September Randoms

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

The first month of the new School Year is at an end, and miraculously nobody's dead. 

I survived my first few weeks in a new school system with new kids and a new team of colleagues, the girls have thus far managed to stay out of too much trouble in first and third grade.  Keep your fingers crossed these calm seas prevail.

So here's a look back at the last few weeks, as the Houghs returned to the Grind and otherwise kept the ship afloat.

Enjoy. . .

Back to School supply drive with the Girl Scouts

At Dow Gardens, checking out a Dr. Seuss exhibit with their friend (and our next-door neighbor), Katie.

Watering some plants

. . .sweeping water?  (I don't know what the hell's going on in any of these pictures - I wasn't present for any of this.)

Pointing out a grasshopper

Abby's soccer squad

My classroom, at the end of the day

Dad gave the girls this old, vintage Magnastiks toy from the early '60s that used to belong to him, and that had been in Granny's basement when she passed away.  Still in pretty decent shape, considering its nearly 60 years old.

More vinyl that I got rid of recently.  Kris and I have a rule set in place in order to curb further expansion of my record collection:  for every album I bring into the house, I have to get rid of one.  I've been buying a crapload of new LPs lately, so I've been hard at work trimming the fat out of my collection lately.  Some of these I didn't even know I owned. . .

At the annual Chestnut Hill Ice Cream Social

Some uncooperative photo ops with the girls

All.  Out.  Chaos.

Smitty and Rita swung up for a Saturday visit at the end of the month, and Smitty was good enough to toss our kids around for awhile.

To break up the day a bit we took Watson down to the Dog Park, on the other side of the Tridge

Smitty makes a new friend

This is a dog toy, but it seems to entertain these two. . .

On our way back across the Tridge.

Since it was only a day or two before the beginning of October, we decided we'd be nice and let the girls break out some of the Halloween decor.  'Cause, you know, they weren't hyper enough already. . .

Once the kids went to bed, we broke out the old VHS game, Nightmare.  As usual, it was comically awful. . . and awesome.

Kris gets an earful from the Gatekeeper.

Pissed

Trying on some of their mom's old prom and bridesmaid dresses

Kris sent me this pic one day while I was at work.  We had a clog in the sink, and instead of buying Draino like I had recommended, she took apart the pipe and found. . . whatever the hell this is.

Fast food dinner with the neighborhood kids

Seriously.

The girls' new Reading Nook.  Since we set up Alayna's furry lounge chair underneath this lamp, and set up a bunch of book boxes underneath it, the amount of time the girls spend reading on a daily basis has skyrocketed.  Kinda wish I had done this years ago. . .

During a high-energy play session with a bunch of the neighborhood girls, Abby somehow got this remote-controlled car stuck in her hair.  It was wrapped pretty tight around the wheels, and instead of getting a grown-up for assistance, Abby just Hulk'd out and ripped the damn car out of her hair by force.  This is what she brought to us.

At one of Abby's soccer practices

The Champions

- Brian

Abby Goes to War

Good afternoon, America.

Not since Yours Truly graced (or not-so-graced, rather) the ski slopes back in 1998 has a Hough been actively involved in a regulated sport.  We're not necessarily known as an 'athletic' clan by any means, but we're looking at remedying that as soon as humanly possible, and having our children pick up the torch that Kris and I lazily dropped on the way back to the couch.

Abby has shown an interest in soccer for awhile now, and so this fall Kris signed her up for the Midland Soccer Club (Alayna, as you could probably guess, showed little interest in sports of any kind - she takes after her old man, what can I say.)  This entailed hour-long soccer practices twice a week, with a game (or, on occasion, two) every Saturday, for about two months.

Today was her very first game against another team, and it was, well, exactly what you'd expect from a bunch of six-year-old girls.

Check it out. . .

A soggy, rainy warm-up before the game.  I guess they're supposed to practice for twenty minutes before the game starts.

Abby's pretty aggressive with the ball during practice, but that wouldn't necessarily translate into the game itself. . .

Couch gives the team - The Champions (the girls came up with the name themselves) - the mandatory pep talk.

Stretching before the game.  'Cause, you know, you don't want to strain yourself.  With all that intense cardio you're about to do.  With your six-year-old legs and all.

Practicing with the goalie-free net (and don't you worry, folks - they'd be goalie-free during the game, too.)

Defense.  On it.

Kick off.  The other team was non-appropriately named The Cheetahs.

Another selfie from the Cannonball

Abby never charged after the ball like she usually did in practice, but instead jogged behind it from a relatively safe distance.  No idea why, it's totally not in her personality to play like that.

The kids took turns playing every other quarter (Abby played during the first and third quarters, and subsequently took shelter from the rain under this mondo-umbrella during her down time.)

Cheetahs and Champions

(This happened a LOT.)

Enjoying herself.  Can't blame her, honestly - her team massacred the other team 12 - 0.  Not that we adults are supposed to keep score or anything.

(I'm that dad.)

Balls in.

The mandatory 'good game' line.  I always hated that, and never meant a word of it.

The parents formed this weird 'victory tunnel' for the kids of both teams to run through, which weirded us out at first.

And that was how Abby's first soccer game went:  it rained the entire time, she never once kicked the ball, but a bunch of Cheetahs were slaughtered.  Go Houghs.

- Brian