October

Poor Steve did not get to enjoy any of his weekends this fall, but hopefully that will all pay off soon.  He was busy studying for his Professional Engineers exam, a grueling 8 hour exam that tests his knowledge of all facets of Civil Engineering.  The kids and I are confident that his efforts will pay off (even if he is still nervous).   He feels good about the morning part, but still wary of the afternoon results.

Bella has been busy with (what else) soccer.  Her team has done well this season and she has made plenty of  goals and assists along the way.  She is the leading scorer on her team, but is struggling with confidence in her strike. Two games ago, she convinced her coach to do the Gangnam style dance if she scored, but was just fine doing it herself :)  She really is a goofball that is very driven to always do her best, whatever the circumstance.

Alaina treated us to a Gymnastics preview this month.  While she was doing the bars (her favorite) the coach told the crowd of parents, "I am one of 10 nationally recognized bars Level 10 instructors and I can tell you that THIS is what we all look for..."  Definitely a proud mama moment.  Especially since Alaina never views gymnastics as anything but playtime.  She truly just loves perfecting her skills.  People are always amazed at how strong she is because they see her petite frame and not her guns.  I think she can do the most push-ups in the family.  Ask her someday, to show you...I guarantee you will be impressed.  Unfortunately, it hasn't been all good news for Alaina this month.  Her poor bunny, Mustang, died at night on Oct 4.  She was a wild one and loved to run with Argos, and put him in his place when necessary.  We were all sad to say good bye to her.

Jake has really been enjoying Farm School.  He goes to their preschool, three afternoons a week, and is having a great time.  We can't say enough good things about the school and its teachers.  They had a family night the week before Halloween and the kids got to dress up, decorate pumpkins, make masks and robots, and take a tractor ride at night.  Jake told scary stories during the tractor ride and he had the girls and I in stitches.  Two friends, jungle, cheetah, hi-yah...Four friends, jungle, crocodile, bite his butt...Ten friends, jungle, dragon, more hi-yahs...

Me, well, nothing much here.

P.E.

Kat,
 Wanted to let you know that I finally took and passed my Professional Engineering Exam.  We both know why it took me so long to take it but I finally did.    I missed the deadline for the April exam and was super stressed all spring and summer.  In the spring I registered for the October exam and started studying on my birthday, albeit all the wrong stuff :)  I even brought my references to study when I went down to see Mom and Jack at their place in Pawley's.  I enrolled in a study class; they got me on track and I made the most of it.   I was super nervous the last two weeks before the exam... The girls wrote me motivational cards and gave them to me before I took off for the test.  It was very considerate of them.  You would have been super proud of them.   We are going to celebrate at Benehana's tonight.   I will have a margarita for you. 

Funny thing is I will probably change career paths as soon as this CG gig is over.  Looking at becoming either a P.A. or a Physical Therapist.  As we have discussed in the past, there are some things that no-one can take away from us.  I will save that conversation for another day.  

Miss you,
 Your bro- Steve       

DC United V Chivas USA

Bella's favorite player, Andy Najar

Final score, 1-0

Initially, we were disappointed that we weren't with the energetic fans across the field.  90 minutes later, I think my head would have been exploding and I would have wanted to sit at least for a minute or two.  We loved hearing the cheers, drums and seeing the flags from our side.

Bella and I joined one of her friends from last year's soccer team at Sunday night's DC United game.  We had never been to one and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  The United pulled off another win to keep them alive for playoffs with a beautiful diving header from Branko Boskovic. Great times and great company!  Who could ask for more.

Turn the World Upside down

Alaina the poser

1:00, exactly  (Alaina top right, Bella bottom left)

Show offs...

Alaina's gymnastics studio was participating in the "Turn the World Upside Down" event on Saturday.  Studios across the US had gymnasts of all ages do handstands or hang upside down on bars at exactly 1:00. They had about 90 kids at our studio..we'll see if they break the world record.  Either way they had fun!

Double Digits

In our new ROXY bikini & monofin

Mermaid caught on film!

VERY bad idea, but very delicious cakes (without the wax)
I'm still wondering what she wished for...

On Wednesday, Bella turned 10!  She awoke VERY early, so early in fact, she caught Steve and I still constructing one of her birthday presents- a soccer goal.  She calmly (or at least tried to) wait for Alaina to wake up so she could tackle the rest of her presents.  I think she scored pretty well and got most of what she asked for.  The $250 mermaid tail didn't quite make it into the pile, but she still has hope.  She desperately wanted to try out her new monofin so we headed to Cub Run and we had the swimming area to ourselves for most of the time.  She and Alaina swam around like tried and true mermaids.  Jake chased them pretending he was a shark, complete with hand over his head to mock a dorsal fin.  We chowed down at Vapiano's and then raced home so Bella could attend an optional soccer practice.  The practice was capped off perfectly when they were taking shots on goal and Bella lofted a perfect strike into the upper corner of the net. Steve headed to Back to School night and I made chocolate lava cakes, per Bella's request.  In a purely blonde moment, I had the brilliant idea to add 10 candles to the cake.  Yeah, it registered pretty quick how dumb of an idea that was when the candles instantly started melting into the cake. Luckily, the cakes are rich and Steve and Jake ended up sharing one. All in all, I think she had a good day.

Happy Birthday, Alaina!

Whoa!  I thought I posted pics of our trip to SC...that's for later.  TODAY was Alaina's 8th birthday and she celebrated in style.  She awoke early to open presents (mermaid tail, Kick Buttowski-ish helmet, Dolphins jersey, new cowgirl hat, and some other assorted goodies) and to eat some yummy Huevos Rancheros, in bed!  Then we went to the American Girl Bistro at Tysons and enjoyed a lunch and some shopping.  We came home to try out the mermaid tail at the pool and then we celebrated with a strawberry shortcake.  Unfortunately, it rained most of the day and she wasn't able to go to the farm to do her photo shoot, but we are going to do that soon.  I hope you had a good one, honey.  We all love you, very much!

Swimming! and Olympians

  

Jake swam in his first swim meet last Saturday.  It was so amazing to watch him swim down the pool in his first race.  He was very excited and got a blazing time of 2:08 on his first 25.  He was entered again in Wednesday's meet and beat his time by 43 seconds, down to a 1:25.  All while wearing a snorkel mask :)  He has made great progression from not putting his face in, to swimming 2 meets.  Tomorrow will be their last of the season, but I'm sure we'll be at the pool daily.

Bella was invited to the Herndon Olympics.  Only the top 2 swimmers from each event were able to go from the 9 teams.  She was disappointed in her finishes, even though she got 2 PRs and their relay team did well.  The event was run very well and there were 2 Olympians, Ian Crocker and Lacey Nymeyer, there handing out the awards.  They had put on a swim clinic the day before and Bella had a good time at that, too.  She learned (I hope) that these top athletes put in a tremendous amount of time and effort over the course of their entire lives to reach the pinnacle of their success.  Lacey commented several times that, "There are only two things in life that we can control:  our attitude and our effort."  If you give your best effort and have a good attitude, then the rest falls in line.  I couldn't agree more (even though sometimes I need to heed that advice more)

Ian Crocker, Isabella, Lacey Nymeyer

Alaina has done well with swimming but has re-started practicing her true love:  gymnastics.  Especially since her new class is geared to girls who have an aptitude for gymnastics!  She has been doing MANY handstands, into back bridges throughout the house.  I'm sure we will soon be into back handsprings...  No gymnastics pictures of her, yet.