We finished our first season of Sting soccer and it was definitely a success. Trenton never tired of practice or games, even the double headers in the rain. He loves soccer. And playing at such a competitive level made it a lot more fun for us as spectators. They ended their U9 season with a 5-6 loss ... to Spokane's best U10 team. After our first tournament of all losses, it was exhilarating to see the boys play as a team and play well.
Sting has truly become a family event as we've driven short and long distances to practices and games and it's special to see even his brothers support him with pride.
Little sister doesn't really know what's going on, but she's put up with a lot of prison time between chairs, strollers, and car seats to support the game.
Meanwhile, Sawyer participated in an Anderson family first: flag football. If I'm honest, I'm hoping the boys don't lean towards football because of the injuries. Protective mom talking. We told Trenton no until he was older and then he found soccer. Sawyer sneaked in as the younger brother and took advantage of my slow-growing leniency. For a first experience, it wasn't great because he was on a K-1 team as an older first grader and was heads (literally) above the other players. He got pretty frustrated at game time when teammates ran the wrong direction and goofed around while the opposing team sped by. On a positive note, he was the star player on offense and defense!
As we rushed around between soccer and football practices and games, we also had the boys run some cross country at school. It's not a passion for either, but we kept telling them how much it would help their athleticism. This was Sawyer's first year for cross country and he placed 4th in the boys' half mile!
While Trenton and Sawyer ran off to elementary school and sports of all kinds, Kellen threw all of his love and affection into preschool two days a week. He organizes his week based on how many days are left until another school day. Elliot and I tagged along on a couple of field trips that I remember well from his older brothers. First, we drove out to Walter's Fruit Ranch to pick pumpkins and apples and kickoff Fall.
tractor ride out to the fields
nothing says Farm like a red barn
For letter "D" the celebration was Dads and Donuts,
which Landon was able to attend thanks to a perfectly timed prep.
Next, we toured the Firehouse for the letter "F." Just like two years ago with Sawyer's class, the station got a call while we were there. The kids loved hearing the sirens and watching the truck pull away. Fortunately, it wasn't an emergency and the firefighters were able to come back and show off the giant trucks and gear.
On October 18th, Trenton D turned 9. Our firstborn is nine.
...the boy who cemented his role as Coach's best center mid with his determination and passion for soccer ... the boy who runs, jumps, and plays so rough he puts holes in his tennis shoes and needs a new pair every few months ... the boy who hates writing in school, but at home spends hours writing lists of players, stats, positions, and teams for every sport ... the boy who already checks ESPN.com daily... but the boy who isn't too old to kiss us goodbye at school and hug us hello every morning when he wakes up. Happy Birthday Trenton David
Just like last year, Trenton chose to play sports...or should I say soccer?!...at the park. It's interesting to see how Sting has created such a community of boys even though they're all at different schools. He invited ten friends and only 2 of them were from school. So what do you get when you place 8 Sting players on an open field with a soccer ball? A super competitive pick up game. At one point, Trenton's best friend Conner told Landon, "you're a horrible ref!" because he wasn't calling fouls. When Uncle Aaron showed up late, he just assumed this was a bunch of nine year olds playing for fun, until he watched for a few minutes. "Wow, these kids are pretty good," he tells me, shocked. Yeah, it's their life.
fake mustaches, what every birthday boy wants
Halloween 2014
The Anderson Family ... and Levi :)
It looks like we have another blondie in the family that we accidentally forgot in the house!
I said, "now masks for this picture."
To which Sawyer admits, he left his at school despite multiple reminders to grab it and decides to make up his own Iron Patriot face.
And Elliot the giraffe is like, peace, I'm outta here.
Real Life Ministries Harvest Festival
The warm, inside, carnival way to do trick or treating.
Elliot signing please for Skittles
Instead of going to bed, this one year old was eating Skittles. Fourth kid luxuries.
Trenton counted and after the Harvest Festival and a block of trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, the boys collected 453 pieces of candy. My nightmare! So, like any good mom, I resorted to bribery and paid them 10 cents for every piece they gave away. Now we're down to 225 pieces in a drawer and a Target receipt. ugh.
With the beginning of November, came Elliot's 18 month birthday.
She is quite the eater, taking down as much food as Kellen most days. Yet getting her to drink a full cup of milk in a day is a miracle. The pediatrician actually suggested I add a little coffee creamer to make it more appealing! She's still our little doll, weighing only 21 pounds and 14 ounces at her check-up, living right at that 20th percentile line.
She's such a cuddly, tender girl who loves to sit in our laps for books, or in this case football!
She cries if we leave her brothers somewhere and then hugs them grinning when they return. She has the start of a vocabulary, though not intelligible to everyone: night night, please, thank you, brothers, no, mama, dada, jojo (Aunt Cait's dog!), ball, baby doll, book, and banana (her favorite food). And she loves her baby dolls, this little mama in training.
One final heartwarming moment: the Highlights magazine came in the mail and for an hour these three sat cuddling on the couch looking at it together. These moments.
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