Go Green Hornets!

This past fall David and I were able to coach Finley's soccer team the Green Hornets. 

This year we didn't have any of our returning players from the spring. It was a whole new group of boys and one boy we knew from several seasons ago.

We started off the season a little rocky, dropping two games, but went on to either win or tie the rest of our games!

The boys made it all the way to the finals of the tournament against an undefeated team. 

  

 We played our best and the game went into penalty kicks!!

Unforunately we missed a couple of our PKs and the other team won the Championship. We were still super proud of our team and as runners up the boys earned trophies! Woo Hoo!

Finley was a strong asset for our team this season. He played goalie, defender, and striker for us. He ended the season with several great saves, a lot of stops on defense, and three goals. Below are two of his goals that Abuelo was able to catch on film. 

We had so much fun coaching this team! We hope that a lot of the boys will come back in the spring so we can make another run at the Championship. Go Green Hornets! 

Halloween Fun!

Pumpkin Patch:

Our very favorite strawberry farm opened up a pumpkin patch for the first time this fall. We were very excited to check it out and see what they had in store.

We got to ride on the tractor out to the pumpkin patch.

And then search through the patch to find the perfect pumpkin!

It was surprisingly challenging to find ones without bad spots on them. But we did find two that we felt would work well! The farm also had a fun apple chunking activity. We were able to purchase a bucket of apples and then using a sling shot aim them at targets across an open field. It was a lot of fun and we even hit a few of the targets.

 Finley told Grammie that he was dying to bob for apples so we brought home some apples from the farm to use. Bobbing for apples is surprisingly hard! During the process Finley ended up losing a tooth that we didn't even know was loose! 

Trunk or Treat:

A few days before Halloween we attend our churches trunk or treat. This year Finley decided he wanted to be Harry Potter. So of course we all had to dress up as characters from the book. I was Hermione Granger and David was Ron Weasley. 

We even found a fellow Hogwarts student Luna Lovegood at the trunk or treat! 

Pumpkin Carving:

We kind of waited till the last minute to carve our pumpkins this year. While David was at work on Halloween Finley and I went to work on one of the pumpkins.

We went with a soccer ball this year for this Messi loving boy!

Halloween Party:

Since Halloween fell on a teacher workday this year one of our friends decided to host a fun Halloween party at her house before the trick or treating. 

The kids did a few crafts and played don't eat Frank!

Had mummy races. 

And played a pass the pumpkin (like musical chairs) game. 

Finley ended up winning the pass the pumpkin game and his little besties helped him celebrate in quite the fashion by cheering him on and tackling him to the ground.

We ended the party with a doughnut eating competition followed by feeling some gross items in mystery boxes!

Trick or Treating:

After our traditional dinner of mummy hot dogs and apples with caramel it was time for some trick or treating. 

David and I took turns walking Finley around the neighborhood and we even made a stop at his teacher's house who also lives in our neighborhood. 

We had a fun and sugar filled Halloween and we hope you did too! Happy Halloween!

Two State Fairs

There are so many wonderful things about Fall. Soccer season, the leaves changing color, cooler runs in the morning, pumpkin flavored everything, and of course the State Fair. This month we were able to attend two State Fairs! One is held at Finley's school every year and the other one was the real one, the NC State Fair. 

School State Fair: 

Finley's school has an annual State Fair day. Members of the community come to the school and set up stations for the kids to explore. Some of the stations showcase handmade crafts like pottery and soap, others have bugs, bees, and animals to touch, and there are even participatory stations where students can learn archery or take turns throwing a ball at the dunking booth. 

I loved that I was able to spend the day with Finley and another little boy in his class. 

It was a little chilly in the morning, but we still had fun exploring all the stations and being with friends. 

Finley especially enjoyed pointing out every snake to me and trying to get me to cringe. 

And I loved pretending to be Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games! Just kidding, only the kids were allowed to practise their archery skills. Darn!

NC State Fair: 

The following week we had a half day at school which we took as the perfect opportunity to skip school and head to Raleigh for the big NC State Fair!

I must say my favorite parts of the fair are all the educational things. 

Luckily Finley seemed to enjoy them as well. 

The highlight for me is always the award winning flowers and mini gardens.

These Dahlias are my favorites! 

Finley loves checking out the electric trains!

And trying to figure out which gardens won first place. 

Of course it isn't the state fair if you don't go on some rides! The swings are a personal favorite. 

David participated in the rides that went super high. 

But Finley's favorites were definitely the roller coasters. We kept him on the baby ones (for safety reasons of course), but he kept eyeing the big ones! Not yet boy! Or ever!  

We indulged in some fried food and meat on a stick. 

And did as many of the free activities that we could! We could have stayed there all day because there is so much to see and do at the fair! But alas, we were getting tired, so we headed home around mid afternoon. It was a fun day playing hooky from school! Now back to work/school/etc!