Paul gets on my case when I don't post on here. And yep, it's become something I do way too infrequently once again. It's been on my list to post for at least a month now, so I had better get to it with what I have.
Clara signed up for soccer this fall. She had great coaches and nice teammates and it was a really fun league. They started off the season with a parade down the main street in downtown Pleasanton. Each team is assigned a mascot and Clara's team were the T-Birds. So they dressed up in Pink Ladies jackets (one of the other mom's took care of getting all the costumes and stuff because she was the only one who had done the league before with an older child and knew that everybody dresses up).
Clara really enjoyed being in the parade but wasn't a bit starstruck by it. She played the whole thing super cool and waved with both hands, acknowledging the crowd on both sides of the street, like an old pro.
At her first (and as it would turn out, only) soccer game, she had a great time chasing after the ball. She's a really fast runner and could get ahead of it, but had a hard time remembering to turn back around and actually go kick the ball! She had fun though.
Paul was gone on a trip one weekend in late August, so I took the girls down to Watsonville to go apple picking at Gizdich Ranch, our favorite apple orchard. We met up with our friends from San Jose, the Fischlis and the Schaders, who we have apple picked with in the past. It was fun catching up and the kids still get along so well. I wish we could meet up more often but at least we are all doing the Christmas train again together in a couple months.
This was my favorite year of apple picking yet, probably, because Rose was big enough to walk all over and pick apples totally on her own, which made it more enjoyable for both of us!
Our friends, the Millers came to visit in September, which was so, so fun. Except....Clara broke her arm within about 15 minutes of them getting to our house. She and their boys had gone out back to jump on the trampoline while the adults were talking inside, when after only a few minutes, Ollie came inside to tell us that Clara got hurt and was crying.
It was immediately obvious that she had a broken arm. There wasn't anything poking through the skin, but the middle of her left arm had a definite, weird bend to it and you could just tell. So Paul and I got Clara into the car and left Rose with the Millers (and told them to just eat leftovers since I hadn't had a chance to get dinner started) and drove Clara to the emergency room (a whole other debacle, although in the end, we really had a good experience with the emergency room staff at Kaiser in San Leandro).
It's been healing well and she was in a splint, and then a cast for 4 weeks, total, and we go in tomorrow for more x-rays and hopefully a shorter cast instead of the one that goes all the way up over her elbow. Also, it's her left arm, thank goodness, so it hasn't affected her ability to write or draw, which are her two favorite activities ever. She chose a black cast and I got her paint sharpies so she could decorate her own cast as much as she wanted before going to school the next day and letting all her friends sign it. She tells me her next cast will be royal blue.
Other than that first day or two, I don't think she has felt any pain at all and has been such a great patient through this experience, even though it meant putting a stop to soccer, swimming and gymnastics.
Aside from the initial broken arm incident, we had a great time with the Millers visiting. We took them to Tilden Park where we rode the miniature train through the redwoods then went to the Little Farm to look at the animals. But one of my other favorite things is just hanging out and playing games or catching up at night. Our girls just love the Miller kids so much and they all got along so well. Hopefully we will make it up to their house soon for another visit!
The other big, big thing that has actually been going on for a long time is that we finally have grass in our backyard! Paul has worked so hard back there tilling and grading and installing sprinklers and plumbing (me too! I hauled dirt! Not as impressive, I know.) and we finally have sod down and growing in the backyard. Planter beds are in and hopefully we can get some plants planted in the next month or so and I will post before and after pics. For now, though, here are some process shots.
I have a few pics from Rose at preschool too. She is loving it and doing so well there, despite some death glares she gives to girls who get to the dress up shoes before she has a chance to. I have been volunteering there and in Clara's class and between that and my food blog, and all the other normal things, I feel like I have been insanely busy lately. Sounds crazy, but it's true.
Annnnd that's it! Who knows when I'll get an October post up here! (Hopefully before the end of October.)
