Nothing but a proud mommy post..

*begin bragging*

Today was Ethan's first official soccer game. His team won...2-1...and Ethan scored 2 goals!!! The game was short..and they had to rotate two 'teams' of players from his team so he had limited time AND half of that time was spent on defense.

He obviously made me proud with the goal scoring (and the running back across the field with his hands up...giving the thumbs up to the crowd)...but he is actually a really really good defender. He was the only one on the team who actually defended the ball..stole it and then passed it up to another player. Then he would run back to his position on defense. Most of the other kids playing defense would get the ball and just try to run with it as far as possible..until reaching the end line of the other teams goal.

He totally "gets" soccer and its totally cool to watch!

When he was on the field the other team didn't score either. The boy is tenacious on the soccer field...and that will be funny for anyone who knows him because his normal personality is, well...less than tenacious! :)

*done bragging*

My wild man...

Typical, everyday Luke.

Wow. My blog is suffering...

I'm not sure what's happening! I could write about the "pooptent" story...from the Soulfest, or I could write the "intentional peeing on the bathroom floor" story...from a few weeks ago, I could write about my new drum heads that are being delivered today, I could write about how the other day was my dad's birthday and if he was still living he would have been turning 70...so yeah, I'm overwhelmed with ideas and finding little motivation to actually write them out.

But..

Today is September 25th. It was 17 years ago on this day that Josh and I stood out on the sidewalk in front of his house in Whitefield and he asked me if I would "go out with him". Funny..looking back on it, but "going out" with someone didn't really mean we were actually going to "go out" anywhere...it just meant that we were going steady...boyfriend/girlfriend.

I would have never imagined us 17 years later spending our "dating" anniversary night at open house with our 2nd grader and kindergartener!

After school snacks..

We only have about a half hour between the time that we get home from school and the time that we need to leave to get to soccer each day....but we just have to fit in a snack of some kind into that time frame.

Luke and I have been enjoying some time to bake together in the afternoons while Jessalyn and Ethan are in school and Owen is napping. Today we made cookies and J and E were super excited to walk in the house and realize what we had been up to...the aroma of freshly baked cookies gave it away:)

As I was getting them their cookies and milk I realized that Owen was not about to be left out of this snack..and not only that, but he was going to sit himself in a big boy seat and wait patiently for his cookie and milk. He was too cute.



I'm not sure who took this cute picture of Owen...I was surprised to see it when I took the pics off my camera. A little detective work will tell me that it was either Ethan or Luke...by the height of the camera. I'm thinking it was Luke:)

A small world

On the very first day of school Ethan instantly found a buddy to hang out with. I don't know what it was..but the two of them quickly hit it off..and have just clicked ever since. (Similar to Jessalyn and her kindergarten buddy, Jenny) If I get any information out of Ethan about what he did at school it will usually involve something having to do with Liam.

I was talking to Papa (my FIL) and mentioning Ethan's good buddy and I mentioned his name. Papa got thinking about it and said that "Grampa Bill" has a great grandson named Liam and that he lives here in Meredith.

You might wonder why I would be surprised by this...but "Grampa Bill" technically isn't Josh's grandfather. Josh's grandfather (who's name happens to be Charles...and yes, last name Brown: Charlie Brown) died quite a few (like more than 10) years ago and Josh's grandmother remarried Bill. They lived in Florida at the time and a few years ago moved to Meredith into an in-law apartment at my in-laws house. Since then Bill has been affectionately known as "Grampa Bill"...my kids didn't know Grampa Brown (Charlie) so they don't think of Grampa Bill as anything less than their great grandfather.

So after talking to Papa about the potential of Liam being related to Grampa Bill I just had to find out for sure. Papa mentioned that this particular Liam that he was thinking of lives on a farm with horses...so when I saw Liam's dad at school I asked him. He said that they do have horses and then I proceeded to explain Liam's "relation" to Ethan. Liam's dad couldn't believe it..and explained that Bill is actually his wife's grandfather.

We joked about how since they are "related" that must be why they get along so well!

On another note...Jessalyn started soccer yesterday. They were supposed to have started on Tuesday but it was pouring rain all day long. We got a call telling us it was canceled and that we could go to the community center to find out what team she is on and get her shirt..and I asked if we had to do that or if we could just find out on Thursday (the next soccer day). Well..apparently I was the only one who did this because Jessalyn was the only kid without a shirt! She really didn't care..and we picked one up after the practice.

She did well. She LOVES soccer...which is exciting to me!

She is getting SO big!


Trying to stay away from Coach Rick..who is trying to steal her ball!




They had to race from two lines around the cones and see who could get to the ball first...then shoot on goal.


She beat this boy twice:)


Trying to stop Jared from scoring..



This is one of Jessalyn's best friend's, Jared. She and Jared were in the same kindergarten class..and then the same first grade class. This is the first year that they are not together..but they still get to hang out at recess and lunch (although, Jessalyn sits with all girls at lunch). They were happy to have been put on the same soccer team though!







Here she is playing "cookie monster"..and she's the monster. Its like "red light, green light"..with her facing the other kids to make them stop coming after the ball's..and then turning her back to them so they can sneak in and steal a "cookie". She is in mid spin..trying to spin all the way around to trick them:)

Followers.

I added the "following" widget thing-a-ma-bob. I think its kind of cool. I checked each of the blogs that I read regularly and none of you have added yet. I was excited to become a "follower" of some blogs....so you all have to add it so we can be followers of each other!

..Oh...and don't forget to become a follower of my blog too!

We had a feeling he was going to be good at soccer...

Ethan had his first soccer practice yesterday! He was so excited and did very well! Soccer is something that he looks quite natural at. He just has the build of a soccer player. I picture him when he gets older being the kid that can run and run and run without getting tired. He seems to "get" soccer and at the end of the practice his head was completely wet with sweat. He worked hard!

I remembered a video that I have on my computer from when Ethan was 10 months old....running around with a soccer ball. He was pretty quick on his feet even then:)

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Here are some pics from him yesterday.....

Football season already?

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE the fall. I love almost everything about it..the weather, leaves changing, pumpkins, routines...everything. The only thing that I dislike about fall is that it means that winter is coming soon and my feelings for the winter are the exact opposite of my feelings for fall!

Another thing that I love about fall is the start of football season. After busy summers it is so nice for us all to plan our Sunday afternoons around the idea of watching the Pats play...and doing that with all of our friends. Its the only time of the year that we force ourselves to be lazy.

So yesterday was opening day. As usual Shawn and Karen opened up their home to all of us...and Karen made an amazing meal. We don't always watch the game at the Haskins house...but it seems that no matter where they live they have the best set up for large groups. I mean really...how can it get much better than this...



...there isn't quite enough room for all of us in either one of the living room spaces so they set it up so that both rooms would have ideal view of the tv's. Its even better if you happen to to get the perfect seat that allows optimum viewing of both tv's at the same time! (...and there isn't a delay this time!)

It was a great start to the football season with lots of friends...even though we were missing a few.







The newlyweds..Ben and Sarah...


Also...the fall season brings a new year of Sunday School! There are many changes from my family's perspective. Luke got to move up to the next class..with Ethan..and he's super excited. Jessalyn wasn't as excited because a couple of her good friends moved into the next class (because of grade level)..but she ended up having a great time. Josh and I are excited because we get to teach the Jr. and Sr. High class! We only get one night a week to spend with the teenagers. We honestly wish we could spend more time with them but between the schedules of Josh, me and the kids...and the teenagers themselves, it just doesn't happen. We are super excited to have this extra time to spend with them in a more in depth type of study situation. Who knows how it will go really...we are going to try to make it fun. So far we have bribed them with doughnuts, candy and let them watch a scene from Superman (which actually did tie in with what we were learning!). We ended up having a good discussion that had to be cut short because of time...I think this is a good thing!

I am looking forward to next week...with my bag of candy!

Down where??

DOWNHERE!!!!

If you haven't heard of the Christian band called "Downhere" then you must go out (or on itunes) and buy an album..or two or three. We have been listening to them for years and they are really really good. We saw them a few years ago at the Soulfest and they proved to be great then..so when we saw that they were coming to a church in Manchester (for only $10) we couldn't pass up the opportunity.

On Friday a group of us (Kirsten, Mark, Shara, Jake, Shawn, Karen, Chris, Kim, Sam, Dale, Jake, Jenn, Ally and Kyndal..and of course Josh and I) headed down to Manchester..and had a great time. The thing with the band Downhere is their vocals. They have two that compliment each other incredibly...one of them, Marc has a high voice similar to Freddie Mercury (Queen) and the other one, Jason has a much deeper tone. The two together sound incredible and as a whole the band was super tight.

They came out and played the first song. I leaned over to Josh and we were talking about how amazing the sound was (being married to an awesome sound man tends to do that)...and we were impressed at how good it was. That song ended..and about two words into the next song we both looked at each other like "what happened?". Something happened...according to my husband having to do with a compressor or something that I didn't really understand completely..caused the sound to get all messy. They finished that song..and tried another..and after realizing that this was a problem they took a break to try to fix the problem.

They came back out..played a song or two with the relief of the problem being fixed...and then it happened again. I said it was because their sound was just too good for the equipment...I guess that's impossible:)

They continued with the concert..only with less on stage sound...a bit quieter with the drummer playing with brushes. It was still amazing..vocals still right on...and they were good sports about it still having a good time.















Of course...no outing of ours can be had without at least a little bit of obnoxiousness. As we left heading to the concert we decided that we would do a girls car and a guys car. The guys drove in Shawn and Karen's vehicle...and in it found a little ride on toy of Riley's. Of course, Jake and Mark were instantly on the same page, just knowing that they HAD to ride it...AND fill it with gas at the gas station....



..and it didn't stop there. As we all enjoyed our ice cream from Wendy's Jake just couldn't resist taking the ride on toy through the drive through.





I was seriously close to peeing my pants..I was laughing so hard.

School Days..

Ahhh...its back to school time! It actually feels kind of nice. I think I need to get back into a schedule and routine and get my life back under control! School forces us to do that.

Jessalyn is a bit too much like her mother though (who made her mother ride the bus with her to school everyday until January...and continued to HATE the first day of school until, well...she graduated). She was fine..until the second she walked into her new classroom. She started to cry..and wouldn't let go of me. Its so weird from her. She is so super independent...and not shy...the one that will stand in front of hundreds of people and sing a solo and not even sweat or act a teensy bit nervous...but it NEVER fails, she cries on the first day of everything. It doesn't matter what it is..on the first day, she cries.

Today was no exception. By the time I left she seemed a bit better and apparently she snapped out of it quite quickly and ended up having a great day. She is excited to go back tomorrow and insists on the fact that she won't cry. She's a big second grader now!

Out of all of my kids you would think that Ethan would have a hard time leaving me for school. He is so shy and reserved and hides from having to talk to just about everyone. But no. He gets to school...say's "see ya later mom" and heads off to his class. You can't even see him passed his backpack! He's just too cute. He had a GREAT day and is loving life!







I can't believe that I have two kids in school!! Its a bit surreal...