Terrorizing the Neighbors aka Halloween

 I realized this year just how much I HATE Halloween!  The actual event itself is fun but it makes my blood boil as I buy hundreds of pieces of chocolate that I don’t even get to eat (880 this year) and rack my brain trying to come with costumes that my 10 year old boys will think are “cool” without being gory, satanic or expensive.   Charity is just as hard – I don’t want my darling daughter to look like a street walker!  Anyway – now that my little rant is over here are a few pics of last night’s romp around the ‘hood.  They had a great time and got enough candy to last for awhile.   I will be sorting through to pull out all the sticky/chewy stuff today – they all have sealants so none of that is allowed – but it looks like they will still have WAY more candy than any kid should eat in 6 months!  

 Let the sugar highs begin….

 

There goes the neighborhood....

Motley Crew

Our Egyptian Prince

Meets his Cleopatra

Every father's nightmare!

 

"Hello ladies."

Our Beautiful Bug

When 900 years you reach, look as good, you will not.

Joseph's (bat) and Jonathan's (cat) pumpkins

Michael's (spider) and Charity's (Larry the Cucumber) pumpkins.

 

Remember - Charity had that green pumpkin.  It never turned orange which she was very happy about so that her "vision" for it could be realized.

Okay – so I always have the best of intentions when it comes to this blog.  When I’m taking pictures I mentally compose entries – I just never seem to get around to actually doing anything with it. 

I commandeered my step-dad’s camera last weekend to grab some pics before our sports seasons were over. 

Michael is in his element every fall.  The kid eats, sleeps, breathes and eats again football.  He was super excited to be on a team again with his favorite coach this year.  

We spent the past three months cheering on the Cardinals and specifically "big" #80.

 

On offense Michael played center - a new position for him.  He did great, had a few bad snaps here and there but enjoyed the position and wasn't afraid of getting creamed by the other team.  He knew his mother had that fear covered.

Defense saw him on the line.  This is where my gentle giant really comes alive.  He is a very sweet kid in general but get the boy in pads and a helmet and he becomes a whole new child.  He LOVES to hit and takes great pride in every tackle credited to him.

Our season ended in a close playoff game on Sunday.  The boys were disappointed but as much as I love winning (and I really love winning) it is kind of a relief to have a little more down time in our calendar.

After two dismal seasons playing football, Joseph decided to give soccer another try this fall.  He loves all sports so we really weren't too concerned about him having a good time.  He is naturally athletic (which I can say in all modesty because he shares no genes with Eric or I) so his biggest challenge is keeping his ego in check (:  

Luckily he had (assistant) Coach Dad to keep him grounded.

The keys to Joseph's game?





1) Focus





2) Hustle





3) Throw in a little fancy footwork for good measure!

So, how did the season go?  Let's just say- the boys had a great time but Coach Don had a full head of hair at the beginning of the season....




Charity's game has always been soccer and she absolutely loves to play it.   

She broke her ankle this summer and had to sit out the first couple of games.  It has taken awhile to come back from her injury but she got 3 goals in the last 2 games and ended the season well.  It’s hard for her to choose her favorite part of the game.  Is it:

The snacks?

  

The medal?

Or the friends?

Whatever the choice - she can't wait until spring soccer starts!

So what does Jonathan do while all these games and practices are going on?  Unfortunately the answer to that is - a whole lot of sitting around and hoping that someone else's sibling will be there to play with.  He has been having some behavior issues and so part of the discipline process has been a fall season devoid of extra activities for him - bummer.

But our little charmer is absolutely impossible not to love :)

At long last I’m posting on my blog – mostly because my cousin guilted me into it. So, here you go Julie.  As we speak I should be packing to go to Ukraine.  Charity and I are leaving on Sunday to go with my neighbor to finish up their adoption.  It should be a good trip and we are all really excited.  Mostly just to get this little girl home to her family – she’s absolutely WONDERFUL and we all love her.  We had a big day in our house today and while nothing will physically change for us – it does change the dynamics in our household a bit.  We moved a year ago out of the little bitty house we were renting:

Into a bigger house to rent.  Today we signed the mortgage/purchase agreement to buy the house we’ve been living in and after 5 or so years – we are homeowners once again.  Pictures are below.  (Thanks to my friend Senda for the pics of the outside – I am blatantly stealing them!)  The house was built in the 1890’s or so and is so much fun.  Like any other old house, there will always be upgrades to do but we really love it and are very excited.

No post would be complete without at least one pic of the kids.  It’s been so long since I posted that I have tons to choose from.  This one is from the Homecoming parade in October.  The older boys were in the parade.  They all have blue hair because their little league football team was the Lions.  

The final picture is of the hand-off of our dossier by our adoption guru at the airport as it made it’s way to Bulgaria with another adoptive couple who was kind enough to hand deliver it. We are officially a waiting family.  And while we anticipate a long wait – we are VERY excited!  “Dear Lord, protect my “babies” until we can get there to bring them home.”