And so it begins...

William has been asking us to sign him up for ice skating lessons for quite a while because he realizes that he will need to learn how to skate before he can start to play hockey. Tonight was his first skating lesson...and he loved every minute of it. He progressed quite well during the class. The first 30 minutes are with an instructor and the last 30 minutes are open skate. By the end, he was zipping along. Early morning ice times and expensive equipment may be in our future.  

 Here is a timeline of his hockey obsession:

Seats on the glass for a Griffins playoff game... the obsession begins.

Driveway hockey on Anderson

Basement hockey in Kalamazoo

First attempt at ice skating

After watching Olympic hockey, we would play in the basement.  The winning team received a gold medal and had their anthem played.  

Rollerblades!

Roller hockey

Nice moves

Suiting up for ice skating lessons

So excited!

I don't think the smile left his face

Applegate Halloween Parade

This afternoon was the Applegate Halloween Parade. Everyone met at the clubhouse and then followed a set "parade route" around a portion of the neighborhood. Then everyone met back at the clubhouse for cider, doughnuts, photos, and a cake walk. It was a beautiful day and we had a great turnout. The boys had fun trying out their costumes.

Happy Wedding, Katie & Will!

Congratulations to Katie and Will on their wedding this weekend! We started festivities with a rehearsal at the gardens and then dinner at San Chez downtown. On Saturday morning, the girls met at the gardens at 10am for hair, make-up, and photos. The weather cooperated, the ceremony was lovely, and the bride looked beautiful! After the ceremony, we took more photos around the gardens and then took a trolley downtown. We stopped for pictures on the blue bridge and by the river before heading to the reception. The venue was great and everyone had a wonderful time!

Ken and Mara at the Rehearsal Dinner

San Chez

Amanda and Katie

So fun!

Getting ready

Hair and Make-up for the bride

So lovely

The bridal party

Blue Bridge - it started to get chilly!

Kristen, Katie, and Julia

The happy couple

Cheney Place

Fun in the leaves

Fall Updates

Early last week, we were "Booed" by someone in the neighborhood. The doorbell rang just after 8pm, and we found a pumpkin bucket filled with Halloween goodies for the kids and instructions to "Boo" two other homes. So we filled our pumpkins and went out on our mission. William was in charge of ringing the doorbells and running away. He thought the whole thing was a lot of fun. 

 On Friday morning, the boys and I went up to school early to sell tickets for the Fall Harvest Festival. After the bell rang and William went to class, Alex and I went out for coffee. He was a perfect gentleman and a great conversationalist. On Friday night, we went back to school for the festival. They had a DJ, food, caramel apple bar, and tons of carnival games for the kids to play. They boys had a great time! 

On Saturday, we went to William's last soccer game of the fall season. It was cold, windy, and rainy but that didn't stop William from scoring a break away goal. After the game, we drove up to Grand Rapids. Grandma and Grandpa watched the boys while Phil and I went to see Ben Folds perform with the Grand Rapids Symphony. It was a great show! 

Today we drove back from Grand Rapids and spent most of the afternoon playing in the yard. We had quite an impressive leaf pile and the neighborhood kids came over to jump in it. 

 A few weeks ago, WOTV4 went to Moorsbridge to interview a few teachers about their "Fuel Up for 60" program. They also have a lot of footage of the kids. If you click on this link, you will see William for a couple seconds around the 1:40 mark. He is in an orange and grey striped sweater. He has had his share of air time: the Stroller Strides segment when he was only a few months old, Grandparents Day at the White Caps, the dairy farm with his preschool classmates, sledding last winter, and now this. 

 http://wotv4women.com/2014/10/16/the-power-of-play/

Alex is a Pro Wii Bowler!

Booing!

Booing!

Pumpkin Bowling

Pumpkin Bowling - Alex's favorite!

Crazy Photo Booth

Ben Folds

On Friday, William came home with his mid term progress report. He received all "M - meets standard" which is the highest grade you can get. He was also very excited getting off the bus because he won the "SOAR" drawing for the week. At school, the kids are given SOAR cards when a teacher sees them doing the right thing. It can be in class, the lunch room, computer lab, playground, etc. The kids put their cards in a basket in their classroom. Every Friday, they draw two names from each class and the students win a prize. William won a goose beanie baby. I don't think it left his side for 24 hours. He named it Gander. 

We had soccer on Saturday and then had a bunch of our neighbors (about 35 in total) over for a cookout. We had pumpkin and cookie decorating for the kids and the fire pit was set up for the adults. Everyone seemed to have a really nice time.  Our friends from Grand Rapids spent the night on Saturday so we had the boys bunk together to free up Alex's room.  They had fun on their campout.  

Peanut M&M giveaway at GFS

Our new chair

Go William!