Landon Went to Homecoming

I still can't believe Landon is doing big boy things.  In my mind he's still ten years old.  He asked a cute girl to homecoming and was no help whatsoever when it was time to make a poster.  Randy is the artist in the family and he was working so I made the poster in record time before I had to drive some kid to some activity.  It wasn't perfect but it was good enough--the story of my life.

Landon has his drivers license but isn't allowed to drive other people yet so I got to be the chauffeur for this group.  Landon's date was so friendly and helped carry the conversation which I thought was super impressive.  After pictures and dinner, I dropped them off at the dance and then everyone went their separate ways to separate parties.  I think it's weird but apparently this is normal.  Whatever.  I'm just glad they went. 

This pose is from the Spiderman movie or something.  

All the Fall Things

All the fall things happened pretty uneventfully.  Henry played soccer with his best friend Jack and Randy helped coach.  Parker finished his cross country season with only one rainy race.  Landon went to homecoming and has become a sometimes-grumpy teenager.  Landon started shaving and insisted on specific instruction from Randy.  The other boys just figured it out on their own after I told them the basics.  Landon also finished his drivers ed course.  Now he just needs to learn how to drive without killing anymore deer.  Yes, you read that right.  He hit a deer in Randy's new Audi.  You might be wondering how many Audi's the Ball family will continue to wreck before getting a different car.  I wonder the same thing!  You might also be wondering how much we pay for car insurance for four cars and five drivers.  It's a lot and makes me question why I had five kids.  I'm not kidding.  And in case you didn't know, deer actually make noise.  I wouldn't call it talking but it turns out in the split second when you hit a deer with your car, it makes a crying sound that will haunt you for the rest of your life before the impact takes its life.  

Henry and Jack with all their donuts and end-of-season treats.  

When bribed with donuts, this team scores goal after goal.  Otherwise, they really don't care and it's hilarious to watch.

Henry's tongue!!

Ethan came home for a weekend and cheered Henry on, then carried him off the field on his shoulders as they headed to Panda Express--Henry's favorite place to eat. Brothers are the best!

Parker's first meet

finishing strong

I've been watching cross country finals for years!  So glad it wasn't in the rain this time.

Landon confidently asked this cute girl to homecoming during one of the football games.  He was hoping his freshman friends would follow his lead but they were too chicken.  Things got pretty stressful the week before the dance when there wasn't much of a plan but it all worked out.

New suit courtesy of Amazon

Landon doing big boy things is still weird to me

Pictures and dinner at the Plateau Club.  All the kids ordered salads for dinner since it was the cheapest thing on the menu :)

Clean shaven...luckily he has super blond facial hair so shaving every couple weeks is probably enough

Cute little Henry playing the piano.  I finally got him a teacher because the battle was not something I could handle with him.  He loves it and is actually really good.  Also, I love that he stands at the keyboard.  

Happy Fall Y'all!

Marcus is HOME!

Elder Ball is home from his mission!  We are so excited to have him back, even if it's for a concussion and even if it's only a temporary stay.  It's just great to see him and help him get better.  Six weeks ago, Marcus passed out, fell and landed on his head on the cement.  He split his head open and went to the hospital for stitches where he got stitched up by a person who was dressed in jeans and flip-flops, who didn't wear gloves, and didn't numb Marcus up.  Marcus is the GOAT!  Marcus woke up the next morning with a terrible headache and knew he had a serious concussion.  

The past 6 weeks have been a rollercoaster.  Poor Marcus was moved to the mission home were his mission president could keep a close watch on him and take him to better hospitals.  He had a CT scan that we think ruled out any serious brain injury but Marcus continued to feel terrible.  He'd call home crying and frustrated.  He was taking all sorts of medication that he didn't understand and wasn't doing anything to help his symptoms.  Then when we thought he had finally turned a corner and was feeling a little better, he got the stomach flu and was terribly sick for several days.  The other missionaries were better after twenty-four hours but Marcus continued to feel sick and his headaches worsened.  

We called the mission doctor who is an American.  He basically told us not to worry and Marcus would get better with more rest.  Not helpful.  Our Bishop here connected us with his brother who is a neurologist and he called Marcus and thinks Marcus passed out because he was still concussed from falling and hitting his head three weeks prior.  He prescribed some migraine medication and Marcus obediently took it.  And threw it up.  Finally, Marcus met with his mission president who told Marcus he thought Marcus should go home and Marcus reluctantly agreed.  It took awhile to get his flight stuff figured out so by the time Marcus arrived, it was five weeks after his first trip to the ER.  Now that he's home and I can see firsthand just how bad he feels, I don't know how he survived there so long and I really feel bad we kept telling him to wait it out.  But coming home early was a big decision and it wasn't until we had fasted and prayed multiple times that Marcus would be healed, did we then decide things weren't getting better and it was time.

So Marcus is home after eight months of missionary work in a third-world country.  He can't believe how nice all the cars are here, how smooth the paved roads are, how soft our carpet is, and how delicious the milk is.  He took his first hot shower in eight months and sighed when we asked him how it was.  He's always cold and wears a hoodie all the time to keep warm.  Marcus has always been a warm body so it's weird to see him bundled up.  We keep the lights off and dimmed the TV screen and that makes a huge difference.  By the end of the day his head hurts so bad he can barely function and has to lay down in  a dark room.  He does such a good job powering through the pain.

His nice little haircut and stitches

After the hospital, he went to a member's home looking like a war survivor :)

We anxiously waited at the gate for his plane to arrive NINE HOURS LATE!  Poor Marcus got stuck at the Rio airport for a delayed flight.  I panicked when I got the phone call from the mission office telling me he'd have to spend the night at the airport, all alone, without a phone, while he was concussed.  Angles were watching over him though because he met several nice strangers along the way who kept him company and gave him food.

Brother hug

The best hug of my life

We came home to a huge banner signed my members of our ward family.  They have welcomed Marcus home with open arms and lots of candy and food.

All the boys reunited because Ethan was at a lacrosse game earlier

Drinking his first glass of real milk

Showing us his sweaty pit stains from tucking a Book of Mormon under his arm day after day

Henry sporting his new Brazil soccer clothes and Mario flip-flops

Marcus was exhausted after two days of travel but couldn't go to sleep until he showed us all the stuff he brought home for us.

Marcus has gotten pretty good at the ukulele

He was officially released as a missionary that night.  He has served God with his whole heart for 8 months and it shows.  I'm so proud of what he has done and who has become.  We are so thankful for the many prayers on Marcus's behalf and we continue to plead with God that Marcus might be healed.  He's gone seven days without throwing up and sleeps well at night so improvement is small but it's happening.  I'm just so glad he's home because I don't have this constant nagging worry in the back of mind anymore.  It's so good having all my boys under one roof!

Homecoming for Ethan

Homecoming came and went without much fanfare.  Ethan went with his cute girlfriend Rylee.  They are great friends and for some reason she likes hanging out at our house.  Henry actually thinks she comes over to see him!  It's so funny watching Ethan and Henry fight for Rylee's attention.  I don't know if this dance was low-key because Ethan and Rylee have been dating for awhile or because their generation is still messed up from the pandemic but they didn't get corsages or do an official "ask."   I think I'm ok with it but it definitely made the whole thing seem uneventful.  Not to mention the fact that Ethan hopped in the shower and left to pick up Rylee fifteen minutes later.  I die thinking of the hours the girls spent shopping for their dresses and the hours spent on hair and makeup.  It's definitely a night all about them which is why they plan everything too and the boys are just along for the ride.  It works for these kids so we're going with it!

The girls were FREEZING in their tiny dresses.  It was 43 degrees but we weren't complaining.  It had poured rain all day until an hour before photos.

I love that Rylee wore Nike's so Ethan wouldn't be shorter than her.  Ethan is color blind so he told me Rylee was wearing brown shoes and trying to match shoes and a tie would be terrible.  Turns out her shoes weren't brown at all and I smacked myself in the head for not realizing his mistake.  We could've pulled off a pink tie and pink Nike's just by going through Marcus's storage bins :)

Meanwhile, Landon was home hosting a little party with a bunch of friends from school.  Half of them ended up in the hot tub and trampoline and the night ended with pizza and games.  They had a great time and I was shocked the parents allowed their kids to come even though I wasn't home for most of the night.  We are embracing the middle school years in hopes Landon can have some solid friends who remain solid through the rough high school years.  Fingers crossed!

Homecoming

Marcus went to Homecoming this past weekend.  He couldn't decide who to go with and at the last possible minute said yes to one of the several girls who asked him.  They each paid for their own dance ticket, dinner, and party bus so I guess the only part where they seemed like a couple was when they exchanged flowers.

Getting fitted in his first suit

The boys and girls NOT mingling.  Eventually the boys played on the zipline while the girls took more pictures of themselves

The Dudes

Marcus never did an official "ask" so he hurried to do this poster so she wouldn't feel bad.  I think everyone thought it was funny but her.

The whole group, all 38 of them!  And those poor girls in dresses that are so short and tight they couldn't even walk normal and had to waddle as they tugged their dresses down over their rear ends.  

All the guys sitting on the fence Marcus painted for his Eagle Project

I was relieved when Marcus joined a group of kids who he trusted to stay out of trouble for the night.  It's sad that drinking and drugs already started with a lot of his classmates.  The party bus into Seattle had me nervous but no one brought anything illegal and if they had, they would've been hit with a $500 fine.  Marcus was also mature enough to volunteer to take his first Uber ride with another guy to get from the restaurant back to the dance because they had too many people to fit in the party bus.  Some of the other kids were so appreciative they paid for the Uber and gave him extra money as well so I think he actually made money on this event.  That's my boy!

 Marcus LOVES to dance as evidenced by the amount of sweating that happens when he does.  Apparently he is known for jumping up and down in the mosh pit with one of his friends sitting on his shoulders.  Talk about a workout!  Next time I'm sending him with an undershirt and a sweat band on his head.