Ethan and Landon - Football Legends

Forget that it's December, people.  I've got to post a few pics of my boys playing football.  I finally sat down over my relaxing Thanksgiving break and downloaded a few photos the team photographer took and was quite impressed with what I saw.   It reminded me just how much work went into his football season {and ride coordinating}.  This boy was so busy! He started football in August, then started middle school, and then took up cross country running.   I'm so impressed with how he handled all the big changes in his life and managed to get really good grades too.  His football team never won a game but I loved that when the coach's son lost a record amount of yards, the coach would finally put in Ethan to try to recover some yards and some dignity.  Yes, I am proud of my son for being able to run forward with the ball.  {Apparently not all running backs can do that but when you're the coach's son it seems to be irrelevant.}  I'm also finally catching on to the the politics of youth sports.  If your parents aren't helping to coach or hosting team parties you're not going to play nearly as much as you'd like.  It's pathetic.  But so is the intensity level of youth sports.  You'd think these kids were being groomed for the NFL.  Ethan had to be checked in and weighed before each game an hour prior to game time.  That meant if we had an away game we had to drive him there and sit around for an hour before he even played, then sit around for two more hours watching his game.  It was a sacrifice of love.  But we sure love this boy!

 Too bad Landon's team didn't have a photographer.  I only took 2 pics. But flag football is awesome!  Every kids feels like a star and Landon learned a lot.  But can I just mention those helmets?  They are ridiculous!  Who ever heard of soft helmets?  Must have been invented by some helicopter parent who couldn't handle watching their kid play a sport without some sort of head gear.  When the boys ran out onto the field with their helmets on for the first time the entire crowd started to laugh.  What a joke! 

The Grandparents Came

The best part about living on the West Coast is that we are so much closer to family.  My dad and Kathy flew up for a three-day weekend and we had a great time with them.  They probably didn't have much fun going to every soccer and football game but the boys sure loved having a big cheering section.  The grandparents even got to see the Primary program on Sunday so they really came at the right time.  It didn't rain until Sunday so we were able to enjoy the beautiful fall weather and Dad even managed to go home from Seattle with a sunburn!

Hiking around Rattlesnake Lake

Landon was excited to show them his kindergarten bus stop

Parker always held my dad's hand.  Pretty much the cutest thing ever

Randy coaching Landon's soccer game

A visit from Grandpa means giant pancakes for breakfast

Marcus's cheering section at his football game

Marcus played the best game of his life making a few key tackles which resulted in a lot of loud cheering from me

After all the games were over we celebrated by eating lunch at Triple X with their homemade root beer.  Yum!

Saturday night we made haunted houses.  Dad and Kathy were a great team assembling everything.

We assembled the houses using a burnt sugar method I learned from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  it's brilliant and so easy!

The finished products

Pirate stories at bedtime

My brother and his family are flying up to visit in a few days which we are really excited about.  We haven't done any sightseeing stuff around Seattle yet so that will give us a reason to go.
Randy's parents came out last month for a quick trip.  Unfortunately it rained most of the time they were here so I only got a couple pictures with them.  It's good to be with family again!

Picking blackberries with Randy's parents

We made a quick trip to the park when the sun came out