This time last year, a tradition was started. We do not have a lot of trees at our house, so every fall, there are no leaves to play in. So last year we took our rake up to the school and raked piles of leaves while we were waiting for the bell to ring. The time has come this year to do the same thing. It is starting to catch on and a few other parents are bringing their rakes. The kids just love playing in the leaves and then having leaf wars. (I have wondered how fun it would be to find an electric leaf blower and do the whole front lawn of the school.) That is Jbird with his back to the camera and rake in hand.



JB is still not too sure what to think of all this.


The boy holding JB in the following picture has the same name as JB. We would see him every day after school and he took an interest in JB and would play and play with him. He is currently home schooled but he has a sister in B's school. So, every day he comes to school with his mom and always seeks out JB. They are a great family and I even take the younger two over to their house 3 times a week, so I can hit the gym. It has been a huge blessing finding this family. There are also 2 older sisters that are very helpful with my boys. Every one just loves the Doty's.

It has been a tough week. Dealing with some pretty heavy extended family stuff, so have been preoccupied. The kids however, have not missed a beat. This is our last week of soccer - yeah!!! As much as I have loved watching B grow and develop this season, it will be nice not to have the 1 hour, twice a week interruption from 5:30-6:30. Plus it is starting to get cold and when the sun sets around 6pm, I am heading for the car.

JB had his Harvest Party at preschool on Wednesday. He opted not to wear a costume. Surprised me, not sure why because he is my child that you never know from day to day what to expect. He had a lot of fun and I think he enjoyed showing his little brother all around his 'school'.

Wrapped up most of the fundraiser stuff. Most of the money is in and I am going over the weekend to buy the bikes for the kids that won! Probably a highlight. Some of these kids were so motivated to win so to see their smiles when they learn their hard work paid off, is worth it all. With the Fun Run, the kids met their 5,000 lap challenge. Therefore, 4 of the teachers competed in a Minute to Win It challenge. We brought the whole school out to the soccer field and cheered them on. The winning teacher, her class, then got to silly string the principal. Amazing what 25 cans of silly string looks like!

All of us curled up on couches tonight and watched game 7 of the World Series. JB started out on my lap. Once he was asleep, B took his place for a while. Then J stole his spot and fell asleep within 2 minutes of settling in with me. I don't know the last time I had all three of them on my lap! I was actually shocked when B told me he wanted to lay with me.

Have some pictures to upload. Hopefully this weekend. All we have is a Cub Scout Archery Camp and the last soccer game!

Fall is here. Last weekend we carved pumpkins. I sure wish I could find a fool-proof way to make carved pumpkins last. We usually get about a week out of ours before they are gross. Maybe as the boys get older we can paint our.

Recently we headed to a local pumpkin patch with Jbird's preschool. The boys love it and it always culminates in making their own apple cider.





JB has learned to do summer saults. He will get the attention of anyone who is nearby and will just turn and turn and turn. Not sure where he picked it up, but he is pretty good.
Last night I was curled up with the younger two watching the World Series. Jbird started playing with my hair. Soon he was running up stairs to get a brush, barrettes, etc. He came back down and profusely asked if he could cut my hair, saying I always get to cut his but he does not ever get to cut mine. Precisely and I hope to keep it that way.
Hunting season (the regular season) is now underway. I should anticipate some animals hanging in the garage sometime soon.

Yesterday was the school's Fun Run. Myself and a few others organized the event and it was awesome! It was 60 degrees, no wind and not a cloud in the sky. A gorgeous day to be outside! We had a DJ and rockin kids music. Just a blast. 24 hours later I am still pumped and waiting for next year. It is just so neat to finally find things that really click with me. I have been involved with things for years and volunteered in many capacities, but organizing this event for 600 people and doing story time at AWANA are two of my favorites by far!
Here are some pictures.....




The entire school ran over 8700 laps. Later next week one of the classes will get to silly string the principal because they surpassed the 5000 lap challenge.

Earlier tonight I was at the computer and heard the doorbell and then a knock. Thinking it was strange since it was dark outside, I opened the door. There stood a fireman, with lights going behind him. He made small talk and then asked us if we were feeling okay. I guess our neighbor was concerned about carbon monoxide. As a courtesy they check with the next door neighbors. It took a few minutes for my heart to quit racing but fortunately nothing serious. Last week was fire prevention week and the fire department was at B's school. He came home wearing a rubber bracelet that said "Stop, Drop, Cover Your Face and Roll." Found it interesting that they have added to the stop, drop and roll.

Tomorrow and Friday are a school holiday. The statewide Teachers conference. Don't have much planned, just a lot of hanging out. The last couple of weeks have been busy so looking forward to unwinding a bit.

This past week was Spirit Week at B's school. The week leading up to the Fun Run. The best day of all was crazy hair day. This is what B chose....

The other two chimed in with their crazy faces. JB did end up spray painting his hair blue, but for some reason it did not stay in long.

The Fun Run is Tuesday and I think I have everything lined up. Should be great weather and hopefully a really, really smooth event.

This past Sunday B was a mad man on the soccer field. When that kid focuses, look out. We played the best team in the league and it was a great game! B was charging the ball and getting in there. He even assisted on a goal. On the other hand, when he is done, he is done. At one point, during play, he walked to the side lines and when I asked him what he was doing, he said he was sweaty and sat down on the side lines. (Never said a word to the coach and the coach did not pull him.) The coach had to scramble to get someone else in there. Happened to catch a picture of him and Coach Danny...probably one of the best coaches ever.


B has also lost another tooth...finally one of his top front teeth!

Things were busy this past week. A little of this and a little of that added up to quite a bit this past week. The Fun Run fundraiser I am coordinating happens on the 18th so my plate will clear up quite a bit after that! I catered a wedding yesterday that behind the scenes was a disaster. Fortunately the wedding party did not see much of it, but so many things went wrong. I was, for the first time, in charge of the buffet and hit lots of little glitches. Some not my fault, but definitely stuff to learn from. I don't have anything else scheduled for the rest of the year, but will probably get one or two things closer to the holidays.

Had a great time at the women's retreat last weekend. Always nice to get away and have some time to refocus and just hang out with others. Went and saw the movie Courageous tonight. A very good movie and one that will challenge you regardless of the age of your kids!

This past week I was making some microwave popcorn. I went upstairs and started to smell the popcorn about the time the microwave went off. Right after that, the smoke alarm went off. Assuming the popcorn had burned a little, I wondered downstairs. Only to find a fire on the stove. I had also put some water on to boil and the classic, turned on the wrong burner! The burner I turned on had part of a dishtowel on it! So thankful for smoke alarms with batteries!

Now that the weather is turning colder, I have pulled out the long sleeve shirts. I showed all of them to Jbird. He is my picky clothing kid and I wanted to know which ones he did not like, so I could go ahead and put them away for #3. He told me he did not like any of them and only wanted short sleeve with sweatshirts. I talked him in to a few of them. One had a moose on the front and a bear on the back. He liked the bear on the front so decided if he just cut out the tag, then it would be fine and the bear would now be on the front. I just love his logic. So concrete. He is still enjoying preschool.

B is gung ho with scouts. His new den leader is awesome. Very much on top of it. Today they (his wife and son) met us all at the pool. The den leader does not really do water but wanted to get the boys in the water to earn their swimming belt loop. They will be doing an archery camp in a few weeks. We are in the process of completing our good hygiene and chore charts. Reminds me again of how intentional I need to be, so bad about filling that stuff out. He continues with soccer for a few more weeks.

JB has finally figured out that when he wakes up in the mornings he can get out of bed on his own. Normally he will sit in there and call out to us. He is so cute as he struts out of his room, smiling and holding his little dog. The office where he does his speech is relocating this weekend, so will be interesting when we go in on Monday if it sets him back at all.

JR has yet to shoot any animals. Has not really seen any! The weather is just now turning colder, so hopefully the mountain snow will drive them lower.