Volleyball

Volleyball season came to an end a couple of weeks ago.  I get so behind in blogging during volleyball season because I am so consumed with all things team related.  My house is usually messy during the season too.  Oh well...both things I can catch up on.  Volleyball was great again this year.  I loved my team; they were so incredible to work with.  We were Conference Champions for the second year in a row!  And just like last season we finished third in the Northern Region and tied for 5th in the State of Virginia.  We had some great moments; we really enjoyed knocking last year's state champions out of the tournament in the quarter finals.  

Hector and the girls were at all the home games, a few of the away games and all the playoffs.  They really got into it.  Sienna my be a volleyball announcer some time.  She can make her voice go really deep and loud; it is probably one of the cutest things she does.  

We enjoyed volleyball pajama breakfast party at the house, Senior night, another successful Dig Pink event, Championship games and lots and lots of winning.  I am sad it is over, but happy to have more free time to enjoy my family and the holidays.  

Happy Halloween

Halloween was awesome.  We got booed; someone anonymously left Halloween treats for our family.  So we did the same thing for our friends.  The girls were so excited to door bell ditch.  They practiced ringing the doorbell and running at our house.  They thought they were so sneaky.  We did one of our neighbors and they got nervous and totally aborted the plan and ran the opposite direction after they rang the bell.  It was hilarious.  Sienna kept saying, "I was so fast like the Flash...no one saw me."

Halloween Day was fun too.  Hector took the girls trick or treating with some friends and then they came and watched the volleyball game after.  They were so cute in their costumes at the volleyball game!

Fall Fun Day

Back in October we had loads of fun as a family enjoying beautiful Fall weather and prepping for Halloween.  We really packed in the fun one Saturday as we made our annual trip to Cox Farms.  The girls had a blast darting around from slide to slide.  We drank lots of apple cider and just had an overall great day playing with family and friends.   

That same night we had our church Fall Festival.  This was the first chance the girls had to wear their Halloween costumes.  They loved playing games and seeing all their friends in costumes.  Natalia was determined to be brave enough to go through the haunted house this year.  She waited in line all by herself.  She finally got to the front of the line, changed her mind and came and did the fish pond with Estelle.  Love her cuteness.  

Estelle was so excited that her little buddy, Maggie was also Minnie Mouse.  

The girls had a few opportunities to wear their costumes before actual Halloween.  This party was two weeks before Halloween.  They dressed up again for the school Fall party, then Natalia had another party at her best friend's house.  

So much Fall fun!

Halloween Concert

We went to a little Halloween Concert at one of our Libraries.  The girls had lots of fun.  The musicians invited kids to come up and help them play instruments during the different songs that they performed.   Sienna was really excited about that.  All three girls got to participate; they were really cute.    

Sometimes I find events like this frustrating.  The people in charge ask the kids to raise their hands if they want to come up and participate.  My kids follow directions and sit and raise their hands and wait their turn.  Then they keep letting the kids that just come up participate and my kids are left waiting because they did what they are  asked.  Estelle cries because she doesn't get picked, yet the same kids keep going up over and over without being picked.  I am glad that my kids know to follow the rules and I do not want them to change, but it is unfortunate when others are rewarded for cheating.  I guess it is a good life lesson.  

Ice Skating

Sienna and Natalia joined girls scouts this year.  Sienna got to go Ice Skating with her Daisy Troop.  She was really cute.  They had a 20 minute lesson at the beginning and then they got to free skate.  Sienna was pretty unsteady at first, but she worked really hard at it and got so much better as she practiced.  She is really wants to go again and practice some more.  I love how Sienna approaches learning new things; she has such determination to learn.  

CARE winner

Sienna was the CARE winner.  It is like student of the quarter.  We are so proud of her and the great job she is doing in Kindergarten!

Being Silly

Now that Natalia and Sienna are in school the three girls don't have as much time to play together, but they have lots of fun after school and on the weekends!

We had fun decorating for Halloween over Conference weekend.  

The girls love to create ongoing make believe games together.  One day I came downstairs to a passenger train.  They had packed their bags and gathered their babies and were enjoying the train ride through the house.  

I love it when the three of them are playing together.  They have their fighting moments, but they sure are cute when they are get along.  They love to play school, church and family together.  

Philadelphia

Our trip to Philadelphia was incredibility enjoyable.  The Temple was the highlight of the trip, but we managed to fit in lots more fun too.  The pictures are in reverse order of the way the events played out.  Part of the fun was that we had no agenda or expectation other than the Temple, so we felt relaxed and stress free both days we were there.  We had some time on Friday before the temple so we stopped by the historic sites.  We told the girls about the Liberty Bell (Natalia had already learned about it in school) and they were so excited to see it. Sienna kept saying, "I just want to see the big crack!"  We really enjoyed out historic time and the girls were really into it.  Since we didn't have a ton of time, we made plans to come back the next day.  

We got stuck in terrible traffic and it took us an hour to get to the temple even though we were only a half mile away, so our day got pushed later than we planned, but that didn't matter.  After the temple we found a great little place to eat.  It was in this old, but nice neighborhood in downtown Philly.  Just a little local hole in the wall, but it was perfect.  We were the only people eating there and we had some good food and family time.  It was late by time we made it to the hotel.  The kids think that sleeping in a hotel is really fun.  The hotel was the only down side the trip.  It was kind of dump and the only reason I picked it was because they had a free breakfast.  Hotel breakfast is just so much easier with kids when traveling.  The hot continental breakfast consisted of instant oatmeal packets that  you can add to hot water.  Really?  this does not count as breakfast.  They did have hot cocoa, so the kids were still happy.  

We spent Saturday morning at this really fun innovative park, the Smith Playground.  The girls loved it!  After that we headed to Reading Terminal Market.  We felt like herded cattle as we tried to make our way around the market, but it was totally worth it.  We got some Cajun food at a place called Beck's Cajun because how could I not eat Beck's Cajun?  There was an Amish donut counter; the donuts looked and smelled delicious.  They had over 40 varieties, but the line wrapped around several other shops.  We just had to have some of those donuts, but when you wait in line for 40 minutes, you do not just buy one donut...you get two dozen!  

The wait was definitely worth it.  We took our donuts and walked back to our car.  We parked right next to Thomas Jefferson's house that he wrote the Declaration of Independence in.  There was this great little courtyard next to the house perfect for donut eating.  We enjoyed a donut each (best donuts we have ever had) and then walked over to the historic area.

Right when we got there, we saw a guy waving and old American Flag and there was a another guy in uniform beating a drum.  The girls wanted to see what was going on so we walked over to them and the guy asked if we were there for the program?  We had no idea what he was talking about, but promptly found out that they were doing a program for kids were the kids got to pretend they were signing up for the Continental Army.  They were teaching them to march, hold a gun and then they got to be part of the Declaration Reading Ceremony at the end.  The whole program lasted about 45 minutes, was free and started right after we arrived.  Perfect!  I could not have planned a better activity.  Sienna loved it, she told me after, "I really wish I could have kept the gun."  I would not be surprised to see that kid in the military some day.  Both Sienna and Natalia were good little soldiers. Estelle deserted the Army after about 5 minutes of joining.  

After our History fun we headed back home.  Of course we ate another donut before we drove and then had another one once we got home.  Plus more donuts for breakfast in the morning.  It was a great little trip.  

Waiting to join the Army

Tomb of the unknown soldiers.  This was high on the list of things the girls wanted to see. 

Natalia marching

Sienna leading the march

I ran into two of my girls from when Hector and I ran the youth progams in the Spanish Ward.  They both have master's degrees, so I guess they...and I are not so young anymore.  It was amazing how many people we knew in Philidelpia.  At one point I was in public bathroom helping Estelle go potty and a lady asked me if I was the West Springfield Volleyball coach.  Small world.

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Sienna and Estelle loved this old wooden barn slide.  Estelle never wanted to stop.  She cried when I finally pulled her away.  

Estelle is in a goofy photo phase.