Cheer Clinic 2017 plus early October happenings!

We're well into Fall already!  We've been to the apple orchard and picked the perfect pumpkins.  The trees are turning and filling the yard (and Ella's trampoline) with leaves!  MEA weekend is upon us, which is so crazy!  Last year we were at Disney World.  This year, we're just hanging at home.

Earlier this month, Ella and her BFFs attended the high school cheerleading clinic and then were able to perform at a high school football game a few weeks later.

In other news, Ella has gotten her first Vera Bradley purse.  And I kind of want the one she got! LOL!  It's small and perfect for her age-group, but it's also a perfect size to just store a cell phone and some cash or cards for a day of shopping. It's been added to my birthday/Christmas list!!  :)

Apple Orchard Selfies - HAHAHAHA

 Yep - nailed it

 This one will have to do!

We love to get the apple cider slushie and cider donuts and then go pose with the trees! 

LOL!

 I made a delicious apple crisp pie with our Haralson apples from the orchard

This pie is my all-time favorite pie!

We've been enjoying the great MN fall weather and have been taking fall walks to search out the spooky Halloween decorations and find cool leaves!

Ella loves to use the leaf blower. What a nerd!

Let's say it - Happy Fall Y'all!

And September's done!

Where did the time go?  Catching up on some happenings in September....

Just a bunch of randomness....

 This lovely note was left for my by Ella on a night that I had a meeting at school.  LOL!

We made the annual trek to Worthington for King Turkey Day weekend!  It was a fun time - the weather could have been better, but oh well!  Grandma Deb was in the parade this year, so we watched with Kaila, Lexi and aunt Pat.  These goofballs had a good time!

 Haircut!  Kaila was able to squeeze in a quick trim for Ms. Ella. 

Apparently her haircut was crooked. Bummer!

 Vikings Game Day!  Skol!

We had family pictures on the hottest day ever in September.  Jeez!  It was like 90 degrees with tons of humidity, but we were troopers and it was a fun time!  Pictures turned out great!

First Day of Third Grade!

Today's the first day of school!  Third grade for Ms. Ella.  She adores her new teacher and was so excited to meet up with her little BFFs this morning when I dropped her off at school. Looking forward to watching her grow and learn new things this year!

The weekend we fit in all the things before school starts!

Well, we just wrapped up Summer 2017 and Ella is back to school today - Third grade - WHAT?!?!

NOTE: This post has loads of pictures

Anyway, we squeezed in all kinds of fun stuff this last weekend of summer.

We lost our minds.

Thursday before Labor Day - Bring Ella to work day and Vikings game

Ella has requested multiple times this summer that she come to work with me to see what I do all day. I figured this was a good opportunity to show her all about the fascinating world of commercial real estate and banking. LOL!

She LOVED the day, but hasn't changed her mind about her career choice:

Doctor (and dance teacher) HA!

To make it an authentic experience, we took the bus together

Workin' girls on the way to work!

Super star friend Valerie made a fun welcome sign....can you tell Ella was THRILLED?!

And once we entered my humble cubicle, we found she also made Ella a paralegal in training kit! Inside Ella found candy, notebook, post-its, flags, $1 for treats, and other fun stuff she could use!

Ella made this note so she would remember what we were doing for lunch that day - so cute!

I put her to work though! I showed her how to work the copy/scan machine and she spent time scanning in a bunch of loan documents for me!

We spent some time outside on our balcony to see the views too! 

Then, Jay met us downtown after work and we headed to the Vikings game at US Bank Stadium.

Lots of fun pregame festivities

It was all fun and games until we actually headed to our seats.  Jay got tickets via a work program, and I didn't think to ask about the location of the seats.  Well friends, they were the 2nd row from the top of the damn stadium!  OH MY WORD!!  I struggled.  I survived the first quarter and then I had to get down off the roof! LOL!  I didn't realize how much the heights would affect me, but I was freaking out.  Sweaty palms and white knuckles on the arm rests the entire time I was in there!! Ella was freaking out because I was freaking out and then the fireworks were going and it was LOUD!  So, we all exited to the safety of the lower level concourse.  We watched until halftime from there and then headed home!  It was an experience for sure, but I won't be attending any future events in the upper level! 

Friday - Let's go to the State Fair!

Sadly, my selfie taking skills are not improving....

Saturday was our "off" day that we spent at home doing the boring stuff - laundry, cleaning, mowing, etc. But, I did snap a few pictures of Ms. Ella

 Trying on the new Empire gold shades we scored at the Fox 9 booth at the fair

She got fancy for dinner

Sunday - Let's go to Valley Fair!

 (Notice: Both Ella and Jay had a Snoopy kid's meal - HA!)

Whew!  We did it.  We fit in all the things before back to school! 

It was an exhausting but fun-filled weekend of events!