Trick or Treat

Lacey had her first Middle School dance on Friday night.  She was very excited! She dressed up with her friend Ava as a "Spider Girl" and went with a group of her friends.

Saturday rained most of the day, so Ella's and Riley's soccer games were canceled. But football happens no matter what!  So, we braved the cold and the drizzle and we headed out to cheer Tanner on.  We thought for sure this would be his last game and we wanted to be there.  We thought this because, after winning against South Bowie last weekend, we made it to the playoffs.  But, in our first playoff game on Saturday, we were scheduled to play Crofton, who we played twice during the season and lost both times.  It was a close game,  and tied 0-0 for most of the game, but in the last couple minutes, we scored a touchdown!  It was so exciting and we all went crazy!  So, we're still in it!

Then later that night, we had a "Trunk or Treat" at our church.  Tanner went as a "purple morph" (whatever that is! He somehow got it in his head this is what he wanted to be and BEGGED me to order him this costume online).

And cute little Ella decided to be a cowgirl this year.  And she invited her friend, Dom, to come with her.

Lacey and Riley and her friend Gianna were there too, but I was in charge of doing the costume parade with all the kids, so I was too busy running around to get their pictures!

Dave manned our "trunk or treat" and Tanner stopped by repeatedly to give him business ;)

Then, after getting home from the Trunk or Treat, we got the kids situated and transformed ourselves into pirates for a neighborhood halloween party.

Shiver me timbers!

National Zoo

The kids had today off school, so I planned to take them to a Smithsonian.  There are 19 Smithsonians and most of them are in DC and all of them are free.  We've been to most of them, but I figured we could go to one we hadn't been to before or one we hadn't been to in a while.

However, when I woke the kids up and told them to get dressed and get in the car so we could go to the Museum of Natural History, I was met with nothing but groans ("I want to keep sleeping. I want to play games with my friends. We don't have school today; I don't want to learn on a day we don't have school!")  I told the kids I wasn't budging.  We were going to go to a Smithsonian.  But instead of mandating my first choice of the Museum of Natural History (since it's a totally awesome museum and we haven't been since 2013, 5 years ago), I gave them the choice of which Smithsonian they wanted to go to.  And what do you think they chose?  The National Zoo of course!

We've been to the National Zoo before, but the last time we were here was in April, 2011, so Lacey was 4, Tanner was 2 and Riley was a baby.  None of them remember it.  So, it was fun to go back and create some memoriezzzz. 

Riley and Ella in the life-size beehive.

We all loved seeing the American Eagles.

Outside the Eagle habitat (Tanner's friend John came with us too).

My cute little meerkats

The Amazon

Poor kids..... I know they told me they didn't want to learn anything on a non-school day.  Whoops!  😉

If my current gig doesn't work out, I know where to apply for my next job!

And then for the highlight of the day - the Pandas!

The National Zoo has two pandas.  It is one of only four places where you can see Pandas in the USA (the other three are San Diego, Atlanta and Memphis).

Ella posing with some bamboo.

One of the pandas finally got in a good position for us to get some good photo ops.

Lacey and Mei Xiang.

Tanner

Riley

Ella

Lacey and a Silverback

And then Tanner's highlight of the day..... the Reptile house!  He wants to be a Herpetologist when he grows up and when I suggested we go after seeing the Pandas, he freaked out and said there was no way he was leaving without seeing the Reptile House.  I had to rush him through this a little because I  was past my time on my parking, but he could have spent hours inside here.  He went around telling us everything he knew about everything inside of every enclosure (crocodiles, alligators, lizards, turtles, snakes, you name it).

Sorry I made you learn something on your day off, kids.  I know it was torture.  Especially since it was 67 degrees and sunny and an absolutely perfectly beautiful day.

Glad I got to take these four cute animals home with me ;)

All in a Weekend

We are in the stage of life where it seems every minute of every day is spoken for.  Here's a little taste of the last few days.

Tanner had a "Cake Contest" for Scouts. There were several categories; he entered his in the "Cub Scout" theme division.

And we all had fun eating his pumpkin scout afterward!

And speaking of scouts..... Riley's girl scout troop got together with a bunch of other local troops and had a huge "Halloween Bash."

This year, she is Uma (from Descendants; Uma is Ursula's (from Little Mermaid) daughter). 

Lacey, on the other hand, was decked out from head to toe as a "Celebrity."  She had a friend who had a restaurant-themed birthday party and assigned her various guests with different roles (chefs, waiters, celebrity guests, etc).

Can I have your autograph?

While the girls were at their parties, I went to go say goodnight to my T and tuck him in and this is how I found him.  I LOVE that he is still little boy enough that he plays with army guys.

But yet, he's "big boy" enough to play tackle football, which is what he was doing first thing the following morning. 

Saturday morning was our 8th and final game of the regular season.  Going into this game, our win/loss record was 3-4.  We played this team one other time this season and we lost.  This game was SO close.  At half time, we were tied at 0-0.  Then the other team scored a touchdown..... then we scored a touchdown, so at the end of the game, it was tied.  Because this was the last game of the season and therefore determined who advanced to the playoffs and who they would play in the playoffs.  So.... the game went to OT.  Then double OT. Then triple OT....and we scored and won the game!  So exciting!  So, into the playoffs, we head!

And I went straight from Tanner's football game to Ella's soccer game.

Half-time sister love

We put Ella in soccer two years ago, when she was three.  It was a DISASTER. She spent the entire season whining and clutching my hand.  So, we didn't sign her up last year.  But thought she might be ready this year.  We were right.  She absolutely LOVES soccer!  She counts down the days until her practices (on Wednesdays) and games (on Saturdays).  She hustles and is super competitive and so much fun to watch!

And while I went straight from the football game to Ella's soccer game, Dave drove separately to the football game so that he could go straight to Tanner's Webelos scout campout.

Bulls Eye!

And in addition to all of the above, Lacey and Riley also both had soccer games.  I always say our life is crazy. But.... it's a good kind of crazy. Love all my little crazies.