fall leaves in Forest Park

On Saturday afternoon, we took advantage of the unseasonable warmth and dryness to go for a forest walk together - blue sky, crisp air, yellow and orange leaves on the trails - a perfect fall day. It was wonderful to be out together - the whole family, plus our sweet puppy, who was thrilled to be out with us in the forest.

Liesl turns 7!!

Liesl turned 7 on Friday - so big! - and we celebrated before and after school and work. She requested challah french toast with strawberries for breakfast; stromboli, olives, and chicken for dinner; carrot cake with cream cheese frosting; and a steady stream of presents all through the day. It was good.

 I got her a pink cd-playing boombox, and a cd of Kidsbop hits. It's the best. She loves it.

We skyped with Popo and Bompy while she opened her beautiful fancy dress present, and then with Grandma Raab to say thank you for the ballet tickets. Great-aunt Adele sent an amazing card with gift certificates to our favorite ice cream and cupcake shops - so appreciated!!!

On Saturday, the Hoangs came over and celebrated Liesl's birthday with us - this is the pre-dinner dance party in our living room. :)

On Thursday night, sweet Liesl said she was really sad to leave 6 behind - it was a good year and she liked being 6, which was sweet and elegiac. Part of me wanted to laugh, but part of me identified with her - getting older can be bittersweet if you're happy, and what's the difference between 6/7 and 49/50?

final game for Blunicorns

Liesl's soccer team had their final game of the season on Saturday. Their team name was the "Blunicorns", or blue unicorns, and they had unicorn specific cheers ("blunicorns, show your horns!") and special stripy socks and they did ring-around-the-rosy at half-time to stay warm. It was outstandingly sweet and fun and girly; they also all improved their soccer skills and played so hard every game. Their coach was the amazing, creative Courtney, who showed up for every practice and game with so much enthusiasm and fabulous ideas for drills and team-building - she taught them so much and kept it fun and inclusive. I am thrilled that this is Liesl's introduction to team sports in general and soccer in particular.

Saturday was beautiful and sunny - the perfect fall day. We had a little party afterward with unicorn cupcakes and unicorn headbands that Courtney had made the night before.

Liesl used rainbow hair chalk ahead of time to be extra fancy.

pumpkin carving

Liesl and I carved one of our big pumpkins - scooped out the insides and drew a face, to be carved later (closer to Halloween). We have found that it always rains into our pumpkins and then is overly warm, and so the pumpkins rot ... we thought if we didn't carve a face, it might not decay quite as quickly. As it turns out, we were wrong. :(