trick or treat...smell my feet!

the boys went trick or treating tonight!!! will the sugar rush ever end?? i think grady has been on a sugar high since 11:00 this morning at gabe's class party! the girls in the class think grady is soooo cute and they show him how cute he is by giving him m&m's!!! gee, thanks! so, shawn and the boys headed out to pilfer for candy, while i stayed at home waiting for ghosts and goblins to come to our door!!! oh, i hear one now!! goodie!!

a spookerific classroom party!

today, we had gabe's classroom harvest party...formally known as a halloween party! now somehow--without my knowledge--i have been nominated as room party mom! no, i was not drugged and then signed up, nor did i have a moment of weakness and signed my name on the dotted line...no, no it seems the teacher was needing a willing victim and i looked like a great, creative, out going choice. (mr. davis' words, not mine!) after agreeing to "help out" with parties, i have now been thrust into the head honcho of all room parties for this year!!! yeah?!! well, even if this was not what i exactly had planned for my room volunteering this year...i don't do anything half-heartedly and we had a bang up harvest party! we face painted, decorated sugar cookies, made spider cookies, played hot pumpkin (similar to hot potato!), candy corn toss (toss candy corn into a jack-o-lantern), harvest bingo, and a memory trick or treat alphabet game! shawn was the hit of the party with his face painting...he had kids lined up forever wanting his expert artistry on their face! yes, i even wrangled shawn into helping out! for better or worse..in good times and in bad times--yes, i remember those words--we're in this together! the kids had a great time...they were very well behaved and very polite! all of the kids kept saying what a great time they had and a few even said they thought this was the best halloween party ever!!!! ahhh, music to the room mom's ears!!! i'm sure mr. davis paid them to say that so i wouldn't quit before the thanksgiving feast next month! but whatever, i take ego stroking where i can get it!

it's pumpkin carving time!

it's pumpkin carving time!

last night we carved our pumpkins! this was the first year grady really got into it...at first he was less that impressed with the goop inside the pumpkin...but he eventually warmed up to the idea of the squishy, yucky stuff! gabe and i had some pre warm up to the pumpkin carving. on wednesday, his class had pumpkin math! the class weighed, measured, counted grooves, counted seeds, and carved a pumpkin! there were 3 parents and the kids were seperated into 6 groups--of my 8 kids, i had a few that had never carved a pumpkin before! this boggled my mind....gabe's class is very ethinically diverse--so i guess it shouldn't have surprised me, but it did! so it was a very neat experience for me to get to be part of this memory for these kids...i don't think they will ever forget when they opened up the pumpkin and had to get the goop out!! okay back to the fox pumpkin carving! so of course we cannot just have a normal jack-o-lantern--no, no, we have to have a fancy one! this year we have a skeleton face and a pirate ship! maybe our best yet!! this year gabe was a big help, he helped trace the picture and even did some carving. grady was our little foreman - after degooping the pumpkin--he sat on shawn's lap telling him how to carve! such an expert at 3! tonight we are toasting up the pumpkin seeds (or pumpkin nuts as grady called them!) yum-o!

grady's last soccer practice!

grady and his teammates practicing stopping the ball!

it's kick off time.....grady and nolan getting ready to start the scrimmage!

monday night was grady's last soccer practice...he has his one and only game on saturday at 11:30! at practice...which by the way was nice and dry!!...they had a scrimmage! if the game on saturday is anything like their scrimmages have been...this is going to be a hoot! there are only 2 kids that are really into playing soccer and the rest (yes, this includes grady!) are just there to chase each other, blow dandelion seeds, and occasionally kick the ball! while he may not have been totally into practicing every time he had practice, i wouldn't say this has been a waste! grady has had a great time! it has also given him his turn to shine...we are always so busy taking gabe to this practice and that game, that sometimes grady gets lost in it all...so this has been nice, finally gabe is the cheerleader on the sidelines! and in all that he has even learned how to dribble a soccer ball...not bad for 50 bucks!!

grady's turn to throw the ball in!

trunk or treat!

trunk or treat!

tonight our church hosted a trunk or treat! the kids got to load up on candy and play some great "carnival" type games! the boys had a blast and the best part--they finally got to wear their batman costumes! they looked absolutely adorable as the "old" and "new" batmen! i told shawn, i should of held off on buying candy for our trick-or-treater's--i could have just used some of the kids'---oh, how cheap!

fireballs vs. chargers

gabe #8 a.k.a team captain--shaking hands before the game

this morning was a great morning for a soccer game! we had a wonderful sunshiney day! i was a little nervous for the fireballs, since usually they perform best in yucky weather, but they proved my nervousness wrong today! the final score 7-4! yeah!! the icing on the win??? the chargers were a team of 8 and 9 year olds, so that made the win even a little sweeter! gabe had a good game - we actually found out this evening, 9 hours after the game, that he wasn't feeling well, so I should say, gabe had a great game for not feeling top notch! he stopped a couple of scores as goalie, and had a couple of assists! he stole the ball quite a few times from those bigger, older boys!! what a tricky little player! he was also team captain again today!! we only have a couple of more games--and honestly--as much as i love watching my boys play soccer--i am a little excited about getting our saturdays back! the touristy side of me is itchin' to go do some adventuring!!

go get 'em gabe!

it's pumpkin patch time....again!

grady's preschool class at craven farm pumpkin patch! in case you didn't know.....yes, grady is indeed pumpkin royalty!

ah yes, finally the perfect pumpkin!

yesterday, grady and i headed to craven farms with his preschool class! i had already had forewarning that this pumpkin patch was probably not going to be as cool as the one we visited a couple of weeks ago...so with that information, we headed out! the pumpkin "tour" began with a storytime and cookie (i don't know if grady really even listened to the 2 gals presenting the story or if he was more interested in his cookie!) and then we headed outside to play on the tractors, boat, pirate ship and check out all of the nursery rhyme inspired pumpkin displays! after that came the time to go in search of the perfect pumpkin! after our hunt last week grady knew just what he wanted....a huge pumpkin! unfortunately, with the "tour" came a somewhat smaller version, so with that dissappointment behind him, he was now in search of a fat pumpkin! after trekking the whole pumpkin patch we found the perfect little squatty, fat pumpkin! we ended our pumpkin patch field trip with a break for snacktime and a class picture! grady and i had a great time---even if there wasn't a pumpkin shooter!

giddy up little sheep!! hmmm...he's not moving!

a man on a mission....gotta find that tractor!

yeah, finally found that tractor--where ya going farmer grady?

it's not soccer...we call it soggy soccer!

he may be sweet and cuddly on the inside, but he's a big, bad soccer player on the outside!

oh yes, you guessed it, poor grady got to practice in the rain AGAIN!!! which clearly means, we had the opportunity to sit and watch grady practice in the rain AGAIN!! today grady was a little more into practicing though! they played a circle game where they tried to get each others balls out of the circle...grady didn't quite understand the object of this game. the coach told him to protect his ball and he was very good at that--he would just stand with the ball between his legs! but then, she would tell him to go after one of the other player's balls, so he would and then they would kick his ball out!! he was just not impressed! the next game they played was running up and down the field, dribbling their ball and shooting goals...but to add an element of excitement the coach's daughter (she is 7 and the asst. coach!) would randomly take their ball away!! the object was to teach the kids to stay away from someone taking their ball, but it just upset them...that game ended quickly! even through sitting in the rain, it is the absolute best getting to watch our little guy try so hard...he gets so excited after his nap on monday, he can barely contain himself until 4:30!! it is a wonderful outlet for all of his energy---i would have never guessed at 3 he would try so hard or have such determination--our little guy may be growing up, but it sure is great being along for the ride!
grady getting ready to shoot a goal!! go grady!!

soccer saturday!

go fireballs!!!! gabe getting ready to take it down field!

on saturday, we had our first traveling game....fortunately we only had to travel about 25 minutes from home! now that is my kind of traveling soccer league! it was a beautiful saturday morning for a soccer game, but as we all know the fireballs do not seem to perform in optimal weather conditions!! well, today was no exception!! the fireballs played the blue thunder with an ending score of 8-4. bummer. gabe's team only had 8 players which meant they were rotated in every 5 minutes...our coach is great he makes sure every player gets the same amount of field time, but usually there are a few more players and the kids get a little more of a break. so needless to say by the end of the game our kids were pooped! gabe played goalie twice...and a couple of those sneaky little scores got by, but he definitely stopped more than he didn't! the blue thunder made the most of the home field advantage, plus they had an awesome kicker...he seemed to just always be able to find the sweet spot! even though the fireballs didn't come up with the win, one of the little guys on our team had his first score--i was sitting by his mom, she was so proud! his name is junior and last week he was soooo close several times to scoring, so it was just wonderful that he finally got to score!! so that is our silver lining to a fireball loss!!! we have another traveling game this weekend....we'll see how far we travel for that one!

gabe getting ready to steal that ball away from the blue thunder!!

playtime with josiah!

yesterday, carla and i took the boys to the country village in bothell! they had a great time playing on merry-go-round, in the sand box shaped like a boat, on the swings, and the best part...the train ride!!! the boys loved the train ride--they rode together in the caboose--and the best part, the moms were 3 cars ahead of them!! who knows what was going on in that caboose...no doubt, tons of giggles!! the best part of the train ride though had nothing to do with the boys! carla and i were busy gabbing away and saw a lady with her child waving at us...so carla and waved back and said hello--it didn't even dawn on us we didn't have our boys in the seat by us and how crazy we must have looked! after we noticed the confused look on her face, we started pointing at the caboose, telling her our kids were in there!!! everyone got a good laugh from that one!! i guess two gals in the tiny train - alone - seemed a little odd to her!! what a great day!

just another soggy soccer practice!

as the title eludes too, yes, i sat through another drencher of a soccer practice!! the start of the practice, by the way, the only picture i took (sorry!) was actually only misty, but then the clouds opened up and soaked us to the bone! grady seemed to be bothered by the rain this time, he spent a lot of this practice spinning in circles and blowing dandelion seeds!! he was interested in the beginning, running races, dribbling, and shooting goals, but when the scrimmage started he lost all interest. i can't say i blame him, i would have lost interest too!!! let's keep our fingers crossed for a dry game next monday!!! thanks!!!

actually, this was before practice - what a good little boy, practicing his dribbling!

soccer, soccer, soccer!

on sunday, gabe had a rematch of last week's game! it was the rhinos vs. the fireballs--and as you may remember we beat them soundly...this week however they came for redemption! the final score was a tie, 3-3, so a sound win we did not achieve, but happily they did not either. as i write this i am contemplating the next thing i am about to write.....another not so wonderful part of the rhinos team is their coach. i believe i mentioned this fella last week, but if i didn't i was a bigger person last week than this one! this coach is competitive to say the least, now there is absolutely nothing wrong with being competitive - i feel a little is healthy, but when he starts degrading his players that's where this momma draws the line!! you'll be relieved to hear that i did not get to speak with this gentleman personally - shawn held me back!! he told me i would need to behave myself or i would have to go sit in the army!! at the time i was a little annoyed, but looking back, i thank him..i would have only been bringing myself to his level--thankfully, we will not be playing this team again!!! i have to remember we have a lot of years of competition ahead of us....hopefully shawn will always be there to hold this crazy momma back! okay, with that off my chest, let's return to the stats of yesterday's game!!! gabe did awesome!! he agained played goalie, and not a ball got past him! he also scored 2 of the 3 goals---hopefully someday i will be able to sit calmly enough to snap a picture of the actual goal-making, but it didn't happen this time! i was jumping around like he'd just won the world cup---hey, he's my kid and i am super proud!! and topping on the cake yesterday, gabe was not only the lead scorer for his team, he was also team captain yesterday!!! GO GABE!!

the great pumpkin patch!!

the great pumpkin patch!

on saturday we ventured north to the pumpkin patch! we had a wonderfully sunny day to hunt for the perfect pumpkin! this pumpkin patch was awesome--it had a pumpkin shooter, corn maze, kids maze, farm animals, tube slide, tractor rides, apple cider slushies, and 1000's of pumpkins!! we started out at the pumpkin shooter--that thing was amazing!! it sent small pumpkins hurling hundreds of feet into the air--lots of fun for a buck! after sending a couple of bucks flying through the air, we decided it was time to board the tractor in search of the perfect pumpkin! of course we aren't satisfied with the first pumpkins we see--no, no we have to tromp all the way to the back of the field! once to the back of the of the field, the great search began! after turning, inspecting from every angle, ensuring that each would set up perfectly--we found 3 perfect pumpkins!!! we loaded them up, scrubbed 'em down, paid for the beauties, then took them to the army! the boys talked nana into hurling some of her money through the pumpkin shooter, and then we headed over to grab an apple cider smoothie and pet the farm animals! we had a great day on the pumpkin farm! after leaving the farm, we grabbed a quick bite and headed to the country village in bothell! there was a craft show we thought we should take in, plus the boys love playing at the playground there! we checked out the village and then stopped off for some seafood to cook at home! we had a delicious dinner of shrimp and rock fish--we completely stuffed ourselves! ah, what a wonderful day!

it's wild out there!!

it's wild out there!!!

my mom was up for a visit this weekend, so to keep up with our touristy selves we decided to take in the great october weather and head south to the point defiance zoo and aquarium in tacoma!! we had a great time seeing all the animals and sea life. there were elephants, tapirs, lemurs, tigers, beluga whales, polar bears, monkeys, penguins, sharks, and so much more!! after taking in the entire zoo, letting the boys play in the play area and checking out the gift shop--of course the boys hit nana up for a sweatshirt!! -- we decided it was time to take in some fresh seafood for lupper (lunch & supper)! we headed just down the road to anthony's and devoured some wonderful seafood!! with our bellies full we headed back to the house for some rest and relaxation

a perfect day for soccer!!

if only you could sense sarcasm in a written blog!! today was anything but a perfect day for soccer!! it was rainy, windy and cool..and not the misty rain i have grown to ignore, but the rain where you actually get wet!! shawn somehow lucked out and had class tonight, so good ol' mom went and sat in the rain to cheer on her little fella! tonight, the coach thought the kids were ready for a scrimmage, well i guess some of the kids did not agree! there were 8 kids that came tonight and out of the 8 only about 5 played in the scrimmage! grady, brennen and dante stayed in the whole game--they did great! the kids at this age play without a goalie--it is a feat just to get the ball down the field! grady had a great time...i don't even think he new it was raining!! he is a very aggressive little player, which is very fun to watch - he is not usually one to take a toy from another, but when it came to that soccer ball he was all over getting that thing back!! he took the ball down the field a number of times but about the time he was ready to shoot - brennen would steal it back...it continued the whole time like that! tonight was our turn for snacks--grady thought that part was awesome. he handed out the snacks to everyone...and he kept saying, "now, you only get one!" i guess he wanted to make sure he had some extras to take home!! that's my boy!

the fireballs vs. the rhinos

gabe bootin' the ball away from his goal!! good job goalie gabe!!

on saturday, we again started our day at the soccer field cheering the fireballs to a win! my prayers for a rainy, gloomy saturday were answered and the fireballs made the most of the weather. i am now more convinced their choice weather is definitely rainy...they played awesome! they scored 11 goals in all! gabe played goalie again and did fabulous!! he was able to stop every shot--not a point got scored on him! gabe absolutely loves playing goalie....i hate when he plays goalie...i get soooo nervous! when the coach says ,"gabe go in as goalie", i automatically start chewing my nails---i know it is just a game, but i don't want one of those nasty little balls to get past my boy!! i can't wait for this week's game--go fireballs!!