End of the Football Season.

Builder played his last game a couple of weeks ago, (see pictures here) and Jetter is playing his last game today.  It's cold and rainy and muddy, so I'm including a few pictures from last weeks game instead of taking more today.  Last week Jetter's team got to play at the local university's big stadium.  It was very exciting! (Although difficult to take a "close up" picture!)

I'm sure every other parent there will have a different opinion, but in my book #77 was the star of the show!

Night Owl played last night and they won again!  That means they will go to the play-offs so it looks like the football season will continue here for at least a few more weeks.  I wish the cold weather would hold up.  We were a bit chilly and wet last night in the rain.  I have to tackle a very muddy uniform this morning and I'm not looking forward to it!

Nature Hike!

Yesterday was such a beautiful day we decided to head to the local nature center for a hike.  We had some friends join us so it was extra special.  I don't know why I drag my feet on this sort of thing!  Being out in the fresh air, getting some much needed exercise, and helping my kids develop those skills of observation is always so rewarding.    I enjoyed listening to the kids talk about their experience on the 30 minute drive back to the house.  There was mention of bat houses and bee's hives, snakes, deer scat, wooly bears and the trail we couldn't find.  Social Butterfly and her friend made little notebooks to record all their findings.  Builder wants to go back again today.  He reminds me of Night Owl in his enthusiasm for being in the woods. 
You can tell from these pictures that everyone seemed to have a good time. 

It was a beautiful day!

Builder's Last Game

As usual, this weekend was filled with football games.  Night Owl did an excellent job at his game and the "red team" won again.  Jetter's game was 1 1/2 hours away (again!) and they did a great job too.  Builder played his last flag football game of the season so this post is devoted mostly to him.   
    For those who wonder, flag football is played very much like regular football but there is no tackling.  Instead, the kids wear flags around their waist, and when a person from the opposing team takes their flag, they are considered "tackled".  The other difference for flag players is that the coach is usually the quarter back.  This is because most  5-7 year olds can't throw the ball accurately enough for the game to move ahead.  Here's a  picture of Builder in which you can see his flags, and one with the coach playing quarter back.

  

As in all football games, the players on the line are blocking their opponents, but, they are not aloud to tackle.  Most of the players get moved around alot, so they have a turn to play the different positions.  The other thing that makes flag different, is that every player is played the entire game.  For this reason, they try to put the same amount of kids on each team.

    Builder played a great game, especially after the half time pep tak with big brother!

Beany made a friend and had a great time at the game too!  This is the facial expression he makes when you say "smile!".

One of Builder's favorite "parts of the game" is at the end when you get to give everyone on the opposing team a "high five" and say "good game"!   

And of course, he's very proud of his trophy that he received from the coach!  All in all, it was a great first season of flag football for Builder!

Pictures from our busy weekend!

As promised, our weekend was super busy!  Grandma and Grandpa came which made it very special for everyone!  We actually had a couple of cancellations, but even then, we had very little "down time".

Social Butterfly's piano recital was one of the cancellations.  We didn't know about the cancellation until we got there, but we took her picture anyway since she looked so pretty!

Friday Grandma and Grandpa had lunch with us, then we headed off to the Homecoming Parade.  Here's Grandpa and Beany getting to know each other a little.

And here's the whole bunch of us waiting for the parade to start.

After the parade was the big game.  We were thankful that the rain held off!

Saturday morning, Builder's game was cancelled because of  rain.  We all got to go to Jetter's game instead.

Here he is with his friend who's also on the same team.

Saturday evening Night Owl got all dressed up for the dance.  His hair is wet in this picture with grandma, but he looked very handsome in his tuxedo!

Saturday evening we celebrated Builder's 6th birthday!

 Grandpa and Grandma helped figure out how Builder's new RC truck worked.  He was thrilled!

Sunday, we had the "Grand Finale" of the weekend.

Builder's friends came over for a birthday party,

then we went to see "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs",

In 3D of course!

All in all it was a great weekend!