End of the Soccer season

This last Saturday was the last game of the season for Ethan's soccer team. He played on the Wild Horses and was one of 3 boys out of 10 players. I was the team parent and organized the end of the year party. The family that volunteered to host the party also wanted to get a bouncy house. They collected $150 for it. It was forecast to rain several days in advance with light sprinkles all day. The rain policy says you can cancel and get your money back. They didn't. The light sprinkles turned into rain that evening and not one kid actually went in it. I didn't want that $15 anyway.

I think overall it was a very good season. I kept score for a few games, but they have a no scoring policy in the younger leagues so as not to damage the fragile self-esteem of the little darlings. please.

Ethan was a great defender. Whenever the other team got control of the ball he would book it down to the other goal and block their attempts to score. It was absolutely amazing how fast he could get across the field. When they received trophies at the end, their coach described each player and had everyone guess who it could be. Ethan was described as Dash (like from the Incredibles) the Defender. He was definitely one of the best players on the team and certainly the fastest. He wasn't so good at offense, but we can always work on that next year. What a contrast from the beginning of the season when he'd go to practice and then come off the field all upset that another kid had taken the ball from him. "That's the whole point, honey! Go take it back from him!"

Halloween fun

Getting dressed up has got to be one of the best perks of childhood! Ethan found a store bought costume of King Peter of Narnia and carried the magazine picture around with him all month. I found the cutest flower costume for Elle that happens to be just like my online avatar for my alter-ego, Cookiemonsterette. Hunter is very into superheros... especially ones that go as fast as possible. I was glad that he was happy to be Superman (a recycled costume of Ethan's) Unlike last year...

The family theme last year didn't quite work as well as I'd have hoped. Elle made a cute TinkerBell and Ethan was very cooperative as Captain Hook, but Ethan's 3 year old recycled PeterPan costume went over like a lead balloon with Hunter. He didn't want to wear the hat, he didn't want to wear the shoes and he insisted on wearing a Batman cape, so everyone was very confused about the what exactly he was supposed to be. A green Batman?

Hunter was overcome with anticipation for Halloween this year. Singing songs all month at Tiny Tots about the upcoming fun was more than he could take and he started leaving preschool all upset and sad because Halloween wasn't here yet. Oh fantastic. I can't wait for Christmas.

Elle didn't like wearing the petal hood. At first taking pictures was nearly impossible, but then she realized the power of the flower at our first official Halloween activity of the costume parade and trick-or-treating on First Street. Everyone made an enormous fuss over her cuteness and gave her candy on top of it all. It got to the point that it was all I could do to keep her out of her costume during the day.

I was glad to have so many Halloween activities to go to so the kids could make the most of their costumes.

The night of trick-or-treating Elle scored more candy than both boys combined. When people came to the door she would scoot right up to the bowl and start putting in candy while the people were bent over admiring everyone's costume. I can't imagine that anyone would have stopped her. Who could say no to such a cute little flower?

As a general rule I let the kids eat as much candy as they can handle the first night. I can understand why most schools cancel school November 1st. Can you say, SUGAR RUSH!!! After the first night of binging I put the rest of it away for desserts after dinner. Once the kids stop asking for candy the rest of it goes in the garbage. By then it's usually the lollipops and coconut filled candies.

Ever posing

This picture was taken this morning after Elle deftly disposed of her pajamas and climbed up on the kitchen table to read her favorite Mother Goose book. Her Aunt keeps telling me she ought to be one of those Baby Gap models. I'd agree with her, except Elle's favorite outfit is her birthday suit. Since her pajamas are the easiest to get out of, if I don't get her dressed right away I will most likely find her running through the house completely tickled with herself and her amazing ability to get OUT of clothing....they call her the streak....

Pumpkin Patch 2007

As a family tradition we have made a yearly pilgrimage to the Pumpkin Patch. I suppose you could say it kicks off the holiday season for us. We go to the Pumpkin Patch in Dixon and every year it gets better and better. They have hay rides, free wagons to go out into the field and pick a pumpkin, a little playhouse village for the kids to run around and play, a haystack castle specifically to climb up and play on and a corn maze that won the Guinness Book World Record for largest Corn Maze in 2007. Michael's brother went through a smaller version a couple of years ago and it took him two hours to find his way out again. Perhaps when the children are older we'll venture inside, but at this point I'm afraid we would never see Hunter again. Everyone (i.e. the children) got to pick their own pumpkin and we got one extra, a big one to carve for Family Home Evening.

This year we went in the early afternoon instead of after dinner. It was light out, which was nice and we made a day of it rather than just an evening. As part of our tradition we go out for pie afterwards. We made the 2 o'clock meal lunch and dinner. Everybody got to pick a slice of pie which we all made little samples of and we got two whole pies to take home.

Since we had so much time we went to the Nut Tree Family Park and got the wristbands to go on everything. All the children loved the Merry-Go-Round, Ethan indulged me with a ride on the Roller Coaster and Elle even got to ride on the balloons. Grandma went with us. I think she had a good time, too.

Vote Ron Paul

Body Worlds

We are studying physiology this year for Science. As a field trip we went to San Jose to see the Body Worlds. They were actual bodies donated and plastinated for preservation. The purpose was to see all the different parts of the body, recognize God's hand in it's creation and reverence the body as a temple. I made it very clear when we entered that these were REAL bodies and not just models.

Hunter didn't particularly like seeing the bodies. Perhaps because he prefers to be hands on, and I made it a point that he NOT touch anything. He gets grossed out fairly easily. After the fact he has said that the bodies were scary. Ethan said, "When I die, I don't want to come here." His favorite part, however, was the skateboarding body.

It was completely fascinating to see all the different systems isolated; skeletal, muscular, nervous, circulatory, respiratory... To see the body from perspectives otherwise hidden from view was amazing. On display were healthy lungs next to smoker lungs which were next to coal miner lungs. We were completely amazed at the damage to the coal miner's lungs.

For the months of September and October we are focusing on cells. Ethan's attention was really caught when we went over the beginning of life from a single cell. In the reproductive portion of the exhibit he was able to see first hand this development. There were embryos in various stages of development along with older fetuses. The only sadness that Ethan expressed to me during the whole Body Worlds exhibit was seeing the babies who never got to be born or grow up. He wanted to know why they died. I didn't have an answer, but reminded him of Jesus' role in our lives and the power of the resurrection...and he was comforted.

Throughout the exhibit there was a quiet sense of reverence demonstrated by everyone in attendance. There were no signs asking for the hushed tones and respect, yet the spirit that attended the exhibit was one that I have most often found in church meetinghouses.