The Coach

As you can tell much of August didn't include pictures of Dave and this picture states why.  August-November our family shares Dave with football.  Saturday morning before heading to Sioux Falls the kids and I made a stop at the scrimmage to watch Dave in action.  We will join some of the other coach's families and friends at the first official game of the season Friday night!

Football is also the sign of the end of the summer.  This week summer vacation was officially over as the kids are back to daycare while mom and dad were back to work.  I've met many of my students and am so excited for a great year.  The bonus for me is that I only have to teach-NO MORE COLLEGE!  The kids are thinking about school too. The whole family went to conferences today.  We had a chance to hear about 1st and 4th grade and met wonderful teachers.  We feel so lucky to have what I think may be amazing teachers for our kids once again.

Happy Fall!

Happy 85th Birthday Grandpa Friedrich

Much of my immediate family was able to celebrate Grandpa Howard's 85th birthday last Saturday in Sioux Falls.  It was so fun to be there and to be with much of my family too.  I'm the photo crazy lady of my family so I informed all that we would be doing family photo shoots.  Here are a few- then my camera ran out of batteries.  I'm waiting for more good ones to come via email from the rest of my family.

Many Great-Grandkids

Ellie, Gabby, Grandpa Howard, Emily, Emily, Brittney, Sam, Brady, Leah, and Maddy

Many adults of the family 

Chris and Jeremy Kramer, Tom and Mary Ann Kramer, Grandpa and Emily, Colin, Becky, Aunt Margie, and Laura

 Two very adorable and special friends/cousins

Sam and Brittney

Another fun day of summer

The kids and I had a blast with my friend Michelle and her niece at Como Zoo and Como Town.

Yes this ride does involve solve putting out a fake fire- what fun!

A few of our favorite things

Ellie again sewed some amazing items with Grandma

Sam had the time of his life getting to ride and drive a lawn mower with our friend Earl

Aiden came for the weekend too

-These two goofs only posed silly for all pictures this weekend.

Meeting baby Zander

Sam thought holding Zander was great!

A couple of great friends with their wonderful children!

Dayton helped Ellie read about Llama Llama at the Shoporama

One of the best parts of the trip for me was meeting my friend Heather's new baby boy Zander.  He was so sweet.  I could have stayed and held him for days! 

Fishing Contest

While in Granite Falls we did many fun activities.  Here are the kids and grandpa enjoying the Kiwanis Fishing Contest.  Sam won a tackle box and Ellie a new water bottle.  They were very excited!

Ellie caught two fish- here's her first

Grandpa and Sam return the fish to its home

A Trip to Worthington

The kids and I took a trip to Southwestern Minnesota last week.  We had a great time.  I will be gradually adding pictures from our many adventures!  Our first stop was Worthington, MN.  We were able to spend much of the day with my Great Aunt Margie and even had a visit from my Grandpa and his friend Emily.  It was a great day.

My Montage 8/6/11 at OneTrueMedia.com

At the end of July we enjoyed a trip to Wisconsin and then to Hinckley to see many of our old friends. The kids and I sure had fun everywhere we went!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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Football

Yes the football season has begun at the Eyre house.  We started by all attending "Midnight Madness" on Sunday night.  Yes I really had Sam, Ellie, and her friend at the football field at midnight- just a bit past their bed time!  The kids had so much fun as the the team practiced drills on the field and the cheer leaders cheered on the sidelines.    I left my camera at home so no pictures of this event.

The other exciting part of football season is that Sam is old enough to play flag football.   We signed up today.  The woman at the desk  even asked for Sam's name so that she can remember it when she sees him in the pro's.  She thought he already looked like a football player. :) He got a YMCA youth jersey and a mouth guard. He has tried on the mouth guard a few times and we had to pack the jersey and bring it to the park to show his friend.  For a month our Tuesday/Thursday afternoons will be full of flag football.  Photos to come!

Sewing with a friend

Ellie and her friend Freyja

Ellie has been waiting all summer to sew this shirt at a class at Joann Fabric.  We needed 3 people to hold the class but they made an exception and held it on a special day for Ellie and her friend.  One teacher helped the girls for a total of almost 6 hours to complete their adorable shirts.  The girls had fun learning and were quite proud of the end results.  Ellie is already looking forward to making lounge pants at the store this fall. 

Family Fun

We always try to do some special family fun activities in the summer.  We recently went to House of Bounce in Rochester where the kids enjoyed slides, bouncy houses, and more.  Dave, Ellie, and Uncle Tony even played a game of laser tag.  This past week Dave, Ellie, Sam, and I went to the MN Zoo.  This was Sam's first trip, Dave and I couldn't remember when we had last been there, and well, Ellie had just been there in the spring with her class from school.  We had  a fun day and with the help of Ellie we may have a photo of almost every animal at the zoo.  I have included a couple photos of the kids but realized we never took a family photo on either adventure- maybe on the next family fun outing.

Who knew Dr. Suess and the Grinch visited the zoo too?

The zoo now has penguins- real penguins not just these statues.

Swimming Again

Here is a video of Sam jumping from the high diving board in Austin.  Turn up the volume and you can hear his talking and singing too.