Fall Leaves

I took this picture from our bedroom window. Dave is carving our Halloween pumpkins a few days before the 31st. I love the way the leaves make this scene look and the way he's concentrating and Monty is watching him. This picture makes me feel happy.

Elastic Bands In a Row

This hairstyle is such a simple concept. I can't believe it never occurred to me before. Chloe's hair is pretty fine. It always slips out of elastics when I pull it back and she ends up with tons of fly-aways/psuedo bangs in her eyes. This style stays put all day (in fact, she actually wore this one two days in a row) without falling out! I love it! It's also nice with hats. We wear a lot of hats around here during the winter. This will keep her hair back so we don't have to wrestle it back into her hat or hood. This is how she wore her hair under the hood of her bumblebee costume (notice the black outfit and yellow bands). :-)

Here's the link to my inspiration with instructions.

Soccer 2011

Solana just finished up her second season of soccer. She played last fall and we were sure that would be her one and only season. We made her finish the season but had no intention of ever signing her up for soccer again. We skipped the Spring season and then she started asking to play again in the Fall. I told her, "no" several times and reminded her of how much she disliked soccer - never wanting to go to games, shaking her head when her coach asked her to go in so another player could come out of a game, complaining that it was too cold, etc. But she was persistent and insisted that she would like soccer this year and try her best. Finally, the registration deadline arrived and she was still SURE she wanted to play soccer so we signed her up.

The year started with a one week soccer camp in August. For five days she played soccer for three hours. I think it was a great way to start the season - giving her a little more confidence going in. The camp ended with a visit from the Fire Dept. The kids were soaked and had a BLAST!

Solana's team was the Orange team. She was number 27. She was one of the lesser skilled and slower players on the team and never really had an opportunity to dribble the ball down the field. But she found her niche. Solana was really good at getting into the middle of a jumble of girls and kicking the ball out for her teammates to take down the field.

One of her big highlights for the year was a great save while in goalie position. She ran out and jumped on the ball before the opposing team could take a shot! Another highlight was a great takeaway near the opposing team's goal. She kicked it straight to a teammate who made a goal with one kick! She was very proud of that one!

Solana's team was pretty great and they won all but one game this season. Then the won both of their games in the playoffs and made it to the Championship game! Solana was team captain for the final game. Here she is having words with the umpire before the game. I'm not sure what she was telling him but it looked pretty important.

That game was just about the most exciting game any of the parents had ever seen. The teams were pretty evenly matched and the opposing team made two goals at the end of the 4th quarter to tie it up. They went into sudden death overtime and then double overtime without goalies. Our throats were sore from yelling and cheering on the girls. Solana, unfazed by the excitement got hot during the game and decided to take off her turtle neck from under her t-shirt. Easy enough to do without taking off her t-shirt. But then she decided to take her stretch pants off from under her shorts. Her coach told her not to but she was undeterred. The coach didn't know how hot she felt. At one point during the game I looked across the field to the sideline and saw Solana stripping off her pants while sitting in the folding chair! The asst. coach later told me that she turned around to see Solana sitting pants free on the chair and pulling her t-shirt down over her panties. "I snuck them off" she proudly exclaimed. She helped Solana get her shorts back on and then Solana felt able to go back onto the field to play. Un-believable. I don't know where this kid comes from.

They won.

We're #1!

Solana couldn't wait to go to school the next day and tell her friends that she's one of the "best" soccer players!

In the end we're glad we signed her up and she already says she wants to play again next season. Dave thinks he may even try his hand at coaching. I hope he does. I bet it would be so much fun for both of them.

Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween from Solana and Chloe Bea!

That's What Chloe Said - October

10-18-11

Me: Chloe, who says, "Moo?"

Chloe: Mooo. Cow.

Me: Who says, "woof woof woof?"

Chloe: wHoo wHoo wHoo. Bobo.

Me: That's right. Bluebell is a dog. Dogs say woof woof woof. Who says, "Meow?"

Chloe: Meow (super high pitched). Killy Cat!

Me: Who says "Baa?"

Chloe: Baa! Heep.

Me: Who says, "Ribbit?"

Chloe: Hog (frog)

Me: Who says, "Oink Oink?"

Chloe: Oink Oink. Pig.

Me: Who says, "Neeeeigh?"

Chloe: Neeeigh! Horse.

Me: Who says, "Whaa Whaa Whaa!" (To the tune of "The Wheels On The Bus")

Chloe: Whaa Whaa. Baby!

That's What Solana Said - October

10-1-11

Dave and I were having a private conversation in the kitchen. Solana was close by so we were talking in code. Although she never hears a direct request or instruction she always manages to hear what we say to each other. :-) She walks over to us and says something like this, "I know what you were talking about."

"Oh yeah. What were we talking about."

"You were saying that -something-something-..." (I forget what it was actually about.) She was wrong, of course. Our code language is that good. But we weren't about to correct her version of our conversation. We secretly smiled at each other and verified her account.

"Yep! You're absolutely right! Very good. How did you figure that out?"

"I'm just really smart and I know! N.O." It was all we could do to not burst out laughing. We couldn't bear to upset that proud little smile.

Music Enrichment

I've been giving Solana piano lessons ever since we got our piano. We try to have a lesson every Monday but we've missed a few Mondays here and there. I enjoy them, though. Being a former piano and flute player for many many years I love it that I can teach her a little bit about music. I have a secret hope that she'll pick up my flute one day and become a band nerd like me but have a feeling she'll probably follow her own path. Solana came home with a note from school today:

Dear Parent,

It is my pleasure as the music teacher...

I am pleased at the program opportunities that we are able to present within regular music classes. However, some children exhibit exceptional talents and I have designed a program to nurture these abilities. Your child is one of those chosen to participate in a select group of children as part of a musical enrichment group. He/she was identified based on one or more of the following criteria:

-pitch: able to match pitch quite well in a normal child range

-auditory discernment: able to hear differences in musical sounds, pitches, and

accompaniments

-aural language receptivity: demonstrating he/she can easily learn a song by rote

-hand/eye coordination: able to use a visual chart as a cue for playing an instrument

Only a small number of children have been selected to participate...

I also sang in the choir when I was in elementary school. We had to audition and I clearly remember standing beside my teacher and singing a few notes after she played them on the piano. Not all children who tried out made the choir. I wonder if my parents cried when they received a letter saying that I made it. I admit that I teared up as I read Solana's.

She read my enthusiasm and jumped up and down when I explained what the note meant. "Does this mean I get to go on stage?!?!?"