Number 8

Tanner played in his first tackle football game this morning. The day started early with a weigh-in for the team scheduled for 7:00am.








Tanner scored 1 of the 3 touchdowns.
He tackled... and he got tackled! Warriors won!

Connor read "Septimus Heap Book Four QUESTE" by Angie Sage, while watching Tanner out of the corner of his eye.

Allison played with her friends.

Scott was bummed to miss Tanner's first game, but it was for a good reason: He went to part of Quinn's scout camp out-- the bike ride part. Scott is a merit badge guy for cycling. All the trails were washed out, so they rode the dam back and forth at Joe Pool Lake. Quinn did 25 miles. He has a 50 miler to go and he's done with that badge.

Speaking of first games, Quinn missed his first baseball one of the season because of the camp-out. There were a couple of other games scheduled before this one, but they were rained out.

Connor's first soccer game will be next weekend (today's was rained out).

Just some photos

Tanner creating with Junior Mints and toothpicks.

The ball was fun, even after it was out of air.
A school morning.
A school girl.

Pads for Tackle

Tanner's first game is scheduled for tomorrow. I asked my friend if she watched when her boys played football (I don't want to see Tanner get hurt). And she said, yes, that she watched and she told them to hit harder! I reassure myself that Scott played football, too, and he's okay!
In fact, lots of people play football.....

Company

Last weekend, we had a visit from Dan, Melissa, George, Ben and baby Henry. We fed the "junk fish" at Joe Pool Lake. Remember when we did it with John and Melissa, Josh, Hyrum, Matthew and Seth? They performed well for us, sloshing on top of each other, fighting for the bread we were feeding them.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was in the mornings....the kids would just be upstairs talking away. So, we'd get them up and take them downstairs. The kids would feed Henry and we'd change him. It was such a treat!

Oh, and of course I loved our girls' night out to Cheesecake Factory. Yum! And the stories Eldon told after the BYU game were killing us. We got to spend time with Eldon and Stephanie and Sophie, too.

We also got together on Saturday afternoon with our friends who moved to Mansfield. The kids swam and swam. The adults (and Sami) just talked and talked and laughed. We had delicious burgers and the kids acted like they never get Root Beer. We appreciate their hospitality. Allison said that their house is almost like a mansion. It is very beautiful and so are they!

The things they write and say

THE THINGS CONNOR WRITES

So, I have been cleaning the kitchen this morning, and I came across some papers on the bar that I need to do something with. So, this is how I am getting rid of one of the papers....Connor wrote this to his teacher (she gave the class some questions about getting to know them as readers).

Dear Mrs. Doskocil,

When I was about the age of four my mom taught me how to read little books. As I got older I started to realize that I was using up almost all of my spare time reading for fun. ONe of my favorite books when I was little was Go Dog Go. I read this book over and over. The only time I don't like reading is when I have to do a book report on it, or if it is too girly. I have always worried about my grades, school and homework, bu tthis year I hope I can overcome that.

From: your student,
Connor

THE THINGS THE KIDS SAY

On a little post-it note, I wrote down what was said the other morning:

Tanner: "We could bike."
Allison: "But I'm going to have pig tails."

Things can be complicated around here in the mornings. We tried to come up with a routine (like: scoot, bike, walk, repeat). But, things keep getting in the way (like: me not remembering the order, rain, big cello instrument) Luckily, we still seem to make it to school each morning!

She's in Kindergarten

Last playdate of the summer....Elly and Ava came over to play, and dance and dress-up.

Allison the kindergarten girl!

Her locker.

Her spot at the table.

Her big brothers.

She did fine, but I had to hug the teacher. Mrs. Davis has taught both Connor and Tanner. I'm grateful the school honored our request to have her teach Allison. When we went to "Meet the Teacher" night, Mrs. Davis said she's been praying for us to have another child, so that this doesn't have to be her last one to teach. Funny, we've been praying for the same thing!

She had gymnastics right after school on Monday. We still had a chance to talk some about school......I had been told that there were 28 students in Mrs. Davis' class, so I asked Allison about all those children in her class. She said there were like 52, maybe even more, and they had to share lockers, some kids, not her though. She did think the day was long, "when is this ever going to end - wow." She likes Mrs. Davis but was afraid to ask her for a band-aid this morning. She scraped her knee while we were riding scooters to school. Oh, and the school is bringing in another Kindergarten teacher to help with the high numbers. Mrs. Davis said Allison will stay with her---I couldn't be happier!

And I would still like to blog a few things from summer......
just not right now or it will be too hot to exercise outside!

The King of the Lemonade Stand......has gone back to school

This is me after I took the elementary kids to school, including my baby girl.

If you squint, you can see Quinn---red shirt, plaid shorts, black backpack, he's in the cross walk, it looks like he's to the corner of the maroonish car. No, he's not going to look back!

Quinn, King of the Lemonade Stand, has entered the highest level of junior high. Quinn is in 8th grade this year. He was easy to "let go" this fall. After all, he's been in junior high before and he has grown some, and he knows the ropes. We've adjusted an English class and he's prepped for math after summer tutoring from a Jr. Hi. teacher. He's ready. He has his violin restrung with "fancier" strings, since he's not in elementary anymore.

Quinn was my buddy Monday morning. He kindly came up to the elementary school with me, so I wouldn't have to come home alone after dropping the younger kids off. He was willing to go on Tuesday, but I was fine to do it alone. I know, pretty quick adjustments on my part.

You'll have to squint on the middle picture of him going up to the school, taken from inside the van. That's about as close as he'll let me get to the school and him. Scott's a little more cool than me at this point in Quinn's life. It's weird, but I think it's normal. I don't think he even wants to talk much when I let him out, lest someone see that he has a mom and actually talks to her!

I have been quite productive this week. Laundry, dishes, laundry, dishes, this morning I've been working on....you know. I get teary eyed off and on, with Monday being toughest. But yesterday, I was putting some clothes away in Allison's closet and organizing, and knocked off the little lambie pull-toy that started to play the little lullaby when it hit the floor. I must've knocked it again, because it played a few more notes a little later. Oh, sadness. Well, I must be off to go ride my bike to the park and run a couple of laps, because I'm just going to sit here and cry if I don't. Oh, and I slipped in some visiting teaching this week---my companion and I said "no tears" and we both did great!