Basketball started for both boys this month and they are both really enjoying it. I ran my second obstacle race on Saturday with several friends (SO MUCH FUN!) and am already planning for my 2014 races- possibly a few out of state since Idaho doesn't have many yet. Jake started coaching the girls 5th/6th grade bball team before school, helping Mr. Perotto (the PE teacher). Faith continues to fly through all of the "Fairy" books in the library. Thank goodness she can read them on her own because they are really not fun to read aloud and she reads between 3-4 each week. Tanner was "Person of the Week" and got to share his slideshow (which he chose to set to "Don't Blink" by Kenny Chesney). Jake won the Courage Award for 5th grade. He was nominated by his classmates for the bravery he shows by "not caring what other people think" and "standing up for other people". Brian continues to like working with the North Boise Little League and tolerates his job due to the work/life balance it allows him. My job is busier than normal, and will probably continue to be so as we add more clients exponentially. When I began, 5.5 years ago, we had about 70,000 students in the U.S. This year we just broke the 2 million mark. Crazy. It's fascinating working with a "start up" company and seeing it grow and grow and grow and knowing I have been a part of it from nearly the beginning.
But the biggest news from the last couple weeks is this: We finished the first book of Harry Potter! Now, to some people this may not seem like such a big deal but Harry Potter holds a special place in Brian and I's hearts. The second book in the series came out a few months after we met and we read all 7 of them together and also saw each movie together. In fact, we saw the first movie with Sheila, Wayne, Sam and Shelby at the Vine Theater in Livermore when I was 7 months pregnant with Jake. We always imagined we'd get to share the HP series with our kids but Jake has had such a difficult time with scary books that we were beginning to think it would never happen. But lately he has conquered this fear and both Tanner and Faith seemed ready, so we have been able to expand our read-aloud
choices to include some of our favorites. So, we began Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Is there ANYTHING better than a read aloud that ends each evening with all three of your children begging you to not stop reading?? They couldn't get enough of the story. And I loved every minute or sharing it with them. We finished the book on Saturday afternoon and followed that up by watching the movie that night. They loved to see what each character in the story actually looked like, compared to the visions they had come up with in their minds. We ordered pizza and ate in front of the TV. I tried to find Bertie's Every Flavor Beans but was unsuccessful so had to settle on Reese's pumpkins instead. The kids all slept together in the bonus room that night so that any residual fear would be assuaged by the proximity of their siblings. I honestly was smiling ear to ear watching the movie and was more than a little happy when they all agreed the book was "way better" than the movie. Of course, we started the second book the very next day and now all three kids are anxiously awaiting to see what happens to Doby the house elf.
I can't believe it is already the end of October and the end of the first quarter of school. Halloween is Thursday and before we know it Thanksgiving will be upon us, then Christmas, and then 2014. Better not blink.
I know, I know.... Fall only officially started about 20 days ago yet it feels like forever since I have posted. In a nutshell, everyone is doing really well. All the kids are settled into their new grade levels and did a great job balancing a hectic football schedule with their schoolwork. It's been really fun actually, even though I have to admit four nights a week of practice sounded almost unmanagable to me and I was worried that the kids would just be dead tired. But they all loved their teams so much that I never once heard a complaint and we got used to eating dinner by 5PM each night in order to get everyone to the right place by 545. Most evenings had Brian and I going to different fields, driving carpools for other neighborhood kids, and trading off coaching for Tanners team, Jake's team, and supporting Faith's cheerleading squad. The great thing was that everyone practiced at THE SAME TIME on the SAME DAYS. Heaven. Each evening ended with everyone meeting back home around 745, having a heavy snack, reading the first Harry Potter book aloud, and going to sleep.
Besides football and the start of school, we have had some fun things going on in the neighborhood. In late September we had our last concert of the season on The Green. It was a combined concert and Food Truck Rally and although the weather gave us a run for our money (nearly blowing away our tent structure) the dark clouds did not dro any rain and there was, luckily, no thunder or lightening. We went with some friends of ours and their kids. The kids ran wild for almost 4 hours, checking in with us periodically for warmth, pleas for more food, or to show us their goodies (they were giving away light sticks to all the neighborhood kids). Brian and I tried food from the three different trucks, drank some really good red wine with our friends, and hung out chatting with lots of neighborhood people. It was a great end of the summer celebration.
Last weekend was the second annual Scary Movie Night at the barn. They show three levels of scary movies: a G movie, a PG movie, and a PG 13 for the teens. We opted for the middle option this year. The barn was decked out in decorations and had a huge bathtub full of candy and another huge tub full of soda. There was popcorn to eat and hay barrels to sit on. We brought our chairs and heavy blankets and enjoyed the show. Brian and Faith ended up walking home early as the movie turned out to be too scary for her, but they waited for us at home, watching The Bee Movie and making some memories of their own.
My big event this fall was the Mayhem Mud Run. I signed up with a couple of friends and played hooky for the football games on Saturday. It was a 5K run with 15 obstacles. Now, I am not in GREAT shape.... but I consider myself in DECENT shape. However, this run (or, more specifically, the obstacles) KICKED MY BUTT. The first obstacle we came upon was two walls set up about 25 yards apart. The walls were about 8 feet tall with no footholds and no way to climb up them. My friends and I stood there staring at them wondering how in the heck we could get up there. A nice man came running up soon and sacrificed his back to get all three of us up far enough so we could grasp the top and pull ourselves over. It was hard! And then there was the next one to get over! There was a lot more walls to climb in varying heights, towers to get across (I had to conquer my fear of heights), really high monkey bars to cross, a section where we had to pick up a tire and run with it around a giant building, a water obstacle in which we had to run through ice cold water up to our waists, and more. It was SO MUCH FUN but I did find myself wondering what the heck I had been thiking actually PAYING to do this to my body! I was very, very sore the next few days.
The Optimist Football season officially ended today. Uniforms have been turned in and the end of the year parties have been thrown. Surprisingly I was a little sad to say goodbye to this part of the year. I watched all three kids grow up so much in their own ways during the last two months. All 3 showed such spirit and determination, perseverence and hard work. But, October should be a little less busy and we may be able to start eating dinner at a normal hour again!
Grandma Mary and Auntie Sue just came out for a visit to watch the football games for a weekend. The way the schedule worked out this year, there was only one Saturday where the games ended up being spaced far enough apart that we could see all of both of them. Fortuitously, it was the weekend that Auntie Sue and Grandma were going to be here. Even better, it was a week that ended with two days off school due to teacher inservice, so the kids were home.
They flew in on a Friday morning and the kids and I picked them up from the airport. It has gotten cold here lately, so I had encouraged them to pack warm clothes, it was in the mid 30's when we picked them up. Once we got back to the house and Jake gave Auntie Sue the tour (she hasn't been here since we moved) they started in on the card games. As usual they player a ton of Old Maid, Crazy 8's, Spoons...you name it they played it.
Marisa was running in a race on Saturday morning (more in her post) so it was just me going to the football games with everyone. Jake/Faith were the first game, which was at 8:30 out in Emmett. Jake's coach likes the team there an hour before the game, which meant 7:30. Emmett is 45 minutes away, which meant we piled everyone in the car, in the dark and cold of a Saturday morning at 6:45. As it starts to turn towards winter, those last few football games are tough, especially the early ones as it's still cold and dark. Everyone was bundled up with sweatshirts under their jerseys, gloves, extra socks etc. Getting hit under those conditions isn't fun to begin with and the Emmett team is a bunch of hard hitting, BIG kids. It was a rough game. They had been coached to hit hard, in every situation, even away from the ball. They had crack back blocks built into their play. All legal stuff, borderline, but legal, but nothing we have coached our kids to do they weren't ready for it. We had kids getting hurt all game, including Jake two different times. We hung with them in the first half but ended up getting pretty soundly beaten in all senses of the word.
Faith did really well in the cold. She got some hot chocolate with Grandma Mary and other than some cold toes, did really well. Grandma Mary and Auntie Sue really seemed to love watching her cheerlead. She is REALLY into it. She had showed them all of her cheers in advance at the house. She pays attention and her coach just loves her. Much to Marisa's chagrin, she will be continuing her cheerleading career with a group cheerleading class over the winter while her brothers are playing basketball.
After the fiasco in Emmett was over, we drove back to town in time for Tanner's flag game. This year the flag teams are playing at the local junior high school and not the optimist park, so parking and moving around are much easier. Tanner's team is about even over the season and played a really good game on Saturday, beating a good opponent pretty soundly. Tanner had played center most of the season and totally loves it. I asked him once why he liked playing center so much, it's not the most glamorous position and he said that he likes not having to block anyone. In his league, this year, the center has to be uncovered by rule. I explained that going forward, it becomes the toughest position to block, which he didn't know. I showed him the nose tackles on some games andTV and that seemed to sober him up. I secretly think he like playing center because he gets to be the person who yells "HUDDLE" each time and the end of the play to call everyone back to the huddle. He does do a greta job snapping the ball and his coach has gone out of his way to thank him for playing center and telling him what an important position it is on the football team. I have asked Tanner if he thinks he'll keep playing football and he told me he'll play his second year of flag, but isn't sure that he wants to continue once he moves up to tackle. So we'll see what happens next year.
So after our full day of football, we headed back home and met up with a tired and sore Mom for nap time prior to Scary Movie Night (more in Marisa's post).
Basketball started for both boys this month and they are both really enjoying it. I ran my second obstacle race on Saturday with several friends (SO MUCH FUN!) and am already planning for my 2014 races- possibly a few out of state since Idaho doesn't have many yet. Jake started coaching the girls 5th/6th grade bball team before school, helping Mr. Perotto (the PE teacher). Faith continues to fly through all of the "Fairy" books in the library. Thank goodness she can read them on her own because they are really not fun to read aloud and she reads between 3-4 each week. Tanner was "Person of the Week" and got to share his slideshow (which he chose to set to "Don't Blink" by Kenny Chesney). Jake won the Courage Award for 5th grade. He was nominated by his classmates for the bravery he shows by "not caring what other people think" and "standing up for other people". Brian continues to like working with the North Boise Little League and tolerates his job due to the work/life balance it allows him. My job is busier than normal, and will probably continue to be so as we add more clients exponentially. When I began, 5.5 years ago, we had about 70,000 students in the U.S. This year we just broke the 2 million mark. Crazy. It's fascinating working with a "start up" company and seeing it grow and grow and grow and knowing I have been a part of it from nearly the beginning.
