Christmas at the O.K. Corral

Cassidy participated in the 2nd grade musical on her birthday this year. It was a Christmas in the West theme and Cass earned a speaking part as The Candy Cane Kid. She said she was nervous before she went on stage, but she did great, delivering her lines flawlessly and with good vocal projection. Way to go!

Proud brother with The Candy Cane Kid after the daytime performance.

Westerners.

Cass sitting with the chorus after the show.

eight.

Cassidy celebrated her 8th birthday with a "Bake With Me" party at the rec center. The girls made their own pizza and cupcakes. Very fun!

Personalized aprons for the girls to wear.

A little something to take home.

The girls learning about cupcake ingredients.

Happy Birthday, Cass!

Party friends.

Mom with the birthday girl.

Cass (middle) with a couple of girlfriends from school at Birthday Book Club, which is a celebration in the school library. With a donation, students get to choose a brand new book that will be added to the school library, they are first to check it out, and they get a bookplate with their name and birth date in the front cover of the book. What a great way to support the library.

softball wrap-up.

In early December, Cassidy finished up her first softball season on the Purple Panthers. The team didn't exactly have a stellar record, but Cassidy earned the honor of most improved player from her coach. She made great strides from never having played to making good contact with the ball and trying out different positions in the field. Go Cass! 

After being knocked out in their first playoff game.
Here is Cass with her participation medal. 

On deck to bat.

Ready position.

Running the bases after the game.

Rounding 3rd.

Lined up after playoff game to receive medals.

happy thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving 2016! We are enjoying the day in Chandler with temps in the upper 70s. Oohlala!

Cassidy preparing fresh green beans.

Lincoln and Dunkin watching the Lions game. Holy cuteness.

Matt and the bird, which he prepared on the bbq. Delish!

Time to eat!
Lincoln, Matt, Cassidy, and Grandma.

Stuffed.
Cassidy, Grandma, Julie, Lincoln.

Dunkin all wrapped up.
We don't make it a practice to feed him table scraps, but today Matt prepared a thanksgiving dish for Dunkin to enjoy.

halloween 2016.

This year, Lincoln (age 10) went as "Steve" from Minecraft and Cassidy (age 7) was a witch...love those tights.

This pic is from the Friday evening before Halloween when the kids were dressed to go to the Monster Mash at school.
Notice that Lincoln couldn't bear to put on the jeans that go with his costume since it was in the 90s - whew!

Dunkin sporting his Halloween scarf.
We just didn't think he'd appreciate a costume. Somehow he'd have figured out how to rip it off and eat it.

Ready to go trick-or-treating!
Linc was able to manage with his jeans on Halloween night as temps finally dipped into the 80s.

No Halloween is complete without Beerman! 

Cassie the Witch with her loot at the end of the night.

Lincoln, the Minecraft dude, with his loot.

Hope everyone had a spooky Halloween!

pumpkins 2016.

Pumpkin carving 2016.  

Each of the kids got a small pumpkin when we went to a local pumpkin farm and we got one, larger, family pumpkin to carve as well.

Cass ready to reveal the insides of her pumpkin.

This is what it's inside...ick!

Linc with his pumpkin.
Of course Dunkin is right there wondering what that orange thing is and thinking, "I bet THAT tastes good".

Linc carved his own pumpkin this year for the first time.
He did a simple Minecraft face to go along with his costume.

Here are the finished products:
A witch for Cassidy
A dog for Dunkin
Minecraft for Lincoln

autumn...sort of.

My mom and dad spent two weeks with us in October. The kids were off school and we celebrated my birthday (41...I'm officially on the other side of the hill). Since it's October, we tried to do some fall activities, though it doesn't much feel like fall when temps are still hitting the mid-90's. Kind of annoying. I like the sun and the blue skies, but the high heat can go away.

We went to Mother Nature's Farm this year, deciding to go at opening time in the morning so as to avoid too much heat!

Lincoln, Yiayia, Cassidy, and Pops at the entrance to Mother Nature's Farm.

Matt, Cassidy, Lincoln, and Julie.

Linc & Cass feeding the goats!

Cass found a goat who wasn't as pushy as the others and was sure to feed it.

Cassidy and Lincoln in the hay bale maze.

Cass & Linc thinking they were strong enough to push this concrete tube.
No such luck.

Cass, Pops, Yia, and Linc.

Matt, Cass, Julie, and Linc trying for a decent family pic.

Cass getting taller.

Linc is just about at the 5 ft. mark in 5th grade. 

Yia and Pops met Dunkin for the first time on this visit. He kept them on their toes. "He's so quick" is the common theme in their remarks about him. He's into everything and is, indeed, very quick. There are lots of rules that have to be followed in our house now that there's a puppy that's taken over. For example, you must push your chair in when you leave the table (otherwise Dunkin will be sitting in your chair and grabbing any food that's on the table. He'll even jump up to the counter if you leave your toast close to the edge as you turn your back to put the butter back in the fridge. Just ask Papou! Dunkin enjoyed some of his toast one morning.

Aww...Dunkin and Papou.

 While the temps were still in the 90s, the pool has cooled considerably to about 75 degrees. Too cold for me (my blood has thinned!), but some people still enjoyed it.

Yia, Linc, Pops, Cass.

Girl Scouts - Fall Encampment.

Cassidy and I, along with most of our Girl Scout troop, ventured up to Prescott, AZ, for our first Fall Encampment Friday-Sunday.  Of utmost enjoyment was the weather: high 79, low 50 (in Chandler, we're still hitting 100 degrees pretty much every day).

It was a busy, activity-filled weekend: horseback riding, tie-dye, arts & crafts, badge work, songs, SWAPs, and campfire (with s'mores!).

Cass in front of our cabin.
We were in an area with 5 cabins, a bathroom, and a ramada.

Inside the cabin; Cass next to her bed.
Each cabin had 5 beds. Luckily, our cabin had electricity (not all of them did). 

While we heard about summer camp folks having mouse problems, we didn't encounter anything unfavorable.
Thank goodness! 

Valerie, Cassidy, and Kathryn ready to walk over to the Riding Arena. 

Cass got to borrow boots for her horseback riding lesson.
She was beyond.thrilled with her pink and white boots. 

Ready to ride Misty.

Cass weaving Misty in and out of cones.

Big smile.

Cassidy, Valerie, Kathryn.
Done with the riding lesson, getting ready to learn about grooming the horses. 

Cass brushing one of the horses.

Cass with messy hands after tie-dying a t-shirt. 

Listening to and learning Girl Scout songs.
Cass is still singing many of the songs she learned.

Our troop at camp!

The girls enjoying downtime, playing in the woods by our cabins.

One of our troop members found this excellent log, deemed "the bazooka". 

Camp girl.

Girl Scouts often make small tokens of friendship to exchange with other scouts. They are called SWAPS (Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere). Below, you can see what Cassidy made to trade.

Tiny sleeping bags.

Shrinky Dinks with the Girl Scout Brownie Elf.