I always say, "Be Awesome!"

I always tell my kids, "be AWESOME!"  Whether it is going to school or walking onto the soccer field.  Be Awesome.  And they all are, in their own unique way, each day they show awesomeness.

However, THIS KID, gets the spotlight right now.  This kid, he displays awesomeness all the time.  That shirt he is wearing, Utah Glory, we have begun what I like to call the "Beast of Indoor soccer" and he will do awesome no matter where he plays.  See that pot he is holding.  He made it in his ceramics class this last term.  And he gave it to me on Friday, as an early birthday gift.  He has such a good heart.  And those papers in the other hand, yes- those are Boy Scout Eagle papers.  And yes, he is well on his way to getting his Eagle project completed.  Papers have been signed, now we do the work of getting it done.  He is awesome.

Fall Break Madness

Photo madness to come.  Fall break turned out to be pretty fun.  We did a little family fall festival, which the kids look forward to and mom tries really hard to make it good.  I think we succeeded.  

 Just one of the fun creations the boys made.  Somehow the game made sense to them and they were happy together.  That is all that mattered.

 So, for the fall festival we started out with some simple fall crafts.  Here is Peter, showing his off, in his own goofy way.  When this kid is happy, he is silly.

 We did pin the vine and nose on the pumpkin.  They all loved this activity.  Although Haley made us move all of her's after she had seen them, they were not in the right place.

 Peter used his panda costume for his blindfold.

 Caleb got a kick out of trying hard not to put it in the right spot.

 We made "gingerbread" haunted houses.  Peter is a true minimalist, or at least he likes to be done fast.

 Haley always tries to make her's the most fancy.

 Then we carved our pumpkins.  GOOP!

 Caleb did a fabulous job of doing his, 100% on his own.  An no one was injured in the process.

 They got some little treasures from the festival.  The favorites were Halloween slime and the balsa wood flyers.  Those things flew great!

 Kids doing what kids should do in the fall.  Jumping in a huge pile of leaves.  Although they did not like taking a shower each night before bed.  William realized that he would have to take a shower again on Sunday night and just kept his head out of the leaves.  That way, his hair stayed clean.

Our finished pumpkins.  And a little witch craft that Haley and I made.  Yeah for happy kids and fun times.

Shout it from the rooftops!!!!!

This thing of competition soccer is an emotional roller coaster!  Some days we are on a high, other days we are down in the dumps.  But tonight, wahoo!!!  Loving life.  Caleb, first and foremost got the starting keeper position.  No small task right there.  He was excited!  Second, he made some terrific saves. One got by him, but his team was on fire in the shots on goal job and they were holding their own.  Third, Caleb's defense is awesome!!!  Love those strong, fast boys!  But before I get to the AMAZING part, look at that other team.  The size of that one boy, sheesh!  That is no exaggeration.  Some of those Murray Max boys are really tall.  Anyway, fourth......Caleb was a rockstar!  Awesome, Amazing, make me proud!  A penalty happened, in his box...which led to Caleb facing a penalty kick.  Deep breaths....worry....nervous....trust in him.....  He pulled it off beautifully!  He made himself big, jumping around (just like Manuel Neuer), set himself a little off the center of the goal and when it came time for the kick....HE STOPPED THAT BALL!!!!!  Yes, that is right.  He stopped the PK and gained momentum for his team and they went on to win, 3-1!!!!  Such a great game, for the whole team.  They really did well.  Next up, Saturday.  But until then, oh I love to see him do his best.

Happy 6!

 Haley's birthday came a week early when she was able to start ballet classes.  She was so excited and loved her first class.  It will be fun to watch her doing something new and different from the rest of us (aka soccer).

 Haley was beyond thrilled to get the golden ticket in class today.  She was able to take something for show and tell.  In the back ground you can see her cherry pie.  She was very happy to eat that.

 Another golden ticket picture with her birthday flowers.  She loves things that make her feel pretty.

This was our after school birthday activity.  It was a stained glass princess.  The kit came with the lines already drawn and stickers to place in the right spots.  It turned out perfect for the birthday girl.
This girl is filled with singing and dancing, princesses and pink, liking all the foods that her brothers dislike (heck she had asparagus and beans and meat for her dinner with cherry pie), she really likes watching soccer, and loves any soft stuffed animal that comes her way.  She can also hang with the boys and play their games too, for a while.  She can be a beautiful addition to the day or a confusing wonder, but what matters most is that we love her.  Happy Birthday, Haley!

In Other News...

To sum up the day,

• Soccer Saturday was a major blow!  Not just the loss, but other sideline sadness
• The elementary kids' reflection projects are complete, wahoo!
• My kids have instantly become Piano Guys fans!
• Oldest child pulled out the good attitude and did some homework without a struggle.

Give it your best, because life does not wait

We need a new picture to look at on this blog.  That one of William's nose just hurts everytime I look at it.  So, here is one of a major awesome kid, giving life his best efforts!

This kid, I am telling you, he is great!  Thursday of last week he came home DEFLATED after practice.  Coach chose the other keeper on the team to be the starter.  Caleb would be sitting the bench on Saturday and all he wanted to do was play.  We talked, a lot.  About always doing your best and trying even harder.  But in the end the thing that mattered most was that no one could take the soccer player out of him, except him.  No criticizing, no negativity, nothing could make him quit if  he really wanted it.  So, Saturday came and he dressed as a keeper, and sat on the bench.  But at second half coach told him to change into his field jersey.  So Freaking Happy.  This is big for Caleb to play on the field.  Last 10 minutes of the game coach put him in as mid and he did great!  Had a fabulous header, cleared the ball hard, drove it up the line and did everything a midfielder should do.  And he had FUN!  So awesome!  So, now begins the hard work.  Giving it his best as a keeper and practicing here at home for 2 positions on the team.  Because, life does not wait, it just keeps going.  We have to try and keep up.

And here is a picture of a little girl experiencing one of life's firsts, loosing her first tooth.  She did it all on her own.  Eating lunch after soccer and she just started twisting that tooth and out it popped.  It was already loose, that is why there were no tears.  Life with not slow down.  We just have to appreciate each day for what good and happiness it brings.

And the other two kiddos, Peter did excellent in his soccer game.  Major awesome kid.  William, was keeper in his own game and took a ball straight on to the face.  Yeah that nose, it was fine.  He popped right back up but coach had to take him out because of the whole ball to the head thing.  My kids are tough and cool.

Normal, everyday crazy-AWESOMEness

So, you wake up....go to school and be awesome there.  Pretty normal stuff.  After school you ride home and if you are William you possible break your nose.  Yeah, that is the crazy part of our day.

We have some stupidly high driveway curbs in our neighborhood and Willam's front bike tire did not do well getting over it.  He crashed and face planted into the cement.  When he came home his nose was bleeding and he had some road rash.  We got the bleeding stopped and saw that the left side of his nose was swollen a little.  After some calls to a doctor and deciding we could not pay the ER copay, we went to the doctor and they checked the boy out.  Good news is that there was no clear fluid draining from his nose and no hematoma.  They are not sure if it is just soft tissue that is swollen or actually broken.  So, we followup on Friday and for now he seems fine.  Crazy

Awesome part of the day.....Caleb and Rob were able to go to the Real Salt Lake game last night.  SUCH A FUN GAME!  It was Glory night so the team got to go out on the field, see themselves up on the jumbo tron, and watch a crazy, awesome game.  It was hard though, the rest of us were here watching the game and Rob and I were texting back and forth when all the action was happening.

 Before the game starting, doing the dab.  I have no idea why that is so big, but they did it.  And they water the fields before the game.  Interesting.

 Caleb loved it!  He was so wired when they got home that he could not go to sleep.  And it was an awesome game!  Remand had an off night.  But the rest of the team really pulled though.  And that goal by Burrito at the end.  SO COOL!  Soccer is awesome.  Glory night was amazing!  What a cool, crazy-awesome day.