Football Game Aug. 31, 2012

 The national anthem

 Zane is number 61--there are 11 boys playing 8-man football.

 The boys played really hard & well--especially since they never get to play against a full defense line.

 Brienna playing in the band at the game. 

Zane after the game--they played hard, but lost 6-24 against Rockland.

Zane--Aug. 2012

When we went shopping for football shoes & gloves, I thought it would take forever to find what Zane wanted. 

  (I asked him to show me his gloves so he has to be a smart-alec!)

 But we lucked out--we stopped at Big 5 & found these nice shoes--the first pair he tried on and liked.  They fit & then we found the gloves too!   So one stop :)

I think we were able to find the black & orange just because IF high school have the same school colors, so we can usually find something with our school colors.

And a bonus--the shoes were under $50, which is the max. I wanted to spend (I think they were $45).  And I had a 10% off total purchase.  I'm so happy when I find what I need under budget!

He is a freshman--but we only have 11 boys playing football (playing 8 man football), so he will probably see a lot of playing time.  His first game is Friday at 5 pm!  Can't wait--I've missed watching one of my kids playing!

Stacking Wood--Aug. 2012

Rusty has been busy splitting wood (that we hauled out last month--click here for the blog) for the past few weeks--in the early mornings and late evenings when it is cooler.  Thankfully he as been using the wood splitter since the wood is still wet/hard to chop with a maul/ax.

And we had a mountain of wood ready to be stacked.  Since the pigs are gone, we are able to use their shelter as a place to stack wood also (Rusty built it this way so it could be used year round). 

So this past Friday morning (Aug. 24th), we all pitched in to stack the wood. 

We loaded 3 wheel barrows at a time while the boys unloaded/stacked them in the sheds.  The kids (Emmalee) would take a break & drink some ice water.

Ben & Emmalee filling the the wheel barrow with Brienna.  Zane was at football practice when we first started, so when he joined us, I had already taken the pictures (and didn't get the camera out again).  

Benjamin taking a nice long drink of ice water.

The kids did a good job--it was quite the pile!

Brienna's turn to cool off!

We worked on the pile for almost 4 hours--Benjamin & Emmalee worked for almost 2 hours before they needed "breaks" to dig in the sand pile.

But they would keep coming back to help out on & off.  It really didn't get too hot until near the end.  I was glad to see the end of the pile!  There are only a few logs (pictured on the right) that still need split.  But we are waiting for a new part on the wood splitter.  

The kids all did such a great job of helping out that when Rusty & I went to town (for a "shopping" date), we brought them back doughnuts.  And we will be going to eat at our favorite restaurant, Melina's, next weekend.  (It's the only place that the kids all eat something, get full, and is reasonably priced).  Brienna will be presenting her 4-H demonstration at the state fair in Blackfoot, and that is where Melina's is.

August 2012--Misc.

 Emmalee found these 2 horses joined together in the animal cracker bag.  

 Emmalee & Benjamin playing dress-up.

 Emmalee the fire-fighter.  (I remember buying this after Halloween when Ethan was little).

 Benjamin wanted me to be a Viking--he thought I looked funny.

 Emmalee and Benjamin eating popcorn & watching a movie (while laying on their little couches).

 Benjamin playing in the back of Dad's truck.

 Swinging is fun!

 More dress-up time--Benjamin the cowboy.

 Ben's monkey riding the stick-horse with him.

Emmalee the cowgirl.

 The 3 oldest kids decided to play Monopoly.  

I had to take pictures of them getting along!  :)

Emmalee's Teeth

 Emmalee's top two teeth have been loose most of the summer.  She finally lost the first one over the weekend (after her and Benjamin wrestled a bit).

 But the 2nd tooth was just hanging in there and she wouldn't let anyone near it.  She finally couldn't eat anything because anywhere she chewed would bump the front tooth.  She wanted Dad to pull it (about 20 times) but then chickened out.  So finally at bed time last night, she was whining because she was hungry, but she couldn't eat (and she hadn't eaten her dinner) so I told her I was going to hold her down while Dad pulled it.  

I got a wet washcloth, held her arms (she didn't really fight me too much) & Dad pulled it out!  She only "cried" a little because it bled for about a minute (I think it was because she could see it on the washcloth that was in her mouth).

She is happy to have them both out--and to celebrate she ate a bowl of Cheerios!

PS--Dad gave her $1 for letting him pull the tooth out.  He had offered earlier in the day, so he decided it was only fair.  Double $ for that tooth!

New Kittens

 The weekend of the County Fair we got 2 kittens from the Murdocks. 

 We were only going to get one, but Rusty and Zane liked this black & white kitten (that is about 4-5 months old).

 And the others like the little black/gray tabby (about 2-3 months old).  So we got both of them.

 Emmalee holding the smaller one (which is named "Perry the Catypus").

 This cat that Brienna is holding is "Spike". 

 We like both of them, but they aren't nearly as friendly as Zane's other cat "Greystripe".  

 We just hope that they will both stick around!

 Perry the Catypus--is named after Perry the Platypus from the show "Phineas & Ferb"

 If you take a close look, you can see that Emmalee has 2 very loose front teeth.

 The little kitten does like to be held on laps--but both cats will definitely be OUTSIDE cats (unless the kids are holding them on their laps with a towel!)

I guess we went from having 3 pigs, down to 2 cats :)

Benjamin's First Day of Pre-School

Benjamin was excited to start school on Monday.

 3 year old pre-school usually is 2 days a week from 9 to 11 am.  But there are only 7 children enrolled, so they didn't want to split them into 2 classes.  

 So until we hear otherwise, the 3 year olds will be able to go to school M-Th. from 9-11 am.

 That made Benjamin even happier!  School every day!  YAY!

 He loves wearing a backpack, playing, reading, and eating snack.  In this picture, he is telling me to "wait"--he wasn't ready for his picture to be taken yet ;)