Why I said yes, I'll never know

Here's Luke with his prized back-to-school possession... his R2D2 lunch box.  There's a button on it that makes R2D2 sounds.  I told his teacher she could find her own way to thank me for buying it.

Foos Ball!

Ella and Luke challenged Grammie and Poppy to a little foos ball...

Oh My!

Apparently this is what you do when you're 9 and you have a friend over to play...you spray color your hair and put on zombie looking makeup!  They were both shocked when I told them they had to shower tonight before bed.

Sigh.

Girls.

You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone

We went to visit our buddy, Auntie T last week.  To say the kids love her is an understatement. They can't wait to see her and they're so very sad when it's time to leave.  She's a rare combination of awesomeness that makes us so lucky to have her.  

We had a little field trip to Noah's Lost Ark in Northeastern Ohio.  It's part petting zoo and part big cat rescue.  We got to see a lot of tigers and lions.  Long time blog readers will remember that we went to this facility a couple years ago, too.  

Can you see the tiger in his pool?

The happy quad (Ella, Tori, me, and Luke)

T and her minions

"Feed me, kid!  Didn't you see the sign that said you could feed the animals?  Well, that's me and I want fed."

See this coyote?  He 100% hated both of the kids.  He would've picked off the lowly gazelle at the watering hole in about .5 seconds given the chance.

Below is Luke and his new buddy, Steve.

Softball's over

Ella's softball season is over.  She did a nice job keeping up with girls 2 grades older than her.  She played mostly in center field but also had some playing time at 3rd.  She had one home run for the season and had one of the best percentages for getting on base. 

Both of the kids are ready for their next sporting season: soccer.

State Fair Participant

Ella was lucky enough to be chosen as our county's representative for the state fair in her introductory sewing class.  She did a wonderful job.  There were aspects of it that I definitely didn't care for (if you really want to know what they are, catch me sometime and we'll talk about it) but Ella enjoyed the experience.  Congratulations on a job well done, Ella!
(Sorry the pictures are fuzzy...although Ella is awesome she still has a crappy parent that forgot to bring the camera so these are from my phone.)

Ella and the proud parent..

The reluctant model on stage...

Ella and the competition...

Crazy stage moms...

Baseball's Over For the Season

Luke's baseball season has come to a close.  Most of the players of his team have played together for 2 seasons now and are still looking for that elusive first win.  They came close a couple times this season but came up short. 

Benny!

Hard core partiers

This is what happens when you invite your cousin over to spend the night and you watch movies until all hours...you end up passed out with the cat sitting on your bed waiting for you to get up.