Homecoming

The boys love participating in spirit days at school, and orange and black day is one of their favorites.  I   took the 3 older boys to the homecoming football game the other night.  The team went into the game undefeated and it was a gorgeous fall night, so needless to say, it was INSANE!

It was hard to keep track of the kids when every other kid out there was wearing orange and black and had their hair painted!  The boys had a lot of fun and the team won the game!  Despite the fact that we live less than 5 miles from the high school, it took us a whopping 50 minutes to get home.  I think next year we'll walk!

Cross Country

Ben decided to go out for Cross Country this year with the Middle School team, and he is loving it and doing well.  I would like to think that watching Brian and I do some of our races had an influence on him, and he decided that running as a sport isn't all that bad.

He's been doing great in his races!  I had never been to a XC meet and didn't know what to expect.  Sometimes he will race with as many as 200 kids, for distances anywhere from a mile to 2 miles.  His pace has shocked all of us.  In his first race he ran 7 minute miles, and since then he's been closer to 6:45 and sometimes even 6:30 paces!!  He doesn't get his speed from me, that's for sure.

The season is quickly coming to an end, but it has been a lot of fun to see him race, and I would expect he'll be doing it again next year as a 7th grader.


Warming up.  I love how his orange shoes go with the school colors of orange and black.

Heading to the starting line

Ready...

Set...

Go!!

The sea of orange is the Tiger boys!

Finish Line!

Ready to see Ben finishing strong!

Wrapping up his 1.25 mile race at a 6:40 pace!

I had no idea how many people attend XC meets!  It's a fun, fun atmosphere!

Ben and Josh have been friends since Kindergarten!

Marathon in Pictures

Believe me, I want to blog about the marathon last weekend!  This first week of school has been understandably busy, and I want to be able to spend the time writing a blog post that captures the day.  In the meantime, you can read this post or this one written by my SIL Kate, or you can read Nicole's post, a friend of Kate's, who also ran the marathon.

Honestly, I'm not sure I can really put it all into words just yet.  I think about it constantly, look at the pictures daily, and shake my head in disbelief that I have completed a marathon.

Until I can get my words out, here is my marathon in pictures.

School

It's all or nothing for our family.  We're either in full-blown routine mode or full-blown kick back and relax mode.  The transition to either one is never smooth sailing.  It takes a little while to get all the moving parts in just the right order.

Adding a new middle schooler and a new kindergartener to the mix complicates it that much more, but we all managed to survive our first week!

Highlights
Ben's a pro with his locker and knows where all his classes are
Ben ran in his first Cross Country meet this week....2 miles in 14:05 minutes!  WOW!
Matt was chosen as a STAR rep (peer leader) for his 4th grade class
Adam knew his lunch code on day 1 and was able to open his milk all on his own
Luke is napping well at Kari's house
The 3 younger boys are out cold by 8:15, Ben is out by 9:15
I had supper planned every night this week!
Brian and I were able to walk Adam into Kindergarten together on the first day

Lowlights
Ben's bummed that his closest friends are in the other "house"
Matt's allergies are in full swing and he sounds miserable
Adam cried a few times on the first day because he said he missed us
Luke walks around all morning saying, "Where's ________, where's ___________" because he misses his brothers and his daddy
Everyone except Benadryl induced Matt is waking up by 6:30

Overwhelmed

Going through backpacks....3 school bags, a XC bag, a daycare bag, my own school bag

Sleep....we're all very tired!

Wondering if I'll be back full-time next year.  Scares me to death to be doing all of this while full-time.

               

Orientation day before school started

6th Grade!

Brothers excited to be in the same building

Kindergarten Cousins

The MVES crew

Where has the time gone?

An excited, yet nervous smile

Calm, cool and collected

Not wanting to be left out, Luke hasn't stopped wearing or carrying his backpack since the boys started school!