so long football season

 On Sunday, Preston's team played their last flag football game for this season.  I really like flag football, I think it is fun for the kids, low stress since there is no score keeping (unless you are a child of ours), and Sunday afternoons in the fall are generally pretty nice to sit outside for a while.

 The coach was one of Preston's best friends dad.  He is really good with the kids, likes them to learn something, and is patient and kind to them.  I like having him for a coach.  He was also Preston's baseball coach this summer.  I hope that he will continue to coach these boys because he does a good job.

 In flag football, everyone gets a medal at the end.  Preston was excited about this, but somehow there was a very long discussion over whether his football medal was worth more money than Quincy's soccer medal from a couple weeks ago.  Quincy is absolutely convinced her medal is pure silver, and thus worth about $1000.  She is also convinced that Preston's is not worth nearly that amount!  My trying to convince her that anyone can buy these medals for around $4 each did not go over very well!  Again, I am convinced that we should stop watching Pawn Stars on TV!

 We went out for dinner with Jim's folks after the final game.  The kids love Golden Corral....I am going on record here to say that I believe they love it because of the desert bar.  Saige was pretty pleased with her brothers!  We were all having a nice meal, and then it happened.  Colin said to Cam "you cannot eat an entire bowl of caramel."  Cameron responded with "challenge accepted."  

Colin was wrong, Cameron can indeed eat an entire bowl of caramel.  And I made Cameron  ride home in Jim's car....because I have heard enough stories from my husband to know where Cameron inherited his ability to eat an entire bowl of caramel.

The moral of the story - I cannot take my children into public places, and I am excessively happy that it is now time for indoor sports - no more freezing outside watching games!

Cameron's first tournament

 Cameron decided to try jr high wrestling.  He has never wrestled before, so we were not sure how it would go for him, but what a better opportunity to try it than during jr high.  The season is literally 4 weeks long, so if you hate it, at least you aren't stuck forever!  He actually is having a lot of fun.  He had his first tournament this weekend.  He got 2 pins and then lost the championship match in points.  I videoed some of the action.....and am reminded why I should not video stuff - I can't be quiet!   :)

 I was pretty excited for Cam - to take 2nd place in your first tournament is pretty awesome!  Plus I was excited to be watching wrestling - and the bonus - indoor sports season is here!

Good Job Cam!

Another marathon weekend

 On Friday, the kids had the day off of school (for what reason....we don't really know).  We needed a day to get caught up, especially after all the crazy of Halloween.  The kids also had their annual fall 4-H kick off the year party.  I never really knew why the 4-H year starts in the fall....but there are apparently a lot of things I don't understand.  Anyhow, the kids had a fun time.  Madison helped with games.  They had their annual cow tongue football game too, of course.  Preston was pretty pumped about this!  

 Fortunately, someone was smart and got 2 cow tongues, so they could separate the little kids from the big ones - the big guys get a little rough!  And cow tongues are not really nice to be hit with!

 Quincy had a great time hanging out with her friends!  She is super excited that a couple of her good friends are joining 4-H with her this year!

 Sadly, this is Mallory and Madison's last year!  :(

 The kids enjoyed decorating cookies that Madison had baked.  The party ended rather abruptly when a storm blew in!

 Saturday, Quincy had her end of season soccer tournament.  Her team did great, winning their first 2 games!

 Unfortunately, they did not win their final game, so they got 2nd place in the tournament.  Second place is still pretty good!  Quincy played really well.  She even got a couple of goals.  These kids only lost one game all season - the final game of the tournament!  They had a great season and a great coach!

 And a girl is always happy if she gets some bling to put around her neck!  She is convinced this is "real silver" and is worth a lot of money.  We are pretty convinced maybe we should stop letting the kids watch Pawn Stars!

 Madison also sold her car this weekend.  The reverse had started slipping, and it had a few other problems she could not afford to fix, so she made the decision to let Mary Anne go.  It was a sad day, for her and especially for Jim!  The good news is that she sold it to a friend of mine.  Her husband is going to fix the car up for their daughter.  This means the car will once again be cherished by a new driver!  It has been a great first car and we hope it will be for their family as well!

 A couple weeks ago, our landlord made us an offer we couldn't refuse and we bought the Amityville house.  We are still planning to build, but this will buy us a little time, and we hope may be a little money maker project for us.  First step, we are having it painted.  The yellow parts are siding.  The siding is grody, so we are having it power washed, and then just painting the trim.  It has needed this for a  while.  This old house is in desperate need of some love.  I am excited to have a project to sink my "spare time" into.  We are painting the lower level ourselves, and we have hired a local man to help with the high stuff.  We all know how well I like heights!  :)  I am super excited to see the finished project!  These are the before pictures....well except the one of the back, we started painting before I thought about wanting before shots!  The house has a lot of cedar trim, and it is in rough shape -- mostly because cedar is a rough wood, but also because its old.  The painting has been a little bit harder than I would like it to be! 

 We debated about maybe doing brown trim, but in the end decided to stick with the white.....mostly because I feared the house would look like a giant sunflower when we were done....and I hate sunflowers!

 Saige has been a little too excited by her stash of Halloween candy.  She got up this morning and when I asked her what she wanted for breakfast she declared "candy!"  Well that didn't happen!  But I told her when we got home from church maybe she could have some.  Well, low and behold, she managed to get into her bucket when we were cooking lunch!  She was rather pleased with herself!  If you can't decide which flavor you want, go ahead and eat 4 suckers!

Preston was supposed to play flag football this afternoon, but the game was cancelled.  I know he was disappointed, but it was sure nice to have a little extra time at home!

Some Fall Photos

 For the first time in 13 years, we are living in a house with established trees in the yard.  The leaves falling has created a great source of entertainment for the little ones.  I am sure that the novelty of raking will wear off long before the job is done!  But for now, they beg to go out and rake!

 I tried to take some fall photos of the kids - I am more convinced than ever that we need to go camera shopping.