Enjoying the cooler-ish weather and a fire pit!

Cool sky - got this picture on my phone with no filter!

We sat outside and enjoyed the fire pit! Milo slept on the deck. He's still recovering from his allergies and the shot we got him on Friday morning. Poor doggo!

Bring on Fall!

Day 2 - Friday!

I like that they have a Friday already on day 2. Easing our way back into school! I think this is much appreciated by Morgan who has a hard time waking up in the morning. She needs a human alarm (me) right now.

We were out a little late Thursday night because Morgan had her first RR soccer game of the season in Schaumburg. I completely forgot to take pictures, so nothing to post. But, they lost 4-1 against Deportivo, which is the team that won the upper NPL division in the Spring. RR won the lower NPL division in the spring. So, we were half expecting to lose 10-0. It wasn't nearly as much of a blowout as expected, so that was good.

Here we go on Day #2! The girls said the A/C in the building was so cold on Day #1, so Morgan brought a hoodie. 

They had another good day - found all their classes! They went to the DGS v DGN game on Friday night at DGN. I was the lucky parent that got to drop them off there. Middle schoolers aren't allowed to go into the games without a parent. One parent can bring in max of five middle schoolers. So, if a group of their friends want to go, a parent needs to buy a ticket and take the kids into the stadium (and technically are supposed to stay the whole game, but most parents do not unless they have a high schooler.) But, this being the North vs South game, the parking was crazy. I ended up parking at their friend Jayne's house and walking the girls over from there. At least they get in free since they go to Herrick! When they are in high school next year, they are allowed to go by themselves.

Oh, Morgan - why am I not surprised!

Not even ten minutes after we said our last good byes, I get a text from Morgan. "bro i already lost my mini schedule im so fried". I had put together a pocket sized schedule for each of the girls and "laminated" it with tape. Morgan had already lost hers by the time she got on the bus. She survived the day and made it to all her classes... eventually.

By the way, do you love the background on Morgan's chat with me? She did this from a picture we took of Erin when shopping in Michigan City. Erin thought this full body Adidas coat would be good for soccer games and sent a pic to Morgan. Morgan thought it was hilarious! So, now it's our background.

Something the kids think is so funny is that I use punctuation in my text messages. I was writing a message and Avery was sitting next to me and kept laughing when I would put a period in or something.

Found this in Morgan's backpack... they must have made name tags for their desks in a class. :)

8th Grade - First day!!!

Avery and Morgan are starting their last year of middle school! I can't believe they are in 8th grade! Not as nervous this year because they are old pros at the middle school! Although, this year the 6th graders are getting moved up to their middle school, so it's going to be a bit more crowded! They will have 900+ kids at their middle school this year!

Milo was really confused why we were all outside without him (peep him in the window in the background!)

And they're off... no bus pictures anymore. We're too old for that. Ha!

Morgan wrote this about 5 minutes before she walked out the door. She had late soccer practice the night before and didn't get this done. We are all big WNBA fans right now, so she has been focusing more on basketball. She still loves soccer, too! I love that she put 'anything' for favorite food! She loves food and will try most anything!

Of course, Avery had her board done the day before! She is still talking about becoming a forensic psychologist. She still loves dance and nail designs. She, Morgan and their friends love making fake nails to wear with all sorts of fun designs! Her first day nails are white with polka dots that match her phone case!

Locker Set Up - 8th grade!

And just like that, summer is over. :( We are doing all the back-to-school things. Shopping for supplies, picking up PE uniforms, figuring out the first day of school outfit and going for locker set up night.

Avery's locker is on the bottom floor and she lucked out with a larger one! But, her combination didn't work, so we had to have a teacher open it with a key. We put in a work order request for them to fix it before the first day of school.

Morgan's locker is on the first floor overlooking the library. No problems getting into hers!

They both had activities to get to, so we walked their schedules quickly and then headed out. Two more days until school starts!

Just a girl and her silly dog

 

Another Fever Game (and a Caitlin Clark autograph!)

The girls and I went to the Sky v. Fever game at Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Sunday night. We had recently been to the Fever game in Indy for Matt's birthday and were able to score some tickets to this game. I called it my birthday present! :) Morgan was determined to get an autograph, so we drove downtown early and were in line before the doors opened. We had pretty good seats behind the basket in section 103. When we got there, we walked over behind the bench to see if we could get signatures. But, then the security made everyone leave that area. We made friends with some lady in our section and she was on a mission to get signatures, so we followed her around. She got a great spot in the first row and brought Morgan and Avery down with her. We got to watch the warm ups up close, which was really awesome! And the best part of it all was that Caitlin Clark walked over to where we were and signed autographs! Morgan was so excited! Unfortunately, Avery was trying to get her Fever arm sleeve signed and Caitlin walked by and didn't notice, so Avery got skipped. :( 

The game was close until the 4th quarter, when the Fever exploded! Caitlin had a career high 8 three pointers! The last time the Fever played the Sky, DiJonai Carrington from the Sky was ejected for pummeling Sophie Cunningham. Carrington did try to trash talk Caitlin Clark in this game, but Caitlin just sunk a few threes and scored a bunch of points. :) There was one incident with former NBA player Enes Kanter and one of the Sky players, Natasha Cloud. He ended up getting ejected from the arena. So much drama. The Fever ended up winning 113-90.

Our first spot watching the players warm up

Then, this guy was getting lots of attention and got to meet Caitlin Clark. Morgan recognized him as Robert Lewandowski (apparently she follows him on Instagram).

Moved to the other side of the court
(the blond behind Avery was their new best friend!)

So excited to get Caitlin Clark's autograph!

DiJonai Carrington warming up

Warm ups

Team huddle before the game

We had a great view!

Fever win!

Bakers

The girls have officially entered the baking stage! When their friends are over, they want to "make something". And they are creative! :) We had some very chocolatey brownies the other day. And now, they have made an Oreo cake! I had a white cake mix and they crushed up about a whole bag of Oreos and mixed them in. Then, they mixed in more Oreos to the icing! It was really good!

I didn't get a pic after the icing, but here's the Oreo cake!

More fun walking around Indy

We grabbed brunch at The Garden Table on Mass Ave Saturday morning.

Yummy Bloody Mary at The Garden Table

Even though it was cloudy, the girls checked out the rooftop pool at the condo building. It was a pretty rainy weekend, so we took advantage of the few hours of clear weather!

Morgan and I did a little shopping and walking around the city. We stopped for some pictures!

We all went to dinner at a nearby pizza place, Bazbeaux Pizza. It was really good! Then, we walked around the city and little and stopped for pics. We found an Indy sign, similar to one that we had taken pictures at when we visited Indy with the girls 9 years ago!

We attempted to recreate the first picture! Avery with her "skeptic" look and Morgan being silly!

Photo bomb by Dad!

Cool street art

Always fun spending time together! So glad we got to get away and celebrate with Matt before school and the craziness of fall kicks in!

Indiana Fever Game at Gainbridge

As part of the birthday fun, we got tickets to the Indiana Fever game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. They were playing the Dallas Wings, so we got to see Paige Bueckers, too! The girls (and I) had a lot of fun watching the game and seeing Caitlin Clark (and the others) play in person! We had been worried she'd get another technical and be suspended for the game, but we lucked out! :)

Before the game, we visited the outdoor area which had some photo ops and a basketball court. Morgan and Matt took a few shots!

Warm-ups

Introducing the players

The girls were really excited to get caught on the fan cam on the jumbo tron! I managed to get a snippet of them! They got on the jumbo tron later again, but I wasn't recording.

It was a great game! The Fever won! :)

Forgot to take pictures during the game of the girls, so got this one afterwards. They gave out arm sleeves to the first 2000 girls.