I Went To A Soccer Party, Everyone Was There

Last Friday we hosted a get-to-know-you party for Alyssa's soccer team.  It was our first garden party in our yard, and I love it!  We worked so hard making our yard pretty in the Spring, but then we spent the hot summer days swimming at my parents' house, plus we thought we had more work to do until we had a party, so we didn't really enjoy all that hard work as well as we could have.  So when I was thinking that someone should have a party so the girls could get to become friends, I then thought, "Why not us?"

Brian's mom came over on Friday while Brian was at work to help us clear some extra weeds and dead head the rose bushes, and Alyssa and I strung white lights on the pergola.  It actually didn't take a whole lot of work, and it turned out so pretty.

The girls played Do You Love Your Teammate? and did a team building hula hoop activity, then they filled their plates with food and answered get-to-know-you questions while sitting under the twinkle lights.  After a while the twinkle lights were getting to me, because they were twinkling so fast, so I fiddled around with them, trying to find a slower setting.  The girls took advantage of this to start dancing under the crazy lights, and we ended up taking them inside for an impromptu dance party.  They danced for 40 minutes!  No breaks, just dancing.  It was so fun to watch, and it looked like everyone had a great time.

In other news:
1. Soccer is going great.

2. We celebrated Oktoberfest on Saturday.  Lots of brats and root beer, with some German red cabbage and German chocolate cake.

3. Becca broke her arm yesterday.  I gave her a graham cracker in her high chair booster seat, but I didn't strap her in, because she can climb up and down out of it.  Then I went upstairs to switch the laundry to the dryer, heard her crying, and came downstairs to find her waiting for me, still crying.  When she didn't settle down, and even kept whimpering when I tried nursing her, I knew something was wrong.  I called my mom, and she was luckily in the neighborhood on her way to my sister's house, so she came over and we isolated the pain to Becca's left arm.  I called the orthopedic office (I've learned to bypass the emergency room and just head straight to them - much faster and cheaper) and took her in that afternoon.  She has a splint on it now, and then they'll put a cast on it next week.  It's so sad, but she is feeling better now that it's immobilized.  And I've learned my lesson; we'll be strapping her into her high chair for a long while yet.