Walk-a-thon

Sadie's school does a walk-a-thon to raise money each year. They ask that each kid raise at least $20 and then promise they won't ask us for any money the rest of the year. Last year they asked for $15 and they really didn't do any more fundraisers.

Last year we just wrote out a check, but this year Sadie's teacher talked to them about asking family and friends if they would donate, so Sadie came home determined to do it. She typed out a text to all her aunts, uncles and grandparents. She was elated when people said they would donate. She carefully wrote it all down on her donation envelope.

I volunteered to come help mark the kid's cards as they ran laps. I  figured Sadie would do about 15 laps in her allotted 45 minutes, which was 2 1/2 miles. Instead she hustled her skinny little buns around the field 21 times for a grand total of 3 1/2 miles. I couldn't believe it, especially since none of her friends were running like that. It was mainly her and a few other boys who were jogging most of the time. 

 Camille wandered and caused trouble, no surprise.

Sadie happily ate her pink popsicle and hung out with some of her classmates when it was over. The boy on her right, Harry, is one of her good friends. He came over to play at our house and he can't pronounce his "R" sounds, just like Sadie, so some of their discussions were very entertaining. Once they were trying to talk about cars, but couldn't figure out what each other was saying. Harry finally said, "like vwoom vwoom caw" and Sadie understood. 

Millie in September

Camille continues her reign of terror on all drawers, cupboards, trash cans and toilets in the house. Nothing is safe. 

She has figured out how to pull the dishwasher open so we have to lock it shut. 

Lots of attention from the big sisters, which is not always appreciated

Hair is growing in with the crazy bedhead 

Another new favorite, which she can now climb up onto by herself

She somehow pulled her shirt over her head during the night

Attempting to put Elise's shoes on

Her new big girl way of going down stairs. None of that crawling backwards crap.

Lots of kisses for her baby dolls

Trying to squirm her way out of Sadie's grip

Lou in September

Scootering after preschool

Poor girl seems to have the weakest stomach. She gets a 24 hour bug every couple of months and no one else ever gets it. She is getting much better at recognizing when she is sick. Unfortunately, on this day I didn't do a good job of believing her. That first barf happened all over me after I made her eat breakfast.

"Cool hair" for gymnastics

Playdate with her new best twin friends- Mac and Will. She loves them

Sadie in September

 She spent hours on signs for her "frart" (fort). I photographed a couple of them, but there were probably 20 in total. My favorite sign was the rules: do not hit, you can dance, do not push, please follow these rules

 First attempt at rag-tying. While nostalgic for me, it was way more labor-intensive than the trusty curling wand I use to curl her hair. 

Uncle Ben sketched this picture of Elsa in Wisconsin and I finally put it in a frame on Sadie's dresser. I am hoping to convince Ben to do more sketches, like of his nieces, ahem. 

This is huge- Sadie got the Eagle of Month award in her class. This is an award that 2 students get each month during the school year. The teacher chooses whatever they want it to be for. Sadie's says for her hard work. That's fine and all, but this award is terribly designed. The problem is that only a few kids don't get the award in a given year. Sadie was devastated in Kindergarten when she never got it. She and like 3 other kids were the only ones who didn't get it. They should only give it to 1 kid per month so that most kids don't get it. End rant. 

Look at this beautiful 6-year-old

Fall Soccer

I coached Sadie's soccer team this fall. The coach backed out at the last minute so I decided to take my turn. It wasn't too painful because the season was only 10 games. Every other week we had 2 games. The rest of the weeks we had 1 game and a practice. 

The girls on my team were very nice, but we had a few who my dad would classify as "space cadets". See photo below of the girl pretending to fly during warm-ups. In a couple of the games I had to beg girls to stop doing cartwheels and play the game. We also had several players who only came to a few games. That was very frustrating because my players would be complaining about wanting a rest and we didn't have enough subs.  

 The biggest surprise for me was Sadie. She wasn't the most athletic kid on our team, but she was a great role player. And she has a good mind for sports. As in, when she played defense she still stayed engaged when the ball was on the other end and she would go to the appropriate side of the field to where the ball was, to anticipate where the opposing offense would come from. She figured out that no matter how big or good the other team was, if she just got in the way on defense she could usually stop them. She also played a great goalie because she wasn't afraid of the ball. She would run right at the offensive players and dive on the ball. 

Daniel and I both are very encouraged at her hustle, competitiveness, and strategy.  

First Grade

 Sadie has been in first grade for almost 2 months. On the first day she woke up early and wanted to curl her hair. She also insisted on a dress, because duh, dresses are the best.

We arrived so early that we took pictures all around the school. 

  I tried to prep her all summer for being in school all day, but she came home and told me school was definitely not all day. She loved eating lunch at school and having 2 recesses. She was also instantly in love with her teacher. 

I took this picture 2 weeks into school. Sadie was still waking up crazy early, just super excited about school. It has been so fun to watch her be so enthusiastic about school. She liked Kindergarten just fine, but her teacher this year has somehow brought out all this excitement and Sadie is thriving. 

First day of preschool

Elise started school a couple days before Sadie. All summer she could not wait for school to start. 

She picked out the perfect first day of school outfit- her BYU shirt and favorite striped pants. She came home excited, but didn't tell me any details of the day.

On Sadie's first day of school Lou wanted a photo shoot so I took a few shots with her school bag. 

Nearly 2 months into school and Elise is not as excited. She frequently tells me school is boring and her teacher is mean because she tells her to stop talking. I talked to her teacher about it and she said that has only happened a couple of times, but I feel bad that Elise is not enjoying school. I hope we can find something that gets her more interested. Lou has take home reading each day and I am impressed with how quickly she picked up on basic concepts of reading. It is still a struggle to get her to want to do the reading, but once she does it, she breezes through. She has started sounding out random words she sees in everyday life. Elise strongly dislikes practicing writing. When the year started she would only write "E" on her papers, which she has now graduated to writing "ELisE" on everything. Baby steps.