Not so Cute!

Temperatures have been hovering around freezing in the morning yesterday and today. Daphne opted for a hat today because she didn't like that one of her male buddies called her cute yesterday when she wore her cat ear muffs.

Tent Skills

Tyler and most of his Cub Scout den practiced setting up and taking down tents on their own tonight with minimal adult help. I think the younger sibling helpers really made all the difference, especially little Matthew in his pack t-shirt and faux neckerchief!

Lucy, Jackson, Matthew, Carter, Tyler, and Lincoln

Scout salute

Happy Halloween!

Darth Banana

Naturally Daphne just had to
be a banana this year!

Rocking out

Tyler was Omega from Fortnite. It was
his second choice since we couldn't find
a Rogue Agent costume.

One photo without the mask just to verify it is Tyler

Daphne with her bestie Penny. They trick-or-treated
together along with Penny's parents and Michael and me.

Tyler went trick-or-treating without parents this year and went
with Santi, Luke, Tommy, and Simon. I was informed that all
5th graders use pillowcases, not plastic pumpkins or totes.

Candy time!

Police Station Tour

Tyler's cub scout pack took a tour of Sunset Valley Police Station yesterday. A big thanks to the police officers that took the time to visit with us.

In the briefing room

In the interview room- unlike TV and movies,
there were no 2-way mirrors in the interview room

Checking out the ATV

The kids really liked the weight room

Checking out the police cruiser

Too cool

Even though it was very overcast, Tyler immediately
donned his aviator glasses after he got his hair cut.

Happy Fall Y'all!

Hazel's Birthday Party

Bryce and the boys came in for Hazel's birthday party (age 7!) this weekend. Hazel had a fun movie-themed party.

Cousins: Damon, Daphne, Tyler, Noah, Hazel, Micah, Penny

Micah and Daphne ham it up in the photo booth

Cookie Cake!

Toy Story 4 in the backyard after enjoying a bouncy house

Video games inside

Leafy's Adventures

Leafy the Banana lives a pretty full life. Here are some recent photos.

Wearing pajamas

Buckled up and keeping us company in the car

Leafy had his own sleeping spot when Penny & Hazel
spent the night last night.

First Day of School

We may be in the middle of one of the hottest summers ever but the kids went back to school today. Tyler wished he had another week off to recover from his soccer tournament. Daphne said another month off would be better.

2nd Grade & 5th Grade this year;
Last year at same school for a long time

Kindergarten vs. 5th Grade

Pre-K vs. 2nd Grade

They re-did the bus routes and stops. Now we
have to walk much farther, whereas we were
only 3 houses away in previous years.

Hot and flush after getting dropped off much
lower in the pecking order than previous years.

Soccer: Houston Youth Cup 2019

Soccer season kicked off last week. We all headed to the Woodlands this past weekend for the first tournament of the season. It was very hot and naturally the boys had to wear all black for all three games. They cooled off in the hotel pool on Saturday afternoon. We also took in the Houston Dynamo-Colorado Rapids soccer game on Saturday night. The Dynamo came from behind in the second half to tie up the game 2-2.

Getting a halftime pep talk

Tyler in action

Trying to catch shade whenever possible

Pre-game at BBVA Compass Stadium

Watch Ya Mouth!

Playing Watch Ya Mouth with Lucy and Lincoln

Snake

A few days ago Daphne said, "When my fish dies, can I get a snake?"

Swim Lessons

Love doing swim lessons with our friends every summer! The girls are still working on their basic freestyle strokes. The boys are working on more advanced skills such as flip turns (like the Olympians do) and other strokes like the butterfly.

Avery and Daphne

Tyler, Ryan, and Ryan

Texas A&M Soccer Camp

We tricked Tyler into going to soccer camp at Texas A&M. The longer we live in Austin the more pro-Longhorn Tyler is. We learned from another mom from Tyler's soccer team last fall that a number of his past teammates would be going to soccer camp at A&M this summer. We asked Tyler if he wanted to go to a sleepaway soccer camp for 3 days/2 nights with 5 of his buddies. Tyler said yes and so we signed him up. We didn't tell him until earlier this week that the camp was at A&M. We dropped him off on Thursday and camp went through Saturday morning. The boys stayed in the Callaway House athletic dorm and Tyler was in a suite with 7 other boys: 5 from his old team plus 2 others also from our Lonestar Soccer Club that were friends with some of the other boys. The boys had a blast: 2 training sessions on Thursday, 3 on Friday, and final scrimmages on Saturday with the parents in attendance. Tyler's favorite thing was the shot competition. They used a radar gun to clock the speed of everyone's shot (or kick). Tyler clocked in at 36 mph. The winner of the competition clocked in at 40 mph. They were also timed doing the 40-yard dash and Tyler came in at 6.18 seconds. On Friday night the boys stayed up late having a pizza party with their coaches. Tyler had a lot of fun but attributes it to being with friends and not being at A&M.

Saturday morning scrimmage

The suitemates from Lonestar Soccer Club: Boone, Kody,
Nick, Evan, Tyler, Brody, Christian, Kylian, and Coach Jared;
Coach Ben not pictured

Closing ceremony- A&M Head Soccer Coach Guerrieri (aka
Coach G) gave a nice closing speech. I also liked that he
mentioned A&M's winning streak against Texas schools, which
hopefully appealed to Tyler's competitive nature

So worn out!

Soccer Player Profile

Close up for Tyler's soccer player card

Happy Birthday America!

A relaxing 4th of July this year- we hiked and swam in the greenbelt in the morning and took in the Buda festival and fireworks in the evening with a little downtime in between.

Daphne, Tyler, and Ryan ready for a swim

Tyler and Ryan took turns swimming into the
waterfall. Tyler managed to stand on a ledge
under the fall and poke his head out.

Conquered the long hike back up to the car

Sporting red, white, and blue

Banana flavored cotton candy

So worth the long wait!

The balloon artist managed to make
Daphne a monkey with a banana