Anniversary

 

Matt and I celebrated 12 years of marriage yesterday.  Best decision we have ever made was to commit ourselves to each other and to God!  I love this man more and more every day of every year that we spend together!  We spent the day together on Friday hiking in Silver Falls.  I am so blessed to be married to a man who loves me and loves his family and who I love being with.  I am looking forward to many more years of fun and love and adventure!



Ahoy Hoy!

The kids made telephone to go between their rooms last weekend.  The girls room phones connect to each other, and Levi connected his phone to me in my room!  There were hours of phone "calling" each other...by way of yelling through the walls.

 

 

Team Garrity and Fast Cheetah Stars

Soccer season is upon us!  The girls had their first games this past weekend.  Erika is on a team with third and fourth graders, mostly from her school.  She has a new coach than the previous two years and really likes her!  Her team name is Team Garrity.  She is doing awesome this year!  Much more aggressive and confident.  She played defense really well in her first game.  Of course, she wants to play forward so she can score, but I really think she is a great defender!

Laurel is on a team with a new coach as well and has a few friends from her school on the team.  Her team's name is the Fast Cheetah Stars.  The girls got to pick their name....the coach shortened it from the name they wanted which was the Pink Fast Cheetah Super Stars.  Laurel is one of the faster players on the field and is also much more willing to get to the ball and take it from others this year than last year.  I am really looking forward to watching them improve this season!!

 

My little Cheetah Star!

Riding to the game in style!

 

The girls play at different fields on opposite sides of town, so this past weekend Matt went to Laurel's game while Levi and I went to Erika's.  We plan to just switch every week who goes to which game.  Matt took some of these pictures for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Go Team Garrity!

 

Go Bruins!

We are taking more advantage of the George Fox athletic events this year than last year.  Partly because the kids are older and can handle staying through a game better and partly because the university is really making their athletic events fun to watch!  We went to a women's soccer game on a Friday night of Labor Day weekend.  The weather was cold, hence the stocking caps on the kids.

 

 

After 10 minutes of play, lightning was spotted so the players left the field and fans were encouraged to leave the aluminum bleachers we were sitting on.  They would resume play after 30 minutes if no other lightning was spotted.  We took the time to go home since the field is only 2 minutes from our house.  After 30 minutes at home, Laurel and Levi decided they were tired and didn't want to go back to the game.  Matt and Erika went back to watch the rest, which was played since the weather stayed decent.  Erika is really enjoying soccer this year so it was fun for her to be able to watch college girls playing!

 

This past Saturday was the home opener of George Fox football.  The weather was super hot.  The kids and I only lasted for 1.5 quarters and then we went home.  The kids are part of the "Penn Pals Club", a kids fan club hosted by the George Fox mascot, Pennington the Bear.  They each got a tshirt which will get them into any GF sports event for free, as well as some adult tickets to attend games. 

After blazing in the sun for 10 minutes, we found some caramel corn and some shade to enjoy the rest of our time at the game!  I am looking forward to the other 3 home games.....maybe we will leave the kids at home with Grandma because they can't last an entire football game yet!

Preschool

My last little baby left for his first day of preschool yesterday.   Sigh.  It was very quiet without him here.  He had a great first day and was excited to go back today!

 

My big boy!  He woke up bright and early and got dressed as soon as he was awake....he was very excited!

The girls were happy to see their brother off to school like them.

Heading into the halls of learning.

His preschool had a photo op area outside the building.  Cute idea!

All he hoped for was to be able to paint in school.  His wish was granted as he made this to bring home to commemorate his first day!

School Days

Our two beautiful girls started 3rd and 1st grade yesterday!  They were a good mix of excited and nervous.  Luckily, the first day went flawlessly and they came home with huge smiles, lots of stories, and very much looking forward to the year.

 

Erika started third grade.  This year, she gets to go upstairs, as their school has K-2 grades on the bottom floor and 3-5 grades upstairs.  The girls' classrooms are actually right on top of each other!  I told them they should have a secret tapping code for each other on the floor/ceiling.

Laurel started first grade and this is the first year she is going all day.  She came home exhausted!  She also came home starving and telling me all the rules that they have in her classroom.  I was again reminded of the rules this morning as I packed her backpack with a friend's jacket that was left at our house: "Um, teacher said we can't have anything extra in our backpack."  Thanks, Laurel.

Happy, beautiful children!

Levi and I came home and played and entertained ourselves for the entire day.  I was exhausted.

 

This morning, Levi went to his preschool classroom to tour it and meet his teacher.  He has the same preschool teacher that both Erika and Laurel had and it seems pretty routine and comfortable for him.  He is looking forward to starting school!

He drew a picture of himself and Mrs. McAdams to give her!

Levi's turn to be in Mrs. McAdams class!

School Preparation

The girls went to the salon for back-to-school haircuts this week.  Erika only got a trim because she likes her long hair.  And Laurel requested "shorter hair than Mommy".  I think the results are perfect!

 

 

Last night, we brought our school supplies in to the girls' classrooms and met their teachers.  Laurel has the same first grade teacher that Erika had....she is very excited about that!  Erika's teacher is new to us and Erika's first impression of her is "she seems fun and funny!".  I think it will be a great school year!!