Hot September

This hot Summer weather is sure taking it's sweet time to move on.  Typically I put up my Autumn decor by Labor Day weekend but it has been so hot lately I haven't felt that special Fall feeling. I have faith that the past week was the last hot, hot week and the 10 day forecast is backing me up, kind of.  There is only one day above 90 degrees in the 10 day forecast. It would happen to be Wednesday which is a bummer because soccer started this week and Jared and Lydia have practice on Wednesdays.  They both loved their first practice and mostly enjoyed their "game" today.  Both of them but Lydia especially would have enjoyed it more if it had been cooler. I think hot weather tends to affect her more than it does Jared.  Mark is coaching Lydia's team this year and Jared has Coach Trent and Coach Justin who are both awesome coaches who work really well with the kids.  They know what they are doing and the kids reposed really well to them. He totally lucked out.  His team is made up of 5 and 6 year olds so I am pretty sure he is the oldest as he will be 7 right after the season ends. At first I wondered if I should have put him on the 7 yr old team as his birthday is so close to the season but now that I have seen him playing and met the coaches I am really glad he is on this team.  A girl we know from the 1st ward is Mark's assistant coach (although she has way more coaching experience than Mark, she is also pregnant and her husband is a resident so has crazy hours so she opted to be the assistant) which is a little weird but mostly just fun.  Her daughter Lucy is on the team and 2 kids from Lydia's Sunbeam class so the team is like 1/3 Mormon.  There are actually a lot of LDS families who play JAG soccer so its kind of fun to have a chance to visit with people we used to see all the time in the 1st ward.  It's a nice laid back soccer league and Jared and Lydia will both enjoy it and Jared especially will learn a lot which is a nice bonus.  

Her team is the Falcons

"Go Dragons!"

We attended the Bike Rodeo at Baker Butler last night, also in gross hot weather. We missed this event last year and are glad we could make it this year.  Jared loved being able to ride around with tons of kids. We were impressed that there weren't more accidents and injuries as it got pretty crowded but everyone seemed to know what they were doing.  It's fun sometimes to see kids in situations like that and see that they can handle it, they can make it work. Sometimes you just don't know what will happen. On one lap I was riding with Jared on Julie's scooter and a girl lost her balance and veered into Jared.  She started to fall and I was able to help stabilize her bike. I was happy to see Jared stop riding and check to see if she was okay instead of just rushing past. Mark kindly took Lydia around for a few laps.  She did not master riding her bike before the event like we hoped she would but was willing to try yesterday and did pretty well.  They both scored some cool spoke pegs for their tires and had a good time.  I think Lydia could learn to ride her bike any day now.  If the weather would cool down for real we would be even more motivated to make her practice.

In the two days that were actually nice weather we made sure to take advantage of them. One night we headed up to Carter Mountain for the Sunset Series and the next night we went downtown for the Paint the Town Orange Pep Rally for UVA.  We met up with the Lenox's and the Shaw's at the Sunset Series and again with the Shaw's for the rally.  Those two evenings had beautiful weather and we had a great time.  There were a few other families we knew from the 1st ward at the Sunset Series and the rally and it was fun to chat with them. We have really enjoyed the Sunset Series up there and hope we can go one more time before they stop for the season.  

Downtown Mall. There was an amazing sunset this night. 

 It's a bummer you can't see it more here. 

Tyler and Jared. 

 This is what I got when I asked them to put their arms around each other, like they were friends. 

I'm so glad he has Tyler as his buddy. 

April and Tara. 

I'm truly grateful for Mark who puts up with my grumpiness/moodiness better than anyone

 and who sadly receives more than his fair share of it. 

The Lenox's are moving to Texas at the end of October which will break mine and Lydia's hearts. Tara and Tom headed down to Texas this past week to look at houses and we had Lainey stay with us.  It was fun to have her here and I'm glad we could help out Tara and Tom.  Lydia loved having Lainey sleep over.  We picked up Tom and Tara from the airport Friday and then dropped them all off at their house.  On the drive home Lydia talked about how much she would miss Lainey and how she was her best (x10) friend and when she leaves she won't have a best friend anymore. I tried to point out all her other friends but I wanted to complain and be sad right there with her. We love getting together with them, they are such good, fun, easy to be around people. Mark enjoys getting together with Tom and Jared has a great time playing with Jessie and Tegan, their older girls. It will be truly horrible when they move. This may seem dramatic but we really love them. Tara was one of the first people I really became close to here in Charlottesville and I love being around her.  She makes me feel cool and smart and fun. As an adult, having friends has been different for me than it was when I was younger.  In Colorado I had people I enjoyed getting together with but I would not consider them close friends. I mostly just wanted to be by myself and do whatever I wanted after being at home with my sweet Jared and Lydia all day.  But with Tara it was one of the first times I as an adult with kids had a "best" friend. We do our weekly "Monday Fun-days" so Lydia and Lainey can play and we can hang out.  They are as much for us as they are for Lydia and Lainey. She is funny and smart and a great example to me and I will miss her dearly and Lydia will miss Lainey too. 

Preschool has been going really well. The kids are fun and I am happy to be teaching again. I am still trying to get the right amount of activities in my lesson plans but so far the kids have all been happy to be there and the parents are pleased with how its going too.  We have 2 field trips planned in the next few weeks which will be fun.  We didn't go on any last year and I think it will be a nice change.  I am really trying to add things that will make it more like school will be for them but still just let them play and learn from each other. I am loving my weekly schedule. I wondered if going three days back to back would seem like a lot but I actually like it more and again I feel like it is good prep for school next year.  Last year I would teach Tuesday then have a day off then teach again but now there is no "break" so it feels like it goes faster. Weird but true. I am so grateful it is going as well as it is and so grateful I have these families to teach.