Football playin'... Part 1

Here is our football series... now that the season is over, we're taking a look back at how we got here.  This was Jango's first year to play, and he loved everything about it.  He was on the "70 lb" team.  Meaning they are all 6 and 7 year olds who can't weigh more than 70lbs.  This is a huge deal, and they even take the boys in without their parents to weigh them, and we have to provide birth certificates and then they get their own ID cards that have to be shown before each game.  (Thankfully the coach kept up with these cards, so we didn't have to).  So here is our journey through our first year of tackle football... in three parts.

 We had to go to a big warehouse to get his uniform.  I was worried it would be too heavy, especially that big helmet, but he just LOVED wearing it.  He wore it around the house for a few days after we got it.

Right after his first practice... sweaty, but loving it!!

 Here we have some random shots of practice throughout the 4 months we practiced... 

 throwing and catching... 

tackling and running with the ball (yes, he did fall right on his face after this picture was taken)...

 more throwing... they also did LOTS of running, but there are no pictures of that... 

Next Part will be getting his jersey and playing in the games... YAY!

Why I love my (Big Boy) Jango!

For anyone who really knows me, you know that I don't do mornings very well!! :)  I just don't like to get out of that warm bed.  There doesn't seem to be anything better than "just 5 more minutes"... BUT I've started getting up at 6am every morning.  I know this isn't early, and I know that some of you (including my Daddy) are already at work by 6am, but this is a huge milestone for me.  I get up at 6am to get my day started the way I want it to start, and to get a little bit of alone time before everyone else gets up.  I have also recently started doing something I'm sure will make some of you faint... I drink coffee!  Every morning, I have a small cup of half-caffeinated coffee (is it wrong how much I love saying "half-caff"?).  I'm not sure what kind of difference it makes in my life, but I like to think its helping me!  I sit alone with my bible (sometimes my reference book), and my coffee! :)  For the first time in my life, I look forward to getting up early.  There is something magical about that time of the day... or maybe I'm just getting old.  Don't all old people get up early!?  :)  

I enjoyed this quiet, alone time for only about two weeks, then something happened... I'm not sure whether it will ultimately be good or bad.  My oldest child, Jango, doesn't get to play video games or watch TV until after we finish school (around 2:30pm), and then he has to take turns with his brother AND pay to play (nothing is free around here) BUT if he gets up before 7:00 (when he's supposed to get up), there are no rules.  Everything is free and he can play as much as he wants (in that hour)... This rule applies to both of our children, but Boba takes after his mother, and would much rather have those "just 60 more minutes" in the bed than extra game time.  Jango begged us to set an alarm for him so he can get up at 6am when I get up and have time to play.  Now my quiet, alone time has been invaded by a BOY!  Eeewww gross!!  ;)   But I guess I'll allow him in my club.  After all, he's quiet when he gets up, and he's about the cutest boy in the world, so I can make an exception in his case...  my mornings can only be better with him around!

Jango!

Decorating

We are slowly working on decorating every room in our house (we've never lived in a fully "decorated" house before)... but in the mean time, here are a few of the ways our boys help us get ready for this holiday...

Just getting started... see the fangs??

All done and so proud!!

couldn't decide on an overall theme... or exactly how to smile!

Now he's got it... maybe!

So just outside our front door, you are greeted by these nice looking pumpkins....  yay for decorations!!

If you are wondering how we got these awesome pumpkins... see this post about our punkin patchin'!!

Our First Basketball Day!

 We had a great time on "Basketball Day", as it is known in our house... Boba had practice at 9am... then Jango has a game right after... so we get it all done at one time!! I, of course, brought the camera!!

Bounce-pass to Daddy!

Little Dribbler!! He's actually pretty good!

He got a basketball shirt and his very own basketball!

First Game of the season... all ready to play!

Look at that shot!! He did a great job!!

One more time....

Jango is getting to use his new tooth pillow for the first time.  After we wrote our last entry about not having a pillow to put our tooth in, one of our readers and friends, Mrs. Linda, sent each of the boys a tooth pillow.  It worked wonders and the tooth fairy found the pillow and left the money just as she is supposed to...  

The only problem now.... how to smile for the camera, while showing your missing teeth, and not looking completely scary!! YIKES!!

 Better

 That's it... it could have something to do with Momma getting the flash off... WOW!! Two teeth missing right beside each other...

Making a Mummy??

Last night I saw something from a friend of mine about making a chicken mummy. Yeah, it's out there, google it. Anyway... I just knew that Jango would LOVE it BUT I'm not crazy about doing all the steps involved, and then it would just be a mummified chicken and not look anything like a "real" mummy... So... I told Jango to go this morning and get one of his "men" (i.e. action figures), and we took some gauze and a few beads for "jewelry" and made a little mummy man... he still LOVED it, and I didn't have to deal with a dead chicken or any other stinky, yucky things like that... I think we'll make a real mummy chicken when we're both a bit older!

After the mummy was all wrapped up, he "buried" it under some toilet paper! Then he said that some "men" had come up and opened the coffin, and because they had done that, the mummy had cursed them, and now they were all dead... so he staged the next photo!

You can just kind of make out the mummies jewels placed inside his "wrappings"...

Book Review Henry Huggins

Leia - I LOVED this book! It was easy to read and lots of laughable situations... I thought it was extremely funny that Henry would say things like, "Golly"... or "Geez!"... it made me want to watch some Leave it to Beaver! :) But I guess they were both from the same time!! Overall, a very good book... we're going to find some others of her's to read.

Jango - It was exciting... I liked it... My favorite part was that fair contest about Ribsy choosing who he wanted to stay with. The contest was whoever Ribsy came to would be the owner of Ribsy, and he chose Henry Huggins. I want to read more Henry Huggins books, and read all of them that they have. And the one that is all about Ribsy.

More Soccer... this time for Jango

So Jango had his first soccer game EVER today... we have never signed him up for soccer before mostly because we know nothing about the game or its rules. So we decided to let him pick, and he wanted to try playing. I LOVE the uniforms, and he loves the kicking... win,win!!

This is just my favorite picture... he's so focused on kicking!!