C-Rod and T-Rod = Hot rods on the field...

It's sad to think since the season is over, so are the boys' rookie days. Player #6 and Player #19 will graduate to cubs which means they are turning into young men on us.

It would have been next to impossible to beat last year's record but the boys still worked their hardest to achieve their 6 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie record. Sadly Ty got injured on the last regular season game but nonetheless, it was a great season full of touchdowns, extra points, tackles, blocks, sacks and a sprained ankle! Ty also must have the loudest voice on his team because in addition to being a team captain he was the one who did the yell before kickoff which made my throat hurt after each time he did his chant. We all cracked up on the sidelines listening to his raspy loud voice yell "...let's hit somebody!"



Highlights of the season included watching the excitement on Connor's face the first time he sacked the opposing team's quarterback and watching Ty score the first touchdown for the team at the jamboree. Unfortunately because we had a few night games, I wasn't able to capture all our favorite moments which included some points scored by Ty and some amazing sacks by Connor but they are permanently engraved in our minds. Ty was one of three kids who played both sides. Aside from a couple games where they had him play linebacker instead of nose guard, his primary duties were that of full back and nose guard. Connor's primary position was defensive end but if someone was injured or sick he filled in on the offensive line as the "Connor of all trades".

Each year I've tried to have our boys wear something that makes it easier for us to spot them on the field. This year Ty had new cleats there were primarily white so it was very easy to spot him. We couldn't talk Connor into getting new cleats (how crazy is that?) because he was certain his from last year were good luck and assured us they still fit so we continued to look for the black and BLUE on his cleats which although did not fit with the spirit of Wildcat red were easy for me to pick out in a crowd of red. For one game he attempted some new black cleats but he didn't like the way they felt and I couldn't find him so back to his blue ones we went...



The season wouldn't be as successful for the family if Sage wasn't such a trooper about coming to the practices which took place three times a week for 3 hours each in sun, clouds, rain, and freezing temps at times. Of course what's not to like about spending your afternoons with such a great group of friends and I have to say some of my closest friends are friends I met through football as we all sat together on the sidelines chatting away during practices.





Introducing our Rookie Red Wildcat team from beginning to end:



Here are a few favorite shots from practice and as you can see as the weeks went by so did the seasons...





The boys with some of their buddies:



A few highlights of Connor from the season:




A few highlights of Ty from the season:




I love this picture of Con and Ty working with Marco to take down this player:



And finally the season wouldn't be complete without an end of season celebration. This year's was held at the club house and the boys loved watching videos of themselves, eating cake and of course getting their trophies!





Until next year...

Halloween...check! Let the holidays begin...

It's a true test of patience making the kids wait until a day or two before Halloween to carve their pumpkins since they look forward to carving their pumpkin almost as much as they do selecting their costume and trick or treating. Once again Ty outlined and carved his pumpkin from start to finish. Connor is still trying to get comfortable with the idea of doing the whole thing by himself and so he stuck to doing the outline and Jack took over with the carving. Sage attempted to do her outline too but about halfway through determined it would be best if dad did it! I think it's pretty easy to tell which pattern Sage selected. Ty chose the skull and Connor chose the spider. Well done boys!!! My job continues to be to sort through all the gunk to find all the seeds that the kids LOVE to eat...




The weekend festivities began with Jack and I attending an adult only Halloween party. I wanted something original so this is what we came up with...the Prize Patrol and the unsuspecting housewife. It got a lot of laughs and I'm pretty certain I was the most comfortably dressed one there!!!



Since I'm the class photographers for Sage's class I got to participate in their class Harvest Party which took place on Halloween. Here are a couple shots from that. They spent the day moving from table to table doing different crafts and finished the morning eating some yummy, creepy snacks. I have to vent though and just say I hate that we live in a world where we are supposed to be so politically correct and tolerant of all things yet in our desire to be tolerant of others we end up sacrificing or having to downplay our own values, beliefs, etc. Heaven forbid we call it what it is, a Halloween party, as that would be not politically correct so instead they call it a Harvest party... LAME!




Beginning last year we decided to make a deal with the boys that if they chose to come up with a costume that we didn't have to pay for (something from around the house, etc) that we would pay them $20. The point was that I much prefer to pay my kids than some store and truth be told, buying one at the store usually sets us back around $40 so it's a win win. I also think it's a great way to inspire and stimulate their creativity. Again, Ty who is always motivated by money took the deal and decided he was going to be a "Mexican". We told him the correct title was a Mexican Mariachi. Of course when he ran into a lady on the street trick or treating who happened to be wearing a sombrero, the first thing out of his mouth was "Hey, are you a Mexican? So am I!" He LOVES the sombrero he picked out in Cabo earlier this year and was going to do anything to come up with a costume that worked around it.

Connor had again decided to turn down the money offer and had selected a costume at Target. Unfortunately he had a situation at school where he had been late getting a couple assignments turned in and this was noted on his weekly report. Feeling confident it would never happen again I threatened to return the costume if it did. Completely uncharacteristic of Connor it happened the week before Halloween and so you can see that he had to come up with something quick and a football player it was! I can say he was one of at least a half dozen 'Wildcats' we saw roaming the streets on Halloween!

Sage was very excited to pick out a costume this year. We had pretty much exhausted all the "home made" ones from around the house that included Tinkerbell, a cowgirl, witch and pumpkin. She selected Super Girl and boy did she look SuPeR!!!




Sage again spent the first hour running from house to house making certain to outrun her brothers to the doorbell. She ended up paying for all this running later in the night when she decided she just was not up for the task of staying out as long as her brothers. She was completely satisfied with her haul and I'm sure her belly will be too... The boys on the other hand stayed out about a half hour longer and were happy with their end result! Again Ty managed to come home with a bit more candy than Connor but this time it was because several homes had offered him extra candy if he played a tune for them on his guitar...




Bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!

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...