September

September went by super fast to me, probably because it was the last month to try to get anything done before this baby comes. 

I still tried to get some swimming in with Elizabeth and Henry after school started.  It felt weird walking to the pool with just two kids instead of five, though.  All the summer crowds are gone, and usually when we went we were the only ones there, which was fun.

September was also a big football month.  Tristan and Oliver each have practice 3 times a week and a game every Saturday.  Their first games were in Houston (about a 2 1/2 hour drive).  It was fun, though, because we got to see Daniel's brother Anthony and his wife Amber, who are living in Houston right now.  They met us at the game and entertained the kids the whole time.

More football pics:

At one of Tristan's games it started pouring rain a couple of times.  It felt good at first (September is so hot in Texas!), but by the end everyone was soaking wet.

Coach Mott/Dad talking to Ollie's team after one of their games.  They have a great team this year - they are 5 and 0 so far. 

It gets long sitting through two games in a row with all of the kids, especially since we have to be at the games an hour early, so I usually drop Daniel and Oliver off for warmups (their game is always before Tristan's) and then take the other kids to a park to play around until the first game starts.

It also helps to have good friends to play with during the games.  A few families in our ward have kids on Oliver's team, so during Ollie's games, the kids have great buddies to play with. 

Henry has gotten good at entertaining himself in the stroller:

Watching the game from the sidelines (about 2 seconds after this picture was taken, he made a break for the field.  He so wants to be a football player).

Mostly so he can wear a helmet.  The two things he always mentions when he talks about his plans for when he's "big" are being a football player with a helmet, and jumping off the bridge in Yosemite.  He thinks his life will be complete if he can accomplish those two things. 

The girls also think they are football players:

But that's okay, because Henry also thinks he is Sleeping Beauty.  Seriously, this is his favorite dress.  He always accessorizes with weapons of some sort, but it still makes the boys of the family too uncomfortable to allow it for much longer than the time it takes me to take a picture.

There, that's better. (He's still a little pouty about the fact that his brothers took away his Sleeping Beauty dress, though):

Another day, another popular look for Henry - all dressed up, minus the pants:

And minus everything else:

Other September things:

Oliver usually makes his way home from school a little later than everyone else, and it's almost always because he's been combing the woods for some sort of creature to bring home.  Henry has started waiting by the window with excitement to see the lizard that he's just sure Ollie's bringing home for him:

Rachel's dance class had a "bring a friend" day, and Elizabeth, in quite possible the most exciting day of her life, got to be the honored guest:

I started looking through the dress-up clothes with the kids to get ideas for possible Halloween costumes (normally it's the week of Halloween that we're scrambling to do this, but I know that once this baby comes I will be of no help, so I wanted to get it out of the way beforehand).  Henry's pretty sure he wants to be Darth Vader (of course), but he had fun trying on all the costumes.  Here he is as a dashing pirate, although for some reason he thinks he's a king (see video clip):

Rachel in one of her costume creations:

(She has since changed her mind, and I think she's going to be a fairy.  I never know, though - I always have to plan on much changing of minds with the girls.)

So is there anything else I should be doing to get ready for number 6 (due in less than a week now!) besides get Halloween costumes all set?  That's the most imporant thing, right?  I feel like I have a to-do list a mile long, but instead of actually doing things I need to be doing, I'll spend time on random projects like cleaning out and organzing all the toy buckets. Or the medicine cabinet.  Seriously, I did both these things this week before I even brought in any baby girl clothes from the garage. 

At least Henry is getting prepared.  He has never shown any interest in babies, so I introduced him to one of the girls' dolls.  He has been practicing carrying it around softly and patting it and saying "sh, sh, sh" before tossing it to the ground and abandoning it.  I'm sure this will translate into super big brother skills in real life, right?

We are all getting excited for our new little girl to get here - I'll keep everyone posted (hopefully).