Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Love,

An Email (get it, "E-male"), A Bengal Fanatic,

Princess Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty),  and an Oreo!

Happy Fall!

What a great family time!! 

The kids didn't have school on Friday so Gary took the day off to hang out with us!  I scheduled the kids' flu shots (not fun on a vacation day) but then we followed that with a trip to the pumpkin patch!!  So much fun!                                        

       

Now to find the perfect pumpkin!  Small ones, big ones, orange ones, white ones, bumpy ones, smooth ones, light ones, heavy ones . . . which one will it be???? 

 

It's so amazing to realize that these are memories the kids will have for a lifetime!  God has blessed us with 4 amazing kids . . . and He has blessed them with each other!  Friends will come and go but brothers and sisters are forever!

A Christian child was asked by a friend, "What is it like to be a Christian?"

The Christian replied,
"It is like being a pumpkin.  God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then he cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc., and then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."

Anna, Lucy, Kevin, Jason!

Proud Parents

Well, this week has been first quarter report card/teacher conference week . . . and the kids did GREAT!!!  Anna is conquering preschool - happy, outgoing, and loving every minute of it; Lucy is so strong academically and ready to "lead the class" as her teacher put it . . . thankfully, she has a teacher that loves to see that type of strength and leadership in her students; Kevin pulled solid "straight A's" - and his teacher wants to "bottle him up and take him home" or "have a whole class full of Kevins"; and Jay, what a memory he has - hears something once and understands it - all challenge classes and doing great - all A's/B's!  Gary and I are so proud of the kids . . . 

{{{{{{JKLA}}}}}}

(That's us hugging the kids)

No pics this time - Just had to brag a bit!!

Princess Night!

A month or so ago, we bought family tickets to Disney Princess on Ice!  But . . . we didn't tell our little princess!  Are you crazy??  We'd have heard about that everyday until the day arrived.  So we waited to break the exciting news until the morning of the event!  And just like predicted she was over the moon!!!  She packed her princess purse, picked out the perfect dress (shoes, crown and jewelry, too) grabbed her princess baby and then waited by the door . . . all by 10:00am!  No joke!  The bad news/good news was that Jason broke his ankle and couldn't go BUT best friend Kasey got to go instead!!  How cool is that???

Princess Anna

Kasey and Anna waiting for the show to begin!!

 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Beauty and the Beast

Little Mermaid, Cinderella and Many More!!

 The girls LOVED the show!!!

 And since all the sugar we had during the show wasn't enough (cotton candy, fruit snacks, snow cones), they wanted their Princess Ring Pops on the way home!
Those were two sugar-high princesses!

The Newest Greenwald

Bet you can't guess who it is . . .



Go ahead try . . .



We'll give you 3 guesses!!!



Did you guess something furry??



YOU'RE RIGHT!!!

Welcome, Mr. Nibbles!!

(A Russian Dwarf Hamster - CUTE)

 The funny thing about Mr. Nibbles is that the kids didn't even ask for him!

The girls were "kind-of" wanting a pet in their room but nothing specific - well, I was at the pet store (I shouldn't be allowed there) and saw a tank of FREE male hamsters! 

Who could resist???  (Obviously, not me)

The kids like to build him block buildings to play in!

And for those of you trying to count that is . . .

11 pets!

(Barley, Bogey, Nemo, Daisy, Trooper, Who-Dey, Tiki, Taca, Peanut, Clementine and Mr. Nibbles!)

Fall Sports

Football, baseball, soccer, soccer and more soccer!  Oh and a little running, too!

The Greenwald Fall Sports really fills up a calendar . . . Jason plays football and fall baseball.  Kevin is playing soccer, fall baseball and ran cross country, Lucy is playing ALOT of soccer and even Anna is joining in on the action this year with a soccer team of her own, the Blue Rockets!!  And she's having a "blast"!!

Here's the scoop on Jay's season this year!  He's #27.  His team is undefeated for 3 straight years and he only played in 2 games this season before he broke his ankle!  Bummer! 

Lucy's having a great time with her soccer team!  They just finished first in the Fenton Tournament of Champions and even got to play on a college field at halftime . . .
SIUE Women's Soccer!  So much fun!



getting a little crazy before their college debut



Heading down to the SIUE field

dribbling down to score



Maybe this is where she'll play college ball!



Great experience - thanks, Coach!



getting autographs after the game



SIUE Cougars and SLYSA Panthers

Kevin ran on Uthoff Valley's cross country team this year!  He finished 53 out of about 200 runners!  Awesome, Kev!!

Pre-Race

getting psyched for the race



And they're off . . . if you look REALLY closely, you can spot Kev's head!

And now for Anna's debut (drum-roll, please)
"I'm gonna play like you, Lucy!"

Captain Anna starting her first game!

Center forward (just like Lucy)

Buddies on the Bench

Great throw-in, Anna!

Even played a little goalie!

Gary & I LOVE watching all the kids play! 

The games are so exciting and the kids are having so much fun!! 

We joke about being so busy but we wouldn't trade it for the world!

Where did the summer go?

Well, I'm almost caught up! 

Blogging 6 months of activites in 2 days sure makes time fly!! 

With summer over, a new school year began . . .

Jason - 8th grade, Kevin - 5th grade, Lucy - 2nd grade, and Anna - Preschool!



The Long Walk to School



Lucy heading to class - Mrs. Miller's Room

Kevin heading to class - Mrs. Soetaert's Room

Anna heading in the building - Mrs. Kenkel's Room

And this year, Cousin Jack is in preschool with Anna!!  Yea!!!!

Even best friend Kasey is in the same class again this year!

Anybody notice who doesn't have a first day picture???  Big Jay doesn't approve of the "waiting at the bus stop", "standing at the front door of my school" or "walking down the hall to class" photos anymore!!!  There will be plenty more chances to embarass him this year . . . can you say first school dance???

Anyway,  back to the pics . . .
The older kids got right back to the homework routine when school started and Anna wanted some of her own! Soooooo

Practicing our ABC's

Learning to write some of the pet's names -
Nemo seemed like an easy one to start with!

  The kids are such good students!  They all love learning and are REALLY good at it!  Way to go, guys!