A FAMILY CELEBRATION

We had a family celebration for Logan's birthday on Sunday. The weather was beautiful so we could be both in and outside.

Logan chose Mickey Mouse as his theme this year. He's still in the Disney spirit from our trip to Disney this past summer. Auntie Cheryl asked Logan last week what he wanted for his birthday and he told her a watermelon. He couldn't figure out what the heavy, round present was that Uncle Bill brought to the party. It was a watermelon of course! The best part was that Logan actually got the joke and thought it was hilarious. He was still laughing and commenting about it today!
When we were in Eagle River, Logan got a little chipmunk stuffed animal. He always used to call the chipmunks "meemunks". So when we went camping in August, Melvin the Meemunk went too. Becky took a bunch of pictures of Melvin and Melvin and Logan and turned them into the most adorable book. He loved it and can't wait to take it for show and tell.Pinata time....the candy only had to be shared 5 ways this party so there was lots to go around. I'm sure the dentist would love to see this...someone has to pay for his fancy new office :)

Logan had a wonderful birthday and once again we feel so blessed to have such a fantastic family. It is so wonderful that our kids are growing up surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (even 3rd cousins)! Not many families are as close as we are!

VOLLEYBALL AND SOCCER

We're in the midst of another busy sports season. This year Shannon decided to try volleyball and she is have a fantastic time. A mom of one of the boy's in her class volunteered to be the coach and is doing a great job with the team. They have played 3 matches so far and won 7 out of 9 games!

It's hard to believe but Shannon is 5 feet tall already and just a few inches shorter than her mom! Her coach ordered the whole team these cool Wildcat paw print socks.

There is lots of "funky" ceremony in volleyball and every team has creative socks :)

Caitlin is out on the soccer field again this season. She really loves the game.

Although this picture is blurry ( I really need a better camera), I love how it shows my little girl isn't going to be pushed around by any boys! This team of boys forfeited the game because they were late but we wound up scrimmaging them anyway.

Caitlin plays with great intensity. She runs constantly and is always mixing it up. It's hard to see but she rolls her tongue when she sets her mind to something. Grammy calls it her "Grandpa Louie" tongue. I'm just afraid she's going to bite it off one of these days!

LOGAN'S FIVE!!!

Logan celebrated his fifth birthday on September 13th.
We decided to hold off on his big family party since his birthday fell on a tremendously busy weekend. He got his presents from mom and dad though bright and early Sunday morning:)

He loves collecting baseball and football cards. So this pack of hundreds of baseball cards was a hit!

After breakfast, the phone rang and it was MICKEY MOUSE!!!

Shannon must have been busy when we were in Florida telling all the characters about her brother and sister's birthdays! It was quite an exciting call!We went to Sunday dinner at Uncle Jerry's, so we had birthday cake for dessert.

Logan's favorite color is red so he always asks for a red cake...lucky for mom there is a red velvet cake mix and it's yummy too!

Logan was born during a Monday night football Packers game 5 years ago...in fact our regular doctor arrived late from a Packer Party!

The night of his birthday the Packers played Sunday night football versus the Bears. Logan kept asked "am I born yet?" but fell asleep long before his official birthday at 10:38pm!

FAMILY FUN

We were able to use our last "free" Saturday to visit the zoo.
The animals were pretty active and the weather was fantastic.

We had a great time.We had free tickets for the Sea Lion Show.

We hadn't seen it in a few years so it was lots of fun.

We managed to sit right in the front row, so the kids had a great view.

We spent quite a while watching this polar bear. He was playing with a float

and would wrestle with it under water and then float around with it.

It was awesome to watch him in the underwater viewing area.

Of course, the kids always like to feed the goats.

Logan liked to give them one piece at a time :)

We always end with a train ride.

It was so nice to enjoy some time together before the craziness of fall sports begins!

SCHOOL DAYS

We had a very busy summer and it's hard to believe the school year has started already.

The girls went back on the 31st.

Caitlin is in 2nd grade and has one of our very favorite teachers.

Cait is off to a great start. We were a bit concerned about her rushing through her work

but she has been doing an awesome job. Her work is neat and well done.

It's likely she'll have advanced reading again this year.

Incredibly, Shannon is in fifth grade already!

In her school, fifth grade is departmentalized, so Shannon has 7 classes and specials.

She is doing a great job keeping track of all of her teachers and work and has

even learned many Spanish words in just a few days!

It's hard to believe but all of our kids are now in school!

Logan started K4 on the first.

He goes to school every morning for 3 hours. Logan's favorite Wii games involve Mario so this backpack was a perfect choice :)
Logan has Mrs. Sabo this year. She was also the girls' teacher.

Happily, Logan has adjusted very well to school every day and has even made new friends

really quickly.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS CONTINUED!

Caitlin had her very first sleepover birthday party.

She invited her friends, Isabel, Tara, Ariana, and Abby.

The girls watched the new Wizards of Waverly Place movie and then played

dress up, dolls, and Wii karioke. Everyone had lots of fun and did get some sleep :)

Time for cake...The next morning, after her friends left, Caitlin got a birthday call from Cinderella!

Cait got a few presents before we left for the first football game of the season.

Caitlin was actually 3 days old the first time she attended a game - time sure flies!

Caitlin definitely enjoyed her 8th birthday.