And Football Goes on Another Week

Question:   How do you judge how great a football game is?

Answer: If I blog about it.

The boys getting ready to go the football game.  Mantis was brave enough to volunteer to take them home and put them to bed by himself after halftime.  Brave Brave man!

 And let me tell you that Friday night's game was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  It was one of those games that came down to the last second, or should I say the last 2.2 seconds.  You can probably guess that it was amazing mainly because we won.  I am so proud of these young men who have put in so many hours training, they were behind by 14 points at the half and managed to pull it back together. 

Friday night will be a true test as we are the underdogs... though our record is 11-1, the 1 came from the team we must play Friday night.  Regardless of the outcome, I am so proud of Chad.  He has definitely been through some coaching valleys and coaching peaks.  It is good to see him be rewarded for the 90 hour work weeks (dont get me started on how much he works).  The community has been behind him from the very beginning even before he had proven himself.

10 seconds after the game winning field goal.

The singing of the alma mater.

And though Friday was an awesome night, Saturday  morning proved to be just as much fun!  Hunter had the great idea of going to the zoo.  The weather was perfect, Chad was home, and we had no plans so we went.  It is the first thing that we have done as a family in..... uh, I dont really know.  I should have grabbed a family picture to prove Chad was there but I didn't.  However, I did get this picture which made us laugh.

I guess the lion was enjoying the cool breeze.  In typical male style, threw his legs apart to "air it out."

I think I get a version of this picture every time.

And a version of this one, however this picture actually had everyone looking and smiling.  MIRACLE!

 

So, though we had an amazing football weekend (with Clemson winning too), I think we had an even better family weekend. 

In the words of my husband... "Go Green!  Roll Wave!"  :)

Those Kind of Friends

As a military brat, I have had a lot of friendships.  I have moved many times and from 4th grade to 12th grade was in 7 different schools.  I would like to think that I have become a pretty good judge of character and am picky about the company I keep.  I am not what most would consider a "friend" person.  I dont need to be surrounded by friends to do my thing.

With that said, I am so thankful for people that pursue friendships.  For example, my best friend in high school- Sami (now Samantha, she had to go formal).  I still love hearing from her, however, she initiated the friendship and honestly, most of the time, she kept the friendship going.  She now has 3 beautiful little girls and though we dont communicate often, I still consider her a great friend.

I went though college with the normal "friendships."  Had girls that liked but nothing that was deep enough to last through the years.  I casually keep up with some of them through facebook.

And of course, in college, I also met my husband... that probably had a lot to do with not having a ton of friends while in school.

I have two amazing sister-in-laws who I consider to be friends.  Sandee, Chad's sister, will call me up just to chat... I wish I had that skill.  She is approachable and is a lot of fun.  Anna, Zach's wife, is one who I could see myself being friends outside of that sister-in-law status.  Distance has never been on our side though as my brother keeps moving her around the country (thanks a lot Zach :(  )  However, Anna is down to earth and funny.

And after living here for 2 years, I am finally starting to make a connection or two for potential "good" friends.

 But this post if for a friend, one who has proven her friendship to me.

Taken summer 2010 @ the beach.

 

Let me tell you a bit about my great friend, Olivia.  Olivia and I met almost 6 years ago in our Sunday School class.  Hunter was a newborn and Olivia says she remembers me.  Blame it on motherhood, but I dont remember meeting her the first time.  She and her husband were visiting our class.  Thankfully, God saw fit to make them permenant fixtures in our class with her husband, Matt, taking over the teaching duties.  Chad, Matt, Liv, and I were all high school teachers.  By the end of 2006 into 2007 we were casual friends- not "call ya up to chat about your day" friends but we would talk at church, Bible Study.

By the time Ashton was born, I knew that Olivia was going to be in that elite category of friends- that category that is just for the best.  Her first son was born in 2008, we went to the beach with her family and another family that same summer (where she could have saved Ashton's life ;) ).  From there it is history.  We have since taken 3 more beach trips together, added 2 more boys into the mix.  We have been through some peaks and valleys together.  We have prayed for each other, counseled each other, been a sounding board for one another.

Olivia, you are amazing woman.  I am so thankful that you pursued this friendship and that you kept it going.  If it wasn't for your persistency then we would not be the friends we are today.  Thank you for all the phone calls and emails.  I really miss you popping into our house just to chat. Doesn't that seem like a long time ago?  I have no doubt that our friendship will withstand the test of time (and distance).  Though beach trips, in the microscopic size house, are close to being a memory, I am sure that we will find other ways (on small budgets) to vacation/ visit together.  I vote to take over my parent's "lake house"  (it is all in your perspective, right?)

 Anyway, this HHHHUUUUGGGGEEEE post is really written to tell you three things.

1- You are awesome!
2- I love you!
3- And HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY!!!!

And, say it with me,

ALL's GRACE,

PS- Mom, I didnt include you in this list of friends because you know you cant be boxed into this category.   ha ha ha! :)

School Project

Hunter brought home instructions to disguise a turkey.  The turkey is trying to avoid the dinner table for Thanksgiving.

 

Hunter and I debated between a E------- football player or a pirate.  When I found out that Chad had extra uniforms that I could tear apart, the football player became the obvious choose... epecially since play-offs begin this week.

Here is Hunter and his turkey.  The turkey is sporting a "customized" uniform made from a high school jersey. 

 

And a close-up of the bird.  Obviously, I blurred out our city name and our last name, but I think he is awfully cute.

 

GO Green Wave!

Finally, the firepit is DONE!

After 8 long months, I finally finished my firepit area in our backyard!  This "little" project turned out to not be one of the those inexpensive DIY projects, but the result speaks for itself. 

Before

(this was taken in February) 

After

Ashton is helping me take pictures.

And another

The view from the steps (here is a post from March when I did the steps)

View from above.  The plan is for the groundcover to take over in between the cracks.  You can see where it is already taking off pretty good on the far side. 

And here is a close up of this fast growing groundcover.  Hopefully, by next summer, all the dirt in between the rocks will covered in this lushness.... I will probably also be cussing it for "creeping" so quickly.

Anyway, there it is.  I will guess that it probably cost me around $350 to $400 to complete but spaced out over 8 months, we didnt really feel it.  I love it and think it adds some completeness to the vastness of our backyard.  But, more importantly, the boys love it.  They pretend back there, throw stuff into the pit, and walk the stones all the time.  

Smores anybody?  :) 



Euchariesteo Part 18

573- Arms raised after goal scored

574- Full mean streaming through a crack in the curtain

575- Sky full of stars

576- End of heat in sight

577- Watching Hunt walk into school by himself

578- Mid week playdate

579- Surprise lunch with Nolan

580- Feeling close to God

581- A great summer Bible study

582- Deepening friendship

583- Lazy afternoons

584- Finding the perfect gift

585- Days of drizzling/ penetrating rain

586- Mums bursting from the front porch

587- Pulling out the hot chocolate

588- Sunglasses without scratches

589- Saturday with my mom

590- Little boys and bow ties

591- New van battery that solved the problem

592- Warm clothes out of the dryer

593- 7" gone

594- Slight leaf color changes

595- Bible stories with the boys

596- Backyard soccer games

597- Sprinkler fun one more time

598- Being able to pick Hunter up from school everyday

599- Morning hugs

600-Hugging away a bad dream

601- I am HIS.

602- Crisp blue sky with the smell of fall

603- Footed pajamas

604- Sweatpants worn all day long

605- Fall birthdays right around the corner

606- Hunter reading sentences

607- Stickers ALL over

608- Eating outside

609- Budgets that work

610- Toys all picked up before bed

611-Bags of monkey grass

612- Bits of Christmas popping up

613- Jacket weather

614- Ashton's ornery

615- Fresh haircut

616- Chad being home on Saturdays

617- Ideas that turn out better than expected

618-Rediscovering cinnamon toaster strudels

619-The grandness of the sun in my eyes after dropping Hunter off at school in the morning

620- Birthday party success

621- New recipe that is good.

622- Warm brownies fresh from the oven

623- Eating the brownies in secret- in the corner so the boys cant see

624- Access to disposable diapers when diarrhea runs rampant

625- A burst of energy to organize the house

626- Another photo wall made from things already in the house

627- Pantry full of food

628- Being in the month of Thanks

Ashton's Stats

Ol' Ashton had his 4 year old appt today and he is still small... not alarmingly so, but compared to his brothers and his parents he is the small fry of the family. He continues to grow but his percentiles go down a bit each year- his doctor is not concerned and said he looked great. The doc gives the height prediction at 5'10". However, he (and I) both think that he will hit a late growth spurt. I will go ahead and throw out my prediction that he will hit 6' based on my brothers (especially Zach) were never the tall guys growing up, but they are both over 6' 2" now.

As you can see below

Height- 39.75" (38%)

Weight- 33.2 lbs (26%)

And just for fun, Hunter's stats at 4 were - height 42.75" (93%) and weight 42 lbs (89%). Hunter hit the 33 lb weight mark at his 2 year old check up... ha ha, talk about different genes!

Another thing about the appt that made me chuckle was on one of the vaccination sheets they give you. Ashton got 2 shots today (though in my opinion it is really 4 since they combine the MMR and chicken pox into one shot and they combine the DTP and polio into one shot.) That sure does sound like a lot of disease (live or not) running around into a small system... anyway... some may remember that Ashton got a bad rash on mostly his face from the first round of the chicken pox vax. I would call it a small case of chicken pox though most doctors say it is not the actual chicken pox.
I thought this side effect was humorous.

Doesn't that "mild rash" that is potentially contagious kind of sound like something? Oh yeah, CHICKEN POX. Love the way doctors word things.

Anyway, Ashton did a great job. He did cry over the shots and whimpered over the finger prick but he did everything the doctor told him to do and politely answered his questions. Hopefully, over the next year, we can pack some meat on those bones of his and keep those percentiles from falling.

Our Weekend and HallowYAK!

I dont normally outline our weekend, however this weekend was one of those that should be recorded...

Saturday Morning-
The older two boys had their last soccer game. It has been an odd season with a coach who knows very little (aka- NOTHING) about the game of soccer. Thankfully, Karson was also on the team so Jody (her mom) was my sanity-saver.

The boys had a great last game though. Ashton scored! I seriously prayed the night before that he would score just one goal this season. He was not technically old enough to play yet but since he was close to the deadline, they agreed to allow him. He was the smallest on the teams but he worked so hard. It didnt matter who had the ball (his team or the other team), he was going to try and get it. Hunter scored a few goals as well.

Ashton throwing the ball in.

>
Hunter and Ashton getting the ball (notice Ashton trying to push Hunt out of his way)

Glad to check this off my list of things to do but I am happy they got to play together on the same team.

During this game, Shep had 2 diarrhea (that is hard to spell) diapers but was fine the rest of the day.

Saturday afternoon
My parents took Ashton out to lunch for his birthday and then Toys R Us to pick out anything he wanted. I would never have guessed in a million years what he would have picked... Electronic Football (or Vibrating Football). My dad had one when he was a kid and apparently Chad had one when he was a kid. To say that Ashton loves this game would be quite the understatement. He played with it for 3 hours straight! Yes, straight!!!

All the boys

Trying to figure out how to play

Ashton with his game (thanks Mantis and Queenie- he had a great time and loves the game)

Sunday morning-
Chad informed me Saturday evening that he was going to church with his football team so I was on my own. We had to take breakfast for our Sunday School class as well.

I get Shepherd into his class and Hunter looks at me and says "I think I am going to throw up." I rush him to the bathroom where he does throw up a little.

At this point I still have to drop breakfast off with our class but before I can do that Hunter says, "I have to stinky." His diarrhea begins. Thankfully, I ran into someone from our class who took breakfast (which I am sure is really appealing at this point) and I was able to get the boys back into the car and go home. It was at this moment that I was thankful that my niece, Charlee, who has originally supposed to be with us, was not with us.

On the way home, Shepherd exploded his diaper (out of his clothes). So thankful to already be gone from church.

Sunday (the rest of it)
We did nothing but lounge.

The Diarrhea Brothers watching the movie, Zookeeper.

Monday
And now for my least favorite "holiday"... Hallowyak. We, again, are not doing anything besides letting the boys dress up for the school day.
Ashton re-used the pirate costume (he will wear this again next year.)

Arrrrrr

Precious Pirate

Hunter's school does a "We are Not Scared of Books" day. You dress up from a character from a book and then bring that book to school. Hunter decided to be David (from David and Goliath). He said that his teacher took his picture with his book first because the Bible is the most special book.

"David"

I wonder if the real David was as handsome as this little guy.

Practicing with his slingshot.
I made the slingshot and when I asked Chad if it looked ok, he said "yeah, but you do know it was a sling but not a slingshot." ha ha ha, oops. Looks like I should have sang the song, "and 1 little stone went into the sling and the sling went round and round."
Hunter forgave me for my oversight and said it was close enough.

I know it is wishful thinking to hope that my kids will not want to trick or treat when they get older. I guess we will probably let them once they start to hassle , but for now rest assured that our lights will be off this evening.