The joy of fundraising...

I always get a bit nervous when Ty starts asking for boxes, scissors, and tape. He's so creative but heaven knows how many ink markers and rolls of tape we've gone through with all his creations. This time he was asking for a big box, markers, and scissors. Within a few minutes I found him in the garage cutting wholes in the box and coloring all the sides of it purple. After using up a couple purple markers, it was time to dive into my scrapbook paper collection. When I asked what he was up to he said that the school walk-a-thon was coming up and he was going to dress up as his class's mascot, the purple raptor (dinosaur). Within an hour he had finished his creation and it sat in the garage for the next week. I was curious if this creation would actually make it onto the field and admittedly I also kept questioning if this was something he really wanted to wear during a school walk a thon. I was imagining him maybe getting teased, being hot, or finding it difficult to do his laps with such a bulky thing on but he wouldn't hear of what I had to say. Sure enough, on the big day at drop off, he opened the trunk to the car and proudly grabbed his purple raptor. Do you ever have those moments where you've cringed over something your child is doing and then feel bad for not being more supportive? Well, I felt terrible after this day. Ty ended up being the big hit at school. His whole class loved his costume, in fact so much so that many of the kids took turns doing laps with it on. As you can see even Ty's sweet teacher, Mrs. Cronin had a turn. Next thing I knew I had parents alerting me that they saw Ty being interviewed by the local newspaper and the school principal and several teachers and parents commented on how much they loved his creativity. In addition he was chosen to participate in a special PJ/pancake breakfast for kids that showed the most team spirit! Lesson learned: Be more supportive of your kids!!!



Each grade has a color and unfortunately 4th grade's color is purple which happens to be one of my least favorite colors so I avoid buying clothing in that color at all expense. Poor Connor walked out the door in a navy t-shirt which was the closest thing we had to purple. Obviously we could have borrowed a lot of purple from all our Husky fans here in the neighborhood but we neglected to tap into that resource so away Connor went showing absolutely no class spirit. Here he is with his class:



Sage's color was green and thankfully we found one two-sizes too small shirt that she squeezed into for the big day.




Now the whole point of the walk-a-thon is to raise money for the school. At times I wish they'd just add on another school fee at the beginning of the year instead of making us go through all the hoops of these fundraisers. It's hard to fund raise in a community where most of the households attend the same school so the parents end up being the primary sponsors. In the end though the kids have a blast running and walking to the music, seeing their principal in a chicken costume and getting the chance to win cool prizes. They collect raffle tickets for the laps they run and the money they turn in. With those raffle tickets they can select prizes they are interested in winning. This year Ty and Connor were determined to try to win the American Girl doll for Sage. Not only was it sweet of them but it was sincere...well at least up until Sage admitted she only put one of her raffle tickets in the American Girl raffle and had mistakenly distributed all her others into other prizes. Once the boys heard she had done this, (which meant her chances of winning the American Girl doll were now slimmer), they jumped ship and decided they were going to try to win something that they each wanted. To our surprise, Ty returned home from school with this...



As you can see Connor was so excited for Ty which I thought was really sweet. It so happened that the prize number on the remote control that Ty had won was #19, which happens to be Connor's football jersey number, his classroom number, and even his cubby number! Connor loved that! Aside from the tears being shed from Sage on this day because she didn't win anything, it was a great day in the Roddy house!

It must have leaked out that Connor was responsible for the slogan on Ty's costume ("This time you're extinct!") since he too was invited to attend the special breakfast in the library for kids that showed extraordinary team spirit. It was catchy and clever! Ty also ended up being quoted in the local paper which he was pretty excited about!

Tourist for a day...

Last weekend the boys' football game wasn't until later in the evening. Since the weather was beautiful we decided to take a pass on yard work and head into Seattle for some sight seeing. The last time we had been to the Space Needle was over seven years ago when just Jack and I came out on a house hunting trip and enjoyed a nice dinner at the top of it. We figured the kids are now at an age that they'd enjoy it and they certainly did!





Next on the list was the Gum Wall. When you think of hot Seattle tourist spots this place may not normally come to mind but for a gum loving family, it was a must see. It's located in Post Alley, just below Pike Market and behind the Harbor Steps, (the beautiful complex that Starbucks housed Jack in for the weeks leading up to us all relocating out here). On this particular day, five more pieces of gum were added to the wall along with countless other pieces we witnessed being left...



As you can see it's a tough decision figuring out where to place your gum. We also learned it's almost impossible for a five year old to walk away from the wall without touching someone else's piece of chewed gum...



Finally Connor had one special request and that was to go see the "troll under the bridge". Off we went to find him and what a beauty he is...




After a fun day, we returned home to watch the boys play in another exciting football game. Unfortunately this game isn't one they'd like to remember as it was the first game they lost. We had tried to prepare them for this day since we knew it was just a matter of time. Last year was an extraordinary year and we knew the chances of having another undefeated season were pretty slim. In the end they all know what it feels like to lose and I don't think any of them want to relive that feeling anytime soon...