Early October

First up in October - Xander's birthday!!

This cute kid of mine and some of the things he wanted for his 16th birthday! Books...

games...

new shoes...

and money! Just kidding, the cash wasn't his though I'm sure he'd like it to be!

And then it was my turn! I got this great gift from my bestie, Melissa...

and this beautiful bracelet from Savannah.

I got one of my favorites for lunch...

and what could be better than flowers and David cleaning the kitchen for me?!?!?

One of the joys of living by family now is that we were all able to get together to celebrate the October birthdays!

The October Birthday Club!

Ciara commandeered our gift to Kellan and did a pretty good impersonation.

Gotta love when those birthday gifts just keep coming, even a week later!

Huge laughs when Heidi brought out the gag gift Ryan had gotten her for her birthday this year.

Uncle Bryan always gives such thoughtful, personal gifts.

I love this picture of Xander with Mom and Dad.

Some other little things in October - I got this sweet picture of my girl from my friend Catherine Washburn. She and her husband Brian were down in Cedar City and decided to stop by to see Savannah and take her a candy treat. I love good people and the kind things we can do for each other. This absolutely made my day!

More time with sweet little Coco.

Flexing some muscles!

And more football!!! This time we played at Elder, a top school in the Cincinnati area. Although we lost, I was proud of the way our guys played and we definitely put up a good fight.

A Dog's Life

Just a couple days after we moved in the Clarks went on vacation to Florida and we got a house guest - their cute little dog Coco.

Cleo was adjusting to the new house and got a buddy to help her through the process, ha ha. They ate together...

and napped together.

One of the best features about our new house is the huge backyard and I thought for sure that Cleo would absolutely LOVE it out there! Well, she does as long as a human is out there with her. Not even having Coco out there with her is good enough.

She was really happy to find this huge stick to chew on though.

Coco and Cleo seem to get along pretty well but jealousy does hit from time to time.

And as soon as we leave them outside alone...well, Cleo comes right to the door, begging to be let in. Sigh.

They're quite the pair together.

Coco is a super sweet little dog though the barking at every one who walks past the house is a tad annoying. Still, she loves to cuddle and give kisses which just melts my heart.

So, other than the few pooping incidents in the house, which apparently she's notorious for, and the fact that she's a bit smelly, we had a wonderful week with little Coco.

Move In Day!

Our big move in day finally arrived! David had stayed behind in Maryland to finalize the sale of our townhouse and to pack up all the furniture. He and Cleo had arrived on Friday late in the day so he was unable to go to the football game with me that night. Although Xander is on JV, they had him and a few other players dress for the Varsity game so Heidi, who is always up for some football, made the long drive with me up to Springfield. Due to Covid, parents were required to drive their player to each away game and boy, once Xander left the car, Heidi and I were in desperate need of some good scents. Football gear can put off some strong smells!

I couldn't get over how big Xander looked out there! At first I thought another player was #57 but no, Xander has just grown so much. Although he didn't get a chance to play and we got our booties kicked, it was still fun to be there.

Saturday, September 26th, we finally got to move in to our new home! But first, there was a JV football game to attend. I actually take mostly videos during the game rather than pictures so I need to remember to do a better job of grabbing more game photos for the blog. Go Panthers!

My #57!!

Xander had a big 'ole cheering section; even Mom and Dad made it up for the game!

We didn't have much of a problem beating these guys and Xander did a great job!

Next we were off to Kellan's soccer game!

Apparently I only took video at his game as well other than this one picture - Ryan is the coach and Noah was his assistant for the day.

These are special times when we are all together cheering each other on!

And finally, back to the house to unload the truck and move in. I was so excited!!!

Heidi brought Coco over to meet up with Cleo.