So long soccer season...hello holiday season!

So we made it through another season of soccer and I can proudly say the two most improved players on the team came from this household. Considering they took last season off because I thought we'd be moving, I was pretty happy with how well they did. They didn't start out as the strongest players but by the end of the season, they were pretty close. This seems to be a running theme with our boys. At first we were a bit nervous that perhaps we were raising better referees than players as both were fantastic at running up and down the field watching the ball without actually touching it much. Mysteriously, that changed on games that Jack was at. On those days, some other "Tyler" and "Connor" showed up. No one wants the wrath of dad on the car ride home (ha ha) so they know to give it their best effort when dad's in attendance. Just like in basketball, Connor is excellent on defense. He sticks close to "his man". He just needs to work on kicking the ball with more power when passing it or attempting a goal. Ty on the other hand is awesome at getting the ball out of tricky spots and taking it down the field for a goal. Once Ty masters accuracy when attempting a goal there will be no stopping him. The season couldn't have ended more perfectly with both boys playing very, very well and BOTH of them making goals in this last game (oh, and the team winning!) :)

Ty baby taking it down the field and making a goal...




Connor in on the action ...



I loved that when someone got a goal, Ty would make a point to run up to them and high five them. Here he is giving Connor a high five after scoring his first goal this season.



I think this photo speaks for itself...



Daddy paying close attention...



Of course, besides winning the games, a big highlight is receiving the medal...



I just need to say that this year the boys had AWESOME coaches. Coach Noel and Coach Joe were clearly more organized and prepared then any other coach we played against and they were awesome with instructing the kids and giving feedback. Kudos for their patience with 9 crazy boys...

A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

So here is what we've been up to over the past month...

The big FORTY is less than a year away:

Eeeekers! And like clockwork, I feel and am starting to look really old. I'm not buying this 40 is the new 30 thing. This year especially I've noticed that all those years of soaking up the sun have definitely come back to haunt me. Anyways, Jack was sweet and for my birthday brought home an angel food cake even though I'm now the only one in the family that likes it. Jack has never liked it but I figured the kids would. Well it didn't take long to see the kids were in Jack's camp on this one when I went to clear off the table and found what looked like three wet sponges on each plate. The whipped cream was gone but sure enough, the angle food cake wasn't a hit for them either. Let me tell you, this was not a bad thing. I could eat one angel food cake a day! My sweet friends also put together a fun evening to celebrate the occasion. That yummy Dairy Queen ice cream cake was by far the highlight. I love my family and I love these girls!!!



Sagie's starts her preschool program:

Eden, Sage, Macy and Melia make up the group. Aren't they darling...



Connor gets elected to ASB:

So a couple weeks ago Connor comes home from school talking about how he is going to run for ASB. I wasn't even clear exactly what it was but when I heard the line "people vote for you" the first thing that ran through my mind was prepare him for the worse...a loss. Connor is our sweet but very sensitive child and I wanted to make sure that he wouldn't see defeat as an indication that his class doesn't like him. Since 2nd grade is the first year they can run for a student body officer position, I figured many of the kids would want to run (although Ty indicated he wasn't interested because it required going to after school meetings which he would have nothing to do with since that would interfere with after school play time). I had completely forgot about it until a few days later when Connor came running through the front door to tell me how excited he was because "Guess who got elected to ASB for their class?" "I did!" He was soooo excited. I still don't know all the details but did receive an email from his teacher that included the news. Apparently one boy and one girl is selected from each class. They have to submit a written speech about why they want to run and read it in front of the class, after which point the class votes. What cracked me up was when I asked what he wrote he said, "I like to help around the house" (hmmm), and "I am kind to people", (very true, except when it comes to kindly helping mom pick up around the house.) Anyways, that was very exciting news. Here is Connor with Ranger, our neighbor's dog that he loves.



Sage finally figures out how to ride her bike:

I was worried she'd never figure out how to use her pedals but this past week she got it down and now loves to go fast in circles around the driveway, basketball courts at the park or anywhere else that has a big open area to ride! Whenever she finds she's stuck on a slight hill or something that requires more effort than she's willing to put out, she jumps off and says "it needs some gas", pushes it a few steps and jumps back on. It's very funny. Yea Sage!



So I'm not meant to be a pumpkin farmer:

As you may remember, last year I attempted my first try at growing pumpkins. I decided to take advantage of the planters we had that the landscapers put in hoping for some sort of return on investment. The return last year ended up being a green golf ball sized pumpkin. This year I decided to attempt one last time using the seeds I had saved from last years purchased pumpkins(hoping that would make the difference). So this past May I took them out, lied them on our patio set and within a short time the crows must have found them in the Ziploc bag and decided to have them for lunch. Well, fast forward a couple months and I notice some vine growing out of the corner of one of the planters. I could tell it wasn't a weed but wasn't sure what it was. Within a few weeks we saw the beginning of what looked like a pumpkin. The only thing I can think of is that as the crows flew away with my seeds, they happened to drop one. What are the chances that one of the seeds would actually happen to land in the corner and I mean smashed up against the corner of the planter? So we've gone from golf ball sized to grapefruit sized. At least this year's was orange in color...