Fall Sports

It is always a sigh of relief when a season of Sports ends, especially with three kids playing. (What are we going to do when Ruby starts playing???) It was another great season, though, and the kids all did really well. We'll start with the oldest - Spencer. Spencer played soccer again this Fall, and he had a great coach. He randomly got a friend of Bryan's from work - Woody - as his coach, and he learned a lot and had a great time. The highlight for Spencer was getting to play goalie, which he did for at least a quarter every game. It was very stressful for us as parents on the sideline (nobody wants the whole game riding on their child!!), but he did such a great job. We were really proud of him. His timing was really good, his instincts were good, and he had no problem diving right onto a ball that was about to get kicked! He had a great season.

Tyler played his first season of Flag Football this Fall, and although he didn't love it as much as his season of tackle, he just loves to be out there tearing around the field. In his first game he caught an interception and ran it back for a touchdown, so the season started off with a real bang! He continued to play hard, and make some great plays, and we just loved watching him. I'm looking forward to seeing him back on the soccer field this Spring, and playing basketball this Winter.

Ella had another fun season of soccer this Fall, and I stepped in as her coach. Wow, was that fun!! I knew it would be, but have hesitated in the past because I worried about over committing. But it was great...usually. We had the same group of girls that we had last Spring, but this year we had to move up an age division. So we went from being the biggest and toughest team out there, to getting our cans kicked each week! And I mean kicked!! It was a humbling experience for the girls, who were used to scoring multiple times each per game. But honestly, they never got down about it, and continued to play really hard against much bigger girls. I was very proud of them, and especially Ella. She was a tough little cookie out there, even after getting hit in the face with the ball...really hard!

And little Ruby...the best sport out there! She spent her Saturdays out at the field, cheering on her brothers and sister (OK, bumming snacks), and she was a little team mascot for Ella's team. This picture of her sitting on the bench at Ella's game is my absolute favorite!!! This is what she did!! She just sat on the team bench, watching me out there coaching, and just being a gem. She was just part of the team!

Halloween

Halloween, the beloved holiday of costumes and candy, has come and gone. We had some good costumes this year, and as always, received way too much candy. It was quite obscene, really. So starting with Spencer, here are the costumes for 2010:
Spencer - Poseidon (inspired by his current obsession with the Percy Jackson books)
Tyler - Skull Ninja (Tyler never really cares what he is for Halloween. He just wants to look cool.)
Ella - A bride (Looked way too cute!)
Ruby - Blue Monster, aka Cookie Monster (She picked her costume out of the plethora of costumes we have at home from past years, and she just loved this one. We weren't completely sure if she was going to stick with Cookie Monster when the day arrived - because she occasionally told people that she was going to be a lion or Spiderman, her two other favorites - but in the end she wore this one for both Halloween parties, for the church Trunk-or-Treat, and for the actual day of Halloween.)

Is this not the pose of all poses?? I swear this could have been me, in younger years. Very dramatic, never satisfied with a simple pose or costume. Oh Spencer...

This year I made a Mummy Meatloaf for dinner, and the kids really got a kick out of that guy.


Bryan did another outstanding job on the pumpkins this year, and didn't have any feeling left in his right hand for about 24 hours after the carving. But don't they look cool???

And this is the loot!!! Is that an insane amount of candy, or what?? They pooled it all together in a big garbage bag, and it was so heavy that it ripped through the plastic! We will never be able to eat all of this. But boy were they proud of it!!

Fun in the Fall

This Fall has been a whirlwind of activities, as it always is, but it has been a lot of fun. So I thought I'd document a few of the activities that have kept us busy! First up...the Elementary School Fall Festival. They have this festival every year, and it is something that the kids really look forward to. They have tickets that they can use to do a cake walk (we won THREE cakes this year!), play little games, get their faces painted, get balloon animals, and get their hair sprayed a color (which the older three all did). Bryan and I always leave there exhausted, but it's so much fun for the kids.

This Fall we decided to make gourmet caramel apples. We saw some in a candy store in Galveston, and they looked so good! But they were seriously $20 each. I thought to myself...I can make those! And we did. We made six of them. All of them were covered in caramel and milk chocolate, and then topped with another special topping - one covered in M&Ms, one covered in cubed Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, one covered in white chocolate drizzle, one covered in crushed Oreos and white chocolate drizzle, and two covered in coconut and roasted pecans. Boy were they good! They were the best that first night, and I seriously had dreams of eating more that night.
Ella's Kindergarten class went on a Field Trip to a farm this Fall, and I was lucky enough to be able to chaperon. They went on a hayride, fed some goats, pet all sorts of farm animals, and got to feel some slimy worms. Ella had a great time, and it was fun to be there with her and her friends. (I love how disgusted Ella looks in this first picture, like there is no way she's going to touch those worms! But then just look at her...she loved it!)
Now this last picture needs no explaining. Anybody who has ever seen my hair in the morning knows where Ruby gets this crazy rat's nest. That is some serious bed head, Ruby!!

Camping at Enchanted Rock

We went on a really fun camping trip over Columbus Day Weekend, up to a place called Enchanted Rock. It's just about an hour and a half away, and it basically consists of three large pink granite hills that pop up right in the middle of nowhere. It is quite pretty, actually, and it is a great spot for camping and hiking. And the weather we had that weekend...it couldn't have been nicer! So, we camped just for one night, and then hiked the following day. We went with some friends of ours, the Anderson's, and this was her first camping trip ever. I think it was a pretty sweet first camp out, and hopefully she'll be up for going again. The campsites that we had were definitely the best in the park. They were right up against the rocks, so the kids could hike and climb the entire time we were there. We cooked some mean Aluminum Foil dinners in the fire that night, followed by cobbler in the dutch oven AND homemade ice cream. That was my great idea, and it was quite a hit. We made it in freezer baggies (quart size inside gallon size), and then we threw them back and forth or swung them around in towels. Quite a sweet treat for a campout! Then we sat around the fire, had a great time, and then got the kids settled into the tents for the night. Oh, and this was Ruby's first time sleeping in a tent too! She did great, as did all the kids. Did I mention the gorgeous weather?? The moms and dads enjoyed a little more fire time, then we all hit the sack. I slept like a champ! The next morning we cooked up a great breakfast of egg and sausage burritos, OJ, and hot chocolate. Then we broke down our campsite, hiked it all back to the cars (oh yes, we had to hike in to the campsite...not an easy task when taking a family with 4 little kids camping!), and got ready for some serious hiking. And hike we did!!! Both families made it to the top of the rock, and then even part way into a cave (the rest of the cave was narrow, pitch black, and required head lights...not the best idea with a two year old in a backpack!). Then the Anderson's decided to head back for home, while we decided to hike around a little more. We ended up hiking around for much longer than we had planned, due to taking several wrong turns and needing to hike up and down some serious rough terrain. All in all we hiked for about 4 hours, and the kids were just champs. We were all so hot and tired by the time we got down, though. The boys stripped down to their undies for the ride home, and the girls both crashed within minutes. The entire drive home Bryan and I planned and plotted our next family camping trip, and we can hardly wait to go again.











Look at our poor kids sandwiched into our car!! There was just barely space for them to sit, as you can see in these next few pictures. We've recently purchased an extension for the back of our car, so that our next road trip or camping trip should be a much nicer ride for the kids.