Homecoming!

I don't know how I overlooked the fact that Caelan might be invited to her friend Nick's homecoming celebrations. I was focused on the upcoming homeschool homecoming (I know, it makes no sense--homeleaving dance? Anyway . . .)

But, as per his usual polite and thoughtful manner, Nick checked with me first and Buck and I gave our permission to invite Caelan. He stopped by to deliver a speech for a college class he's taking and asked Caelan to the dance (I may have written about this already :)

Fast forward to this weekend . . . since the boys are away hunting, Gabby invited her friend Bree over to stay the night. My NGF (Bree's mom) dropped her off mid-afternoon. My girls and I had actually spent most of the day at home (what?!!) because Caelan's puppy class was walking in a parade that we could no way make it home from in time, and the boys weren't home to play their football game. So our only pre-Bree outing was to pick up the boutonniere, unsuccessfully mail a package, and for the girls to get Starbucks :)

Back at home, Caelan tried to be patient in her getting ready process (turns out Nick was the same, fancied up WAY too early, ha!). Caelan worked on her hair, her make-up, her dress and then we did some pictures around the house, at our neighbors' fence, and of course with the puppy.

Buck said via text, "Fancy girl with her fancy dog." :) Her fancy dog kept trying to eat the skirt of her dress, eeek!!

When we thought it was go time, we all four hopped in the car and got all the way to the end of the driveway . . . before we realized we were leaving a full 30 minutes too early :) Back in the garage, back in the house, and eventually back on our way to Nick's home for more pictures.

Caelan ordered a magnetic boutonniere, which she thought would be easier than the pin. However, it made Nick's pocket very floppy, so his mom took over and magnetized the flowers inside his shirt :) 

Nick's sister surprised their parents by coming home from college for homecoming (I guess that might have been a good clue ;) She was very out-going and had lots of picture spots scoped out. Nick's mom and I were the primary photographers, but Gabby used my cell phone to take pics to send to Buck and the boys in the blind (I had my big camera). Bree was the assistant to my assistant, holding Caelan's clutch bag and the empty flower box. 

As the homecoming car headed off to dinner, Gabby, Bree, and I said farewell to Nick's parents. We headed home to make breakfast. I'm told Caelan's meal was very delicious at a local restaurant that Buck and I like (that I might have suggested they eat at due to how it is situated between Nick's house and where the dance was to be held at his school :) It turns out the sophomore class also chose this restaurant for their pre-dance meal, so they were in good fancy company.

Caelan said she enjoyed the meal even more than the dance, because they could talk and it wasn't as loud. However at the dance she was often told she was pretty and Nick was told he had a pretty date, so that of course, made Caelan happy :)

As the dance was wrapping up, a severe thunderstorm was pounding our city. The direct tv went out at our place for more than an hour. Nick messaged me to say a group of kids were waiting out the storm at the school, and that there was standing water in their parking lot. He offered to bring the car to the front when the rain started to let up, but Caelan preferred to run through the rain (Nick messaged me later to say he thought she enjoyed doing that :) He apologized that her nice dress was wet, but I told him we were going to wash it anyway. We took a quick drenched pic before he left; you can see the tornado of dogs that followed the storm :)

When Nick arrived home, he sent me a message thanking us for letting him take Caelan to his school dance. Quite the polite boy, that one :) Still just friends, so no sparking romance happening. Caelan is going to have to start a corsage collection, though, if he keeps asking her to dances :) Good thing she's got at least two more dresses, ha!!

Making Music

A short post, but I wanted to show how well-behaved Newton was on stage for youth worship team practice! He stayed on "spot" for most of the time, and only barked at a small child once (granted she was the only small child there :) He also sat (usually) to be petted, and was not disruptive during small group time. What a good(ish) boy!



And a quick peek at choir rehearsal. We have more boys this year, whoohoo!! Brennen sings bass as a 13-year-old. Whoa.

Girl Party

Less than 24 hours since we last left our small group meeting location . . . :) We were back for a middle school and high school combined youth group girls' event. Most of we leader/moms stood in the kitchen and pounded tortilla chips and guac while the girls arrived and got settled. Then one of our recent graduates led the girls through a step-by-step painting class. 

It is amazing to me that 15 girls (one left early, so don't think I can't count in my final picture ;) with the same paint, same canvases, same brushes, same instructions, same teacher, can all create something unique and special to themselves! 

I love how they oohed and ahhed over each others' color blending, stars, etc. So encouraging to each other! And how they giggled at some of the goof-ups. 

We didn't get home until after ten, but our girls had a great time and got to know some of the younger girls. This really helps knit a community of girls closer, and I think it was a great event for our youth group! Plus it is super fun spending time with all the mom/leaders :) (Gabby made cream cheese mints, yesssss!)



When you suddenly realize you are in your NGF's pic and she is in yours (and neither of you want to be in either) you just might have an impromptu (and blurry) camera war--I guarantee she won! Lol!



So much creativity! Such a pretty painting. Someday I hope I'll see the Northern Lights in person, for real!

Boy Party

If I don't put things that are "sort of" scheduled into my calendar right away, they will be forgotten. So much going on! So when, at youth group, my NGF was like, "Hey, so you still in for G's birthday party tomorrow?" I was like, "Ummm . . . yes, yes I am." Ha! Graysen didn't even know he was invited (and we for sure didn't have a gift), but when I told him the morning of, the kid was thrilled!

I decided to go along, because when B went to R's party, it was fun to talk with my NGF the whole time. We may just be birthday party buddies, which means seven opportunities for me to hang out with her at her kids' parties each year ;)

First stop was lunch at Pepperjax--I've only been there once for Buck's 40th birthday week a few years ago, but it was pretty tasty!



Then the boys got sweaty and had a blast at a kids' ninja warrior type place. They don't make you sign a waiver for nothing, ha! Most of my pics of G$ are a blur, but that's how boys move. It's also nice that all the invitees were homeschooled, so a mid-week party during school time means no crowding at the gym.








After the warrior experience, the boys ordered ice cream and opened gifts (not from us :) at Freddy's. I didn't get any pics there, but the sugar definitely started to kick in before we left. The other car headed for a candy store/soda fountain, but G$ and I headed home to get him in the shower and the girls to work, so we could all go to small group (student ministry training, so I had boys skip football practice). It was a jam-packed day! But Graysen had a great time :)

Country Music

Well, you just never know how a day is going to go. We had our weekend days booked as solid as solid can be, but sometimes other things come up. For instance, a friend might text and say, "I have Alan Jackson tickets, can you go to the show?" And I might say, "Would love to, but we have family in town tonight." And I might mention the opportunity to my husband a couple hours later, and he might say, "Call her right now!!! You are going." And I might say, "But that's so rude to your family; I already told her, no, anyway." But, maybe that same friend couldn't find anybody last minute, so she might call an hour before the show to ask again. At that point, my husband might shout in the background, "Ha! I told you you were going!" And my friend might ask, "Who is yelling?" :)

It worked out that I was able to go to the show with my friend. It worked out that I also got to spend a little time with Buck's Colorado family. It turns out that they were going to be mad at me and stop visiting if they thought I turned down fun things to do just be cause they were going to be in town, lol! So much pressure from every side!

My thoughts on the show:
1. Alan has a TON of hit songs. To play them all back-to-back at a concert, I estimate it would take approximately three hours--non stop.

2. Alan is not as spry as he once was. He seemed a little stiff in his movements, and took a lot of breaks during extended musical interludes (he's only 61). But also seemed, low-key and personable. Lots of storytime with Alan; I thought it was cool to hear some of the behind-the-scenes inspirations for the songs he wrote.




3. His musicians are OUTSTANDING! I liked how they would spotlight one, and just let them fiddle, bass, piano, or drum their guts out (figuratively speaking).

4. He played "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning" in September--hello, emotional deluge! It was so pretty how everyone held up their cell phone lights like stars in the arena (it really creates a surprising amount of light from such small circles, there's probably a Bible devotional illustration in there somewhere ;)



5. For his "Where I Come From" song, his tour bus (or maybe an Uber) drove around our vicinity and took dashcam video of all the important places that concert-attending people might recognize--restaurants, sports team logos, local attractions, even some construction :) Then he mixed in video of where he comes from. I just thought that was kind of cool and creative, to personalize the song in such a way. Also, the lyrics mention chicken, so I had to get a picture of that!



My first country music concert was with my bro-in-law-to-be at the state fair. Now, that was a great time! The indoor venue was cool, the tix were free (so nice of my friend and her family!), and the music was good, but that outdoor concert thing is special in its own way. Maybe next year we'll go country at the fair :)

Wishful Thinking?

Buck's coworker let him "prank" me while they were waiting for another employee's ride home to show up. Yes, he looks cute on the bike. No, he's not getting one :) (Nor did he ride the one pictured)



On Friday, all four kids had choir for the first time this semester--all in the teen range now, whoohoo! Our NGFs brought their puppy. Buck thought the puppy was probably tired of all the attention it was inevitably collecting. So, he went and snagged the puppy from our NGFs' girls, brought it over to the outdoor picnic table where we were sitting, and calmed the puppy down. It then walked across the planks, laid down in my arms, and took an extended nap. Buck might have been wishing a little that she snuggled him instead of me ;)



Some-puppy seems to wish he was always where he isn't supposed to be! Whose a naughty puppy?



Newton is a naughty puppy :) He was quite a noisy handful at his first official puppy class this weekend, as well. But, we're told "they are babies" and the organization "doesn't expect perfection" (not yet anyway ;)



I don't know about you, but I'm wishing my teaching assistant lived a little bit closer to help with my stack of daily correcting and grading!! :)



I've noticed a theme in some of our reading materials this year . . . I guess the knight is wishing we'd selected a book that would give him some legs (hee hee :)



And last, but not least, Graysen is wishing a delicious deer will walk his way this weekend. He completed the online portion of his hunter safety training several months ago, and has been waiting for his field day to make his certification complete. He said he wasn't sure how the test went, but it looks like he did a great job, because he is officially ready to hunt!! And Buck has officially graduated from taking kids to day-long hunter's safety field days :)

First Flag Football Game of the Year

This year, football is even more fun with the boys' buddy on their team and his dad (our pastor and small group leader) as one of their coaches (he's a soccer guy, this football thing is pretty new to him). They could hardly wait for their first game of the season. In fact . . . we arrived two hours early :) 

Okay, okay, so our NGF's younger son had his first game, too. He happens to be on the same team as our neighbor buddy and two other younger buddies from church (actually another of our pastors helps coach that team :) So I had moms to talk to, Buck had guy friends to talk to, Caelan had our NGF's new puppy to cuddle, and all the kids just swarmed together for the rest of it :) The weather was my only "complaint" and even that wouldn't have been so bad if I'd waited to set up my canvas stadium chair until after the rain stopped raining. Sitting in a puddle--it's what moms do :)

(Boys are on the red team. G is center and B is QB. Their buddy is the fluffy-haired blonde on the end)




It is now a week later and they've played their second football game, so let me see what details I can apply to which pictures. Both Graysen and Brennen played quarterback. Brennen had a break-away touchdown run that left everyone so far behind him, that they mostly stopped trying to catch him :) In fact, I think two pics below this one he's actually running back TOWARD the other players, ha!





(G$ at QB)


Graysen also had two pretty sweet runs for the end zone. The first one he got "tackled" within inches, and the game went to half time! The second one he got to the same spot as the clock ran out on the game! Oh snap, denied twice :) He made up for it in this weekend's game, getting a big ole TD to help his team win, yay! It was a much nicer day weather-wise for game two, and our NGFs along with the coach's family (also good friends) all plopped down under a big tree with us on the sidelines. Buck did a good job telling the moms when to cheer :) 

One of the Rooted band members who plays for the (very small) Christian high school here in town is relentlessly trying to recruit Brennen to play for their team next year. He said, "I was in the entire game on Monday." And he was, they were playing while our boys were practicing on the neighboring field. When he showed up on Saturday, I said, "You better be here as a fan and not a scout!" :) The teens all gathered to cheer the boys on and probably talk and miss a lot of the game, too.

No pics from the second game, but we did have our NGFs over spontaneously to watch college football (they had their puppy with them, we kind of like their puppy too :)