Pantry Re-Org

I was in one of those moods yesterday.  You know, one of those I-Can't-Take-This-Hot-Mess-of-a-Pantry-type-moods.  And I remembered a post by one of my favorite bloggers, I Heart Organizing (who doesn't?!?), where she reorganized her pantry. 

So I  hopped in my car, ran to Lowes, and got myself a little wire door organizer.

Before.  Yuck.

After.

Love my wire door organizer!

Emma's First Soccer Game

Emma's first soccer game was held this past Sunday, where she jumped straight into a game. There were no practices or drills before jumping straight into her first official game. Reason being, A) the weather. Rain + mud = a cancelled practice. And B) she missed the first "official" practice because we signed her up late. Whoops.

So how did she do?!?....well, I'm happy to report that I think she's going to like it! Unlike baseball, there is more running around and "playing" involved in soccer. Emma didn't care too much for baseball because the majority of the time, the kids just stood there in the field. Remember this post?  They were either more concerned with the planes flying in the sky, or with the shapes they could make in the dirt. 
 
Well, with soccer, there's really no time for that.  Which, as Martha would say, is a good thing.
 
Emma is on the U6 league (under 6) with the Glendale Soccer Association.  The same league that Daddy played in 30+ years ago (in the freaking '70s......before I was even born. Ha!), where he actually met his long time friend, Quincy.  It was kinda sentimental; Emma's first game was against Quincy's son's team.  So I think they had a good time "reminiscing."

Looking "tough." 
As per usual, she's the biggest kid on the team. Both teams. I think maybe even the entire U6 league. Someone asked if she was 7 or 8.
She's 4.

Emma getting after it. You can't really see her from this shot, but she's dribbling the ball behind #2.

Fall Fun List

1. Go to the Pumpkin Patch.
2. Pick Apples.
3. Make something with Pumpkin.
4. Decorate the house in fall décor.
5. Go on a Hayride.
6. Play & Jump in the Leaves.
7. Go to NHS Homecoming game and parade.
8. Go to IU & PU football games.
9. Make Apple Cider.
10. Plant more Mums.
11. Winterize the yard.
12. Go to the Children’s Museum Haunted House.
13. Take a stroll through Butler’s campus.
14. Have a Colts Party.
15. Run a ½ Marathon.
16. Carve Pumpkins.
17. Take Swimming Lessons.
18. Host Emma’s 5th Birthday Party.
19. Start on Christmas lists.
20. Finish the Basement. Minus the “mud room” area.

Summer Fun List Recap

1. Go on vacation.
2. Do at least one triathlon (sprint to start).
3. Do a century ride. In one day. That's 100 miles.
4. Take weekly trips to the pool.
5. Have a family and friend cookout.
6. Get a sno cone.
7. Go to the Indiana State Fair.
8. Go on a ride with Drewbie for the 1st time at the fair.
9. Go on a picnic at Fort Benjamin Harrison.
10. Have a summer date night with the hubs. Complete with wine and a evening stroll. Anywhere.
11. Go to the Fishers Fire Station.
12. Go to an outdoor concert at White River.
13. Take a walk along the canal.
14. Go to Nashville, TN with Malnar.

Well, I achieved 8 of my 14 goals this summer. Which stinks because I really thought these were all attainable.

But I'm loving this concept. It really makes you put paper to pen so to speak, in doing what you actually set out to do. Instead of just saying, "Oh, I'd really like to do that some time," this really encourages you to actually experiencing what you'd like to! So I think I'll keep at it. Fall Fun List to come, stay tuned.

Ice Cream Face

It's so hard to get him to stand still for more than 5 seconds!

Labor Day Weekend

Courtesy of my job's Flex Fridays, I enjoyed a nice little 4-day weekend this past week. As per usual, I started the first 3 days off right, with either a spinning class (Friday---Sharon kicks our A$$--it's fantastic!) or a morning ride. Have I mentioned that I LOVE cycling? No? Hmmm. I guess I need to work on getting that point across a little more clearly.

On Saturday, Andy headed down to The Luc (Lucas Oil Stadium) to watch the Hoosiers get destroyed by the Ball State Cardinals. [Poor Hoosiers. You know you're bad when you're getting trampled on by BSU.] I stayed home with the kids, where a fast and furious storm ripped through our neighborhood, taking down many trees and our power. Kinda scary, now that it's all said and done. Lightening stuck the transformer in our backyard, leaving us without power for 26 hours. As much as it sucked being without power for that length of time, the scariest thing was the lightening that stuck. Like I just mentioned, multiple trees got struck, taking out parked cars in people's driveways. We're fortunate that the lightening just hit the pole, but we could have easily been unfortunate and had our house struck, or one of our trees could have fallen on my car, as it was parked in our driveway.

But we were lucky. We were just without power for 26 hours.

And we had a cookout to get ready for. We weren't going to let a silly little thing like POWER stop our fun times. So we did what we could with what we had, and a good time was had by all. For those that hung around "late night" (when you get old, late night is defined by 8:30), we even had some premier entertainment: the IPL truck. Much pomp and circumstance was had when the trucks came pulling up our street; you would have thought that Justin Timberlake himself pulled up to our front door!

We then completed our weekend with a trip to the park. It's so cool to see how much the kids have grown; it amazes me so much to see Emma whizz across the monkey bars when she couldn't do that at the beginning of summer. Or to see Drew climb up some "kiddie" ropes, when he couldn't do that at the beginning of the summer either.

Ah, how I love my long weekends. And my family!

S'more Push Pops I made for the kiddos.  If you're interested in how I made these, click here.

The Hot Dog Customization Station.

Our night's premier entertainment: watching IPL install a new transformer.

Emma attacking the monkey bars.  She's quite awesome.  And she's only FOUR.

The queen of the Rope Thingy.

You can't go any higher than this!

Attacking the rock wall.  We were having timed competitions.  Again, she's awesome.

Hanging out in the tree.  See those kids in the background?  They're envious.  My girl can rock the tree climbing event.

Drewbie Doo, climbing his own rocks.

He's so stinkin' cute. He and Daddy were having their own "conversation." Drew: "I go through the woods, okay Daddy Daddy?"  Daddy: "Okay Dubie. Watch out for the ghouls."

My two monkeys.  LOVE THEM.

The Flu Bug Strikes the Swickheimers

Well, I think we're all safe now. But that wasn't the case late last week...
And it all started with Andy. He came home Wednesday night, feeling a little sick. Within an hour of his first complaint, he was in the bathroom.

And he didn't retreat for [what seemed like] 24 hours.

Then Emma got it Friday night.

Then I got it Saturday night. In the middle of a wedding reception.

Luckily, Drewbie never got the bug. Instead, he just got a nasty cold that we're currently dealing with.

Ah, the life!