Kate M}

Our first stop was to the POWER POLE! Kate and Reece

 raised their hands to go first!  They were fearless!

They went twice! 

 Strong Fearless Girls!

Almost as tall as me!

Archery and then prayer time . . . 

Ended the day with kayaking which was beautiful! One of the volunteers who works at the camp played the guitar for us by the water - it was a special day I won't forget!

Kate Turns 14!

 

Kate's birthday fell on a Friday this year so she got to celebrate at school with her friends and then had 2 volleyball games Friday night and got to celebrate with her team!  

For her birthday celebration this year she wanted to do a staycation with me on the Plaza and I was thrilled to get to spoil this girl and have some 1:1 mother/daughter fun!

We started with a stop at Bijin Spa in Prairie Village for a teen facial and hair blow out for her, which she LOVED! A quick stop at Chipotle for lunch - then off to the Plaza to shop until we drop! It was a GORGEOUS fall day!

First stop: Candy store, of course!

Kendra Scott for a new bracelet!

We had to stop at the new Love Shack Fancy 

shop to try on all the beautiful dresses!

It was THE most beautiful Saturday on the plaza!

Later in the afternoon we checked into the Intercontinental Hotel . . . 

We checked out the pool that was open for 1 more day!! We quickly called Mike and asked him to bring us our swimsuits!!!

Then, dressed up for dinner!

Walking to the Plaza for dinner . . .

Sunset views - 

Dessert by the pool! Raspberry cheesecake!

We had the pool all to ourselves and it was so fun! Kate found a way to connect our phones to the speaker system so we had our own playlist playing! LOL

The next morning, we stopped in Brookside on our way home for a wonderful breakfast complete with homemade pop tart with a candle in it!

Kate's steamed chai tea . .  

So grateful you were born, Kate! Thanks for

letting me celebrate with you all weekend long!

Apple Valley Fall Festival!

 

A few of my neighborhood friends and I decided to throw a Fall Festival in Apple Valley this fall! Everyone contributed their time or talent and it was a a lot of fun!  Our neighbor Mike Kerwin plays in a local "Dad Band" and he brought his buddies to play music for us, another family offered to smoke ribs all weekend for us, and everyone brought a side dish to share! We even had a fun polaroid Photo Booth one of the neighbors set up!

The food was AMAZING!

I really love our little Apple Valley neighborhood so much and love that the girls have grown up with all these wonderful people of all ages from babies they babysit for to older neighbors who are like second grandparents to them . . . 

The Dad Band was so good!!

Kate and her friend Lucy asked if they could play a couple songs at the end of the night! To their surprise, the band said YES and they ran home so fast to grab a couple guitars from our house! These girls have never sang together before and Kate has NEVER sang in public before! I was so proud of them!

No rehearsal needed!

Turn up the volume!