can't forget the other kids

Luke was not my only child dressed up for Halloween - it was all just a blur that went by quickly with not much picture taking.  Bad mom or busy mom - you make the call, just be kind.

Emily got to go to her first dance at church - always an exciting event.  This picture is of the girls right before the left to go and get their Halloween Dance groove on.  

My kids were great about costumes this year.  They all knew that I was probably not going to find time to sit at the sewing machine to make costumes but none of them got bent out of shape.  All 4 kids have are so considerate and easy going when they sense I am on the verge of a mental breakdown - I love them for that.

Emily was a creepy doll - it was a costume I made Megan a couple years back.  In fact Megan wore it to her first dance.   She looked cute and she loved the new red shoes I bought her to go with the costume.

Megan said she would be whatever I could find at the costume store - this proved to be difficult. I'm now stepping up on my soapbox...what in the world are people thinking?  Every female costume is so inappropriate it's unbelievable.  I am not going to send my 14 year old out in a hoochi-fied costume.  Think of any character - snow white, a baby, a butterfly, even frankenstein and they have that costume available completely skanked out for girls to wear with everything exposed.  It was making me crazy.  I ended up finding an almost decent witch costume - everything was good except the length - it was so so short.  I found black fabric that matched the sleeves on the dress and so I made an underskirt for the costume to give it more length (so I guess I did get on the sewing machine for a few minutes)  The costume turned out well and Megan stayed covered.

Nate was the easiest.  We have a gorilla costume - doesn't everyone? and Nate said that was what he wanted to wear.  Alright by me - how easy can that be?!?!  He loved the costume so much I would occasionally find him wearing it before Halloween.  The picture below was days before Halloween - he just put it on to watch tv.  Not sure how that could be comfortable but you can't really mess with a gorilla so we let it go.

black widows, trojans and cougars

Today was the season opener for soccer.  We started our day at the fields at 9 am for some practice before Luke's 9:30 am game - Black Widows vs Red Dragons.  

The picture below cracks me up.  The Black Widows has just scored - notice the smiles on everyone but the one Red Dragon kid in the middle.  His expression makes me laugh - he looks totally outraged by our teams goal.

While Derek and I were in the parent tunnel Emily snapped this great shot of Luke running though - good job Emmy!
When Luke's game ended Derek, Emily and Luke headed off to the Oakley family picnic and I took Megan and Nate home for a quick change into Nate's soccer uniform and then we were off to the next field for an 11:15 am call time.  By the time the game started at 12 pm we were roasting - it was so terribly hot here today.

Nate looked sharp in his Trojans uniform and he had a great time playing.  Both he and Luke have never played soccer before so they are learning lots but I was impressed with how well Nate did.


Love the action shots.  Because of the heat a lot of boys on our team were not doing well. We didn't have kids to substitute in so they all got worked hard but everyone managed to finish the game and I'm sure everyone was happy to climb into air conditioned cars.
We eventually met up with the rest of the family for the picnic until 4 pm and then it was straight home so Derek could plant himself in front of the tv to watch his beloved Cougars.  It was a very sports filled day.

mom, i'm bored

I'm sure I am not the only parent hearing this phrase at the moment.  Some days I am tempted to run away from home if I hear "i'm bored" one more time.  It hasn't been a constant whine but we have had a few days that were worse then others.

On one particular day we headed over to Michael's to try and beat the boredom.  We were met with success.  

Nathan got a kit explaining all about the virtues of marshmallow shooters.  The kit came with everything necessary to make a small shooter.  Couple that with the 3 bags of mini marshmallows we got at the store and Nate was set for a good few hours of entertainment.

Luke's purchase was a Superhero kit.  I actually didn't think that this would be a successful activity for curing his boredom but I couldn't have been more wrong.  Who am I to mess with the power of America's superheroes?

The kit came with a fantastic red cape, a superhero i.d. card (all good superheroes carry an i.d.), face masks, wristbands (that contained powers to control the universe) and a bunch of stickers. The end result...Luke saving the world for hour upon hours.  He managed to fight the villain Boredom for the whole day and continued to battle evil up until bedtime.  

Yes, this was a highly successful kit from Michael's and worth every penny.

Protecting the universe...Super Zap!

Stinging evil with his bare, dirty hands...it's Captain Buzz

it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a Star Boy!