October Magic

I love Fall.

I love the crispy leaves and the colder weather and taking my jeans off the high shelves of the closet and putting my shorts and sundresses away. I love that the kids are fully into school- no more crying at drop off for Faith, homework routine is set,  etc...  I love that the nights and mornings are chilly but the afternoons are clear and blue skies. I love that this year we are gearing up for a family RV trip to the Oregon Coast the day after Halloween  (another adventure).  I love the kids costume choices this year (no more football players!)-Jake is a rock star, Faith is a unicorn, and Tanner is a glow-in-the-dark skeleton.  I love the fall events in the neighborhood: Scary Movie Night was two weeks ago and last night was the neighborhood kids Halloween Party. There was a scarecrow contest, a jack-o-lantern contest, and a contest for scariest/most original house decorations. I love that we didn't enter any of these contests but got to enjoy everyone else's efforts. (Yeah... Fall brings out my laziness.). I love making apple crisps for desert and eating soup for dinner again. I love taking the crock pot out of its summer hiding place and putting it to good use.  I love going to Capital High football games and cheering on the local high school team. I love that the kids are old enough to stay home alone while Brian and I walk Jackson down to the Merc for breakfast each Sunday while enjoying good conversation, fall colors,  and the sound of crunching leaves.

And, last but not least, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the Giants are in the playoffs and we haven't missed a single inning.

Yes, I'm a dork. but...Life is good.

End of the Season

Jake's football season ended prematurely with a broken collar bone. We had a game this morning and he had to watch from the bench in his jersey with the other injured kids. 

His team is woeful this year and the season ending is kind of merciful at this point. We have a good group of kids but they don't want to block or tackle all that much, so we have struggled to be effective moving the ball. We lost to another 1 win team this morning with kids smaller than ours. We're kind of at a loss as a coaching staff what to do. 

This is our team, less new kids and attrition, for the the next four years, so we're hoping that they mature into football players before next season starts. Most of them don't like the contact, tackling and blocking from the side and trying anything not to have to hit or get hit. Needless to say, this makes it difficult to be successful at tackle football. We have one more week of practice and a final game next weekend with a team party.

YBall coaches meetings are this week and we start practice the week after that, so no break between football and basketball. It will be nice to get Tanner back into doing something and he loves playing basketball, so I am looking forward to getting him back out onto the court. Hopefully Jake will be healed up enough to not miss the start of basketball season.