Panther

Today we are saying good bye to our beloved Panther.  She has been a wonderful part of our family for over twelve and a half years.  We have lots of stories. The Arthritis has just gotten too severe. Even with pain management, which is getting harder and harder to manage, she is having a hard time getting up, staying up and walking.  We will miss her. Maybe I'll put together a story about her for here. But for right now, in this busy season. Right now as we are raw. We can only let you in a little to let you know, we're saying goodbye.

Monday

Do you have a case of the Mondays?

Well here to brighten your Monday, may we present:

Mustache Monday!

It was a silly impromptu game we played one day a while back. May you have a marvelous Monday.

Gymnastics

One of the things we have had to work out and perfect, for our own 10 score is CJ's hair.

1. Must be pulled back and secure

2. No pony tails, unless hair is curled

3. Must not infringe upon the routine

4. Glitter, then a bit more glitter, then buy stock in hair glitter and add some more glitter.

We have tried some styles and they have been fun and semi successful.

We had really good luck using hair glue and these tiny rows of hair pulled together. The issue was, what to do with the back side.   We tried buns, but they fell out, and CJ found them to be bothersome on her floor routine.

So I scoured the internet, pintrest, videos, to come up with a different idea.

And, we found it.  At http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/hairstyles/time/5-10mins/starburst-crown-braid-updo-hairstyles/  Check it out if you need any ideas for hair styles for girls.

They have written step by step instructions, pictures, time frame commitments and videos!  I have a habit of doing french braids a bit differently, so the braid is popped out and on top of the head.  But watching several of these videos has made me realize how easy easy it is to come up with a simple new style that looks way more time consuming and complicated than it is.  Until recently, CJ has been the leader of tender heads in our house, so I was very happy with it getting brushed and maybe a quick barrett if it was a good day. She has finally grown out of being so tender headed.

  **check out how shiny my floor was. Wow!**

This was my first attempt. I was surprised at how quickly it went together. She loved it and wore it to school then practice -all day activities is a great test to how well it will hold up. It did great!

 For the first meet we did it, I add silver cord and a teal button to go in the center. These pictures are from after the meet and while the hair looks great, the button did fall out of place, but was secure on her head and not falling onto the floor or any distraction like that.

This was her best meet this entire fall! She placed 2nd on vault and 2nd on beam, 3rd on bars and 5th on floor, and for the all around she placed 3rd and was 3 tenths of a point away from 1st place!  This past weekend was States. Eric's parents were able to attend 2 meets, such a blessing for CJ to have their support cheering in the crowd too.
At States, CJ placed 7th on beam in her age group. It wasn't her best meet, but it was still a great meet for her and she was very satisfied. She did place 13th in the all around, but only handed out medals to 12.

Eric asked Sweetness if she wanted to go to the States gymnastics meet. She said no. He asked why. She said, "all you do is sit around and watch CJ do gymnastics." Pretty much sweetheart, that is exactly right.
So Eric then turned and asked Kman if he wanted to go, "YES" he replied. Eric questioned his response, "you want to go to the gymnastics meet?" "yup." So Eric asked why. Without missing a beat, our wiggly, giggly, searching for the next 5k run we can do, bug finding, wall scaling, 4 year old said, "I like to sit".

Check out her secure hair, nearly 12hrs later. with 5 hours in the van and a gym meet completed.

 

Fall season is complete. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for coming and cheering!

Whoa

Whoa, it has been a while.  It has been a whirl wind too.

Girls headed back to school, I headed to Iowa.  My grandfather passed away, oh sorry grandma, he died. She prefers the direct language.

It was a fast trip. It was a good trip. It was a sad trip. Hoping the next trip is longer, better and happier.

My family.

 Aunt JoJo teaching doodle a straw trick

Doodle learning about Grandma's magical nail file at bedtime.

My cousin had Grandpa record several children stories over the past couple of years. He had a long history in radio and t.v. and really had a great voice for reading. Not to forget, a barber shop quartet as well.  Our own kids love listening to the CD of stories that he recorded. Some days, I find it hard to listen to, but what a wonderful connection and memory they are making now of their great grandfather.

While I was in IA, CJ had another gym meet. I was sad to miss it. It was another meet that she did very well at, but this time it was beam that she made a silly error. She forgot her pivot turns, when CJ told me about it, she herself said it was dumb, but she didn't let it bring her spirit down.

Since returning from IA we've of course been busy.

Roasting pumpkins! I've gotten 2 large ones done. I have one more large one and 2 small ones to roast up yet.  The kids elected to not decorate their pumpkins, instead each one has requested that I roast them up and make pumpkin pie.

I'll try and play a bit of catch up, so stay tuned!

Fall break

While fall break hasn't been too exciting, here's what we've been up to.

 Do these two look a little bit guilty?

 Maybe a lot.

 Everyone got caught being goofy

 Doodle found an apple, or two, and showed off his skills. He eats them down to the core.

 He so proud of himself!

 Visited the wildlife museum with friends.

 The mythology section is always puzzling to the girls. They're not quite sure if this is a real horn of a unicorn or not.

On the move, he had to check out the alligator up close and got caught!

 I caught him climbing out thru the window. Thinking he doesn't need to ever see the Dukes of Hazard, ever.

 Hair glue, loving it with my tender headed Sweetness, did her hair on Friday and just now is it starting to look like it needs to be re done.

 Cousins at the gymnastics meet

 CJ worked hard, had her best meet yet, and earned more bling. Her friend on the left had an excellent day too!

FINALLY, his superman bowling ball came! He is a very happy boy.

We've also worked on turning our garden over from a summer one to a fall winter one. Pulling the tomatoes -still getting a few! Planting kale, spinach, carrots, cabbage and more!  The chickens have been enjoying the fresh plants as a treat.

And here we are, down to the last few days of fall break. His self portrait sums up all of our feelings about it ending:

Helping

He is full of helpfulness. This was at school while I was doing AR tests with first graders.

Whistling away...

She lost her first top tooth on a Sunday. Sadly the tooth fairy did not make it that night, we're pretty sure it was due to the crazy rain we had going on.

 Then, the following Sunday she lost her second top tooth.  Love these grins! Again, the tooth fairy did not make it that night. We now suspect that Sundays are either very busy or she takes the day for rest.

With her friend and classmate from Sunday School, they're a matching pair! He lost his second top tooth Monday, following Sweetness.  The tooth fairy made it to both homes that night!

However, Eric and I are thinking this parent has the genius idea, if only we all had these talents!

Run or Dye!

 Pre race, pictures and prep.  CJ elected to go to a three hour gymnastics practice instead of a quick 5K color run.

 He went as a ninja! Sweetness declared she wanted to "win" the race. In that case, we should have started in an earlier heat. And practiced running more.

 Pre race fun with our color packet. I got marked.

 So did Doodle. He was not a big fan of the pump up and dance music in the corral waiting for our heat.

Some time after the blue station and before the green station, he was out!

 An action shot of yellow. At the first station, blue, Kman stopped and started to help toss the powder. A heart stopping moment as Sweetness continued on her quest for "winning" and Kman not making it through the powder station. We got all back together very quickly.

We didn't "win" the race, but we all finished the race! We all had fun and the only one allowed a ride was Doodle.  Another fun family 5K in the books!

4AM wake up calls

 Last Sunday it was the judge's critique meet. Not your typical meet, but a good one to start the season.

 She has some great lines on the beam. Pictures do not do her justice and are usually in motion blurry.

 This weekend was the Monsoon Madness in Apache Junction. Doodle thought his 4:30AM wake up call was early, napped on the way up, fell asleep during floor, slept thru vault and woke up some time during awards.

 Waiting for awards. Look at her hair. I learned about hair glue...amazing stuff, I did her hair the night before, she slept on it and this is after her meet, looking good! It will be a love-hate relationship with this stuff, I think.

 Showing off her bling. She placed 3rd in vault and 4th on uneven bars and 7th overall for her age group and level. The team placed 2nd. A great start to the season!

 Then Doodle thought a nap on the way home was in order. It meant he missed this quick stop. We had just traveled thru a tunnel -always super cool-and CJ wanted to stop and take pictures of the scenery.

 Just goofing around after the meet on the drive home.

 The scenic drive. Not worth it when it's dark o' thirty in the morning, but it sure is on the way home.

We have a three week break...so very happy for that. My prayer, the rest of the season we have the 11:00 session and no more 8:00 ones! Join me in prayer.