September means back to the grind! It feels good to be in a regular schedule again, but it also means we are ON THE GO. Soccer started 2 weeks ago. Since Cooper is 4 years old now, he was able to sign up to be on a team. He was very excited to start.
We switched soccer organizations for a few reasons, but along came players that Mom has coached and I have played with the past 2 years. We are team 1 (U-8), which is a totally lame name, so we now decided to call ourselves the volcanoes! My best friend Trevor from school is on my team.
Mom had a major dilemma to solve... which team would she coach?!?! She decided to move up with my group; she co-coaches with Carmi, who has coached with Mommy for a few years now. We only have 5 players on our team, that way we play the entire game.
Cooper is on the green team, he is technically U-6 and the youngest on the team. Mom offered to assist but we were lucky to request a coach who played for many years and has coached many teams, including the Strikers. We know he is in good hands :)
Cooper is enjoying soccer. He is a hard-worker on the field. He is a little out of sorts since he hasn't scored a goal yet. We know it will happen soon!
My team lost our first game, 3-1. We don't keep score "really" but ask any player and they will remind you how many goals each team has! Like I said, Mom coaches the team and we are working on a lot of soccer fundamentals and learning a few new rules in the U-8 division. Our team is young! Most of us are just 6 years old and our first team was definitely an older group. We still kept up pretty good!
I like offense the best, but we do switch so that we play both offense and defense. We still don't play with goalies in this age bracket. I didn't score a goal my first game but did my second! You know what that means?!?! My parents take me to get ice cream after the game. I enjoyed a chocolate malt from Olson's in case you are curious :)
Cooper received his Bible at church a few weeks ago. This is our pastor, Sturgie. He is funny and is awesome with kids. Cooper was a little shy in the front of the church, but received his Bible and now we read stories from it almost every night. Reading the Bible brings LOTS of questions, some which my parents do not have answers for. We are excited for Sunday School this year!
We met up with cousins Whitney and Emmett at a restaurant last weekend. We hadn't seen them in a few weeks and were missing them. Ms. Whitney slept the entire time, so we only got a picture of us boys. We were blessed with great news about Whitney... the geneticist who did additional testing after her birth determined she does NOT have Down's Syndrome. They believe the extra chromosome was in Auntie Jill's placenta and it never passed to the baby. There are so little words for this miraculous news; what we can say is that Whitney is a blessing, we would have loved her all the same, and we are so happy for their family with this joyous news!
My 1st grade class enjoyed a day at the Outdoor Classroom at our State Park. We learned from a naturalist about the prairie, we learned about trees, sang silly songs, and enjoyed a great day outdoors! Mom was able to join us for our field trip that day. Here are some pictures from our field trip.
Peeking up at the TALL Red Pines
Playing a game with Gracie ("sitting in a tree....")
Singing one of many silly songs
Mrs. Wise caught a dragonfly, so cool!
Switching gears... we went to Oktoberfest with our parents and friends on Saturday night. We had a nice talk with the Leinenkugel's (yes, they own the brewery). They are really nice people and are very supportive of our community. Cooper was NOT to happy about wearing his hat at this point. It grew on him as the night went on :)
Originally, our parents were not planning to bring us, but thanks to Homecoming in our town, babysitters were non-existent. Needless to say, we all had fun and the kids were just happy with big pretzels, the bouncy house, and this interesting guy.
A retired teacher friend of Mom's, was an
au pair in Scotland MANY years ago. She gifted Mommy this original Lutz coat that was the little boy's who she cared for. It is an authentic coat and SO cool. I was excited to wear it to Oktoberfest!
We stayed busy entertaining ourselves... Trevor taught Cooper how to be silly (ha!) and arm wrestle. Just look at Cooper's face below, yikes!
We couldn't help but stop at the picture boards for some silly pics on our way out.... Trevor and Cooper
Trevor and I...it wasn't until afterwards he realized he was dressed as a woman :)
Our parents, nerds...
Cooper's 4K teacher sends daily emails with pictures. Mommy just LOVES this and has saved several for his scrapbook. Here are a few of Coopy's 4K pictures and happenings....
This is how Cooper writes his name!
Each day for the first two weeks, students had to wear a certain color. Obviously, it is orange day here.
Blue day and yes, he is in the front, picking his nose.
Cooper's teacher says he plays well and has made lots of friends.
They have a SMART board in class (Mom is jealous).... they are working on a letter a day and every night Cooper has homework for the daily letter. He loves doing homework and feeling like a big boy!
We have been catching and capturing many caterpillars lately. It is the season of bugs, including bees, beetles and caterpillars. Cooper and I have both been stung this past week. The weather has been great, the bugs not so much. We like letting these caterpillars crawl on us (makes you cringe, right!?!)
Cooper and Mom snuck to the Children's Museum last week. They bought their annual membership now that the weather will be getting cooler. They have a new farm exhibit. Cooper couldn't keep his hands off Oreo, the dairy cow. He loved the milking station :) I was not happy to hear they do anything fun while I am at school. They will have a Mommy/Cooper day every other Wednesday, when she isn't teaching and when he doesn't have 4K. Hopefully, Cooper can keep it quiet what their outings will be, doubtful.
Cooper has been riding a 2 wheeler this summer. Lately, he is being a scaredy cat. He screams when Daddy lets go for more than a few seconds. Mom just needed a few more pictures for her scrapbook. He is still working on making turns, otherwise, this little man is an official biker.
Cooper's class also had a field trip. They went to a local apple orchard to learn about the apple harvest, read about Johnny Appleseed, go on a wagon ride and pick apples!
Mom is 2 for 2... both field trips have been on her days off! Here is a selfie of Mom and Cooper on the hayride. It was a sunny day!
Pretending to be a crazy tractor driver
He is growing up too quickly.....
Learning about apples
Hayride!
Ms. Apple and Mommy play soccer together... Ms. Apple was a fun teacher at the orchard and Mom wants to borrow her outfit sometime.
And here are 4 delicious apples Cooper picked for our family. Fall has officially arrived. We hope you are enjoying the beauty of the new season!
