For the love of the game

Today W finally got to play his first football game of the season. He was raring to go, a seasoned player joining many of his teammates from last year. This time, our young football hero played noseguard and did a great job. He took one big, scary hit but got up and kept going. His team lost in a close fight, but it didn't seem to matter much. The important thing was just getting to play.

Mom had to look away several times, but Coach Dad was pleased to watch how much W has grown as player. And, in the end, W walked away in one piece, still loving the game.


W didn't even realize that he had bruises and cuts until the adrenaline died down at home after the game. Evidently, he leads with his right arm when trying to fight through the line.

Bionicle training

W had a football game this morning (which turned out to be rained out), but our youngest two kids couldn't go because they had colds. So, J extended an invitation to his sister to join him in some Bionicle play. This is a first! M willingly jumped right in and tried to get into character. However, she needed more information about how these characters work before she could really get going. J filled her in on the ways of the Bionicle. Here's a little of what I overheard:

J: "Okay, this guy is quick and agile, but this guy's power is his amazing strength."
M: "What does 'agile' mean?"
J: "It means he can move around easily."
M: "I want mine to be strong and move around easily."
J: "No, yours is just agile, but that's good because if you're agile you don't have to be too strong."
M: "Don't they ever get to talk instead of just fighting?"
J: "Sure, they talk. Like this: 'Get out of my way. I'm going to the volcano.'"

First day of school

Well, it's official. All the kids are now school-aged! M started kindergarten today. W is in fifth grade, and J is in third. This will probably be the only year they'll all be in the same school.

We started the day with an early wake-up call so that everybody would be able to get going without a big rush. Then, everybody had a nice breakfast of cinnamon toast and turkey bacon.

Then, it was off to the bus stop.

I'm so glad my husband took the day off work so he could be with us this morning!

There were no tears as everyone got on the bus. Even Mom managed to keep a smile on her face! I feel so much better knowing that all the kids are together and looking out for each other out there.

Room improvement

We've been on a mission to get the kids' rooms all organized before school starts so that no new stuff that may go in there will get lost (like homework assignments, sports gear, friends ...). W has a sports-themed bedroom, so a new locker/nightstand works nicely for him. Here's W and his dad putting the new piece together.

M's plastic kitchen set got moved to the basement to make room for a new desk. She said the kitchen wasn't really necessary since she can bake real stuff now with her Easy Bake oven.

I just had to post this photo of what she wrote when she sat down to work at her new desk. Can you see what it says? "I love my mom." Not bad for someone who hasn't started kindergarten yet, huh? I love her choice of topic!

J has a new bookcase waiting to be assembled for his room, and we have a few ideas about how to organize all his Transformers and Bionicles. His room is the biggest challenge by far, since he likes to keep his creations accessible in case they need changes or additions. I'll post photos of his room as soon we make some progress there.

Pre-season football

My husband came home from work with four free tickets to a Redskins/Ravens pre-season game! Apparently he can put his name in the hat for any free tickets to area sporting events, and this time his name was drawn. We only had a day to figure out how to work such a big event into an already packed week. It just so happened that game night was also open house at school. We decided that, since we only have two big football fans in the family, we'd extend an invitation to a couple of pre-teen football pals on our street rather than try to find a babysitter for our youngest child. So, we rushed through open house, my husband grabbed three boys, and off they went. They got home really late but had a blast!
W was the lone Ravens fan of the group and apparently wasn't intimidated by all the Redskins fans around him. He was thrilled to finally attend a big-league sporting event in which his team came out on top.

Birthday bash

Our puppy turned one year old last weekend, so I guess that, technically, he's not a puppy anymore. We celebrated this milestone by giving him a new bone, bed, and toy. The bone is still going strong, but the bed (a foam-covered mini-sofa) and his new toy (shown above) didn't last long. Looks like our little buddy had a good time on his birthday, though.

The City of Ember

I didn't read nearly as many books this summer as I thought I would, but I did find one book that I can recommend.

The City of Ember, by Jeanne Duprau, really held my family's interest. We listened to this one on the long drive to visit my family, and all of us were riveted. It's the story of Doon and Lina, two children who live in a decaying city lit only by artificial light. Not much is known about how Ember began or how it will survive now that the lights have begun flickering. Ember's residents only know that The Builders made things as they are and put a plan in place years ago to provide for future residents' needs. Now those provisions are dwindling, and fear and doubt plague the city. Lina finds a mysterious message that is quickly damaged by her baby sister before it can be read, so Lina enlists the help of Doon to decipher the instructions she is certain The Builders left behind for future residents to see. Is there another place out there besides Ember? Will the city soon be left in total darkness? Can Lina and Doon find a way to help the citzens of Ember before it is too late? This book really kept us on the edge of our seats. The sequel, The People of Sparks, was also a good page-turner, but the first book was by far the best.

The book led to a pretty interesting discussion with my nine-year-old. At first, J felt certain that a Christian must have written The City of Ember, because he noticed parallels between our belief in Jesus' eventual return and the Emberites' hope that The Builders would one day come and rescue them. However, J did notice that The Builders never left a Bible for the citizens of Ember or told them anything about Jesus. The more we talked, the more I saw his wheels turning, and eventually he came to the realization that perhaps the author was writing a satire about Christianity versus the human condition (my words, not his, but that's what he was getting at). J decided that maybe the author was trying to say that believing in God is useless and that if we ever need help, we have to rely on ourselves. I honestly don't know if that was Ms. Duprau's intent, but it's a logical conclusion to reach. I was pleased that my son was able to read the book critically and draw such parallels with the world around him. I was also pleased to see that he felt compassion for a world without Christ (even a fictional one) and wanted to pray for the author.

Where did the summer go?

It seems like we just unloaded all the end-of-the-year stuff from the kids' backpacks, and yet it's time to put fresh school supplies in and send them off to the classroom again. This summer just sped by! It was a good one, though. We made trips down south to visit family, spent some time seeing the local sights, had lots of fun with neighbors in the cul-de-sac, and just generally enjoyed a non-schedule.

This is a great shot of W enoying the slip and slide at his grandmother's house.

Here's one of M trying out her Easy Bake oven for the first time. Her first creation was this birthday cake for her brother, which we cut into five tiny pieces and shared.

Here's J at his birthday dinner. He loves the spring rolls at a local Chinese place.

The running man

This is a recent photo of my husband in a pretty new look for him. He's never been a big runner until now, but he's up to about 15 miles a week at this point. He's prepping for the Army 10-Mile Run in a couple of months.

Swim lessons

Our soon-to-be third-grader finished a two-week session of swim lessons through our county's parks and rec program and is now a certified swimmer! He can jump into the pool and confidently swim to the side, tread water, and float. Going to the pool is so much fun now that he is so independent and water-safe.

How to spend a summer afternoon

For a fun summer afternoon, invite some neighbors and a cousin or two over. Gather the Barbies in a basket, grab a blanket, and head for the backyard.






Or, if Barbies aren't your thing, you can always take the Transformers out to the deck.







Maybe a little backyard baseball would be more to your liking.








All the while, dinner can be grilling away while you enjoy the summer sun.

Independence Night

Just a few photos I took at the Fourth of July picnic on the golf course. The sunset was amazing. After dark, we enjoyed a breathtaking fireworks display.

Independence Day Parade

It's been over a month since we saw the fireworks, but I still wanted to make sure I got some of our Fourth of July pictures posted.

We visited my husband's family for the weekend. Cousins from Chicago were in town, so we had lots of family around us while we enjoyed a parade through the neighborhood.

Just thinking

This was such a great picture of our eight-year-old, I just had to share it. We were visiting his cousins last weekend. While everybody was busy doing other stuff, I looked out the window and saw our little guy lying in the hammock alone. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, "Just thinking."

Promotional consideration

My sweet husband has his promotion ceremony last week. He is now a lieutenant colonel. He spoke with humble sincerity about how much his family has helped him reach his goals and gave us all gifts on what was supposed to be HIS big day. What a good man I married!

Dad giving his daughter flowers. She also got a teddy bear wearing a flight suit with lieutenant colonel rank. Her brothers got Air Force coins, and I got flowers and a beautiful framed, custom-designed print with a picture of my family and very touching words from my husband. He also had gifts for his parents.

Taking the oath. A civilian is in charge of my husband's division, so she administered the oath.

The whole family was able to attend the ceremony. Shown below are the five of us, my husband's parents, his sister and her husband, and our nieces.

You say you want a revolution?

Our fourth-grader recently participated in his school's Colonial Day. I wanted to show what he looks like with two good legs (notice the cast is gone!) and two silver buckles, which he made himself at school. He also made the spiffy hat. We bought the costume several weeks ago for another school project but did some alterations so that he didn't have to go to school in ruffles.

I need a bath

You can't really see how dirty those toes are from this photo, I realize, but I'm rejoicing that the cast comes off this week!

Mother's Day

On Mother's Day we all went to church, where the kids did sweet little things and sang songs for their moms. Then, after a quick trip home to take the puppy outside, we drove about an hour to meet my husband's parents and sister (plus her husband and little girls) for a special Mother's Day lunch at a historic tavern. Here's a photo of all the moms and daughters together.

A day at the park

After our daughter's patriotic program, we headed a little further south to the amusement park. We had been putting the trip off for a while due to a previously mentioned toe injury, but our oldest convinced us that the cast was no big deal and wouldn't hinder him a bit. Turns out he was right. This was the first time he was tall enough to ride The Volcano (just barely made the height requirement - I think the cast put him over the top), and he said it was well worth the hour-and-a-half wait in line. I had to agree. Great ride!

The younger crowd really enjoyed The Avalanche, and after the wait for The Volcano was over, everyone took another ride down the big bobsled.

Our middle son insisted on trying The Berserker on the way out of the park. The going back and forth was fun, but hanging upside down wasn't as fun as it looked, even for this rollercoaster enthusiast. However, it was pretty neat to be able to see the boys' mixed reactions to the experience. The oldest was ready to jump right back on, but his little brother agreed with his mom. The ride would have been a lot better if it went back and forth instead of up and over.

A word of caution: When going to the amusement park, don't wear shoes you usually only wear for patriotic performances. You will get blisters on your heels and end up seeking a less painful method of transportation from the park to the car.

Stars and stripes

Our youngest had a solo with her performing group last weekend. She sang the second verse of "This Land Is Your Land" all by herself and did a great job! She was one of the youngest in the show but shone like a true little star.