Moses Catch Up

Moses is in his last year of elementary school. It's going fast with a jam packed end of the year. Upcoming overnight camp, musical, and bridging ceremony. 

It's all soccer for this kid. He played two sessions of indoor and is currently trying out for a select team. He's really good and he loves it! 

Moses and Mr. P are good friends and spend a lot of time hanging out together. Lately they sit and listen to music together. 

This kid loves cool sunglasses and hip hair. He is always dressed well in his finest sporty clothes.

He's famous for pulling these goofy faces. 

He won an award at school for "cooperation". Truly he is a very cooperative young man. It was nice to see him recognized for this quality. 

Kid Catch Up George

Since I haven't blogged regularly for so long I'll do a kid catch up. Starting with the baby George. He's no baby...that's for sure. He's WAY bigger than his sis and almost as big as Moses.

He is developing his political views...and they are strong. The picture is of a ripped up newspaper article about Trump....or Mr. Rump as George would prefer.

George is working towards his black belt in TKD. He is about half way there. His enthusiasm comes and goes but we are encouraging forcing him to finish since we spent a ton of cash on his sparring gear and black belt club. Once he is at class he likes it but getting him going is hard. 

George and Sis have always been great friends....my almost twins. But, this year George has moved towards wanting to do more with the big boys. He loves to be included with his brothers and dad. He plays more with neighborhood boys than his sis too. He likes to ride bikes, play swords or nerf guns or legos. 

George is an amazing reader. Ya gotta love a book worm. 

He has a zany side to him and has been exploring his sense of humor. He likes to read joke books and try them out on us. 

And he's tender hearted. He doesn't like it when kids are sad or are in trouble. He thinks about social justice a lot.

This pic is my beloved Uncle Larry. All my kids adore him. We recently got to have dinner with him. Such a joy. 

And he's serious too. He loves to hear Cam talk about the military. He reads a lot about it too. He had Cam teach him how properly salute.

The kids and I were at a basketball tournament near where Cam's dad is buried. I took the kids to see the grave. George was very serious....it was a military cemetery. 

I like to ask the kids periodically what they want to be when they grow up. George wants to be a nurse practitioner. Great choice! 

46th Birthday Celebration

Oh how the time is flying by....I'm so behind on my blogging life.

Working, plus this busy sports family is keeping me from my chronicles here.

December is a packed, busy, celebratory, fun, stressful and crazy month.

I think the next thing to post about is my birthday. Oh! I LOVE my birthday. It will be fun to relive it here today.

Early in my birthday week I got to spend an afternoon with my mom. It was SO FUN! My mom had just retired and so we had a double celebration. We went to a long leisurely and delicious lunch and then browed the shops nearby. Loved this day!!

On my actual birthday we attended church. I truly love to stand in church holding hands and hugging my loves while singing and worshipping.

After church we stopped at my fave cupcake shop. Yummy!

Happy Birthday to MEEEEE! A pink champagne cupcake!

I have been wanting to visit a nature preserve near our house. I seized the opportunity of a captive audience and we headed out for a rainy adventure. Hey, on your birthday you get to choose!

The scenery was beautiful and the falling rain on the water was music to our ears. 

I love all the moss that grows in our area. 

After our walk we came home, warmed up, dressed up and headed out to dinner. 

We love our dinner tradition! 

Lots of time to chat and eat yummy food...and make funny faces.

I think this pic is after the boys were done eating and very full! 

Birthday number 46 was great! I'm already looking forward to my next fun day. 

Halloween 2016

Halloween fell on a Monday. Seriously?! That has to be the worst day for Halloween. I'd support an initiative to move Halloween to the last Saturday of October. 

But, regardless....we dressed up and had fun! Cam worked so I was a one woman show.

In past years I've required the kids to stay under a $10 costume budget. This year I felt generous so I upped it to $20. Sis immediately found this gorgeous dress on sale. She was so excited! 

She looked gorgeous! Elsa from Frozen!!

George had the two costume Halloween. He wore the Army suit to school. He loves this outfit and accessories it with Cam's Army days items....hat and compass. 

My mom made me a costume! How fun is that?! I love my Dorothy dress...and SHOES!

I attended all three of the elementary kids' parties. 

After school we regroup and head to our neighborhood party. King Tuba went to Grandma's house to have dinner and help her and Grandpa pass out candy. He had a blast!

I love this kid! He found this "biker" kit when shopping for costumes. It cracks me up! He ROCKED the look!

This is George's scary costume that he wore for Trick or Treating. 

Mr. P had basketball tryouts after school and didn't join us until after dinner. He quickly changed into his costume. How handsome is he? I love it that he still wanted to dress up. 

We went out trick or treating for about an hour and then headed home to get out of costumes and into bed by 8:00. Phew! It was a long and fun and SUGARY day.

How much candy would you guess we collected? 4 kids going door to door for just under an hour. 

Guessing.....

40 lbs.! Yikes!! The kids are VERY mad that we took it all away after letting them take a small piece in their lunch each day for the rest of the school week. 

Oh well, it's my job. I keep it tied up in a bag and put it up on a high shelf. I bring it out for movie nights or other treats. Or when I need a pick me up. Shhhh....don't tell!

Pumpkin Patch 2016

This year we were so busy with soccer and activities that we kept putting off our annual trek to get pumpkins. Truthfully I didn't mind if we skipped carving pumpkins but Cam said it was his favorite part of Halloween....so at the last minute we headed out. 

Literally, the day before Halloween....

I always like to get great photos of the kids. The bright orange color looks so striking. 

The farm wasn't muddy or crowded or cold. Okay...we went to the grocery store! It was awesome!!! Cheaper and quick! 

Then the fun begins. Moses was very serious with his planning. 

The rest of the kids just dig in. 

The kids are getting big! This year almost all the cutting was done on their own. 

Tuba was so happy with his pumpkin. 

This cracked me up! After all of that scooping to get his pumpkin clean this was the extent of the face he made. 

All finished and looking spooky!

Cast Off

And the cast is off! Yippee! Mr. P is very glad to be done with it. His arm is really skinny and doesn't extend all the way. He is going to PT twice a week to regain range of motion and get ready for basketball. 

It was really fun to watch the saw cutting the cast off. It's a mini skill saw that only goes so deep. It was kinda freaky!

Arm free! I think Mr. P grew at least an inch during the month he was in the cast. He is looking long and LEAN! Time to head back to running, and sports and beef up with lots of delicious food.

And look at this amazing plant! I'm in love with it. 

Kid Update

The school year is nicely underway and the kids are settled into the routine. 

George is in 2nd grade this year. He continues to LOVE reading. He often tunes out everything around him while immersed in a book. He brings a book everywhere we go too. That's a good thing! George is playing soccer. His team has not won any games but it doesn't seem to bother the kids...which is maybe why they don't win any games. Ha! Oh well, at least they are getting out there and running around having fun. 

Sis is off to a great start this year for 3rd grade. I'd say this year has been the smoothest so far. She tends to worry and doesn't like new routines or settings which makes a new school year hard. But, she is impressing me with how quickly she settled in. This is the first year she has a best friend in class that is a girl! Of course she still has loads of boys for friends too. She's still loving her soccer team girls too. The team is undefeated so far! 

Moses is loving 5th grade. He is serving as a patrol at school. Of course he does a great job. Seriously this kid always has his homework done and is always ready for whatever comes next. He is rocking it on the soccer field. He scored five goals in one game recently. 

Mr. P has had a few bumps in the road with his broken elbow. He's had weekly appointments to X-ray the arm which has caused him to miss school and try to make up missed work. He also can't participate in PE or band so part of his day at school is kinda boring. Soon it will be over though. Hoping the cast comes off this week. He attended the basketball tryouts last week. He really isn't suppose to be playing ball but before I knew it he ran out on the court and went full court press. Yikes! I didn't want to be that mom by yanking him of the court. He gave his all on night one of tryouts but the second night the head coach asked him to sit and watch. In the end he didn't hurt himself....good....AND he made the team! So yeah! 

Tuba is loving being back at school. He is working at a local thrift store to try out skills of organizing racks and cleaning. Every day of the week he wakes up and asks if it's a school day. 

And....he LOVES going to all the kids' soccer practices and games...rain or shine! 

The photos were a day at the park near the end of summer. I'm struck by how fleeting these days are when everyone wants to come along and hang out together and play in a park. Cherishing them.