Jacob has had 2 football games.  They are currently 1-0-1.  Jacob enjoys it because they all switch positions.  He has been run with the ball, caught the ball and thrown the ball.

This picture was taken by his buddy Cam's mom....

He was QB and was told to run it, although both times he got taken down pretty quickly.

He escaped another tackle.

This was a QB play.  His pass was close but not catchable.  What a play it would have been.  (We got a kick out of the teammate on the far right.  (As the picture above, he is just standing there, watching the action!)

Not a bad view for a football game...huh?

A quiet weekend! 

This kiddo happened to be around most often when the camera came out.

Here he is coloring again.

This was a Star Student of the week poster that he was working on.

He went fishing at the 'local' pond with our 6th grade neighbor.  He felt like such a big kid going without mom.

One of the buildings on the pond.

Every year for the annual fall festival the kindergartners march at the beginning of the parade.  They all wear these shirts.  My boys are the class of 2022, 2025, 2028.  Seems like so far away, but I know it is not.

We have had some beautiful colors at sunset lately.

A storm had just passed through and then the sun came out....the contrast of colors was huge!

Other than football, our weekends are pretty quiet!  Just how I like them.

More random pictures.

Here is a picture of Benjamin doing Just Dance on the Wii.  It is one of the easiest ways for me to get him up and moving, after sitting doing school work.

One of the boys recently came across a rip stick.  Long, like a skate board but only has one front wheel and one back wheel.  It is split in the middle so it swivels.  They have had lots of fun learning this and the older 2 are getting it down.  It will be a matter of time and coordination for Joseph.

He is rocking the skateboard though.

Here is Bree.  She loves to lay out in the sun but we still have to tie her up when out front.  The neighbors across the street have about 8 cats ~ yuck ~ and it is hard to pull her away from their yard when she gets out.  Recently another neighbor shot a bear and brought it home.  Bree went crazy at their yard,  She would not even go into the yard, not sure why, other than a very unfamiliar smell?  I was worried about how we would get her adequate exercise this winter.  However, she is starting to fetch a ball.  We stand at the top of the stairs and she flies down and then back up.  Great exercise for those lazy days or it it too cold to be out too long.  Hopefully she will soon be able to fetch a ball thrown a distance ~ for now, I don't think she is tall enough to see it in the field grass.

One of the school projects Joseph brought home recently.  Teachers get so creative these days!

Some more pictures from the field behind our house.

One night I was walking through the field.  There is a quarry pit in the corner of the field and obviously some migrating geese had landed in the bottom.  They started flying out and they were about 20 feet overhead.  Very cool.  Of course that night I did not have my camera with me but got this picture the next week ~ although they flew out a slightly different direction...still cool.

A few pictures from our day to day....

I have always wanted a tankless hot water heater, so we did not have the arguments over how long a shower one can take. However, all three of my boys love taking showers. They would get in there and stay forever. Jacob usually takes his shower first thing in the morning ~ easiest to tame his bed head that way :-). He has come to really enjoy them...maybe too much. This is usually the scene.

He totally gets relaxed, dozes off, wakes up when water gets cold and then doesn't want to wash his hair!

One of the buzz words around our house right now is responsibility. Taking responsibility for your actions and not shifting the blame. I am not quick to bail my boys out of a jam. My opinion, if they create the problem, they figure out how to deal with the problem. For example, one of the boys could not find any of his 3 pairs of shoes. It was time to leave for school and he had no clue. So, I told him he better find shoes. This was all he could find. As much as I hated it, I sent him to school wearing these.

Yep, two totally different shoes and they were both about 2 sizes too big. All day he wore them. I think it was hardest for me because of 'what others would think'. However, I realized why should I care, if my child was learning a huge life lesson. He survived the day and he has been able to find his shoes every morning since.

Just so happens each of the boys have learned those big lessons recently. One of the boys was black balled from some neighbors recently because of some of his actions. He was not wanted around and it hurt to watch it but that is just a consequence of poor choices. You have to own those choices and earn trust back.

Another one of the boys decided to wash his BBs in the kitchen sink. He unfortunately did not think the process through very well. About 20 BBs ended up in the garbage disposal. After unplugging the disposal, he found out very quickly how nasty it is to stick your hand down in the disposal to fish out tiny little BBs. I guarantee you he won't do that again without proper precautions.

Usually all of these incidents end with my boys telling me how I hate them, what a terrible mother I am and how I have ruined their life. I have just come to realize that when my boys voice that, it usually means I am doing my job exactly right!!!

Joseph loves to sit and color. I am amazed at his pictures.  I think he finds it very relaxing after a long chaotic day at school.

Benjamin and I recently did a science experiment on density.  We put oil, water and corn syrup in a jar.  Want to guess which was heaviest and sank to the bottom?  Then we put in 4 different things: a cork, piece of ice, blueberry and rock.  It was cool how the rock was the only thing to penetrate each of the layers.  They all floated on different layers based on their density.

Fall is setting in. The mornings have been in the 40s! Perfect for flag football season that starts this weekend!

As expected, my posts are slowing down a bit!

We have a great library in our town ~ they have actually won several national awards because of all the activities they offer across the age spectrum.

We recently attended a lego building session.  They had 4 piles of legos!

I can't remember where Jacob was....

This is Ben's home away from home.  They have 4 computers set aside for the older kids.  It is a real treat for the boys because they can play mind craft (it is not on my computer) and interface with other users sitting beside them.

They had a pinwheel making craft for the younger kids.

This block set is amazing.  Had I discovered them when my kids were much younger I might have invested in them.

We have all been enjoying the fall weather! I think my favorite 'outfit' is a sweatshirt, so I always enjoy it when it is time to pull them out again. With the days getting shorter, we have been looking at the sky lately. I forget how beautiful the skies are here and how many stars there are. The big dipper was so huge and right outside the boys window recently! I keep watching the skies for the northern lights, but have yet to see them living here!

Bow hunting season has started! Not sure what the yield will be, but hopefully something. Benjamin is allowed to hunt with an 'apprentice' license ~ at age 10 ~ and I think he is going to try to get something. I have offered to hunt this year, but I am more of the drive around the property and get out a walk a bit. I don't do the hunting in the woods, with downed trees, lots of ups and downs.

I am trying yet again to streamline my menu and get back to homemade, instead of processed! I need to buy some bulk spices so I can finally mix up all my homemade rubs! I find time in the kitchen rejuvenates me!

We had a relatively quiet weekend. The 'busyness' starts this week. But compared to many others, not really busy. Mondays speech and gymnastics for Joseph. Tuesdays football for Jacob. Wednesday AWANA for all three boys. We are still talking about 4H this year. Benjamin is really interested in their aerospace class and their cake decorating class. Not sure what Jacob is thinking. Our Saturday mornings will be committed to football through end of October.

Just a little teaser.....I have a huge surprise planned for the boys the end of October ~ a bucket list item. I am afraid to post it here, since sometimes they scroll through my posts. Stay tuned and will be sure to post about it when I tell them.

The wildfires are pretty much out around here.  Might be a few spots burning and they will just wait until the snow flies to put them out.  We had some crazy smoky days!  I like how the sun glows through the smoke though.

Every morning I sit in our spare bedroom (which has become 'my' room, for sewing, etc) and read/write and this has been my view with the recent smoke.

This is normally what it looks, which has been the norm lately.

A random shot...still playing with my camera!

Our little country church recently had a community night.  The view from the back of the church.

Lots of farming on neighboring property.

The building on the left was built over 100 years ago.  They moved it to the current location with a bobsled, until the soft ground hung them up.  Then they moved it onto logs for the rest of the trip.

They had a bounce house set up for the kids.

Joseph doing a handstand.

We are all adjusting to Bree.  She is doing better.  She no longer darts out the front door when it is open.  She is responding pretty well to sit and no.  She is having fewer inside accidents.  Bree is also getting better about being on a leash.  I really like that she loves hanging in the yard.  Joseph is just the right size for her to jump up and often she will nip him in the neck or ear.  Need to work on that, as well as chewing on socks and digging in the back yard.

This weekend we have flag football kick off.  Jacob is looking forward to his first season and practices starting next week.  (They were looking for coaches and I volunteered and never heard back from them.  Glad some dads stepped up because)  Should be a lot of fun because most of the kids on his team play football everyday at recess.  He is on the Broncos ~ which makes him very happy...that is his favorite team!

I have mentioned how close we are to the airport...close enough to ride bikes there.  As the crow flies it is probably 2 miles, close enough for me to get this picture recently.

With fall approaching, I love getting out in the field and enjoying the view.  So thankful they have yet to develop the field behind our house.

Joseph has started gymnastics.

He is the only one in pants ~ I forgot his shorts ~ doing a somersault.

He really like doing handstands.

He seems to really enjoy it. The classes were only 5 or 6 boys, so hopefully he can get some individual direction. From where I was sitting, he was very focused on the instruction and engaged with the instructor, wanting to take his suggestions to heart.