This past Saturday morning at her soccer game, Clara scored the first hat trick of her career.  To say that her fan club was going wild was putting it mildly.  Both Addie (and her family) and the Dovers’ good friends Jenny and JT were there to watch.  The last time Clara scored a goal both Addie and Jenny were there, so they decided that obviously they were the good luck charm.  And we had to get a picture of the three of them together after the match.

What a good day yesterday was.  It was the Community Open House at Rosewood Elementary, where Charlie and Adam go to school.  I got to see them in action in their classes, and then ran to McDonalds to surprise them, and went back for lunch.  They were great lunch buddies.

Then last night was the regular Friday night at the track with Charlie. He came in first by a ton, so we were proud and excited, of course. Jeff & I were a little late leaving, so got there just in time to see him take his first moto – good times. Here he is after the race, waiting in line to claim his trophy.

Thursday evening was Clara’s makeup soccer game – the one that got canceled due to the remnants of Hurricane Matthew we got last Saturday.  Her team had to wear vests this week, because both teams were blue.

It was the first Fury victory of the season. Here is our little sweaty forward after the game, and after a little bit of celebrating

We had such fun playing outside yesterday afternoon.  We’re hoping to get the seat repaired on our swing before much longer, but it still makes for some good climbing and swinging.  Good times

Last night Adam and Mason spent the night – they are out of school today for teacher meetings – and most of the time was spent, as was their plan, playing with their pokemon cards.  They did take a break to help me make hot dog fingers – what with Halloween coming up and all – for supper.  They had a good time, and the fingers really were pretty good.  Here is Mason arranging them on a bed of intestines

Thursday when Mallory and Clara got here after school, they helped me do a little bit of baking.  This weekend was a training session for Lay Ministers in our district, and I was to take a dessert.  We ended up making a double batch, so we had plenty for them to take home, too

We had Bible study with Jon at BIG Wednesday night.  He did a great job talking with the kids about different kinds of prayer.  He brought this sort of pot holder thing into the meeting, and the kids couldn’t talk unless he’d given them the pot holder.  Here is June sharing with the group.

Last night the Performing Arts Series at the auditorium here in town hosted Acrobats of Cirque-tacular.  I ended up with extra tickets since Charlotte and Bob are on vacation, so Meg and I went and sat with Evie, and Clara and Little Hope sat behind us.  It really was a good show, especially since we got to see it right here in town.  The girls, especially, loved it, and Clara was so excited afterwards to meet the one woman, Ellie, the one woman who was in the show.  Clara told her she was the strongest woman she’d ever seen, and Ellie told her it required constant practice, which was true of everything, be it contortion, soccer or math!  She also told Clara that as a child her first love had been soccer, so Clara was REALLY fired up about that, needless to say.  When we asked if we could take Clara’s picture with her, she showed Clara exactly how to pose :-).  It was a good evening.

When we were in Indiana back in the summer, Jeff & I went to a fundraiser for the Alzheimers Association.  It’s an annual event put on by a family that Jeff grew up with, and Mark’s band played at it.  They had a huge raffle going on, and Jeff won this ***enormous*** bbq tub.  We left before they drew the winners, so Jeff’s folks took it home with them.  He was in Indiana for his family reunion this past weekend, while I was in Atlanta for the Brave game, and he brought it back home with him.  Marcelene had told us how big it was, but I just could not remember exactly what all was in it.  It’s so heavy I can barely push it.  Wow.  We should have lots of good cooking out going on for a long time to come!