I'm behind

Well, I'm behind in this blog. I'm back to my normal crazy, busy life now that we've moved and I'm falling behind here.

What we've done lately....

We've run 2 family 5Ks since we moved to Michigan. The Hometown Hustle was a beautiful run through downtown Rochester on a crisp October morning. Yesterday we completed the Bloomer Boogie. Labelled as a fun family 5K through Bloomer Park, I thought this run would be simple. WOW! Was I wrong...this was a trail run of epic proportions, practically a violation of children's services laws by making our kids run this race. But, they are proud that they finished (with minimal tears) and what doesn't kill us (or break our ankles) does truly make us stronger.

Halloween. I don't even think I have posted any pictures here of our celebrations. Of course, this holiday has turned in to a weekly long festival. Ava gets the award for having to wear her costume the most...5 separate events were costume themed. She was actually sick of it by Halloween night. We had school parties, ballet parties, candy parades and the Detroit Zoo Boo all before actual trick or treating on Sunday night. I am quite proud of my parental bribery skills this year. I didn't want to purchase costumes so I bribed the kids to pick something we already had that fit them. In exchange I would buy them a "toy" that was under $10 each. They readily accepted my offer and I spent $40 on Halloween instead of $160. Plus, they got something they would use all year instead of just one night. Q was a doctor, Ava was Supergirl, Isabella and Sophia were both hippies but from different generations (Sophia from the 70s and Isabella from the 60s). We returned 5 bags of candy that I bought and we still have about 15 pounds of candy to eat.

Ava and Sophia are both in new Girl Scout troops. They are having such fun already. Sophia's troop went on a tour of The Morley Candy Factory last week and Ava's troop visited a restaurant in our neighborhood. Both girls got behind the scenes tours and learned alot.

Q has started 2 sports this Winter. He is taking up ice skating and had his first lesson. The first class consists of learning how to stand up and fall down on the ice without assistance...then going off on your own for another 30 minutes to stand up and fall down. He was exhausted by the end of the lesson but after 45 minutes he really was getting the hang of it. He was excited when he started and afterwards he said he was never going to skate again. We'll see how he feels about it on Wednesday. He also started some new soccer training. He was pretty bummed out when we left California after he only played one game of soccer. He loves soccer and has been waiting his whole life to play. We signed him up for "Little Dragons" training with Isabella's club team WAZA FC. It's one hour of drills on Saturdays at the indoor arena.

Speaking of soccer. Isabella is officially on a new club team. She was invited to join WAZA FC. She started her official Winter training season this past week. The winter training is done at an indoor arena but it's not "indoor" soccer. The whole regular soccer field is inside a giant dome like facility. It's insane and I love it! I could spent all year at an indoor facility...climate controlled, bathrooms, even a bar! Isabella is already getting stronger with this club and I'm so proud of her for trying so hard. I am impressed with the organization so far.

The girls have officially been in school for 3 months and report cards come home this week. Stay tuned!

Sophia is currently 3 months post injury and has had some testing done with a Neuropsychologist and a Neurologist. Both doctors feel that she is recovered approximately 90% and is officially diagnosed wit post concussive syndrome. She is expected to fully recover at 6 months. Physical activity is still limited until she is 100% recovered plus one month. She's bummed about not being able to participate in recess yet...I told her she'll thank me for that come Winter when the other kids are freezing outside.

We're still house hunting. We've looked at about 8 houses so far. 2 were offer worthy but they went fast. We hope to have a permanent residence by Spring.