Ward Campout

Lunar Eclipse

The weather was perfect. Our clarity was awesome--we just sat outside and watched! So cool! (Aunt Debbie called first to see if we were watching--it was cloudy in Chicago...but then we could talk to the rest of the family all over the country and know we were all seeing the same thing; really cool!)

Eclipse

Rob has this new favorite thing he does: lights a fire in the firepit, but then puts football on TV inside. He opens the window, and viola: family time + outdoors + sports= Happy Rob.

And happy Robbie

We had a great time sitting outside watching the red moon eclipse! (the moon is obviously ABOVE the light!)

Once the kids were to bed, Rob and I stayed up and watched the rest

Ward Campout

The weather was perfect! Location ideal! We had an entire cul-de-sac reserved for our ward with a huge green space in the center for the kids to play!

Outdoor movie...

Random

 Mom got us all sweet head bands this summer! Rockin' them here!

 Once the boys started school, Jimmy and I had two weeks to just hang out together! We went to the pool everyday!

 Jimmy is a tall kid for his age, and likes to prove it to all his friends. This is him measuring himself next to his buddy, Jace.

 After halftime, the high school football games are free. So we'd head over there for Friday Night Lights (and sometimes, friends came with us!).

These pictures makes me smile--he looks so much like Rob when he throws. Only difference: Rob bites his lower lip; Robbie sticks his tongue out. 

Dylan is like my own Latin teenage son! He's here everyday. I help him with homework. He'll come with us to the store. He tells the kids to stop fighting. We go to his soccer games. It's fun. The boys love him, and honestly, I think he loves them, too!

More of our "teenage" neighborhood "sons." Ty's team got to play during the halftime of the varsity soccer game (Dylan was playing). Rob had a late case and wasn't going to make it, but when I saw Michael, Ben, and Gio in the stands--I put them to work!

Gio's pep talk was seriously the best! The team had to end up scrimmaging themselves, so Gio motivated them with, "Today, you're not a team. Today, you're enemies..." Wow!

I found this cute letter to Rob from Ty--he gave it to him when he was in Vegas (so he was in Kindergarten). So sweet!

 Rob had to pick me up from a church meeting; he told Robbie to babysit for the whole 7 minutes he'd be gone. We walked in the door to find this! They found Jimmy's old diapers and thought it would be great fun to try them on and run around in them! Subtle hint: "Mom, I'm too young to babysit!"

 My boys got a good chunk of my haminess (lucky kids!)! For Spirit week, the kids were supposed to dress in disguise. This is what they came up with. Robbie's teacher told me he spoke in a British accent all day! Lol!

 I love the boys' school! They sponsored "Movies with Moms" one night! All the kids and moms came with their blankets and pillows...they had popcorn and candy and drinks, and then we just watched one of two G-rated movies! So fun! (My boys chose Home.)

I've been watching my neighbor's kids for her the past two months--just in the mornings. It's been nice to get $10 a day--amazing how much that helps! Still, it's been challenging for my kids. They fight a lot with Grant (in Robbie's class), so every morning there is drama. One day Grant hit Robbie, so Robbie chucked a ball at him! I would definitely consider Robbie a peaceful/non-confrontational kid, but Grant can seriously push buttons! He has to explain and go over rules (in a loud voice) for about 10 minutes (literally), and then pauses the game every 45 seconds to say how something wasn't fair, or to make a new rule. My boys don't really fly like that. They say, "Here's how the game works. Let's play!" If they think something isn't fair, they either make a rule then, have a redo, or punch each other. Simple stuff. :)

My Leader

I hope my boys are leaders and not followers. As a third grader, Robbie can now be voted into Student Council. Pretty much every student tries to get it. Well, Robbie wasn't interested; not because he didn't think it would be cool, but because he didn't want to have give a speech. And...what if he didn't win?

Well, the students had a couple weeks to prepare their speeches. The morning of the elections, I told Robbie, "If you don't want to do it because it isn't something you're interested in, that's one thing, but if you aren't running because you're afraid of failure, that's not an acceptable excuse."

He realized I was right, and sat down and wrote his speech. This is it: "I think that I would be good a this because I am organized and that would be good for class store. I've also learned to be a leader by going to cub scouts and being the captin on my soccer team. Thats why I think that I would be good as a member of student council." It did the trick. He won!

A few weeks later, his soccer teams was playing their rivals. It was horrible! They were down by three and there were only 6 minutes left in the game. It didn't look pretty. But then something happened...it was like the entire team caught on fire! This is the email the coach sent out to the parents:

I asked my boys what started the transformation during the second half?  Something must have happened as the video shows most of the second half was being played in our side of the field.  The moment everything changed was documented by Stosh.  Stosh said that right after the Tornadoes scored their 6th goal, Robbie was coming back and picked up the ball that Bleu threw to him after pulling it out of the goal.  Robbie and Stosh were briefly walking together and Robbie turned to Stosh and said, "Time to go get them now!"  You can see the exchange at time 41:18 on the video (BTW Stosh said this happened BEFORE he saw the video).  Kudos to Robbie!  Robbie showed true leadership at a time when it was needed.  He did not give up and he told other players to go with him.  That is what this game, and life, is all about"

We won 7 to 6, scoring 4 goals; Robbie scored the winning goal 15 seconds before the game whistle sounded.  Atta boy!

Debb and Dave!

Dave had a work conference in KC, so Aunt Debbie decided to make a weekend out of it! She flew out with him and hung out with us! They treated us to the very famous KC Joe's BBQ (formerly Oklahoma Joe's). That Z-Man sandwich is awesome! We had a little time to kill, so we saw this place called Top Golf. Its a several storied driving range with suites, basically, but the bottom floor is totally free! It has a pool table, couches, and video games...so we chilled there.

 Debb and Dave played table tennis (all done by your body and sensed by the screen).

 Rob totally fell asleep on the couch...I swear I see him do this at least once per week.

 I love how easy it is to entertain family. Debbie is always so chill and easy-going. Sunday she drove up and we just walked to the park by my house. The pork loin was taking too long, and she had to catch a flight, so she made a turkey sandwich and was off. So love family!