Harpo turns 15!

 This old man, he played FIFTEEN! Oh Harpo, such a sweet boy. He tolerated the hat for a millisecond, haha long enough to get a photo of him. 

Emma tried to help, but Harpo wasn't cooperating. 

October Miscellaneous

 First week of October the girls were invited to a birthday party at a painting studio. Unfortunately earlier that morning Emma got a tummy bug and had thrown up a few times so she didn't get to go :-( Mary went and had a really fun time painting a grumpy cat.

We tried to have some fun at home since Emma couldn't attend the party. We made toilet paper pumpkins to decorate for fall/halloween. 

 

Cute Thomas taking a nap. 

Pics from the school's facebook page. 

Mary and Isaac in the background of these photos:

 

Thursday October 7th was my first full morning in a LONG time so I decided to tackle a house project... only to get inturpted by a call from school to come pick up Isaac who had thrown up. But I did get the ceiling done! Plan is to paint this horrible colored space. Only the small bathroom and back entry way. The ceilings weren't white, but they are now. Then I'll paint the walls... eventually. Can NOT believe the price of paint right now! 

I also tried my hand at splitting up this plant and putting a small piece in another pot. So far both are thriving well. 

We FINALLY got someone to do some work we wanted to hire out. My neighbor recommended this plumber. I had wanted to change out the broken faucet and get a better shower head in while updating the look and changing faucet finishes. Turns out they don't make the two handled shower controls anymore. But the plumber was able to bust out the tile, reinstall a single handle shower control and tile it back with spare tiles we found in the attic and it looks amazing! So glad to finally have a project completed. Well almost complete, I need to get the drain switched out to match. I did change the towel racks in the room too, little face lift for the girls' bathroom. 

(our only tub in this five bathroom house... :-/ )

Before, during, after (the grout is wet in this photo, it did match perfectly once dried)

 

Grandma Judy sent a fun box of Halloween goodies, the girls are enjoying doing their new crafts

Another birthday party: October 23rd both girls got to go this time at a trampoline park (yes it was all boys I guess the other girls that were invited didn't come)

We made a trip to Spirit Halloween and I couldn't help but get a photo of Isaac on this because I had one of him on it in 2015! 

Now and 6 years ago :-D 

Thomas has been loving to play candy land lately. 

Our neighborhood goes ALL out for Halloween, UFO down the street and all. So the kids had been asking to get something for the yard. I ordered this *cough* 6 foot high vampire cat... yeah right, it was not even close to 6 foot. 

Thomas loves playing with his bestie: Rosti who lives two houses over. 

Thursday before halloween, COSTUME day for Thomas. And I had a challenge to dress up for the barre class I attend, I was buddy the elf :-) 

 

Wearing the space mask I made to go with his astronaut costume. 

Friday, Thomas didn't have preschool, so we joined our neighbors for a show of Click Clack BOO! by the Wichita Children's Theater

Also the kids dressed up for Friday (I'll post more in the halloween blog entry) But I got to volunteer in Emma's class for the party, I led the bingo station. It was fun to be there with her. 

Then the girls had a virtual concert. Sound didn't work so well but nice to see them. 

Colder weather means we can fire up the bonfire! 

Isaac's Tackle Football {October}

 Halfway through the city league season, Saturdays were consumed with football! They had a 10:30 game on October 2nd. It was rainy and yucky. Since he needed to be there 2 hours early, Kyle took him and helped with the pregame tailgating to feed the boys, then I brought the other three at 10:30 to watch the game. We started off watching from the van waiting for the rain to pass. Then once it dried up we came out to watch. Been fun watching these boys grow and learn the game. 

 

Pass to Isaac (missed)

Good blocking

Pass to Isaac - COMPLETE!

Tuesday they had a scrimmage against a team that beat us a few weeks ago: the Saints. They got to do it at the West High School practice field. They got to meet a former pro player. 

 

Beautiful sunset sky.

Next game was following Saturday, October 9th. Afternoon game 3:30 so we were there at 1:30 for a WINDY! Tailgate. Kyle dropped me and Isaac off and took the other three to exploration place. I helped the moms cook hot dogs and hamburgers so the boys could eat before the game. Isaac had been sick with the tummy bug that the girls had prior weeks, he was sent home from school on Thursday. Then our city had a boil water advisory so their school was actually cancelled on Friday but he would have missed. He was feeling fine, or so I thought, about a half hour before the game he started feeling crummy again... He didn't want to eat, which wasn't good because it was also a SUPER hot 95 degree day. I think he may have pushed it too hard playing with the boys before the game, which coach specifically tells them not to do. 

 

 

You can hear how windy it was and see how not with it Isaac was for this game in this video:

October 12th Rainy Tuesday practice turned into classroom play learning... Isaac got to show of his smarts and how well he's memorized the playbook. 

Isaac missed the Saturday game on October 16th because we drove up to Minnesota for the long school break that weekend. He also missed Monday practice but was back at it Tuesday for the final two weeks of the season. Their official uniforms FINALLY came in! LOL Just in time to be worn for a final few games. They all had temporary numbers and I was just starting to learn who was who. Luckily with new numbers they at least have their names their backs. 

Saturday October 23rd was an EARLY morning game! 8:30am, so coach wanted them all there by 7:30. We gave another little boy a ride and Isaac and I arrived on time. 

New uniforms this week, they look so snazzy! 

He doesn't stand on the sidelines much, but I can get a closer picture of him when he does :) 

Pretty morning

This weekend their team was also hosting a traveling tournament as a fundraiser. His coach wants to make a national traveling team next year so they've started to raise funds. They were going to play in a couple more games in November (Isaac already declined, he wanted a break and to focus on basketball) but they ended up not doing the tournaments anyway because people couldn't make the deadlines with paying fees or getting their kids to practice or games on time. 

However Isaac did agree to play with them on Sunday in the tournament game against the Missouri Wolverines from Kansas City. He was afraid at first thinking they'd be harder teams (and they should be) but with the city league they've been playing 5th graders and still a better team although smaller. His team is a 3rd/4th grade team.  Kyle and Isaac volunteer to run the gate early Sunday morning, and then I went back with Isaac for the game. Thomas had been throwing up that morning so we kept the other kids at home. 

 

I took a ton of video to keep Kyle filled in back home. 

Good blocking from Isaac:

Trojans score a touch down:

Final weekend, city league playoffs. We came in as 4th seed (number 1 seed was the 5th grade Trojans.. which we would have played if we won the first game) We were up against the Saints again, one of two teams that beat us in the beginning. 

Early game, 8:30am again and it was COLD! 39 degrees at start  One of our best (okay he was the best) player Bean was a no show. His mom had wrote coach the night before confirming time to be there but then he didn't show up. This was the straw that broke the camel's back and coach decided traveling was on for this team in the coming weeks. 

 

Missed pass to Isaac:

End of season. Overall I think it was a great time. VERY involved, he'd been practicing every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday since August 9th for 2 hours every night. He's learned discipline, he's more responsible for making sure we leave on time and he's not late, he's definitely in better shape and more conditioned - he's probably slept harder too, lol, and he's learned teamwork and made some friends. And what I'm the most proud of is that he has memorized the Lord's Prayer because they say it at the end of every practice and game.