Trick or Treat

Before...

After!

                        

 My sister Sheri's birthday was yesterday, so last night we drove up to her house for the party of the year. She had her house all decked out for her favorite holiday, which happens to also be her birthday. Her cute friend Ashley was dressed up as a hot dog and helping to make the party a "wiener"! lol 

Whitney took the boys out trick or treating around her little neighborhood.

Josslyn stayed with me and helped hand out treats to the trick or treaters, after sucking on them a little bit first of course!

appetizers and dinner in a pumpkin

edible eyeballs?

Goodies galore

witches brew

Connor was an adorable little monster!



Happy Halloween

Here is the link to Max's Last game of the season. They lost again, but oh well. He said that he still had a fun season.

Fun Loving Falcons

Fun loving boys! Coach Matt asked Coach Steve (Max's coach from last year) to make stickers for all the boys on the Falcons, helmets, which as you can see, he did. Steve always does it at no charge and with a smile. He is a great example of someone who is giving - and not expecting anything in return.  

The game they played today was at Acord and I think they stopped keeping track of the score somewhere around Falcons 23- Sharks 2. Markus had his personal best game of 5 goals and 3 assists. He was pretty stoked. But he still loves playing defense best.

End of Season

 Max's last football practice was last night and his last game is tomorrow. He has had a great time playing this season, much better than last year - since they actually won a few games, and is a little sad to see it coming to an end. I, on the other hand, am excited that he will just be playing in one sport again for awhile. I'm exhausted just watching him play two!

Coach Rob asked him if he would like to play in the Jag Bowl for the next two weekends, but he already has a hockey tournament next weekend so he had to tell him maybe next year. As the coach he wanted the team to have the experience of going to the championships, even though they didn't win enough games to qualify for it this year. So he signed up the players that are available to go play in the bowl game and have the chance at a title for this season, he believes in his team and wanted them to end it with a bang.

Max with Coaches - Rob, Mark, and Josh

Markus hasn't missed a game yet, he will be there tomorrow.

Max also was invited to try-out for a super league baseball team tomorrow. But I don't know how he will fit it in, between his football game and his hockey game, since it is in the afternoon as well. His baseball coach, Rob, from last year sent me an email the other day asking him to come and try-out. This super league team, as he explained it, "will play in tournaments only. The reason for not doing a spring league is, we do not want to take away from regular league play and we don’t want to burn the kids out on baseball, because we will also play into the fall. As most of you know my intention is to maintain this “Super League” team for hopefully many seasons. The reason I put that in quotes is because we are a different type of “Super League” team because we are made up of one league. Most teams (probably all) we are playing against are comprised of kids from everywhere. For example, the Sidewinders (ranked #1 national) have a kid from St. George, that is about the extreme but it just shows how special these kids are, to have as much talent in one spot as we do, is a pretty cool deal."

School Parade

The Halloween parade was today at school - since the boys don't have school tomorrow. Max dressed up as a hockey player, since the sixth grade theme was their 30 year reunion - what they would like to be doing 30 years from now, and Max chose playing hockey.

After the parade was over, the class all gathered for their "reunion" and played games, like hula-hooping in the USA and volleyball in Australia. Then they ate foods from around the world and watched belly dancers perform.

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Markus decided he wanted to be a BYU football player for Halloween this year and ended up in the parade right next to his friend Braxton, who happened to be dressed up as a Utah football player.

Then he had some cookies and punch while playing games in his class room afterwards.

So Much Cooler

I am quitting my blog.

Really, I am.

I mean it this time.

It takes too many hours, and, ultimately, much of what I write is misunderstood.

If you’re a blogger or a Facebooker or a participant in an online forum, you’ve probably had similar thoughts. But then….

a friend confides that something I’ve written made her smile

or a blogging relative from across the country emails me with a letter about feeling closer through reading blogs

or I catch my son reading new posts and laughing out loud.

So I write again, or put up a few photos and save quitting for another day.

When the computer geniuses of the past created the internet, they may have envisioned online shopping, quick access to information and corporate communication. But I doubt they fathomed how completely HUMAN the World Wide Web would become. People are connecting in a way that our ancestors could only dream of— chess geeks play online matches, singles find mates (or at least dates), new mothers commiserate and share advice. The internet has a forum for every interest, every hobby, every avenue of thought. Never before has there been such a fantastic opportunity for human beings to truly understand each other’s hearts and motives.

And yet, we continue to judge poorly.

I make a conscious effort on my blog to reveal the dark and the light, but still, I edit my life as much as I do my pictures. Yes, I might tell you about my burnt bread, but I’m not going to share the details of my fight with my teenager or my sleepless nights over what I can't even tell. I leave enough out that you could certainly draw some false conclusions.

Then, I turn around and draw false conclusions based on someone else’s blog.

We know so very much about each other, and still so little.

But, I wouldn’t go back.

Through blogging I have made incredible friends. People I was meant to know; people who make me think and laugh and cry; people like you. Many of my friends are so important to me, so much a part of my thoughts that I forget we don't talk daily. And interestingly, when I do talk to friends in the flesh, the only thing that surprises me is their word choice (everyone is more or less talkative than they seem online).

Some of my sweetest experiences have been with neighbors– women just around the corner or right next door–whom I finally understand (at least a little) by really listening. And I find myself wishing that more people would talk to me so that I could really get to know them too.

But then again, when would I know them all? How could I know them all? How do you balance social life with your other responsibilities? Do you think we misinterpret people’s intentions more online or face to face?

Double Digits

Max's second Lightning game was tonight and it was their second victory as well. Coach Volker told them in the locker room before that he wanted this game to be in the double digits. Final score Lightning 10 - Wildcats 2. Guess they listened to their coach?!

Max - # 10 on the blue "away" jerseys - the white "home" jerseys haven't arrived yet.

Origins of Halloween

Halloween, celebrated each year on October 31, is a mix of ancient Celtic practices, Catholic and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions that blended together over time to create the holiday we know today. Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity and life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. Halloween has long been thought of as a day when the dead can return to the earth, and ancient Celts would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off these roaming ghosts. The Celtic holiday of Samhain, the Catholic Hallowmas period of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day and the Roman festival of Feralia all influenced the modern holiday of Halloween. In the 19th century, Halloween began to lose its religious connotation, becoming a more secular community-based children's holiday. Although the superstitions and beliefs surrounding Halloween may have evolved over the years, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people can still look forward to parades, costumes and sweet treats to usher in the winter season. Not that the winter season needs any ushering after the weather today.

Did you know?

One quarter of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween.

More Mighty Mites

For footage of Max's Mighty Mites football game yesterday vs. Cottonwood - click here: Highlights

The Love of Play

Amanda, and the lady that she is living with now, Paulette, at her skating test this morning in Provo - she passed!

Max's game at Steiner  - also this morning

Max scored the winning goal of the game. The Fighting Sioux win 1 - 0!

Max and coach Doug

Max and coach Abel

Markus at his game vs. the Knights at County - at noon.

He was cruising so fast that this photo is blurry. 

Falcons played great and scored a ton of goals, too many to count.

Next game today: Football at Cottonwood

The boys were all really excited when they found out they were playing in the stadium on the turf!

But their excitement waned when Cottonwood scored their third touchdown.

Max at half-time listening to every word coach Rob is saying - and eating oranges. He has a sticker on his helmet for every tackle that he has made during a game.

For all of us, play is refuge from life's customs, methods, and demands...play is an activity enjoyed for it's own sake. It is our brain's favorite way of learning and maneuvering...It gives us the opportunity to perfect ourselves. It's organic to who and what we are, a process as instinctive as breathing. What were your favorite games in childhood? Mine were jumping rope, hide-and-seek, putting on shows (of course!) and playing with dolls.

One of the benefits of play is that we move our bodies, whether we are hanging from monkey bars, playing red rover, swimming, playing in the water. Building forts. Part of what makes us happy is that our bodies are in motion. Getting exercise, using our sense of physical coordination-that is an exhilarating feeling, through play we can find ways to renew and replenish ourselves. If you could do anything playful, right at this minute, what would it be?

I know that there are things you absolutely have to do every day. But try to bring a sense of play to your work. Snow white had it right: the daily drudgery goes faster if you whistle while you work. I like to cook to music, dance while I'm cleaning and weed my garden with Max. Make it play, make it a game.

Soloists

As Promised - some photos of the Halloween show tonight. It went really well and both Callie and Amanda had solos in it, Bad to The Bone and Allegira from Cirque Du Soleil, that they skated great. I am tired. It's been a long week and they are both taking skating level tests early in the morning down in Provo. Ciao.