Go Falcons!

Two weekends ago Max finished up his baseball season with a tournament in St. George. It was awesome to watch Max pull himself out of his hitting slump (he seems to have had some confusion and thought getting walked was the safe bet) and crack a few hits. His team played in an older division and came away with 3rd place, so it was a great team experience. Max has so much natural talent; I'm excited to watch him continue to develop over the next few years with this team. 

This trip was a little (or a lot) tainted by a mass stomach flu outbreak. I spent much of the trip babysitting sickies at the hotel room--scrubbing the carpet, washing laundry, and bathing sick babies. As soon as Max's last game ended, we hit the road and couldn't have been more happy to leave that hotel room behind.

Take 2

For such a good looking kid, Hank sure is awkward in front of the camera. Here are the results of the retakes:

Throwback

I thought Aaron was pretty cool way back when...thirteen years later, he's still rocking his Oakley sunglasses, but he just seems to get better with time. 

Happy Halloween!

One ward party, one trick or treat at the outlets, one trunk or treat at Nana's house, and one trick or treat around the neighborhood, times five trick or treaters, equals an obscene amount of candy!

In one night of trick or treating we lost any ground that we'd made over the last two years in teaching Rocky manners. I think a better way to describe Rocky's understanding of trick or treating would be to call it, "take-other-people's-candy-day." Once he discovered that everyone was carrying a bag full of candy, and it was beyond him to differentiate who was passing it out and who was a fellow trick or treater, he just started putting his hand into any bag he could reach. My instruction to "just take one," had no effect on his fixation with filling his little hands with candy. 

Ben really enjoyed the trick or treating experience this year, too. Thankfully, the weather cooperated so he didn't have rain and wind to contend with. Whereas last year Ben could take or leave the candy, this year Ben made it his mission to gather as many m&ms as possible. 

My little Seattle Mariner and Seahawk could have stayed out all night, but I assured them we'd collected plenty. 

Soccer Fail

I had no idea that Joey was bi-polar until I signed him up for his first season of soccer. He'd wake up and put on all his soccer gear first thing in the morning in anticipation for practice that afternoon and then refused to get out of the car when practice time came. He'd jog around the field aimlessly until he was told to "kick the ball!", which would send him into a sour mood and he'd spend the rest of the quarter sulking in the middle of the field. I don't even know what to say about it...he's just a funny one, that kid. He didn't get his foot on the ball more than a handful of times all season, but he seemed pretty pleased with getting post-game treats. At the end of the day, he looked cute, and that's really all that matters;)

Mom and Dad for the win!

Oh Aaron! He actually thought that this would be the year that the boys would carve their own pumpkins. Not this year, babe. I cut out the stem, Hank and Max made a few token scrapes with their spoons before they gave up and passed their spoons to Aaron to make quick work of the gutting. But don't worry, because the boys claimed full credit for the work since they sketched the face design while Aaron tediously carved out the little shapes. The things we do for our kids, facilitating the entire activity so they can get that instant gratification of the final product. It's all worth it though to create those family memories, right?! Ben and Joey opted to paint their pumpkins (Joey painted his pepto pink and Ben chose blue). For my contribution, I helped the boys assemble bats made from peanut butter cups and Oreos. 

Student of the Month

I really have to check myself because I could brag about Max all day long. He dominates on the field/court, he is one of those kids that makes being 'cool' just look effortless, and he's a gem in the classroom. Last week Max was recognized as the Student of the Month and I couldn't be more proud of the great kid that Max is. Great job, Maxie!