Better late than never?

In a surprise twist to no one, our fall calendar has been jam-packed - which means I'm majorly lacking on updates here.  So I'll be doing my best to highlight how our past couple months have been going, knowing that my memory is hit or miss!

Soccer season is just about over - one more weekend of games for the fall!  All three kids played on rec teams, so our weeknights and weekends have been full of shuttling kids to and fro.  Maggie and Evie continue to grow in their skills... Ben's team is mostly just adorable 5-years olds running in clumps, but he was soooo excited to have a jersey with a number on it this year.  His favorite part of soccer is shaking hands at the end and saying "good game."  Like literally the second the game ends, he runs to half field with his hand out.

Evie with two of her besties

About 2/3 of Ben's team

When you're stuck at your brother's game,
you perch

Corner kick

Rrrreally tried hard to teach Ben that you don't
take the ball away from your own team...
still working on that

Now that soccer is over, both girls will be starting basketball at Guardian Angels.  They are pretty excited to start - we are a bit overwhelmed, more of a time commitment than we realized!

Maple continues to bring great joy to all of us!  While not everything is perfect, I don't think we could have asked for a better dog.  She's really smart and easy to train, is doing great with crate training, and loves belly scratches.  I have to restrain myself from buying her new toys every time I'm at the store, I just want to spoil her all the time!

Besties

She loves when her family comes home

Jamie is one of the class advisor's at work, so he had to do a bunch of work for their homecoming weekend this year.  We all went and walked in the parade, the kids got a kick out of it!

Hanging with the Husky!

One of Ben's favorite friends from school

Proud daddy

We got some really great seats to Miguel Cabrera's last game.  I knew it would be cool, but I was surprised by how emotional it was!  I think half the stadium was crying at one point!

Nice shot from the first base line
(through the netting)!

Jamie was so happy

With our buddies!

Ben had a field trip to a petting farm so he and I had a fun little day together!

On our "straw ride" because he learned that
hay is for eating

Feeding the ducks

We got to pick out a pie pumpkin at the end!

Most of my photos are just random updates!

Fr. Brian finished his doctorate and is now back in Michigan!
We will be calling him Father-Doctor

Got to go on a fun trip to the zoo with her buddy

Jamie's final concert to see The National (it better be)
for a while.  He and Justin went to a music festival in Cincinnati -
Jamie found his people (they're as obsessed as him)!

I love Maggie's teacher - she has cool projects and often 
sends photos of the kids

Working hard in preschool!

Daddy daughter date to a football game

Ben's favorite place in the whole world -
the car wash

Ben still really loves painting his nails, and his sister loves doing it

Chaperoned a field trip with Maggie's class
 to our courthouse and police station -
it was a really great outing!

Do you know how hard it is to do curved lines on an
etch-a-sketch?  This is true love.

Welcome, Maple!

We brought home our new puppy about a month ago, and are smitten!  Maple Dip Donoghue is a really sweet dog and all three kids are doing great with her.  She is a mini labradoodle and will grow to about 35 lbs within a year.  

Welcome home, Maple!

Maggie and Evie went with Dad
to pick her up in Ohio

Our first day home together... before she fell in the pool...
but now she stays away from the water,
so it wasn't the worst thing!

I expected Maggie to be the most involved with Maple, but Ben is actually the most obsessed and they are becoming best friends.  He loves to give her hugs and play outside, even gets excited about picking up poop!  Maggie is doing great with the responsibility side; Evie loves Maple, but is not quite as into her as the other kids - she has a love/ambivalent relationship.

Happy kids

All his love

Drying off the morning dew

I love you

Maple is doing really well with commands to sit and lay down, and has learned how to walk on a leash without pulling like 50% of the time.  She's mostly potty trained, but we still have some accidents in the house if we forget to let her out enough - still working on that!  We can only leave her alone for about 3 hours right now - so our days are a bit chaotic, but slowly progressing towards a new normal.

One of her favorite spots to play

Sometimes she looks so wise (she isn't)

The kids and Jamie had a great back-to-school experience this year - no tears, no stress, we just sort of fell back into the usual routine.  Maggie is in 5th grade, Evie is in 3rd and Ben is in his last year of preschool.

First day of 5th Grade, rocking her Taylor Swift shirt!

The girls are very into this pose - but you have 
to say "slay!" when you do it

First day of 3rd Grade!  Still will only wear
black or white, our little emo kid.

Thrilled to have some of her besties in class!

Buddies

First day of  last year of preschool!

We had some fun times with friends towards the end of summer!  Andy and Katie were in town with their kiddos, so we got to see them for about a week.  Maggie loved "babysitting" and made a special bond with Henry.  We went to a few concerts (including The National), celebrated our 13th anniversary, and had lots of fun by the pool!  Jamie also spent a few days in New York with the Sandovals so he could see The National... again...

Fun at the zoo!

Maggie's newest fan

So fun to see this little smush ball!

Partners in crime

Waiting for the Detroit show to start - so many friends came!

Got to meet the drummer after the show!

I was actually pretty excited to meet Aaron Dessner 
(guitarist for the National and helped produce Taylor's latest albums!)

Madison Square Garden!

New York friends!

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Anniversary date in Detroit!

Phoenix/Beck show at Pine Knob

LED glow balls make for a fabulous night swim

We celebrated my Dad's birthday a little early on Labor Day weekend.  He had back surgery recently, so it was good to see him moving around - still recovering, but on the mend!

Happy birthday, Pops!

I invented the best game ever: How well to you know your Pops?
Blind taste test to see how many pops they could name; so much backwash

This might have been from a different pool day?

Lots of random photos:

Jamie starts them young... I wonder how much
money we've given to Lego?

Maggie was excited for the Super Moon!
(I was not, full moons = crankier residents)

Went camping with her friend!

Loving my soccer team - after a really clutch win!

Slay

Got tickets to the sneak premier of the Ninja Turtles movie!

Saturday morning fun

Cutie patootie - dressed up as Olaf for his camp song

Rrrrrreally excited to have his nails painted

Last day of camp!

Sniffle - this came up on my timehop