Red Head?

This week started out with all the normal busy.  School, Water Polo in the evenings, Band for Evelyn, Family and fun!  

James had no school on Thursday and Friday because of parent/teacher confrences.  He has been wanting to try dying his hair for awhile now, so Dan took him out to get hair dye and they had fun together turning James' hair red!  He is loving it and I think he looks even more like he's straight out of an anime show even more now than he did before!  

Thursday night, we had a Water Polo game against Lincoln high school.  It was as ugly as I had feared it would be, but the kids played well - they played hard and they played better than they have all year.  They did a great job, but still not enough to beat Lincoln.  

We've had some amazing weather this week - good enough for me to hang out with a friend and crochet on her back patio, good enough to have dinner outside on our table and of course, good enough to have fun playing outside after school with friends.  

The boys had fun playing Twister with Dad "forehead on green!"  

Saturday, the boys asked me to take them to their new favorite park.  They had fun climbing all over and playing and swinging and climbing.  They even ran into some school friends there!  It was a fun afternoon, with the rain just holding off long enough to get some fun in!   

After, Dan and I went out to the temple for a Relief Society sealing session, then out to dinner after with the Ballegeers.  Then after getting the younger kids to bed, Aaron and I headed out to Open Polo.  There were a lot of people there including some regulars who haven't been around for a few weeks, and some of my players!  So it was fun and ended too soon!!  

Today at church was the primary program.  It was wonderful.  The kids as always were adorable.  David especially just sang his heart out - and the love and joy just pours out of him!  He was making cute little hand signs and grining and hamming it up!  James did a great job in his last primary program ever.  I think he's rather glad he doesn't have to do that anymore :)  After, we had a little primary party with snacks and games and church movies!  Ward and Stake choir was a lot of fun.  They are such an amazing group and so fun to work with and so amazing to hear them bring my arrangements to life!!  

Right after choir was over, Eileen called and we chatted with her and did dinner and scriptures and prayers and games with her - we chatted with her until 9:30 pm!  Also - she sent her good luck to me so I could win Space Base. :) 

Amazing Kids

David started having some homework this month, and David went all gung-ho on it this week. He wanted to do as many as he possibly could - including spelling his name out with toothpicks.  :)

We've gotten plenty of rain this week, but also some beautiful days for being outside and walking and playing with friends.  David has especially loved seeing all the Halloween decorations that are going up! 

Tuesday, we had a water polo game against Sunset again.  The girls won in overtime.  They had been behind 6 points at the start of the 4th quarter, then brought it back to a tie by the end of the game.  The other coach and I decided since there was a time crunch to do a golden goal with a hard stop at 9 if no one had scored.  The girls went out hard and scored quickly.  It was felt so good to win after losing to them before.  They did a great job!  The boys lost again, but they played better.  Only one kid got rolled and it was for something he hadn't actually done.  

Friday, the kids had no school, so Dan took Aaron to get his drivers permit.  He passed the test and is now ready to start practicing driving!  (save me!)  

Saturday was a crazy busy day.  Evelyn had marching band competition all day - but they did a great job taking 1st in the Century Showcase!  Evie is amazing and she has worked so hard for this!  

Dan took the boys out to a fun new playground that they have been talking about and wanting to go back to ever since.  They had a blast doing "parcour" and climbing on everything and trying everything.  

 Anna and I headed down to Salem right after lunch for our Peter the Rock rehearsal and concert.  The concert went really well and we had a great time!  Don shared a new song with me between the rehearsal and the concert that he had written with more of Brads lyrics and with my voice in mind.  It's stunningly beautiful and has been stuck in my head ever since!  After, there was a cast party, but Anna and Leanne both wanted to get home not too late, so we headed right home after.  

Church today was wonderful - the talks were so good and the primary did a great job getting ready for the program next week!  After church was choir - the ward choir is awesome and it's so fun to work with them and we are getting Christams stuff ready!!  yey!  After ward choir was Stake Choir.  We had an amazing turn out!!  We didn't even have enough music for everyone!  It was amazing to work with so many wonderful talented people.  We worked through the music, including my new arrangement "Abide With Me" and everyone was so sweet and it sounded so wonderful.  I would have been happy to stay and chat with people for longer after, but we had to hurry out to go to get Aaron's patriarchial blessing.  It was amazing and so different from Anna and Evelyn's.  He's such an amazing kid and it was a wonderful experience!  

Sandi and James came over in the evening to play games - James trounced all of us.... twice....  

Running and Friends

We've had a fun and busy week.  Evelyn keeps super busy with Marching Band stuff.  Between rehearsals and football games and competitions, she is gone a lot and some days I hardly see her at all.  But she is growing up and loving marching band and loving the time with friends.  

David loves playing with his friends after school each day.  One of his good friends is Paxton and they were having a blast together Tuesday and we got this cute picture, then David invited him over to play and have pizza with us.  Tuesday we were supposed to have a game with the water polo team, but the other team had to cancel, so instead, we scrimmaged on Monday and recorded it, then on Tuesday we watched it while we ate pizza and popcorn.  It was a fun evening, and considering that we had to adjust and plan it out last minute, I think it went well and was valuable for the kids.  Tuesday evening, after the team practice, I was able to go to masters which was fun - but numbers are still low.  :( 

Thursday, we had a game against Westview.  The boys lost - though, no one got rolled this game, so that was better at least.  Their girls had to forfeit since they only had 6 players, but we still played them 5 on 5.  The girls won, by a lot, even with me handicapping them.  Westview must have been down some key players, but the girls came out hyped after finally winning a game.  They played well and did a good job with the stuff we had practiced.  

Friday was David's Cougar Run.  Dan and I went and watched him.  He was so cute - he did a great job and loved getting to high-five us as he ran past on each lap.  He especially loved when he realized that he could dump the water cups on his head to cool off.  :) 

Friday night, Dan taught the kids about putting on the armor of God and David got dressed up in aluminium foil armor.  It was cute and he loved it! 

David and I spent our morning playing together.  In the afternoon, Anna and I went down to Salem for our rehearsal for Peter the Rock.  We gave one of the other Altos a ride down and we stopped in at In N Out Burger for dinner on the way. :)  

We got back after just in time to leave for Open Polo.  A bunch of the Mountainside kids showed up which was a lot of fun, and there were enough people there to have subs, but not so many that we hardly got to play.  It was a fun evening!  

David got ready for church and wanted to put gel in his hair to look handsome.  Then, of course, he needed his picture taken.  

When I walked into church, the Sister missionaries were there and we I was twinning with one of them!  They later came over for dinner and so we snapped this cute twin picture! 

Church today was wonderful - especially the fast and testimony meeting.  Then choir was great and after that, Evelyn went to get her patriarchial blessing.  It was a wonderful experience that was just amazing for all of us.  She is such an amazing person and it was so personal and powerful!  After dinner, Sandi and James came over with Taz and Kai for treats and games.  We had a fun time playing Love Letter and Skull King.  

Where did September Go?

We've had an amazing and busy week. 

Monday, after the work out, Erika came over to craft and hang out and chat and have lunch!  It was lots of fun!  

On Tuesday, the team played Hillsboro which was a lot of fun!  Since a lot of us knew the players and coaches.  It was outdoors and rainy, which wasn't great, but it was overall a postive experience.  Unfortunatly, the boys had 2 players rolled - but Hillsboro was nice and played man down for us.  We only had 6 girls to begin with, so they played man down on the girls too.  It was good experience for them all around and fun was had.  

Weather has been rainy, but mostly it's been nice in the afternoon so David could stay after school and play.  I've been able to have fun running around and playing with him!  

Thursday was our first home game against Lincoln.  We had too many sick/injured boys, so we had to forfeit the boys game, but the girls played.  We got the girls fake tattoo's to wear for the game.  The girls did pretty well, but we still lost.  :(  

On Friday, Anna had a friend over and they mad brownies together - it was a huge batch, and they were super yummy, and since we usually have low attendance on Friday, we brought some to practice to say thanks to those who came!  

This weekend was general conference weekend.  It has been wonderful!  We had yummy food and listened to wonderful messages.  

We enjoyed a nice dinner outside before kids headed out to various things.  Anna went to hang out with other friends who didn't want to go to HOCO.  Evelyn went to HOCO with some of her friends and Aaron and I went to open polo.  

This morning, we had the sister missionaries over to watch the first session and enjoy some monkey bread.  It was SO yummy!!  

What a wonderful weekend!  I can't believe it's already October - why is the year going so fast???  

Family and Fun

We've had a busy week.  School of course - David already wakes up most days asking if he has school or not - he loves school and is excited to go, but not to wake up.  He's my little sunglasses buddy and we still have fun walking to and from school and talking about our days!  

Our water polo team had it's first league game on Tuesday and it was a bit of a mess.  The kids played their hearts out - especially the boys who had a strong first quarter, but were down to only 5 players total shortly after the second half started.  The girls were struggling to communicate and having a hard time against their defense.  

Between that and knowing that it would have been different if not for the inclusivity placement mess ups, and the very low attendance at practices this week, i've really been struggling this week.  It's so frustrating feeling like I'm doing all I can for these kids, and it's not enough.... 

On Friday, Dan and I's combined Birthday/Christmas gift arrived and Dan and the boys had a fun time putting it together, then we all enjoyed eating dinner outside together.  David especially loves it and were it not for the rain, would be eating every meal out there! 

Friday and Saturday, Anna and Evelyn were at the Encore retreat.  They had a wonderful time and came home tired and with exhausted voices, but happy and amazing! 

Saturday morning, Dan and I went to the sealing of some friends from the ward.  They were sealed, then their sweet son was sealed to them.  When he came in he was so excited to see so many of his favorite people there!  He didn't know my name, but called me his teacher and kept coming to talk to me and give me hugs and tell me jokes.  After, we went to lunch at Olive Garden and Andrew and I had fun coloring together and chatting.  He's such a sweet bright boy!  

In the evening, Anna and Aaron and I went to open polo and had fun - though I think Anna was pretty tired after the retreat.  

Church on Sunday was busy, but great.  The choir sang and did an amazing job along with our amazing violinist Jinger!  Then I was subbing in primary for singing time and we had fun practicing our music for the choir program.  

Eileen went over to Bianca and Huistean's house for dinner and made yummy food for them!  I'm so glad that she's finding her own life and joy and I'm so grateful for Bianca!  We had fun chatting with her in the evening and over text and we still hear from her a lot which is nice!  

We also had the Blanchards over for games and fun in the evening!  

A New Normal

 Eileen seems to be settling in well.  She loves her roommates kitty and she is enjoying classes.  She has been calling regularly to chat, which has been wonderful!  I'm so glad things are going well for her!  

This week has been typically busy.  The kids have had school and are settling into the new school year and it's rythms.  Anna still hasn't started college classes yet and is getting a bit bored, and she's ready to start her full schedule.  Evelyn is still loving band and doing so well!  

Water Polo is going well - we are having some attendance issues, but the team is learning and growing - we will see how our next game goes, we have a game on Tuesday against Sunset.  Hopefully we have a full team....  

Thursday was my birthday!  I spent the morning at the Temple with Melissa and Sara, then we went to lunch at Thai Basil after.  We had a wonderful time together and it was a beautiful start to my birthday.  I got my birthday freebies and my sweet friend Erika dropped off a YUMMY apple crisp.  Anna made a pineapple upside down cake for me and of course, I made cupcakes for the team as usual.  Dan got me a new sling bag and a succulent Lego's set!  

Saturday was crazy busy.  Evelyn was at band stuff most of the day.  Anna, Aaron, David and I were at the Water Polo car wash most of the day.  David was so excited when we got to wash a firetruck!  He told the firemen that they made his day!  Apparently he made theirs too, because they posted about our car wash on their facebook page!  They posted this pic of him and he was so excited when he found out jumping around yelling "I'm Famous!!!!"

The kids did an amazing job and worked hard - and also may have had some fun soaking eachother....  

There was an FSY Reflection activity for the stake and Anna and Aaron went and had a great time, Evelyn was still at band stuff, so she didn't make it.  After, she had a bunch of friends over for a birthday dinner/party.  She had a bunch of other friends with September birthdays, so she had a little party with food and treats and presents for all the September birthdays and then the older ones went to the dance.  

While the kids went and danced, I went to open polo.  It was fun as always - a bunch of the recently graduated guys are leaving for college soon, so hopefully we will still have numbers to play.  

Today, I had a lifeguarding re-certification class I needed to go to.  The other girls in the class were all young, but very nice!  Even though I was the oldest (by far) I still had the fastest time on the brick retrieval!  :)  This evening, we had fun playing games and chatting.  We did crepes for dinner - James made them almost entirely by himself - and he did an amazing job!  

And She's Gone....

It's been a crazy busy week.  The first half of the week was mostly crazy busy preparations for the rest of the week.  Wednesday, we had our Team Dinner before the first game of the season.  We had a blast - David had half the team wrapped around his finger and following him around the house.   

Thursday morning we got Eileen loaded up into the car and she and Dan headed out to Idaho.  They stayed the night in Meridian and then headed on to Rexburg the next day.  

They got her unpacked and her room set up.  She got to meet roommates and she was excited that one of them also liked crocheting and had an emotional support cat.  She left Thursday morning very nervous and anxious about everything.  By Friday, she was feeling like she had found her people and was happy and more excited again.  

They also met up with Bianca and Huistean who will also be in the area.  And she got to look at the Ceramics classrooms.  

Meanwhile, back in Oregon, the water polo team had it's first game of the season.  We played Tigard and mostly it went pretty well - we lost by 2 points, but there were times in the game where we were up also, so we could have won it, and overall they played pretty well for a first game.  Both teams were playing Co-ed so that worked well too since we were down a couple players.  There were a couple sketchy moments with one of the Tigard kids acting like a jerk, but mostly the kids did well.  And I think they now have a better understanding of how things work.  

Friday was a bit sparse on attendance for water polo, so we mostly had a fun workout.  

Saturday was busy,  On Friday, the band had sent out an email that they still needed a driver, and since Parkrose had been cancelled, I emailed and said I was available if they still needed a driver.  They did.  So I met up at the school and walked around with High School band kids for 6 hours while they asked for donations and played songs.  Evelyn joined me after she got back from the youth temple trip that Anna and Aaron and Evelyn went to in the morning.  It was a nice day, and fun to be out walking around.  

Then we had the sister missionaries over for dinner Saturday night, then in the evening, after putting James and David to bed, I took Anna and Aaron to Open Polo.  It was a good turnout and we had fun!  

Sunday was wonderful!  I got to sub in primary for a teacher who was out sick.  Dan went to his parent's ward (and having forgot to pack church clothes, he found his Dad's don't fit him and wore this) before heading back home.  

Just the boys having some fun out in the back yard!  

It's so good to have Dan home. We spent the evening playing some games before calling it a night.  

We have all had times where we missed Eileen this week, though I think I've done well - I have only cried twice.  :) 

Back to School Already?

I can't believe summer is already over.  Monday morning, Evelyn, then David and finally James headed off to their first day of school.  Evelyn starting as a freshman at Mountainside, David back at Cooper Mountain for 1st grade and James braving the middle school as a 6th grader.  Their first days went well and they came home excited!  

In the evening, after dinner, we did back to school blessings for the kids.  It was wonderful!  David was so excited and wanted to go first, so he brought the chair over and claimed it until we were ready to begin. 

On Tuesday, Anna and Aaron started school and Seminary started too.  Anna just had band and Aaron was starting his sophmore year.  Anna won't start her early college classes until later in September.  

Water polo is going well, we officially have both a girls team and a boys team, and we even have a sub on both teams....  They are doing so well though and learning and growing!  

On Thursday, I took Anna and Eileen out to Bonneville Dam.  Eileen has been wanting to go there all summer, but I thought she might enjoy it more if we didn't have all the younger siblings there too, so we went after school started.  It was a chilly, rainy day, but we had a great time, we got to see lots of fishies - we even got to watch salmon going up the fish ladders - heading back up river to their spawning grounds.  After, we stopped for lunch on the way home.   

David and James used their gift cards from Aunt Sandi to get stuffies, They have begun arriving and David was very happy and wanted a picture with his new stuffies.  

David loved his first week of school and is loving his teacher and his class.  He is making new friends and having fun with old ones.  The rest of the kids seem to be settling in well also.  

On Friday with the water polo team, we did an intersquad scrimmage.  I divided the kids into teams and we had parents running the clock and Chris and I acted as refs and the kids played and played well!  It was a fun day and they did amazingly well.  Girls who last year couldn't even have done a single quarter played 3 quarters and kept up - it was awesome!   We ran out of time and couldn't finish the last quarter, but a good time was had by all and it helped the kids get the idea of what an actual game will be like.  

Saturday was crazy busy, but wonderful!  We had friends taking out their endowments in the morning, so Dan and I went to the temple in the morning, then I took Eileen out shopping to spend her gift card from Aunt Sandi (mostly on yarn and wire for wire wrapping) and we had a nice afternoon together.  Then we game home and we went to a baptism for one of David's friends in the ward.  It was wonderful!  After, we went to dinner with some friends, then came back so I could grab kids and head to open polo.  I told the team about it, and a whole bunch of them showed up!  It was awesome, we had fun together and I think they had fun getting to play and getting to meet some of the kids from other schools.  

Church today was wonderful - we were out sunbeam teachers, so I went in to help out there, and then in the afternoon, choir went so well.  I love directing the ward choir and I love music!!!  In the evening, Sandi and James came over to play games for a bit, we had a fun time playing Wingspan one last time with Eileen before she leaves for college.