Trick or Treat, Smell my feet, No Weight Watchers till next week

Here they are in all their glory!! Carter, the Firefighter couldn't even lug his pumpkin towards the end because it was so heavy with candy (I have a horrible feeling that Mommy will lighten it up considerably). Good thing there wasn't a pressing emergency, people could die waiting for him, I know we almost did, in the car, out of the car, in the car, out of the car.... Zoe was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz right down to her sparkly red shoes which, I was happy (read "happy" sarcastically please) to notice Michael did not get in her pictures, sheesh whats the point of having sparkly red shoes at all? Grandma Louise made her dress, she looked so sweet in it ( amazing what costuming can do!). Sierra was....wait for it, wait.... a pirate. BIG surprise, I honestly won't be surprised if she does pilage and plunder for a career someday. Sammi looked hilarious in her Granny costume. She even had a great big Granny fanny. Note the "backside photo" please. And Jax was a "chick magnet" wishful thinking, I'm sure. That about does it---glad the kids had fun but I am partied out.

No Kidding He Does!

Yes it's true, Carter does still live with his parents. If he were the only one then there would be no problem. PROBLEM--a whole lotta other kiddos live here too. Not only do they live here, but they want food here, and homework help here, and laundry services here, and entertainment here, and transportation here... About three weeks ago I was asked to be Primary President and Sunday the 28th I was sustained. I can't tell you how much time I have spent dealing with that. I had to come up with new counselors, secretary and music person plus replace 6 of the 8 teachers. Consequently my blogging has suffered immensely, apologies to Brenda. If you want to try and get me excused from this time consuming ordeal please do. I am deathly afraid come this sunday Primary as Royal II Ward knows it will come screeching to a horrific halt. I am completly changing every schedule, sharingtime, classroom, etc... You can see how things might get a teensy bit, hmmm, what's the word??? Kerflummexed? You see all you people out in Blogville, Brenda has learned what not to do by reading my blogs. For instance she knows not to teach four preschool classes a week, volunteer in kids classrooms, hold two hour presidency meetings, have an oldest daughter come down with fifths disease (I should publish a picture of her RED face for ya all), have 5 children, a home, and a husband who is almost 80% decorative. Come November thru April (irrigation design season for you City folks) he is 98% decorative. How will Brenda know to avoid all those pitfalls without me blogging, how indeed. Good luck little sis you might be on your own. P.S. Do read twilight, new moon, and eclipse (ooops did I give away that I had time to read but not blog?)

I'm BAAACCCKKK

I know, I know how does one catch up on about 3 weeks of life? If I knew that my house would be clean, laundry done, children carefully, thoughtfully attended too and so on. Well let's see....tomorrow is Jackson's last football game, Sammi and Sierra's soccer season has officially ended. Sammi discovered a talent for soccer, Sierra not so much. I will include some pictures of Sierra a couple of them are blurry but that is because she is dancing. That is what Sierra did during her soccer games--it would crack Mom, Courtney and I up, and frustrate the heck out of Michael and Matt. I will also try to include a video clip of one of her games -- note the boy on the yellow team picks up the ball twice to get it in better position! Jackson just finished his first homecoming week in Middle School today they had a dance but he and his best buddy went home during that--not quite ready for the girls yet---THANK HEAVENS. Carter and Avery collided one night under Matt and Michaels care I might add (might and did) and Carter ended up with a black eye. At church people kept asking him what happened and he would truthfully say "Avery did it"! Courtney loved that. My peace and quiet has officially ended -- I know this because I can hear Carter yelling TOP it Zo, Top it now! (translated that means Zoe please desist from annoying me immediately) Stay tuned soon I may have time to blog about the Salmon run and the Trip to Boise--12 kids, two Grandmas, four mothers, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Game Anyone?

You may not hear from me this week....I may not hear from myself this week. Sammi and Sierra have 3 soccer games to be played on Monday and Wednesday. Jackson has football games in Ephrata on Tuesday, at Royal on Thursday, and during half time of the varsity game Friday , and then in Othello on Saturday. That pretty much sums up my week. Sometimes I think this is insane; why don't we tell our kids no to all of this, but I think I got my answer on Saturday. Jackson's team was winning 6 nothing with less than three minutes in the game, then the other team scored and made their extra point putting them up by 1. With a sinking feeling I watched the other team kick off to us. Tanner(Jax's bestest buddy since birth) caught the ball and started running to the left and the other team (HUGE freaks of nature trust me on this) went left charging Tanner down. One boy on our team, yells " follow me Tanner", and switches to the right and lead blocks Tanner 40 yards for the touchdown! So the kids are jumping up and down screaming when "lead blocker boy" comes up to Michael (yes he is coaching the team again after swearing he would take this year off) and says, "coach I am not an emotional kid but I feel like crying right now"!! The thing is this kiddo hasn't had the easiest life. In fact Michael has been his football coach since he was in third grade and he can be hard at times. Last year he watched his Dad break his mom's arm in a drunken rage. I quit thinking he was a turkey about then, and started thinking how easy it is to judge wrongly. His Mom counts on him for a lot, and now I think of him more as a little soldier in an unfair war. But Saturday he led another soldier to victory and he felt so good and happy he hardly knew what to do. If this little guy and countless others can feel success and pride in team sports, then that might be the positive they need to rise above whatever they have to rise above. I think I am pretty lucky to get to know my kids classmates in this setting---remind me of this next time I complain about seven games in a week.