Instagram update

Our family tree (by Abby) - Fishing with Daddy

 Swinging at the park - Kids Crafts at Home Depot

 Making muffins - Garrett practices throwing his shrimp net

 Boots - New bedside tables

Playing the recorder - Hay ride

 Playing "motorcycle" in a box - Ellie dances while watching "Angelina Ballerina"

A few weeks ago, Abby's preschool class learned about families.  Abby had to make a family tree by gluing our pictures onto a paper tree.  I love her picture... she is front and center in the tree, and we are at the very bottom.  I guess she didn't really get the concept. :)

I really can't remember if I blogged about this already, but we went fishing a few Saturdays ago.  It was "family fishing day" and the pond was stocked with fish.  Everyone is pretty much guaranteed to catch a fish, so we were pretty excited.  Since Garrett is pretty much a professional fisherman by now, I figured we'd catch a ton.... well, we got "skunked" and didn't catch a thing! (remember, it was a stocked pond)  It certainly wasn't the most fun thing in the world, especially since everyone around us was catching huge fish.  It also didn't help that Ellie nearly fell into the water every 30 seconds (she would not stay away from the edge!!), Abby was crying about the dew getting her toes wet, and red ants kept attacking me.

We also took the kids to Home Depot a couple Saturdays ago for the "Kids Craft" or whatever they call it.  Garrett and the girls built a little helicopter.  It was held outside and happened to be during one of the gorgeous Fall mornings we had (they're gone - it's hot again), so it was really fun.  The actual helicopter was a piece of trash (it fell apart later that day), but we still had a good time.

Let's see, what other pictures are above...... ?  Oh, Abby playing the recorder.  Did you know that I used to be an awesome recorder player?  I was really into it.  I mean, I wasn't your typical kid who learned to play it, then cast it aside and moved on.  I learned to play it, and then I learned to play the alto recorder (did you know that there are different types of recorders?  They also have different note positions.  Soprano and tenors are based on the note "C", and alto and bass are based on "F".)  Anyway, then I moved down to the bass recorder, and I was part of an ensemble.  Yup, we performed.  It may sound embarrassing, but I really loved it, and Emma was also part of it so it was a lot of fun (she played tenor, which I could never do because my fingers weren't long enough!).  So, anyway, I busted out my old alto recorder which of course was a big mistake.  The girls fight over it constantly and they just blow into it as hard as they can, like any little kid would (actually, Ellie just puts her mouth up to it and screeches, since she doesn't realize she needs to blow to make the sound come out.  It's awesome.).

That's pretty much what we're up to!  I've also started running again, which has been good, but my knee started hurting this morning so I guess I'm doing too much too fast (my right knee has been "off" for years).  One of my friends is trying to get a bunch of people together to run a half marathon in December, but I'm not planning on it.  A half marathon has never really interested me, plus I don't think my knee would allow it.  But, she mentioned an oceanside 5 or 10k in January, which sounds really nice... we'll see.

Here's hoping we have a great weekend with gorgeous Fall weather!  Hey, I can dream, right?