Great Games + The Final Celebration

Friday night our varsity played Montague's varsity. Anxiety. Funny, people get sooo worked up over this game. I love it. I love the rivalry. Was Montague slated to win? Yeah. But who cares? Obviously the team and the fans, sure, but it is funny to me to see people get so worked up in a negative way. At the end of the day, it is just a game. Period. I would feel no different if Whitehall won. Oh, except if if I were still in high school. Clearly, I would have felt differently. Whitehall played well. I don't think Montague expected it. For a loss, I think it was a great Viking victory.

Saturday the rivalry was carried on. The boys played the Cats at Montague. I was told our little team lost, but later was told the little Cats team lost, so I dunno. After that game, we had 3 victories. All of the boys played sooo hard. Win or lose...great games!!

Speaking of great games, Andrew played fantastic.

He had two tackles. One of which took down a friend and neighbor so it was super sweet for him. I labeled Andrew. He's #7...

...you cannot see the red writing well, but it is through the white jersey with an arrow pointing to the right where Andrew is...on the ground. Hehe...the downed player's dad is looking on...in disbelief?? Apparently, I didn't take a great pic, but I saw the whole thing!!

He also had a good block. Keith told him after the game that this just may be his niche. He may be little, but he can hold his own when he really wants to.

I found a little surprise when I was going through my pics. I cannot honestly remember where this was on the field but Andrew was in close proximity to the runner of the ball. Bryce did score an 89 yard touchdown and Gabe was so close to catching him, but I had NO idea my little guy was in shooting distance...yeeha!

Caleb's team played really hard. Caleb missed some blocks and some passes, but he, too, managed to tackle a good friend. Way to go! He also had a kick off return for about 15 yards and broke a few tackles along the way. Is it horrible to admit that I cannot remember if he had a 2 point conversion? Yikes!! I think he only had the ball in his possession twice so I don't think the 2 points were his...??? It was a long crazy day. The team had a loss but held their own. Great job, Lil Vikes!!

After the last game, Keith, Kyle and I headed to the Buchbergers. The Blankstroms also showed up. We laughed and had tons of fun, but all of a sudden we all hit a wall. We'll be doing that again soon. ;)

Yesterday afternoon, Keith's family came over for a birthday visit. We celebrated both Kyle's birthday {the final time} and Sammi's birthday as well. My brother-in-law grilled yummy steaks for us with onions and mushrooms. {yeah, at my house} It became a bit rainy but no hesitation on his part...

As promised, Kyle was ecstatic to find the contents of his gift box...

His ensemble is complete!! {thanks, gramma and grampa} He is sooo excited about his new black game pants. He doesn't even want to wear them to practice because he already has practice pants. I don't want his heart broken when he gets told he still cannot play in the game. I let him in on a little secret....that both Caleb and Andrew have worn their game pants to practice. He is gee-eeked about practice tonight.

Kyle also received a cool new warm up outfit from Uncle Matt and a new Michigan Jersey and book from Aunt Dee Dee and Uncle Pat. {Patrick and Sammi too}

Samantha got a really cool gift that I have to share. I am a fan of Ed Hardy, but for certain not a fan like Sammi. Imagine her utter shock when she opened this...

You really cannot tell what it is, so I will tell you...not 1 but 2 Ed Hardy seat covers for her Explorer! These totally rock!!!

By the end of all of this, we were beat. {again} Keith and I both fell asleep on the couch. We sure do need a bedroom television. We called it a night around 10pm, sadly. We are either getting too old or we just need to slow down before we get too old. Case in point...

Kyle: Mom, ow you 80 yeaws old?

Me: Why do you think I'm 80?

Kyle: Because you wook 80 yeaws old.

Me:Oh.

Kyle: How owd ow you?

Me: 35.

Kyle: That's old.

I think I really better start stopping!!

The Pressure's Off...

I'm not big on Hunting Speak because I got out of that business years ago. I'll just use plain super-excited-that-I-am-Caleb's-mom language to give a shout out to my son for shooting a 4 point Saturday morning!!!!! I was a bit crazy this year since he was using a gun. Not a fan. Super glad the call came in fairly early. The pressure was off Caleb. The stress was off me. {for a bit} 3 for 3. Woot!!

Way to go, Caleb. Way to go!!! Keith and I are so proud of you. Love you tons.

Four...Take Two And Three...

Monday was the official day. The big 0-4. Kyle brought cookies to daycare and got to crawl through the spanking machine. He received many more than 4 spankings. Most definitely deserving. It was mostly a good day for him. Until football. I actually felt bad for him. He got "kicked out" of practice. The problem was that he was right in the middle of it all. More so than usual. His reasoning? "But I have pads now." He really thought he was in. He threw his pads and then proceeded to kick them. I took them and said I'd give them back if he'd tell me he wouldn't kick them anymore. He just couldn't say it. I finally decided to take him home. It was the longest trip ever. I stopped a few times because he unbuckled himself. He also screamed at me from his toes, bit the seat belt, spit at me and told me he wished he had no moms and dads so he could do whatever he wanted. He was up to 6 squirts of soap. He was banned from cartoons, then from football, then from playing at all. I actually spoke the words, "You're grounded!" Happy birthday, baby!

Tuesday was much better. He had another go-round with the birthday celebrating at school. At the end of class, he put 4 candles on a make believe cake, sang a birthday song in a circle, passed out treats and picked out something from the treasure box. All while wearing his birthday crown.

*Note to self...{And Keith. And Kristin.} I want a birthday crown when I turn 36. So in a few years, when that finally happens, make it happen. K?

Cha Cha Cha Changes...

I love school picture time and comparing how the boys have changed from one year to the next. You know how it is...every year your baby looks so old...until the next year. Caleb had goofy hair last year because he played with it before getting his picture taken. I remember seeing him after school and being horrified!! The nice thing now is that pics are taken at registration. In the a.m. With mom. ;)

Andrew's pics are Thursday. He picked his outfit out at the store back in August. I kept putting it off because the prices were original and although I kept checking, the stuff never went on sale. Things need to be on sale because my trendy tween is really into the layered look. {double or even triple the clothes!} I received an email last Wednesday that stated the items may be on sale. Hello. Sale? All items were about half off!! I'd say a great sale! I bought a vest, {love Andrew} a button down, a rugby, {can't see the appeal} a ball cap and a pack of underwear {for Kyle} and I paid extra for 2 day shipping and I only paid 52. and some change. Bingo!! The package was delivered at 9:33 this morning. Andrew will be stoked. {and hot Thursday in those cold weather clothes!!} Keep your fingers crossed that pictures happen before phys ed!

Four...

Yesterday officially kicked off the week-long celebration of Kyle's birthday. The only thing he wanted was a DS but Keith nipped that in the bud right away. I wanted to throw a party for him because I had superb ideas but it just wouldn't work out. He chose to go to Crazy Bounce and he invited Isaac. Obviously he was easily swayed to also invite the girls because DUH! I didn't take any pics at CB. This was our third party there and the pics always look the same. I chose to write it down to remember it.

After bouncing, we headed back to our home for a short but sweet birthday dinner. We had major chaos at Meijer. Yeah, I shopped on our way home. The dip was fat free, {eww} I forgot the ice cream and the cake was not pretty but I told the girl it was awesome because I didn't order it ahead of time. We grilled out and then kyle wanted to open his presents. He really wanted to get some money so he could shop like his brothers do. Grandma had a little left over after buying Kyle's gift.

Imagine Kyle's surprise when he opened his big gift {the one all children gravitate toward first}...

...and it was his very own set of shoulder pads!!!!

Skipping ahead, he actually skipped cake to play football downstairs. He was so excited.

Isaac picked out the gift from the TenBrinkmans. I'm surprised he {Isaac} didn't want to play with it. Skipping ahead again, Kyle got out of bed last night to take care of his new Monster Trucks. There is a place on this rock hill for the trucks to hang while being stored. I like to think he was getting ready to be a responsible 4 year old but my theory is that he just wanted another excuse to get out of bed.

Hehe. I was taking pics of Kyle giving some birthday love to his fam and my mom just happened to make her way in also.

Some Unca Jimmy love...

Like I said, Kyle was ready to play without eating his cake. We had to keep him upstairs long enough to do the whole cake thing because everyone else wanted some.

Pretty cute cake. Not as good as I've seen but I didn't expect much since I didn't give any warning.

I think Kyle went to bed 7 or 8 times last night. He just wanted to keep getting up. Once, when he took his vitamin, Keith read the bottle and told Kyle that it was the last night he would take half of a vitamin. At four, he'll get to take a whole one. I finally sat with him and explained that he had to fall asleep in order for the birthday fairy to come and change him from three to four. Otherwise he would stay three. He asked me to take his picture so he could see it in the morning to see if he changed.

Because of the late night, this morning wasn't so fun. I could not get Kyle to wake up. He was so tired. Keith called to speak with Kyle. I asked Kyle if he wanted to talk to daddy and he mumbled, "mm hmm" and I handed him the phone. He said to Keith, "What are you doing? {but not in a hey-how's-it-going kind of way, but more like a why-are-you-bothering-me kind of way} I'm tired, can you talk to mom?" All the while, he looked like this...

Kyle finally woke up around 8ish. He was still slow moving and he wanted to put on his pads. I asked him to pick out his special birthday outfit and told him we'd eat breakfast together first. He asked me if I saved him a piece of cake. I told him he could eat it for breakfast if he wanted to. He thought it was a great idea. Not to be a stick-in-the-mud, I cut myself a piece also, poured two glasses of milk and sat beside him to eat. But not before I lit a candle, sang happy birthday and let him blow it out.

I had a perfectly nice, quiet and dry evening planned for myself tonight, but since it is Kyle's birthday and since he really wants to wear his new pads to practice, I let him pack his football gear into the van {pants, pads, jersey, helmet and cleats included} and told him I'd take him tonight. He was very happy. {but you cannot tell from this goofy picture}

**Shhh...don't tell...but can you imagine how excited Kyle will be after next weekend when he gets more football equipment from Gramma Stratton? He's getting new black football pants!! ;)

Busy, Busy...

No real pictures Saturday. I missed the beginning of Andrew's game because of the health inspector being at the game and missed more because of errands and such. {sorry, Andrew.} Because of that, Andrew didn't get to run under the balloon arch. I know he wasn't happy because he was so looking forward to it. Next time will be better. The great news is we passed the inspection and have another temporary permit.

Isn't it funny that kids get so excited over this stuff? Or that they get so bent out of shape over it? Kyle stayed with the team while their names were announced. Each player ran under the arch. At the end, Todd announced our team's mascot as Kyle Stratton. I thought he'd be so excited, but when I made it over to him, he was so sad. He wanted so bad to run under the arch. Later, thanks to Ronda Morningstar, my little guy got his moment to run under the arch. Thanks, Ronda. ;)

Awww. couldn't help this shot. Three sweet little men in my life.

I am sharing this simply for sport. This is the view the spectators see at every game Keith coaches. Both at Whitehall and at Catholic. Too funny.

Caleb had a good game. He wasn't able to catch most of his passes. Keith said it wasn't Caleb's fault. He did catch a pass, but like clock work, I was at the concessions stand. With Kyle. He did get to kick off near the end of the game. Caleb said it was because they were so far ahead. {score wise} I told him he didn't need to share that part. He told me it is best to tell the truth. Love him.

The Buchberger clan came for a visit Saturday night. The kids all crack me up. All those boys {7} have good appetites but whenever they are together, each only wants one piece of pizza. They cannot ever wait to get back to playing. They stayed downstairs all night. The adults stayed upstairs and played. We watched football, chatted a ton and turned a ho-hum game of Dirty Minds into a crazy funny drinking game. Great time!!!

Inspiration From Everywhere...

I came home last night in an absolute frenzy. Too much going on around me and in my head.

Today, new perspective. I am inspired to be inspired. {and who wouldn't be inspired by this little scrapbook? Heaven} I've said it before and I'll say it again...I love me some spray paint! Two trips in two days to Hunt's. {expensive paint} I am also loving Fusion paint, the kind that bonds to plastic. Woot! Let's see...I'm going all over the place today. Must be my mood. Keep up. Tuesday I bought a can because our 50/50 buckets needed some TLC. I was planning on recovering them but decided to spruce 'em up in a different way. Red does not cover print. I can also count on black. My first trip. I also made a balloon arch for the players to run through on Saturday. It looks pretty nifty. I also mentioned to a new friend that I was toying around with the idea of pop cans. Sound familiar? I dropped the ball on that one once our pop can drive was finished. She reminded me of it Sunday. {thanks, friend} Today I need a barrel at the home game and as of last night I still had a blue one. Not so matchy-matchy for our red and black theme. I purchased 2 more cans of spray paint yesterday during lunch. {second trip} Last night, about 9pm, Keith hauled the barrel from the back corner of our yard to the garage and cleaned it up. This morning, before I took Caleb to the bus, {6:22} I sprayed on the first coat. The second coat came before taking Andrew to the bus. Funny thing happened there...we watched the bus pull away. Dang. We flew home to finish morning tasks so we'd be able to leave for school. In 20 minutes. We made it. The barrel made it too. We'll see as the day goes by if I'll make it til tonight.

I originally thought this single barrel would collect cans at our home football games for Lil' Vikes. I have since come up with another idea. A bigger idea. Something that'll allow me to carry this into the future. Beyond my time with Lil' Vikes. I'm naming it The Viking Project. I intend to do this to raise $ for the golf outing. The Whitehall football golf outing. {see where I'm going?} I haven't broken this news yet, so you know who you are...you're reading it here first!!

Okay, so I've been busy this morning. Since being at work, I've also been busy. After doing part of my job, I took a moment to blog hop. I think I prefer this over blog stalking. I don't want to be a stalker. Inspiration everywhere. I WANT TO WORK ON MY SCRAPBOOKS!!! I will plan for it soon. I found a great little idea using bubble wrap to stamp and it is so cute. Love the texture it'll add to a page. Also found a grungy flower idea using a script stamp for a lovely finished embellishment. I have been getting so many emails from my favorite supply companies and, instead of opening them up, I have tucked them away in a neat little folder on my computer. The temptation is getting to me. I want the new Cosmo Cricket Boy Collection. YUM! Oh, and I want to doodle a bit on some pages. Hold the phone...if I don't stop dreamin' I may end up missing the games on Saturday. {I'll be in my basement}

Can you sense the caffeine overload? Can you? Believe it or not, I haven't had a sip. Or a bite for that matter. This is natural, baby. My natural high. {and nobody is in the office to appreciate it. ;)}

I was looking forward to preschool this year for some structure for Kyle. One week in and I rip him right out of his schedule. An option was presented to me last week, but I chose to overlook it. Kristin re-presented it to me Monday morning, right before school. I panicked, took a bit of time, talked to Tami, talked to Kristin, talked to Keith and went for it. Talk about jumping in with both feet first. Kyle is now in afternoon preschool. He moved with Ashley. He really needs to have her schedule for our work schedule to work. The transition was great. What I didn't know was that the transition worked so well because it was my day off. The next day was another story. We're having a tough time going to daycare first. Another struggle this morning. Kyle wants to go to school in the morning. Every day. I think he would go every day if he could. It's nice to see him so excited to go somewhere. I really think he likes it. I really like that I get to slow down enough for preschool. Kyle came at a point in our lives when there was no choice for him but to keep up with everyone else. He enjoys keeping up with the big boys but preschool will allow him to be 3...or 4. He'll be 4 in 4 days. Imagine! I like the nostalgia of preschool. It reminds me of the boys in preschool. I also like that I am forced to slow down and enjoy everything Kyle will experience this year. I am really super excited.

Caleb had a timeline project due the other day. I, like other moms, helped him put it together simply because of the lack of time in every single day. I was able to sit and look through pictures for awhile. Pictures I haven't looked at in quite a while. My sweet babies are getting so big. All 3 of them. One picture we used, one of Caleb on his first day of preschool, is so precious. Caleb, Keith, and a few random others thought it was a picture of Andrew. It's funny to me because I don't think he locks like Andrew at all in the picture. The pictures of Andrew on his first day of school are totally different. Sadly, I forget how gorgeous his eyes are, hidden behind his glasses all day. He has striking eyes. Long, pretty lashes. Very prominent at 3 to 5 years. Maybe I'll surprise you and post past pics soon so you can see for yourself.

Quote for the day...{author Keith Stratton} "You better get your boy a crown because he's the story problem solver King..." {after helping Andrew with his homework}

THE BEST STORY THIS WEEK...Okay, so I think I explained the whole Star Spangled Banner story during our vacation, yes? How before we could start any ball game, we had to sing the National Anthem with hands {mitts} over hearts. No exceptions. Well, the other day Andrew came home from school and handed me a small stack of papers for me to look over. One had the sheet music for the Star Spangled Banner on it. I handed it back to Andrew. I thought it was just messed up with the other papers. he told me his homework assignment was to sing it with his parents and have a parent sign the sheet. I was in the middle of 10 things but there was no reason to put it off so instead of getting ready for it, I just started right in. I think it startled Andrew a bit, because there was no warning and I just belted the song out. No hesitation. He then joined in. Seconds later, Kyle and Ashley come running into the dining room{where we were singing} with, get this, their hands over their hearts!!! Kyle was beaming ear to ear. Andrew and I glanced at each other and promptly placed our hands over our hearts as well. It was totally the best! I was asked if I took a pic...I was in the middle of singing. I easily could have reset the scene by singing again, but I didn't. It was awesome. I loved it. Silly kid.

Sleeping yet? Hmm, what else is new? Ah, Halloween costumes. Here are the 3 current choices...

Andrew as the Joker...

Kyle as Spider Man {for today anyway}

And Caleb as a washing machine!!!

Love it! Love it all!!