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.

 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I figured since I slacked off for the past six months, January would be a good time to get back into the swing of things!
We had a great New Year's Eve. I myself have never been much for celebrating it, but since the kids have started staying up for it, we decided to make it a fun night! We play games, have fireworks and eat fondue. Ethan made a photo booth to take silly pictures. It was great! This year Aubrey, Jackson and Tyler joined us for the fun! I was so tired by the end of the night. I felt like a party pooper. I couldn't wait to get into bed! At least someday I am hoping my kids remember they had a fun Mom :)

Andrew makes such a lovely girl!

The ping pong games were getting really intense.

It was freezing outside for fireworks!

Bundled up in the cold!

They all made it to midnight! Happy New Year!

Mmm. Fondue.

Boat Challenge



Ethan and Austin in the front. Tanner and Cole in the back.

The boys after the race. They told me they weren't tired, but I am not so sure :)

Emma and Jeremy riding on the tube. She had a blast!

Andrew and Clay.

Ethan and Cole.

Ethan and Cole again.

  Ethan's scout troop entered in the Lake Pleasant Boat Race challenge. They had to build a boat on their own. It could not have any type of metal in it, but could be made with almost anything else. They were really excited to enter this contest. They spent a couple of weeks building it. They did most of the work. Jeremy just helped with the power tools. They ended up naming their boat "Zippy" because it was held together by zip ties! We were all pretty impressed how it turned out. The boys even made their own oars!
  Saturday morning they all headed out to the lake for the race. They ended up getting first place in their age division (12-14)! They had to row to 1/4 of a mile, then land their boat, get a flag and row back and plant the flag at the ending point. They were so far ahead of the other boats, they were finishing when the 2nd place boat was just getting to their flag! We we proud of how well they worked together to row. They had a blast.
  After that, they had a race from the winners from all the age groups. Ethan's team came in 3rd overall. They were beaten by the 16 and older groups who had 7 boys rowing their boat. They really did well and are already making plans for next year! This is just one reason I love scouts. What a fun activity to help promote teamwork and creativity.
  We all had a great time watching. Afterwards one of the boys' dads had brought his boat and gave inner tube rides to all the kids. It was such a fun afternoon. I didn't think anyone would want to leave. Thankfully it was only in the 90's, so we didn't get too hot. Jeremy brought his shade and that helped a lot. It was a great day and we really enjoyed watching the boys and their boat!