Soccer!

Katie is playing in the East Bridgewater town soccer league this fall. She is in the instructional age group, which is kindergarten and grade one. The main focus is learning the basics of soccer and having FUN! Katie is starting to get the hang of the game, and even gets a kick in now and again. Here are some pictures of the season so far ...

Katie playing goalkeep ...


Katie's BREAK-A-WAY!!!! ...


Waiting for the game to begin ...


Little sister Kenzie cheering Katie on ...

and not happy that *she* can't play yet ...

Jake loves it at UMass!

Jake is settling in at UMass Amherst, and really enjoying himself! He is thinking about joining a fraternity (Alpha Delta Phi) with one of his friends. He's joined a fencing team, a flag football team, and (no surprise) an intramural soccer team!

These are Jake's first semester classes:
Greek Civilization
Art History
Anthropology
Theory of Relativity
French Film
Dean's Book
Quite the course load! Says the food is good in the dining commons :) Also said (during one of his fairly infrequent phone calls LOL) not to expect him home anytime soon, LOL. Yeah, I guess he likes it out there!

Welcome to the world, Olivia Ann!

My niece Holly & her husband Dave welcomed their first child into the world this morning. Olivia Ann was born at 11:30 a.m., weighing in at 7lb 15oz and measuring 21" ... Mommy, Daddy, and Olivia are all doing well.

KINDERGARTEN!!!

Katie is now a kindergarten student :)

Yesterday we got to go to the school and meet her teacher, Mrs. Lasdow (who, coincidentally was James' kindergarten teacher!!!!) and see her classroom. She was so excited, and very disappointed that she didn't get to stay the rest of the day, LOL. Here she is getting in to the car to go meet her teacher ...


Today was her first day of school, and she had a wonderful day. She gets to take a snack to school every day, and today she chose a capri sun juice bag & peanut butter crackers. She says that is what she wants to bring every day, LOL. We'll see if that lasts! She brought home a picture of a raccoon and a cute little 'first day' poem that are hanging on the refrigerator!

Here she is posing for the first day of school, first with her newly learned military salute & then in her cutest goofball pose ...


Here is the "look at my cool butterfly t-shirt" pose ...


Had to have a pic with sissy ...


Walking down the driveway, first picture her feet aren't touching the ground, LOL!!



Here she is standing with the other girls at the bus stop ...


And finally, getting on to the school bus for the very first time ...

We have to walk to the corner (one whole house away LOL) for her morning pick up, but in the afternoon the bus drops her off at our driveway! YAY!

Had a SUPER vacation with the Griffins!

We always have a great time traveling with the Griffins, and we had a wonderful time staying with them at their house in Fort Worth :) All four girls got along fabulously ... and the adults had just as much fun together!

We arrived late Saturday night, and on Sunday we all went to NRH20 - a cool water park! Everyone had a blast, got too much sun, and we arrived back at the Griffin house very tired.

Monday we went to a mall in Grapevine, Texas (cool name, huh?) and bought Katie her 'first day of kindergarten' outfit! We also went to another store & bought Shawn some new shorts & t-shirts for his birthday. The girls treated us to a 'fashion show' that night, here are some pictures of the grand event ...


Even Scott got into the action ...


Tuesday was Ella's first day of school, and that was pretty exciting! She has a long day, but she was a trooper. Katie was *very* jealous that Ella started school before she did. Tuesday night we had a babysitter watch the kids & the grown-ups went to Buca deBeppo to celebrate Shawn's 40th birthday ... it was a blast!!

Wednesday we hung out in the morning, and left for Lawton, OK, after lunch. We attended James' family day activities on Thursday & then hung out with him at our hotel suite. On Friday the Griffins drove up to Lawton and we all attended James' graduation from basic training at Fort Sill. It was a very emotional day, and after saying goodbye to James in the late afternoon, we headed back to the Griffin's.

Friday also marked the day that Jake moved in at UMass-Amherst! Unfortunately we were not there to help him move in, but we were there in our hearts. He's all moved in & loves it :)

Saturday we hung out at the Griffin house after going out to breakfast at the "Snooty Pig Cafe" ... how's that for a great restaurant name??? We ordered in Mexican that night, mmmmmmm!

The girls were practicing their salute, so we got a picture of all four girls doing a military salute ...


Sunday we packed up and came home. We left the Griffin's house at about 11 a.m., stopped at Sonic for lunch, then dropped off the rental car & got to DFW with plenty of time for our 2:55 flight to Charlotte, NC. Had a 3-hour lay-over in Charlotte, so we relaxed and colored w/ the girls, then had a leisurely dinner & got the girls dressed in their pj's. We boarded the plane for our 10 p.m. flight, only to sit on the runway for more than an hour waiting for severe thunderstorms to pass through the Charlotte area. We finally got in to Providence around 12:45 a.m., picked up our car, and made it home around 2 a.m. It was a long day!

A huge Thanks, Y'all! to the Griffins for extending their hospitality. We plan to return the favor next summer when the Griffins come up North for a visit :)

A few more random shots ...
Kenzie and Brenna playing together

Ella and Katie eating lunch