Football Season Is Here

We have been knee deep in zucchini, school, and football. The zucchini is a post all its own. Those who grow it know what I am talking about. We will not starve that's for sure. My son has been asking to play for a few years and I kept saying no, but finally this year I said yes. He has enjoyed getting all the gear and putting it on and off and on and off. He has enjoyed the 4 days a week 1 1/2 - 2hr long practices and scrimmages. He has really adapted to it well. The girls have enjoyed the practices and games too since they are at a local park and they get to play while brother gets knocked around. It has only started, we are only a few weeks into it and we will live this crazy football life until October. Below are some pics. < >

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This is my son all geared up for his game. Handsome little guy!< >

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Here he is again in his "stance". He is on the line of defense a lot.< >

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Here he is in his game. He is #11.< >

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Here is how we entertain ourselves while watching his game. When they are not playing on the playground that is. Pretty flowers for my pretty little girl! < >

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Here is my 6 yr old displaying her fairy flower crown. Notice the football game in the background. We were busy making fairy crowns while the boys roughed it out on the field. :)

Fishing

Each day that cousin Tristan has been here he has requested to go fishing at the river. My son is loving all the fishing since he normally does not go fishing. We often go to the river, but my son will swim and play around in the water instead of fishing. Not to say that the fishing last long with the boys. Normally they fish for about 20 minutes and play the rest of the time. Skipping rocks, looking for fools gold, searching for frogs, you name it. I end up toting the poles back to the bank so they can play. Yesterday the ducks were down at the river and kept going after my son's line. They were very friendly and people must feed them. Today I think we will take some bread down just in case we see them again. I tried to get a picture, but my batteries were going dead so by the time I zoomed in the camera would shut off. I did manage to take some pictures of our river time. They enjoyed fishing, floating, and skipping rocks. I had the fun of throwing sticks for the many dogs that came to visit. They are big friendly dogs whom apparently love children and water. They enjoy chasing sticks that you throw in the river and will keep bringing them back time and time again. The only problem is when you have anything in your hand they will assume you are going to throw it for them to fetch. Thus the skipping rocks takes on a whole different theme. It wouldn't be so bad if the dogs weren't so big and easily excited. My favorite is a huge plot hound who we call Red. She loves my daughter that is away, but still allowed us to pet and love on her regardless of her missing friend. At least we got some fun time in before the storms came. Tomorrow we leave to take Tristan home and collect my 6yr old. I can't wait to see her!! I sure have missed my little Catbird! We will miss Tristan though. My son will especially miss having another boy around to pal around with. < >

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Here is my youngest and her friend tubing in the river. < >

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Here is my youngest again trying to get down to her brother who is fishing up the river.

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Here she is again floating downstream in her tube. I love this place in the river because it is shallow enough for her to stand in yet deep enough for her to float. It is the perfect combination.

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Here is Tristan demonstrating his skipping rock skills. I think he got up to 4 skips!

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Here is "Red" as we call her. She is HUGE. She comes up to my waist and even Tristan could not believe how big she is. She is very loveable though. My dog would LOVE her.

Visitors

Cousins came to visit this past weekend. Luckily the weather was nice for most of the day on Sat. so we were able to get some playtime at the park in. The big ones went fishing while we enjoyed the park. When they went home on Sunday we decided to switch children and I kept their oldest and they kept my 6yr old. It was hard to let her go but as you can see here http://4boyzhavinfun.blogspot.com/ she is having a great time. I am looking forward to getting her back soon though. Meanwhile we have been enjoying Tristan. We have gone fishing, tubing, playing at the numerous parks we have, crafting, just having fun. We still have a few things to squeeze in before he goes back home, but so far they have had lots of fun. I keep forgetting my camera, but maybe today I will remember to take it. Today my oldest had her first day at high school as it is freshman orientation day. She has been so excited to go to high school, but this past week she became nervous. Last night she could not sleep due to her nervousness and excitement. I was trying to calm her down and reassure her while hiding my nervousness. I can't imagine what it will be like next week on her first full day with ALL the grades attending. Today she is just with all the freshman. She will do fine, but I remember how nervous I was on my first days of high school. I can only hope her days are better than mine were. When I went hazing the freshmen was a favorite past time and I can't tell you how many times I was tripped with fishing line that was held across the hallways by upper class man. It's a wonder nobody was hurt. Luckily they would let it go so you wouldn't fall, just trip over it. At least that is what they did to me. Maybe others weren't so lucky. I am hoping that as busy as they keep the kids now that their won't be a whole lot of time for that. We also did not have a police officer attending our school either. This is almost like a familiar yet foreign world to me. I will be praying for her.

Below are some pictures of our weekend. < >

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Monkey girl and her cousin playing on the climbing chain ladders. She beat her cousins every time because he is part monkey. :)

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Here they are playing in the little log cabin. Aren't they cute!

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"Don't worry mom, I have my protective gear on!"

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Each time we go to the river we end up collecting rocks. We came home and I baked the rocks and then they melted crayons on them and created these gems.