what the heck have we been doing?

there have been soccer games...

linnea has been a scoring machine...

no less than 5 goals/game for this one...

 wren's age group is a bit more competitive...

but she got a goal at her last game!

she enjoys the social part of it probably

more than the goal scoring part...

 this is one of her coaches and his son...

(and no, we do not refer to anyone as a "boyfriend"...she has many friends both girls AND boys...no need to rush into that area at this point, okay?!)

 and, of course, there are the husker games!

 and, of course, the cyclone games!

(which the girls both pronounce as "sigh-cuh-lones")

there has been loads of hanging out...

here are my 3 fave peeps & the pooch...

 and finding the "best seat in the house"...

 was found one day by linnea...cracked me up!
(& if you look closely, you can see that she is "reading" the latest "american girl" catalog...she is certain that a certain white-bearded guy will deliver her a new dolly for christmas...of course, santa is not quite sure that is in the budget for this year...maybe once she can actually read the accompanying books?)

 oh, and we went to the county fair in a town near karl's parents...

here are the girls all ready to go!

(even though it was rainy and cold!)

 petting the miniature ponies...so cute!

 posing with gram and granddad beside the amazing train display...

that building is always full of people...

looking to see what has been added the the train "world"...

and they have tv's that always have a college football game on...

 the girls had such fun...mini donuts, hot cocoa, nutty bars, other circus foods...

good thing we did lots of walking!

 and this year i got to enjoy the monkey ride with the girls...

 the croc rollercoaster was chosen by BOTH girls....

 and although very blurry,

this photo shows the emotions

of each girl very precisely!

nea = love

wren = scared

 nea then chose the carousel...

 there was quite a lot of ginormous farm equipment...

 and then, there was sleeping with the new pillow pets...

nea chose the unicorn...

 and wren chose the bumblebee...

 there was "spending money" from granddad...

and each chose what they wanted to buy with their money...

 something about carrying it, choosing, and then giving the money to the clerk makes for a good moment!

 oh, and then the field trips began....

nea went to gifford farms with her preschool...

she asked me why some of the girls were wearing skirts and sandals to a farm...followed by "don't they know that the farm is where it's okay to get dirty?"

she loved up on all the animals...

 then went down the slide that plopped into a big ole pile of straw!

 then came homecoming at wren's school...

even the elementary was encouraged to show their school spirit!
wren "had" to have her hair painted...

she had to ask the daddy no less than 5 times if she could have the $$ to do that...

 there was loosing a 2nd tooth...

at school...

chomping into a caramel apple!

(which made me beyond happy...that baby tooth was going rogue and was refusing to come out despite the new tooth being over half way in...i figured she'd lose it once the appt. with the dentist was made...and that is exactly what happened!)

 and her first kindergarten field trip...

to a nearby pumpkin patch & apple orchard...

 there is loads of sister fun...

coloring...

playing in the mild fall weather...

and as i was sorting clothing...boxing up spring/summer...bagging up the too small stuff...

someone spied her ole handy manny pj's...

and since they still "fit" (her word, certainly not mine...)

she is keeping them! 

 and during one fall rainstorm, this lil guy decided that maybe climbing up our patio door would be a good idea...it was too funny!

 and we cannot forget that nea got her first invitation to a friend's birthday party...

a friend that is only hers...

the girls have been to many parties, but always both invited because it was a mutual friend...

this was a classmate of nea's and she was beyond excited!

 and as we were choosing her outfit, i finally told her that there would be pony rides (yes!  real ponies!)...but that did not change her outfit choice...a dress, tights and her sparkly gold shoes...when i tried to gently persuade her to into pants, i was told that she "had" to wear a dress because it was a birthday party!  (silly me!)

 and just a few days ago an uncle from alabama came for an evening...

that included homemade chili and all the fixings for a certain thursday night husker game...

but i do not think much football was seen...

something about nea talking him into playing just about every game we have!

here they are playing "pretty, pretty princess"...

 and a favorite great-aunt also came to visit...

and got talked into some rousing rounds of bingo...

 big sister had been at dance class but when she got home, she immediately found her current favorite book and asked great-aunt to read it to her...

and, so there you have it!

about 6 weeks of life wrapped into one blog posting...

i'm tired from just typing about it, how did i make it through all that??

remarkably everyday...

that is what has been going on with me and mine. just everyday stuff. getting to pre-school on time. swimming and working out at the Y. going to another football game. spending the day with an auntie. doing crafts. praying for our house to sell. y'know everyday stuff.

here are some notables from the past few days:

my "instant energy concoction"...diet coke & rock star on the rocks...a much needed cocktail a couple of busy, busy days.

spending time at the park with the daddy...swinging!

wren made a mini apple pie at school! it was adorable! and delicious...each of us got a good-sized bite (i made a blueberry/peach/graham cracker dessert thing to "supplement" for dessert that night, too!)...wren was very proud that she made a pie "just like her grams does!!"...

the girls spent the day at the clay county fair with the daddy and gram & grandpa. this dragon or alligator roller coaster (depending on who you ask) was among their favorite ride!! wren told me that she screamed the entire time and linnea told me that she laughed the entire time...

enjoying some cookies with gram at the fair...

the annual "photo by the giant pumpkins" photo...

sitting in the wheel well of a huge tractor tire!

by an airplane...

that's about it. oh? did i mention that the daddy and i went to the TRACE ADKINS concert at the fair?! yep, it was AWESOME! we were about 4 people from the FRONT OF THE STAGE!! trace was amazing...we had such a good time!!