Another year wiser!

This week we had a lot of birthday celebrations!  It has been a bit mixed with all the other activities but we still worked to celebrate!  On Monday we had Mason's birthday dinner choice because he had practice on his birthday.  And we gave them their gift on Monday.  Not a surprise but they didn't mind getting their gift early!  :-)

And I wanted to see how much they are growing, or I should say how much I feel like I am shrinking!  Olivier is just shy of 6' and Mason is just shy of 6' 2".  Shesh!  

Thankfully they are good sports and put up with sharing a birthday week with me!  

On Monday the cats were enjoying being in the blanket we have on a chair.  For some reason Star sat up and was staring at me; she looked so silly with the tassel on her head I had to take a photo.  

And not all that much later, Luna decided to take over Star's spot and did the same thing!  Weird!  

On Saturday we enjoyed having a normal day, and Anna even got a ride in!  She was on a horse she has never ridden before and did a great job!  

We went out for dinner since we had such a disjointed week and it was nice to spend the evening together!  

More volleyball!

This weekend Mason had the last of the volleyball tournaments in the northern part of the state.  They started with three games on Saturday and really started humming!  

On Sunday they ended up with a very weird schedule which had them playing basically all through lunch and it showed during their third game  They kept pushing and all the parents are proud of the work they did all weekend!

Now there are three more travel trips before the school season kicks off!  

Band Saturday!

Today was another busy band Saturday!  It started with a parade competition not far from our house.  We were worried that it might get cancelled or rescheduled because there was a chance of rain but thankfully there wasn't much and it didn't impact the day.  Here is a video of their parade block:

And here are photos of Olivier and Anna in the block.

After they went through the judging area, we all headed to the base of the pier for the drum line competition and got to see their high school play.  We got a couple of photos first!

And here is the drum line, fun stuff!

After that we had a few hours it was time to go to the next band event.  The field show competition at their school.  There was a smaller group that played the anthem and since they were closer to the stands I got a good photo of Olivier who was in that group.  

And although they weren't competing, we got to see their field show.  Fun to see them showing off their hard work!  

Happy Halloween!

Last night in lieu of our normal family game night we carved pumpkins!  With busy schedules it worked out well that we were able to do it then!  

Here are the finished results.  From Mason:

From Olivier:

From Anna:

Tonight we hung out and handed out candy.  It was a chilly but nice evening.  Lots of candy passed out!
 

Ghosts! And more travel - this time band!

 Every October I pull these cute ghosts out and put them up in my office because they make me giggle.  The boys made them I believe just before they turned two.  

Today Matt made the trek to see the parade and field show competition that Anna and Olivier are part of.  They are on the bus and had to be at school at 4:45 a.m.  And they should be home around 1 a.m. tomorrow.  We will all enjoy being home tomorrow as we get ready for Halloween and another busy Saturday coming up!  

Blur of a weekend!

 This weekend we had a blur of activities.  There was a home football game on Friday night so Anna and Olivier played with the band and Matt went to watch.  I headed up to the bay area with Mason when he got out of school for a volleyball tournament.  

Saturday morning Anna and Olivier had their normal activities and it was a little bit of a juggle but Matt was able to make it work, and they were thankful for an easy afternoon.  Mason ended up playing four volleyball games on Saturday the won three of their games!  It was some hard fought for wins, especially their last game of the day when they had no subs and all six players had to play the entire game, and many in positions they have never played!  It was great teamwork but they were exhausted by the end of it.  Lots of videos and photos but this one I really liked as Mason waited to get the all clear to serve.  

On Sunday Mason's team played another four games and got one win and three very close games.  Thankful to make it home and being able to sleep in our own beds tonight!

Look at those teeth!

Today Mason finished up with his Invisalign trays and got the bumps off his teeth!  Wa hoo!  His invisible Invisalign is actually invisible because it is gone!