September Photo Dump

In a desperate effort to get caught up with pictures, I am posting all of September in one fell swoop.  66 pictures deep, be warned!  Luckily there was a whole week where we didn't take any pictures at all, so just remember it could have been worse.

Cora loves the car.  She likes to climb in and push buttons.  I think she is "driving."

Her hair still isn't real long, but there is enough for a good stick-up.

Sister bonding

I feel like a bit of a parent-failure because this was the kids' only camping trip this summer.  Mike took them to the ward campout Friday night.  They loved it.    

 Mike's favorite moment was waking up suddenly to the realization that a heated and completely silent glowstick battle was taking place over his sleeping bag (he wisely slept in the middle).  This is a reenactment:

They woke up, had a quick breakfast, than booked it to Jens's soccer game. 

Oh yes, it is that time of year again.  Soccer is back in full swing.  We have practices Monday/Wednesday from 5-6:30 for Jens and Tuesday/Thursday from 5-6 for Sylvie.  Luckily there is a family in our neighborhood that matches up with us--a son on Jens's team, daughter on Sylvie's, so we have been splitting up the load.  The kids are both loving it.  Sylvie is on the same team as last year (Go Fireworks!) but Jens is on a new team, The Rrrrrred Ninjas! with his friend Dylan.  He wasn't able to practice for a few weeks thanks to his knee, but the coach and team seem really great, so we are excited about this year.

 Mike got real annoyed with Jens for some of these pictures, which cracked me up because Mike just recently stopped pulling these faces himself :)

Mike and Jens went to the air show as well.  It was a very busy weekend.  They both enjoyed seeing the planes, but said it was very hot.  It seems like things should be cooling down around here, but we are still feeling mid-summer!

A stop at the park with my exercise buddy.

This little miss is just too cute.  She is my little ray of sunshine--she has a happy, delightful personality.

I finally painted a mirror for Mike's car.  (It got knocked off by a slow speed deer collision).

Cora can reach onto the countertops now and apparently decided she wanted a snack.  

She set it down to save for later. 

Ready for a walk and feeling sassy.  I wish she would keep the glasses on for more than 30 seconds. 

 Have I mentioned she loves to color?

Everyone's favorite part of the soccer game: the tunnel!  Jens and Sylvie's teams are both undefeated so far, but no Helquist goals yet.

Mike is prepping for a big ride in October which means long bike rides on Saturdays.  He rode up to Mosquito Bar Road, an area that was impacted by the big King Wildfire a few weeks later. 

Someone stole my phone.  There were about 50 of these.

Mike is also prepping for a half marathon in October.  What can I say, October is his be-active month.  Cora was his exercise buddy this time because I was at school volunteering for FAME in both Sylvie's and Jens's classrooms.  

We learned about Michelangelo, so our kindergarten art project was coloring looking up, like Michelangelo did for the Sistine Chapel.  They loved it.  Jens's class did perspective drawing, which was very hard!

Sylvie's favorite fancy 'doo this week was:

We had just finished eating but I hadn't cleared the table yet, so Cora climbed back up and helped herself.  She pounded a LOT of raspberries before I cut her off. 

Seen around our house this week:  Jens is clearly related to uncle Peter (few clothes) and Uncle Loren (reading a book).  Sylvie made banana muffins for an after school snack.  

Playing pegs before school.  

Cora made the mess

Then she helped clean it up. 

More soccer!

After church Cora tried out the trampoline.  It was love at first bounce. 

 A big change happened in our front room.  We said good bye to this old friend (we gave it away to a family in our area who needed a piano)

And this piano came to stay with us for the next two years while Jens's piano teacher and her husband serve a mission in NC.  It has been fun. 

We squeezed in an Apple Hill trip one morning when Jens didn't have a soccer game.  We picked apples (lots of them) and ate treats (lots of those, too.)

 And have I mentioned the coloring?