Happy Birthdays!!

We had a crazy week at our house. Two birthdays and Halloween. Throw in football practices and playoffs, school parties, scouts and we had one busy week!
  Andrew turned 11 this year. He is so excited now that he can go to the 11 year old scouts. He has been finished with his Arrow of Light and Webelos for over four months now. He is ready to move on! He is my child most into scouting and I'm looking forward to seeing how much he learns. I know he will have a great time. For his present, all he wanted was an Xbox. Grandma decided to go halves with us. I told him if this is what he wanted, he'd only get one present! He was fine with it and so that is what we did!
  Emma turned 6 next and boy was she excited! For her birthday, she wanted nothing more than to get her ears pierced. She has been asking for months. I was worried she was too young, but then again, she doesn't act young, so I really didn't mind. As long as it was her decision and she was ready, I was fine with it. So, we headed out after school on Friday and got them done. She was very brave and only cried a little. She is very proud of her new earrings!


Andrew ordered Oreo Cookie Cheesecake for his cake this year.

Emma's new earrings! You'd never guess she picked pink flowers!

I tried making Emma a pom pom cake. It didn't turn out so swell, but at least she loved it!



My baby is growing up too fast!

 

Game Day!

Finally! After six weeks of practicing, we were so excited for the first game! Eli just got his cast off, so he is not ready to play yet. Probably another 3-4 weeks for that. Jeremy was awake all night, stressing about the game. Go Coach Jeremy! They played Williams, who were the league champions last year. Now we know why, they had 193 pound kid, two 145's, and about four who were 125 range. Our biggest kid is 125. We were hugely outsized. I was so proud of the kids though, they were so tough and they stuck in there! Andrew ran the ball a lot, which stressed me out because he was getting tackled by these insanely huge boys. The boys were bruised and battered, but were proud of themselves for hanging in with these giant kids!

Emma got to cheer for her first game. She looked so darn cute! I hate cheerleaders in general, so it's really been a struggle for me to sit through practices. Her cheer coach is one of "those" lifetime annoying cheer chicks. I can't stand it!! I am glad she is having fun though. That is all that matters.

 

Coach Dad helping eli understand the game :)



Emma was so proud of the poster we made!

Andrew, getting tackled by the giant monster boys!

Coach Jeremy, hard at work!

Go Andrew Go!

 

And so it begins....

August marks going back to school and of course the start of football. All on the same day this year! We jumped in with both feet this year. Andrew and Eli are playing, Ethan is playing at the high school, Emma is cheerleading, Jeremy is the head coach for the minors and I am secretary for the league. It's been a crazy ride so far and we haven't even had our first game yet!
As hard is it is to fit all this into our schedules, we love it!

Andrew is so into the game. He is fun to watch and I am looking forward to seeing how he does this year now that he's a year older and gained 15 pounds since last year. He is a hard worker and it's going to be fun!
Jeremy is having a blast coaching. He is doing such a good job. The boys love him. I suppose I am biased, since he is my husband after all. But he is fun and so positive with the kids. After last year's coaching fiasco, they are loving him!

Emma is so excited to be a cheerleader. To be honest, I was not all that thrilled with it. I cannot stand cheerleaders. Those who  know me will probably understand why :)  But, she is having a fun time and is just so stinkin' cute out there! I am not terribly impressed with her 16 year old coach, but I guess that is how it goes. As long as she has fun, that is all that matters.

We headed to the park for some one on one practice last weekend. Ethan and Andrew got to take each other on. They just about the same weight now, so it's pretty even.

We are crazy for football around here and are eagerly awaiting our first game in less than two weeks!



Andrew practicing kicking.

Ethan kicking.

Even Eli was kicking :)

Brotherly love :)

Poor Eli

I am trying to be better at keeping up with blogging, really I am . I'm only about 6 weeks late in posting this. We had a crazy end to the summer. Eli broke his arm the 2nd week in July and it changed the rest of our summer plans. No more Wet and Wild, no more swimming. The other kids have been so good to do activities that include Eli. Although I  know they could have used more swimming!
It happened one summer morning. We had gone out to the garden and ripped out all of the old corn and squash plants. I told my kids if they worked hard, they could spend the rest of the morning relaxing. So, Andrew and Eli were playing Mario Party on the wii. Eli finally won and was so excited he ran and jumped over the couch. Well, his foot caught the headrest and he tumbled down the backside of it...landing right on his left arm. He immediately told me he broke his arm. I told him to sit down and we'd get some ice and see. Well, arms aren't supposed to have a big old crink in them, so we loaded up and headed to the ER. Long day at the hospital, bones are set. He was a trooper. He didn't cry that much, but Andrew did throw up and almost pass out at Urgent Care. He is my squeamish one :)  Good news was he did not need surgery, just 6 weeks in a cast. And "YES!" we are counting the days until it comes off!

First Day of School

I have not been very good at keeping up with this. Summer was busy, but now that school is back, I hope I will find some time to be better at keeping track of our lives!  I can't believe that all of my kids are in school this year! Where does the time go?? I have a freshman, 5th grader, 3rd grader and a kindergartner! They are all getting so grown up. It feels like yesterday I was dropping Ethan off at kindergarten. Emma is so excited to be in school. She is already reading really well and will probably be just as smart as her brothers :)
Ethan has already jumped right into school. He started football practice last week. He is excited to play again and is finally hitting a growth spurt. He's only the 2nd smallest on the team :)  He has early morning seminary before school, and we live 30 minutes away. He is going to be busy! I am excited for him and all of the great opportunities he has coming.

Ethan's all ready for high school!

Emma was so excited to be in school. She is in Mrs. Band's class. She has had all of my kids for kindergarten and we love her!

Eli, Emma and Andrew, ready to go!

Happy Birthday Eli!

I can hardly believe how fast time seems to go now that I am old. Eli turned 8 years old a few weeks ago. He had a good birthday. It was on a Friday, which of course is always a plus! I took cupcakes in his class for an after lunch snack. Jeremy and Ethan had a scout camp out, so they had to leave in the afternoon. Eli was a bit sad they were gone, so we headed out to McDonald's for dinner. We had to go to the one with the "coolest" play place. The kids ended up playing for 2 1/2 hours. Which was a very very long time to be at McDonald's, but hey it was for his birthday :)  We celebrated with Jeremy and Ethan the next day with his special dinner of homemade pizza and of course birthday cake!

Grandma spoiled him with his own ipod this year. He loves it. He was in heaven to have one of his own. He is getting to be an expert on his pogo stick as well.

His very first scout meeting was the Blue and Gold banquet. He looked so cute in his uniform! I just loved it. He was even brave enough to do the skit. I was so proud of him! He is definitely growing up fast.

He was baptised March 2nd. It was a wonderful morning. The baptism was a very special occasion. I loves seeing his big smile the whole time. It was a day to remember!

Eli is a great little boy. He is super silly and loves to make us laugh. He can still be quite shy, but is slowly coming out of his shell. I love to see him get brave and try new things. He is a joy to have in our lives and we are so lucky to have him in our family!

 

 

Eli and Zack doing a skit at the Blue and Gold.

Eli with his ipod. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!

Hopping on his new pogo stick

Eli's baptism day.

 

Basketball!

I am so glad Andrew wanted to play basketball this year. It has been so much fun watching him. He loves sports. He will shoot for hours outside by himself, just for practice. He is definitely my most motivated child when it comes to sports. We have had some fun 1 on 1 at the park too. It mostly just makes me feel like an old, fat lady, but it is a lot of fun! I can still out shoot Andrew, but probably not for long!

He played in the Surprise league this year. He has made some great improvements over the season. The games are fun, but a bit rough to watch. To put it in Jeremy's famous words "Wow, this is worse than girls basketball!!" Ha ha! Yes, I know the feeling, but I still love watching Andrew. He always has a smile and delights in the game.