Season Opener

The boys really went back and forth on whether or not to play tackle football at a local small-town high school this fall. We went as far as to meet with the coaching staff, superintendent, and athletic director for a tour. We submitted paperwork by the very early spring deadline and got them approved for open enrollment to another district. They even got their first ever school physicals, given by our chiropractor. But . . . we just didn't feel right about it somehow. So, we signed them back up with their homeschool flag football team from last year. It's been a great decision! The boys' experience makes them leaders on the team, and their skills put them in the starting line-up. There is a new coach on the staff who is enthusiastic and encouraging, building up each player's confidence in the skills and effort he sees. He even wants to talk to the players' moms at games to let mom know the value he sees in each young man. It's so rad!

And so, the boys had their first JV and Varsity games last weekend. Originally a new team planned to join the league but decided (after a schedule was put together) that they weren't ready. So, the schedule got all flipped and twisted and the "home" game, became a "drive more than an hour away in torrential rains" game. No bathrooms at the field meant a quick stop at the gas station on the way into town, and an urgent stop on the way home. We packed a cooler full of sandwiches, Gatorade, and bananas (Brennen always seems to get leg cramps at games, and sure enough . . .) We had umbrellas, raincoats, towels, and outfit changes. We tried to find our transportable sports-watching chairs, but found our collection whittled down to two. Buck had a couple in the truck at work, but the Broncos table and matching two chairs set had disappeared from the treehouse. Graysen knows they were up there, so we assume they were stolen. Who robs a kid's treehouse? Ugh. People.

It was Noah's first day at his fancy new job, so Caelan arranged to pick him up on her way to the boys' game. Gabby happened to get the day off, too, so Chase jumped in the car with the girls and went to pick up Noah. They met us at the football field and endured the seemingly endless rain, until halftime at the Varsity game sent them to Noah's house to drop off important legal documents required for the new job.

Because Buck (sadly) had to work, I was the family representative for the task of keeping statistics. It ended up that there was a team of about five of us who were helping each other spot, determine categories, and generally keep track of the sometimes very quick action. One dad just held the umbrella over me in an attempt to keep the paper dry.

Graysen started as QB for the JV game. In fact, he played the entire game as QB (and sometimes kicker, thanks to Noah's help :) He had 30 pass attempts (I know this, because I kept stats ;), two passing touchdowns, and a two-point conversion he ran in himself! Very exciting! He was a little in shock and awe that they won in the last seconds when I snapped this pic . . .

I wasn't able to take pictures in the rain of the game because of my sideline duties, but thankfully there is a sideline photographer and a guy who flies his drone to get game footage, including pictures. I will happily borrow and share those :) But first, I thought I didn't get any pictures of the boys' fan club with the boys in the photo, too, but if you look over the fans' shoulders you can see number 21 and number 34, ha!

Brennen started and played the Varsity game. He had a couple of rough moments collision and cramping wise, but they ended up with their own very exciting win!

I didn't get any pictures of Brennen at the game, so I snapped a quick one at home while he was recapping the game for his dad. I'll try to get better ones of both boys next game (which is weeks away with all the schedule changes!)

The coaches hand out jump drives with the drone footage for the guys to review at home. Buck definitely enjoyed getting to see some of the action after the fact, and the boys loved showing him the plays and reliving the game highlights! Buck was able to get the rest of the games this season off, either as vacation days or regularly scheduled days, so it will be fun to do the football together :)

Things That are Broken

 Lol, we keep finding more!

1. Still no freezer drawer . . . can you tell? 

2. The doorbell was apparently about to catch fire! So hot!

3. The trash can refuses to light up for its auto open and close functions, even with new batteries installed

4. The mail person left our mailbox magnet, centered, on today's pile of mail :)

At least it's little things this time? 

I'm Bored

What? Bored! That never happens, that doesn't have time to happen . . . but I've got school prepped for Monday. The boys are off moving furniture with a friend, Buck is watching Star Trek on the couch, Gabby went to work early, and the lovebirds are working on homework upstairs. Somehow, watching TV during the day drives me bonkers. I think it reminds me of watching TV all day when I was sick when I was younger. Since I haven't cough-puked in two days (I know, I thought I was past it before, but it came back, blech), I don't want to feel fake sick by watching TV. So blogging is probably better? Let's see if I have anything to write about . . .

Last week, Graysen was outside throwing the football or kicking it to himself, so I decided to pull some weeds. Pulling weeds is addictive. It's like vacuuming outside. You can immediately see how bad it was before and how much you've just accomplished. Without gloves, I got into a "just one more" mentality. Buck had mega-big boss walks, so it was a way to pray and keep busy at the same time. My fingernails, cuticles, and fingertips are rocked, ants crawled up my arms when I disturbed their nests, giant wolf spiders scurried away, but I couldn't stop. The long skinny rock pic is from under the back deck. I didn't do before pictures, but you can tell how it looked by glancing across the divide at the lawn, lol :)

The second round led me past a rose bush (still no gloves) into archeological territory. I had no idea a paver border existed under all the dirt and grass that had grown right over the top of it! I might have continued to make discoveries of former civilizations, but a black snake with a yellow ring around its neck popped out and squirmed straight at me, so I had to give up going outside again forever. Also, the black dead-looking thing is a badminton shuttlecock that apparently had some adventures in the gutters and drainpipe. 

What else? We went to eat pizza at my brother's house a week ago? My mom was in town, oh right, before the fair. She asked if we had any special projects going on at church, and I told her the college ministry was raising supplies for the emergency food/supply pantry on campus. Our three students can confirm that basic necessities like soap, shampoo, and deodorant are not utilized by many other students. It honestly, makes learning hard. So, mom gave me some cash to do some shopping, adding to what we were already hoping to buy. It was fun :) G$ and I did the maths, but with all the sales, we ended up $20 under budget. Buck made up the difference by getting some bulk supplies to donate. 

The college pantry coordinator was DELIGHTED with the increase in supplies. Because there hasn't been a lot of other contributions, she's going to continue the project for another couple of weeks. She said that with what we'd donated, she would be able to shift the focus to other much-needed products. Yay! Meeting specific needs is my favorite way to give! 

And hopefully our own resident college ministry president (we think she got promoted this year from VP) drew some attention to the student ministry at last week's club fair on campus. It would be awesome to meet both physical and spiritual needs in their young adult community!

Let's see . . . we got the truck back (it still needs work, but the work that was done was under warranty, woot!) and we dropped the Cali car off (hopefully we'll see it again soon!) at the body shop. The van door is now doing the "under warranty" refusal to close all the way that they couldn't recreate the last time we took it in. Oh the hassle, though, of trying to jump through those hoops again!

We got a couple of puzzles done, the last of the summer. We will need the puzzle table for classroom space starting Monday. Brennen thought kissy faces would be more entertaining for future puzzle picture looking than regular faces :) This one was a World of Jane Austen puzzle, with scenes from her novels. It is the same series as the World of Shakespeare puzzle that we did over spring break.

Muriel has been all sorts of extra with Noah around every day. She whines, she fusses, she jumps, she scratches, she licks, she panics, she forgets every rule about being in the kitchen she's ever learned, and she just makes a nuisance of herself. We've checked with soooo many people about finding her a different home, especially with how sad she is when Caelan is not here . . . and Caelan can't take her to college next year. However, it was nice to see these two getting along like besties during naptime yesterday :)

Fair Enough

It was a misty morning (although the weather ap insisted only gray skies, no precip--it was wrong) when Caelan dropped Graysen off for a 7 a.m. work meeting . . . that was over at 7:15 :) 

Rolling with the early start, we were out the door by 9, filled up with gas soon after, and on our way to the great state fair! We made good time, despite the cloud bursts, until we reached the exit to the fairgrounds. Then we sat for 45 minutes in stop-and-barely-go traffic, hoping to find a spot in the parking lot a mile away. But once we were close enough to see through the rain-spattered windshield, we noticed a large, digital sign announcing, "Fair parking lot full and closed. Go someplace else." That might be my paraphrase :) 

We did go somewhere else; we drove in circles down side streets looking for a friendly homeowner with lawn space to spare. There were none. It was becoming stressful to waste over an hour trying to get parking, and my prayers for assistance became more fervent. Eventually we followed another vehicle into a random lot and saw a man directing traffic down a sidewalk to parking at the side of what appeared to be a refugee community building. He asked for the double the price of the parking I had planned, but I gave it to him gladly. Another quick prayer that he was legit and the van would be there when we returned, and away we went to the surprisingly nearby fairgrounds (we could have been in Narnia at this point).

This was Noah's first state fair, and we basically only went to the food stands tradition requires we must visit each year. With some fair cash distribution assistance from Maga the night before (twenties for everyone!), we ate pork burgers and pulled pork sandwiches, peppermint ice cream bars, a massive apple cider shake (Noah's discovery), mini donuts, two attempts at taffy (they were out of the good flavors), lemonade, root beer, and a nearly two-hour gut-it-out wait for a bucket of cookies in a line that seemingly had no end.

In fact, most of our day was waiting in line. We later learned that we were among the largest crowd EVER recorded in a single day at the state fair, shattering a 30-year record by more than 1,000 people. Yay, us. Ha :)

Here's a little glimpse of the fried Oreo line. I think it was worth it--that's Brennen's happy face?

The weather was pleasant enough, with mostly just that mist and few big splattery drops. We did wander the animal barns a bit and saw the big pigs and the big steer. Mostly though, we just ate our way through the fair, as one is meant to do. Maybe if we go next year, we'll get a little more culture. Just five hours in, everyone was tired, sore, over the crowds, and ready to head home. Praise God, the van was still there when we returned! This was my driving out of my unique parking place view . . . very European!

We arrived home while the sun was still out, which was a bonus for this non-night driver! It was a good day, sometimes stressful, and far too people-y, but I'm glad we went . . . along with more than one hundred thousand others. Ha!

Git 'er Done

After a month of illness . . . the inside of the house looked like a whirlwind whipped through and the outside of the house looked a little abandoned. Buck had a day off and we decided to try to knock a few things off of the to-do list. The first big one, we safely dropped the truck off at the repair shop. Check! Next was replace the two fire alarms that CONSTANTLY go off, even when no one is cooking. Check! After that, time to address the leaky garbage disposal (and oh, great, mold) in the kitchen.

Red, ooh la la! We also noticed the water line to the dishwasher was dripping, and we're very anti-drip around here at the moment, so Buck tightened that up, too. Check and check!

With the great room switch, Caelan has been decorating her now bare walls. We have a cool stud finder that also shows where electrical is located. Graysen was picking up on electrical everywhere, so, not wanting to "blow up the house," he waited for Buck to help Caelan with her decor. Buck taught Caelan the drilling, wall anchor basics. She had to go to the store for a different kind of plant hanger for her potted macramé greenery, so the project paused and then resumed. She said, "I still have a lot to learn about being a plant mom," as some of her well-sunned collection looked a little droopy. Ha! But her room is looking cute! Check!

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Graysen was replacing yet another round of cupboard hinges. The plastic dries up or something over time and the cupboards won't stay closed. We keep back-up hinge supplies in the garage, because it happens at least once a year. But the cupboard closes again, so, check!

With recent rain and cooler temps, our overgrown yard and concrete weed situation was a little extra. I sat in the driveway and pulled weeds from the cracks. Buck trimmed the hedge and front tree. I pulled weeds from the retaining wall, sidewalk, and steps--more activity than I've done in a while! 

While Buck started unwrapping the steal of a deal solar lights he snagged at work (they got tucked away on a shelf and were the last to clear out their category in inventory, so Buck's boss marked them down from $60+ to $15). I've been wanting replacement lights for up on the hill around the chicken coop, as the ones we bought several years ago stopped working several years ago :)

I moved around to doing some weeding in the back, plus general deck and yard trash clean up. Then Buck and I sat on the swing and rested. Once we were ready, I picked the spots for the lights, and he put them in place. They look SO pretty at night from the house, love! Check!

While we were up there, I noticed the chickens needed all three waters refilled and they were completely out of food. I let them out to forage while I did a muddy slip-n-slide to gather eggs. Brennen took care of the water when he and Gabby and G$ got back from running errands, and then he mixed and filled the chicken food when Caelan and Noah got back from meeting with the new worship pastor and buying food (and plant hooks) at the feed store. Brennen also mowed the front lawn while we took G$ to football practice. We look way less abandoned around here, check!!

While Graysen was at practice, Buck and I went to dinner. We tried a new (to us) steakhouse and really liked it! It was our first date night in over a month. I guess I haven't been eating as much as usual while I've been sick (probably a good thing!), because when they kept rolling out more and more food, it felt overwhelming :) Actually just being out and in a restaurant was overwhelming, like sensory overload. I told Buck I felt like I could be dreaming, it was that kind of a weird sensation. I'm wondering if all the coughing has killed off enough brain cells to alter my perceptions of reality . . . is that a thing? It was nice to spend a couple hours just with Buck. He's pretty cool, I like him a lot :)

And why wasn't Brennen at practice? Well, several months ago he and Gabby got tickets to a concert. The start time made it pretty hard to get home and cleaned up from football, so he just didn't go. In the meantime, their former piano teacher (my NGF's sister) forgot that she'd bought a ticket to the concert and had scheduled something else. She offered the ticket to her brother, our nephew's doppelganger and everyone's friend, C. He mentioned that our two were going to the concert, and maybe he could drive them all together. To his sister's shock, his mom said, "That's a great idea!" We're all a little surprised at the newfound enthusiasm of allowing Gabby and C to spend time together. They've been sweet on each other for two years, and last year they were not allowed to even speak to each other. Suddenly, they are spending every day together with his parents' approval--you may have noticed they invited Gabby to church and took her out to lunch last week to get to know her better. It is feeling like answered prayers, for sure!

Buck went to bed early (he's got BIG boss walks this week and preparations are intense!) and I stayed up until midnight waiting for the concert crew to return home. Just me and these two knuckleheads, who decided to get along and not fight for a while . . .

The house "feels" better with the fixes and the yard clean-up. We still have a ways to go, but it feels accomplishable. I just need to psych myself up to finish school planning and to pick a start date. You can see in the double dog picture the corner of Graysen's Econ book peeking out, so I am trying :) I'll give that a "check!" too.

First Day of College

Well, Caelan and Noah had quite a scramble with just days to spare before the fall semester began. They have their sights set on a specific college (which we plan to visit in person in October) and started chatting with the transfer coordinator there. With lots of new information about which credits will transfer (most!!) and what classes they should take (cheap) this fall before they transfer (several!) they about wore out their phones and computers strategizing, adding classes, dropping classes, ordering books, messaging professors and advisors; quite the hectic few days (which will end up saving them thousands if they do choose this school).

Gabby was a lot more low-key in college prep. She bought a backpack the day before school started, and then realized at her first-ever in-person college class, that her computer from Uncle C only works if it is plugged in (a pattern we saw the other three go through shortly before they needed to be replaced). So, after classes, she went to Walmart and bought herself a new computer.

On the other hand, since we are still two cars short (did I mention they pushed the Cali car fix out another two weeks??!! and that the truck is leaking . . . something), Gabby needed to drive Caelan to campus. This time Caelan was very low-key and said, "Oh, we don't have to hurry, it will be fine." Gabby was ready to get.out.the.door. After finding parking, she was five minutes late to her first-ever class on campus and not very happy about it.

But they did give me a quickly coordinated smile for first day pics, anyway :)

So brief recap--they were only at school briefly :) Caelan had a class that lasted 8 minutes. Gabby had a class with all boys, she's the only girl, and she said it smelled terrible in there, but she likes the professor. Caelan said her math teacher has a heavy Chinese accent and is really smart so teaches fast (there were kids dropping the class while it was happening), but she thinks she'll get used to her pace and will fine. She actually did her first photography homework while she was waiting in math class line to sign her name on the attendance list. Let's see, someone asked for her Snap, which she doesn't have. And then Caelan advised Gabby to not make eye contact with any guys, and Gabby said, "No problem, I look at the ground." Ha :) What else? Oh, Noah brought Caelan home while Gabby went to the grocery store and bought Hatch Green Chili burgers for Brennen to grill for lunch (I told you it was brief day at school :)

Then Caelan left for a job interview, while Noah recorded an intro video at our house for an online class. Caelan got the job but heard the pay on the way out the door, called them back when she got home, and quit :) Shortest job commitment ever! Brennen was going to apply for a Christian landscaping company today (who would pay his football fees if hired), but we can't figure out how to get him to that job with the car situation, so he keeps his grocery gig until we can. It sounds like Noah's roommate, who was in choir with Caelan, has a good job offer for Noah. Noah said, "Do you believe in God? Because I have been praying and looking for a job and you just offered me one." Pretty cool!

To finish out our day, I took the boys to practice, Gabby went to work, and Caelan and Noah went to college group. When we got home the boys' friend C (also Gabby's friend C) arrived to stay the night, because it's been like a month since he last did. Busy days, revolving door, so many plans! Whee!

Summer Send Off

Noah completed his work in the fields on Friday and headed to college on Saturday. Still sleepless from his exhausting summer experience, he enthusiastically participated in Graysen's plan of an intentional all-nighter before the start of school on Monday. After Noah settled into his dorm and his parents headed home, the rest of the afternoon was spent preparing for the planned festivities. I picked Graysen up from work and he carried out a shopping bag full of ice cream. Noah and Caelan drove to another store to get firewood and hundreds of water balloons. They spent the better part of the early afternoon filling these for one of the evening activities, saved for Gabby's arrival home from work.

First on the docket: dinner at Raising Cane's. Brennen was already having coffee nearby with a friend, who tried to finagle an invite to the overnight party, but we kept this one exclusive :)

Second: the four of them returned to our house and the guitars were put into musical use. This accompanied Caelan while she . . .

Third: made milkshakes. But these were not your average milkshakes. When the chocolate chip cookie dough chunks hit the Ninja blades I nearly dropped the food I was making on the stove. It was SO loud! We thought, "Well, those are some solid little cookie dough bits!" Soon, the shakes were distributed to glasses for the present teens and Buck. Buck got a funny look on his face and said, "I didn't order glass in mine." He pulled a shard-like chunk out of his mouth. Soon the boys began noticing the same thing, but increasingly larger--chunks of plastic disguised within their creamy desserts. Caelan was baffled . . . until they fished out a piece that looked oddly like the spare pour-spout cover. Sure enough, she blended a lid into their ice cream. We were all laughing so hard, as the strainers came out and more chunks were discovered! Because, yes, no one was willing to give up their tasty treats even if plastic lid was in the ingredient list :) We sent the following picture to Gabby at work. She was very confused. The second picture is what was in Noah's cup, alone. He might be the "lid"eral winner of the most chunks in his glass (totally his joke, btw :)

Fourth: While they were waiting for Gabby and digesting their plastic, an exciting game of Farkle broke out in the library!

Fifth: When Gabby arrived, the fun really began! They spent more than an hour painting cute porcelain creatures . . .

. . . and then (Sixth) painting themselves :) For the next activity was an 11 PM game of laser tag on the darkened hills, and one must wear his or her battle paint (even if inspiration was pulled from the advertisements in the newspaper on the table, ha!) Never have My Little Pony tattoos looked so fierce.

At about midnight, I followed Buck to bed. He had inventory the next day, so was already peacefully snoozing for his 4:45 a.m. alarm. No sooner did I hit the pillow, than I hear yelping, crying, and snarling outside. Graysen yelled, "MURIEL!" Apparently, she got territorial and confused by all the evening antics when it was clearly bedtime. She decided to fight Chauncey, which was not part of the activity plans. She's a wee stinker sometimes!

Okay, so I was asleep for the remainder of the line-up . . . I think next was the near-silent water balloon fight, which I'm told was THE most fun part of the evening. Just look at all the balloons!! That's Muriel's doggie pool and big enough for someone to lay across. Wowza!

Because they were now wet at approximately 1 a.m., Caelan proved her summer camp fire-starting skills and got the logs blazing. Into it they threw merry color-changing chemicals . . . hopefully after they cooked the brats Caelan purchased (along with a ton of candy) at the grocery store earlier that day. Brennen also strapped some swords and such on for a warrior pose by the fire with his "tats."

Once they were de-painted, they all settled down inside to watch movies. The plan was to make candy charcuterie, but they were too tired, so just ate it out of the boxes :) Three movies, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Princess Diaries I, and Princess Diaries II, carried them into the early dawn light--when Brennen had to be at church to run sound for Sunday services. Gabby dropped him off (she had gone to bed after the fire) and headed to church with her friend C's family. Graysen hit the hay and slept for a solid 8 hours. I woke him up at four and he still crashed with no problem that night. Brennen has a hard time napping during the day, but he eventually sang himself to sleep in the chair. This might be my favorite picture ever!

I love that they planned this event together, celebrating the end of summer and making happy memories. My mama heart is full 💗