Drake's Birthday

 Drake turned seven in October.  He was so excited about his birthday.  As soon as the calendar turned over to October he was counting down the days and making plans.  Unfortunately, on his birthday I was super sick and could hardly get out of bed.  Luckily, I had already made most of the preparations, so Jeremy could swoop in and take care of making sure that Drake had a great day!!

After lunch (Happy Meals from McDonalds), we sang happy birthday and he blew out his candle.

Then the boys each got to decorate their own cupcakes.  This was one of the things that Drake planned and I had prepared for ahead of time.  The boys all had a great time with this.

After lunch and cupcakes he had a soccer game to win!

Then he came home and opened his presents with great enthusiasm.  Drake's excitement over stuff like this never disappoints.

Drake is a great kid.  He makes life so much more fun around here.  Sorry I mostly missed your birthday Drakers, but I am super glad you came into our family seven years ago!

Soccer

Life has been so busy lately, and I am super behind on updating the blog.  So - - I will be adding a bunch of posts in rapid succession to try to catch up.  First subject = Soccer.

This Fall all of my boys played soccer.  It was a busy season with five boys on four different teams.  It is a good thing that I enjoy watching them play so much.

Tad and Drake were on the same team this year.  Jeremy was their coach and they had a winning season.  Drake is turning out to be a great defender.  Tad finally started catching the vision about mid-season and was becoming a good forward.

Unfortunately this is about the best picture I got of Jack this year.  He took the year off from soccer last year, but decided that he missed it.  He made a lot of progress this year, and was part of a winning team.

Thomas had a good season, playing all positions except goalkeeper.  His team also had a winning season.

Dallin was drafted by a good team again this year.  They only lost one game until the playoffs.  The playoffs were rough since several of their good players were out with injuries.  But, Dallin being Dallin said he still had a great season and a lot of fun.

He spent the season playing forward and scored so many goals we lost count.

Soccer is always one of our favorite things about Fall in Taylor.  It was another good season for sure!

Our Halloween

Just popping in to share a few pictures from Halloween this year.

A shot of my boys' favorite Halloween decor.  They just love looking at all of these old pictures from past Halloweens.

This was Jack at the Elementary school Halloween parade. He was Batman again this year.

Drake was a wizard.

Tad is only in preschool, but since his dad is the principal, he got to walk in the parade with the big kids.  He was Thor this year.

Thomas was the oh so cool  Hawkeye (from the Avengers).

I didn't get an individual picture of Dallin, since he is getting to the point where he is a little bit over dressing up for Halloween.

All of my boys in their Halloween finery.

And one last picture so you can see Dallin's full costume.  Not many 12-year-old boys would be willing to dress up in a coconut bra and grass skirt, but Dallin is about the most confident kid I know - so he pulled it off and enjoyed all the laughs.

Another Random Post

All of my posts seem to be pretty random lately.  But I guess that is real life - lots of random moments all strung together, and I love it.  So - here are a few more random snippets from our real life. . .

Twin Day for Homecoming week.  Luckily I had these two matching shirts for my two boys at the elementary school.  They had fun being twins for a day.

I am such a softie when it comes to my boys, especially my baby.   So - - when he asks if we can make cupcakes with sprinkles - we make them.  Thankfully, he doesn't ask for these very often.  And it is very weird that my kids won't eat cake, but they always scarf down cupcakes.

They will also scarf down this pumpkin coffee cake with hot chocolate that I make once a year.  It is delicious.

On a side note - do you think my table need to be refinished?  It is on the oh so long list.

A little Sunday afternoon Play Doh time.

Tad helping Jeremy make the concrete hearth for our fireplace.

The first fire of the season.  The boys had to gather round it.  If you take a look, that concrete hearth that Tad and Jeremy were working on is in place on the fireplace.  Rock goes up next.  I can't wait to show it to you when it is all finished.

That's it for this time around.  I'm sure another random post will show up here again soon.

End of Summer

Well, Fall has finally arrived here in Taylor.  This week, the mornings have actually been cool enough to send my kids to school in jackets.  Of course, by the time they get out of school they don't need them anymore, but still, it is nice to have those crisp mornings.

I was going through recent pictures today, and thought I would share some random pictures from the end of our summer. . .

Jack made himself this lunch.  Looks good to me!!

A little pillow fort in the entry.  Yes, Drake is wearing nothing but his underwear.  All Summer, he would strip down as soon as he got in the house.  Now that it is cooler, he comes home and immediately changes into his pajamas.  What can I say?  The kid likes to be comfortable.

Playing with the kitties.

Playing in the irrigation.

 A new Lego creation by Tad.

The temple in the early morning fog.

Good times around here!!

Twelve

Dallin had a birthday a few weeks ago.  He is officially twelve years old!

He asked for a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  I tried and tried to talk him into something else, since I knew it wouldn't get eaten, but he insisted.  After he did not even have one piece I swore I would never make another birthday cake.  We are just not cake people at our house.  Next time I will just fix a yummy dessert that will be sure to get eaten.  Sorry guys!  Enough is enough.

When I talked to Dallin about what he wanted for his birthday, he would only tell me two things - - a PS4 or a guitar.  Obviously, I went with the guitar.  He was happy!

In spite of Dallin not even trying a piece of his chocolate birthday cake, he is really a great kid.  He is a huge help to me and to Jeremy.  He is a great big brother.  He is super fun to be around - as evidenced by his 500,000 friends.  Most of all he is a super good person who tries his hardest to do what is right. We love Dallin so much and are so grateful for him.

Back to School

It has taken me a couple of weeks to get to this post - but I have to keep up the tradition of sharing pictures of my kids on their first day of school.

 Now please don't judge the quality of these photos.  My boys were so excited to get to school that I could barely get them to delay leaving long enough for me to get a picture.  I also want to mention that I do wipe down my door from time to time - but our yard is not landscaped yet, so the dirt is a constant battle I am fighting right now - both on my door and in my entry. I can't wait to get some grass.  Anyway - - on to the real reason for this post.

Dallin is in sixth grade.  His teacher is Mr. Brinton and he is loving being in his class.

Thomas is in fifth grade.  His teacher is Ms. Thatcher.  She is a new teacher this year, but she teaches in the same room that Jeremy taught in when he taught at that school, so Thomas can already say he has spent more time in his classroom than his teacher has.  How many kids can say that?

Jack is in third grade.  His teacher is Mrs. Birtcher.  Thomas had her for second and third grade since she moved grades with her class.  She is Thomas's all time favorite teacher, and I know that Jack will love being in her class too.

Drake is in first grade.  His teacher is Ms. Zinn.  She is a seasoned teacher and really nice.  Jeremy says she does a fabulous job, so we are excited that Drake is in her class.  He is loving being at school all day.

Tad started preschool last week.

He is going to the same preschool that all his big brothers attended.  I know he will love it as much as they did.

After I dropped Tad off at his first day of preschool, I headed straight to the walking path and took a walk on it by myself for the first time in twelve years.  It felt really weird to be alone with no stroller to push.  I am not sure if I liked it.  I miss my little boys!!

Here's hoping for another great year guys!!