Another football weekend

This was a crazy weekend. It started out with a morning football game in another county. We were rushing to get to the meeting place where all the parents were meeting when my son announced he did not have his mouth guard. I turned around and went back home and told my oldest to search the car while he and I searched in the house and around outside. Ten minutes later we jumped back in the car with no mouthpiece and I was on the phone calling his coach telling him what was going on. He said he thought they had one to come on so on we went. Unfortunately, we headed in the wrong direction. I rarely travel to these other counties and I confused one with the other. The problem was that one is north and one is south. Whoops. Luckily his coach called again to tell me they did not have a mouth guard and in the process I discovered my error in traveling. I was half way to the wrong county when I turned around and headed back to town. I stopped to get a mouth guard, then on to the next county and to the game. We left 1 1/2 hrs before game time and through all the mix up we ended up getting their just as his team was walking onto the field. The rain only added to the excitement of the day. What made it worse is that once we got to the game I discovered that my oldest daughter who was suppose to be looking for the mouth guard in the car had been sitting on it the whole time! Oh well, he has a new mouth guard right at the end of season. Maybe it will work for next year. We did manage to get a walk in on Sunday so I took some pics to show the leaves.< >

Here is the game. The picture is blurry due to my having a 2yr old hang off me as I tried to take pictures because she wanted to take pictures too. My son is the one running ahead of #13. < >

Here is the road we travelled on. Even in the rain it was pretty. Better hurry sis, they are changing fast!< >

Here is my son with his latest gear on that he got from a birthday party he attended earlier in the day. It was a GI Joe theme. < >

Here is my 6yr old wearing the GI Joe gear. Doesn't it compliment her skirt very well? This is a skirt I made a few weeks ago. I made one for her and a matching one for my 2yr old. < >

Here is my 2yr old getting ready to throw leaves all over herself and anybody within close range.

Evening Walk

Well my hubby went back to work and we have returned to our normal schedules. The weather has turned milder so we took an evening walk to check out the local wildlife and see how the leaves were turning colors. We only saw one deer in the field. I tried to get a picture of it but it was too far away. The other morning we had 8 huge turkeys in our yard, a buck in our apple trees, and squirrels running all over our yard collecting nuts. The kids said, "Boy, the animals are all out this morning, it's an animal party at our house!" I took pictures, then accidentally deleted them off my camera, oops. But I did get pictures of our walk!< >

Here is the view of our hill to the right side of our house. I took it right as the sun was about to set. My sister has been asking me about the leaves as she wants to come up and see them this year. I decided to take pictures every few days and post them so she could see the changes. The mountains are beautiful in the autumn! < >

These two are my favorites so far. I love the small waterfall in the background. < >

Here is my son with all his equipment on. The backpack is stocked with field guides, a container for any interesting insects and magnifying glasses. He is ready! < >

Here is my little stinker!

FINALLY

It has been a not so good week at my house. My teenager whom just started HS has been feeling her new found freedom and stepped over bounds. Did something that I strictly forbid for her to do and lied about it and now does not understand the punishment. Go figure. If I could just tape her mouth shut I think I would be better off. ;) I should get pain and suffering and mental anguish pay for these teen years! We have butted heads so much this past week I should be wearing my son's football helmet. The good news is that at least my prayers were answered. I pray each day for her safety and HIS guidance and not to let her get away with anything. HE answered. We also prayed for my hubby to get home time that he has been trying to get for weeks now and it finally came through. He is being routed home! YEAH!! It is just the right time as I was started to lose my mind with all this hullabaloo. Now I feel like I can recharge and regroup. My son is so excited that Daddy gets to finally see him play football. I am just so glad to have him HOME!

More Park Pics.

Here are more park pics from our fun in the sun.< >

Above is my 2yr old enjoying one of the 3 houses they have. < >

Here she is swinging. She loves to swing. Reminds me of my oldest who still loves to swing. < >

Here are my 2 little girls enjoying the Dora bike. This was after the meltdown. Notice the 2yr old is pushing the 6yr old. < >

She found a "wooly worm" and he was very active. She picked him up and he crawled all around. She could not contain him. I am thinking we should have kept him for the Wooly Worm Festival where they have Wooly Worm Races. I bet he would have won! < >

My oldest smiles all the time, yet I rarely have her smiling on camera. She is a beautiful young lady. Growing up into a remarkable young woman!

The Sun, Finally!

We have been drenched for a week and a half, nothing but rain. But, alas, the clouds have parted and the sun showed his shiny smiling self to us forlorn people. How did we respond? With glee, joyous glee! We finished up our school work and rushed outside to take a trip to the park. There we spent 4 hours just frolicking in the warm brightness. Oh how we missed you Mr. Sun! It reminded me of the song that Kristina used to sing when she was little, "Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me!" We had a bunch of fun and made new friends. Had a few meltdowns due to two little girls that did not want to share the Dora bike. This too passed and we went on to close out our day in smiles. < >

Here is my son enjoying his bike ride in the park. < >

Here are my little girls having tea time outside their little houses. Notice my 6yr old is "cleaning" the table with a pine branch. She proceeded to "clean" all the houses out. The pine branch was used to sweep, dust, polish, you name it. It was a universal cleaning tool. Maybe I should get one. :) < >

Here is my 6yr old enjoying the playground. She loves to twist around. < >

Here is my 2yr old having her meltdown over her sister taking her Dora bike and riding it around the track. Such drama! < >

Here are all my little monkeys sitting in a tree. Notice the hip peace sign? This was an accident, she was trying to wave, but it was still pretty cute.

Labor Day Weekend

We spent the long weekend at my sisters celebrating Collin's birthday. This was a lot of fun for all the kids and adults too. We camped out in a cabin at the lake on Friday night, roasted marshmallows, ate Hobo sandwiches, fished, played, basically had a good time. The night was fun for us adults as there were 12 of us in a little cabin complete with bunk beds that my sister and I fondly referred to as "prison bunks". Us adults slept some and were awoken bright an early by the birthday boy. He was convinced Katie and his dad were gone. The funny part was that he was sleeping in the bunk next to Katie and did not see that she had ended up on the floor in the middle of the night, or that his dad who was also in a bunk beside him was now on the floor on the blow up mattress with his brother which was also right beside him. We assured him that they were still there, but by then we were all pretty much awake. The next day we got ready for the party and then went back to the lake to celebrate with water balloons, canoe rides, swimming and lots of good food. We also had a pirate cake which my sister made which still has my son's poop coming out in various colors. :) We also got to see almost all of our family members and enjoyed it tremendously. Now we are back home and have gotten back into the swing of things. We have found that we brought a present back with us from cousins house. A much L O V E D present (sarcasm is HEAVY here) in that my youngest has diarrhea and now my 6 yr old has it. Oh the joys of it all... I spoke with my sister and it has started at her house also. Fun fun. So I am off to wipe butts, was nasty clothes, and look for a clothes pin to pin on my nose. I have candles burning in the bathroom to help with the odor, but it is merciless. UGH! The only thing I can say is I am glad it came this week and not next week when my hubby is home. I am soooo looking forward to seeing him since it has been since July! I am hoping we will all be well for his arrival. Until then, I am off to bathroom/washing duty.

Leaves

We took a break from our studies yesterday to enjoy the beautiful fall weather. The kids have found leaves that have fallen and raked them up for a good ole fashion jump leaf pile. They had fun taking turns jumping in and throwing the leaves all around. They then took turns burying each other in leaves and calling me over to come "find" the missing child. When I would get close the hidden one would jump up hollering. I would be shocked of course and they would all get a good laugh. I remember doing this same thing when I was little. What is it about a pile of leaves that just begs you to jump in it, or is that just me? They wanted me to jump in with them, but we needed more leaves before I could do that. I need lots of cushion for my tushion. ;) They would jump in a pile of 10 leaves if I let them. They have no fear of throwing their bodies head over heals to the ground. This is where my age comes into play I guess. Along with our leaf pile fun we are going to football 3 - 4 times a week. Through all these 1 1/2 - 2hr practices my 6yr old has learned to ride her bike without training wheels. We spend most nights just circling the paved track. Her on her big girl bike and my 2 yr old on her little Dora big wheel bike. She just scoots it around with her feet as she cannot quite manage pedalling and steering at the same time. Just when do us females learn all the multi-tasking that is required in life I will never know. :) < >

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Above is the big run and jump into the pile. < >

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The tossing of the leaves. She the joy on that face? < >

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The laughing after she tumbles from the pile. < >

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They stuffed themselves with leaves and became leaf monsters. This is the shaking out of the leaves that did in attempt to get rid of all those pesky leaves from inside their clothes. < >

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Here is my son after his practice one night this week. The quality stinks because I had to take it with my video camera as my other is in need of batteries. No fall blog post would be complete without the football pic. :)