His First Game

Last month I said to my mom, "There's this weekend in September that's filled with kids' activities..." Well, that weekend is here--and so are my parents!!! :)

We welcomed them to our house yesterday afternoon and jumped right in to the fun things going on. After a late lunch with them at Panera, Dad walked to the middle school to meet up with Kaleb and watch a bit of Braylen's football practice. Mom and I picked Aaron up from school. Supper was a bit of a whirlwind, and then we loaded into 2 vehicles and watched Kaleb and Aaron play soccer at two different parks. Divide and conquer! Thanks to Facetime, we were all able to "see" the action going on at both locations. :)

Today my parents are at Grandparents' Day at Aaron's school. Tonight we are watching Braylen march in the 8th grade marching band at the high school football game. He'll be playing the bass drum. Tomorrow is the pancake feed at the fire station and then the parade--where Braylen will march again. I'm pretty sure the only thing Grammy and Grampy will not be able to see while they are here is one of Braylen's football games. Which brings me to the title of this post...

Braylen's first game was earlier this week. It was SO much fun to watch him play! I could hardly stay in my seat! He played offense, defense, and kicker. He caught the punts and tried to run them down the field. He was all over the place--but my eyes were always on #22.

Blue #22

They won their game in overtime, beating our town's other middle school. Kaleb asked me if the 2 schools are rivals, and I suppose they are. At least until high school, when they become teammates. :) As I watched the game, I learned something about myself. Although I love to watch football games, when my son is playing, I only watch him. A mother watches her son, not the ball. When I shared that with Braylen he gave me a sly grin...like that was kind of silly, but kind of special. At least I like to think so.

Waiting to return a punt

Derek has today and the weekend off from work, so I just can't think of anything that can make this weekend better. These times are for me to store up in my heart, so I can relive them on a day that might not be as much fun. Or on a day that's hard. Thank you, Lord, for the here and now. :)

Catching My Breath

After some very busy days, I am grateful for a few moments to sit down and reflect on what's been keeping us so busy...and literally catch my breath, since I went to exercise class this morning. :)

On Labor Day our family of 5 FINALLY spent some time together at the lake. Our extended family was there too, and we all had such a blast. It had been since mid-July since we went boating. I just can't believe that. Anyway, we made up for it with a beautiful day on the water. We swam a lot. We skied a lot. We laughed a lot. :) We didn't catch any fish, but to tell you the truth, I am more than okay with that! My sis-in-law took some great pictures of our fun in the water--thank you, Pam!

Derek is on the left, I am on the right!

Derek and his brother

Crazy fun! :)

Braylen took my place and he is a great skier!

Kaleb and Aaron did lots of knee-boarding, and both of them picked up the rope. Yay! They also tried skiing, got up for a couple seconds, and will keep trying until they get it. :)

Soccer has been lots of fun for Kaleb and Aaron this year. One of Kaleb's coaches is a family friend of ours, and that's been a nice bonus for Kaleb. Aaron's team, the Light Blue Flames, is unlike any other team he's been on in recent years. They win games! I know it's not all about the winning, but it sure makes the games more fun when they don't lose all of the time. Aaron's scored 3 goals so far this season, which was unheard of in the past. He's a much more aggressive player this year. What a difference a year makes.

Go get it Aaron!

Smile for Daddy :)

Braylen had his first football game yesterday--a scrimmage--and it was SO much fun to watch him play! He loves to play the running back position, get the ball, and run it down the sidelines. He also plays safety on defense and made several good tackles yesterday. Yes, I cringe when he collides with the other players. I am his mother after all! Pictures are on Derek's phone, so I'll have to post some of those next time.

Aaron and Kaleb have been making more derby cars out of aluminum foil again. They've also spent many hours playing football with their mini players and mini helmets in the living room. I love that they still play by using their imagination. Ginger had a car underneath her paw and I loved joking with them that Ginger was playing cars too!

Playing cars demo derby style

See Ginger's car?

Look who's mowing all by himself? (with supervision of course!)
Kaleb saw him having a hard time by the curb and ran outside to help his brother--so sweet!

We're eating supper on the run and supplementing our meager meals with bowls of cereal before bed. And sometimes homework is done after 9pm and musical instruments are practiced by boys who are waiting for a turn in the shower. I remind myself that these crazy crazy crazy days don't last forever, and we are blessed blessed blessed with a family to do fun things with!

Another silly sleeping position, Aaron style! He was sound asleep like this!
I guess when you're this tired, any position will do.