Home Life

Tonight we went over to the Kennedy’s house (friends of ours from the neighborhood) for a BBQ.  We had a ton of fun and the kids enjoyed playing together.  Ben especially liked eating s’mores after dinner and as you can see he got into his work!  🙂

It took a bit of work to get him cleaned up!  First, he tried to wipe his hands with a napkin, and that made him look like a mummy coming undone.  🙂  It was quite funny for us to watch, but he got frustrated because he HATES to have sticky hands when eating.  It doesn’t matter what his face looks like, as long as his hands aren’t sticky!  🙂

Today at football practice, Zach got his official Broncos game jersey and the stickers for his helmet.  He couldn’t wait to get them on so he could march around the house acting cool!  🙂

It took some time to get the stickers on because they were long and had to be placed just right on the helmet… a bronco for each side and then 2 blue and 1 orange sticker for the center (front to back).

The more he plays, the more he enjoys it.  He is still not hitting very hard but he is doing a little better at paying attention when the coach is talking and they are running drills!  🙂

Every Monday we have family night together.  We sing, have a spiritual lesson, have activities and all kinds of fun stuff.  Zachary was in charge tonight.  He spent a ton of time over the last week creating a treasure hunt for our family to find the family night treat.  He even worked to create “pirate” costumes for all of us to wear while going on his treasure hunt (he even made an eye patch for me).  It was actually pretty cute and he was SO into it!  🙂

He created a treasure map, made up clues, and then had Angela hide the clues so, although he knew kind-of where they would be, he wouldn’t know exactly so he could have fun finding the stuff too!  🙂  What a cute little guy!  He couldn’t wait until we all got home and could get started!

His treat were homemade chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches which we very much enjoyed!  He was beaming from ear to ear after we found the treats!  🙂  It’s thinks like that which make having a family so worthwile!  🙂

Great job Zach!

Today marching band started for Sarah and Brittany!  Sarah is excited to be a marching leader again, and Brittany is very excited to be in pit.  Even though she plays the violin, they let people with musical ability play with the pit (which they didn’t have last year because the school was so small).  She plays the bass drum, gong, marimba, and other percussion instruments.  It’s pretty cool!  They have to go from 9-5 and they work really hard.  The marching band is up in the 70’s this year which will really increase the sound!

I have volunteered also to be a member of the pit crew (a.k.a. “pit dad”) and will help them set up and take down for their halftime show during all the home football games.  I’m excited to be involved.

We got a call on Saturday night from Zachary’s football coach…  Zachary’s team name is the Broncos and he practices twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday from 6-8pm.  He is very excited and can’t wait to get out there and play.  We have to laugh, because he doesn’t hit very hard at all, and runs kind-of slow.  We will have to work with him on this!  🙂

He is so fun to watch out there.  All the kids are pretty funny as they haven’t played football before and they don’t really know what to do.  Watching them do jumping jacks makes me laugh!  🙂

Happy Birthday, Angela!  Today we celebrated Angela’s ______ birthday!  🙂  She still looks so young and people can’t believe that we have 5 kids!  🙂

Zach’s second day of football clinic was today and he liked it even more than yesterday.  It was MUCH cooler and they actually got to tackle each other.  It’s funny to see how hard (or not how hard) they hit each other.  We have to laugh at how tentative the boys are…

All the boys were really excited to tackle and be tackled.  You would think that because they grow up hitting things, tackling siblings, and rough-housing around, they would be pros by now…  NOT!  🙂  They run up to each other, slow down and then think about what they have to do, not wanting to hurt each other.  🙂  We know that Zach will get better as time goes on.  We told him that the sweet little loving boy does not have to be shown on the field when he is trying to tackle someone.  We told him to just go out there and play hard!

We’ll see how  he does when he gets together with whatever team he is on next week.  Maybe the coach will teach Zach how to have some hair on his chest.  🙂

Go Zach!  You’ll do GREAT this year!

Today was the first day of the “Hitters” clinic for football.  Zachary was so excited to go all day and couldn’t wait until he could go.  He got dressed up in his football pads and such 2 hours before it was time to go, and we had to get him undressed so he wouldn’t spill or wipe stuff all over his new clean  uniform.  We wanted the grass to get him dirty, not his food.  🙂

When we got to the practice field, it was very hot and humid and we were sweating like crazy before the clinic even started.  He was a little trooper and did a great job!  It was really funny to see around 500+ kids that had never played before working with coaches in their small groups.

They started out with stretching exercises and practiced leg work to get quick on their feet.  Due to the heat, they had to stop and get water every 15 minutes or so.  Zach would come over to me because he can’t quite get his own helmet off his head yet!  🙂  He would drink and then go back, ready for more.  They practiced hitting pads and tackling.  The coaches kept driving it into them that they had to “hit, grab, drop, and roll” when trying to tackle and that when they were hitting, they couldn’t grab.  There were some confused faces on these little kids just going into first grade.  🙂

By the time they finished, Zach was totally exhausted, hot, and sopping wet from sweat!  The coaches promised a better day tomorrow because it will be cooler and less humid.  In addition to that, they actually get to hit and tackle each other tomorrow!  🙂  Zach was excited about that!  He’s not exactly the most agressive kid, but we’ll practice with him and teach him that it’s OK to hit hard in football!  🙂  Great job Zach!

Today Ana went back to Spain.  Kirstyn was especially sad.  She really liked Ana and had a great time with her while Sarah and Brittany were at camp.  It’s weird that it’s been an entire year since Carmen went back to Spain last summer.  Time has really flown!

We are glad that the Gaul family asked us if we could take Ana for the final week she was here.  We look forward to keeping in contact with her and seeing how she’s doing.

Today Sarah and Brittany came home after having a great time at camp.  They were exhausted, but couldn’t stop talking about the great experiences they had there.  It looks like that they will be going to the same camp next year and are excited about it.  Angela wants to go to camp with them next year, because all three girls will be going.  It will be Sarah’s last year, Brittany’s fourth year, and Kirstyn’s first year.

When I got home from work, we ate dinner and then went to Phillips Park nearby to watch the American Legion Band perform…

Before we left the park, Ana grabbed the camera and wanted a family picture taken with her.

After that we drove Wendy’s and got frosties!  Ana hadn’t had one yet and so we thought since it was her last evening with us, we would treat her to something awesome!  When Carmen stayed with us, it was her favorite!  True to what we thought, Ana absolutely loved them!  🙂