INTENSE-

Saturdays game was INTENSE! What a game Pioneers! They are 5-0 now. Gresham put up a good fight and it was a close game. Thanks to Grandma Kathy, Papa, Jim and Cathy for joining us and cheering our team on.
(Mac is #14)

They played on the Gresham High School field. It's real turf and many of the boys had never played on it before. The boys looked kind of small out there on that big field!

Griff enjoyed walking all over and getting into everyone's stuff. He did sit with Grandma Kathy for a little while...

Off He Goes...

Griff is a walkin', babbling, drullin' mess...but he's our mess and we love him!
I shot this video on Saturday- it's now Tuesday and he is just about running.

Cruisin'

Griff is cruisin all over the house with his walker. He loves to chase everyone down and run them over! He is a lil'stinker. He has been taking about 5 or 6 steps all on his own the last few days, so he will be walking very soon! YIKES--

A first...

Lilly had her first School Jog-A-Thon event on Friday. The girl was just "crazy excited" about it. She ran her little butt off...

I was there to help with the event and Pat made it too.
You all should have seen the look on Lilly's face when her Daddy walked into that gym...she was BEAMING! She is very much a "Daddy's Girl".

The event was held to raise money for a trip to the Portland Chinese Gardens. They are very excited about it. They are studying China this year and learning Mandarin Chinese, so this field trip fits into the curriculum really well.
I have no pictures of Mac--he requested I "not embarrass him"-- Seriously? Would I do that...
LOL-

The 9 Month Mark-

Uh, yeah...I know- a snotty, gross picture. Poor guy! Way to kick off his 9 month mark!
He had his baby well visit today and has an ear infection, go figure. I knew that something was up, he has been a tad miserable for the last week or so. I couldn't tell if his ear(s) hurt or his teeth hurt. He never had a fever, so I was leaning towards teeth...I think it may just be a double whammy at this point in time. He has 4 teeth on the bottom and 4 teeth up top, with more working their way through. It looks painful and he is NOT happy about it. He has hardly slept this week, which means I don't get any either. Last night he SCREAMED for over an hour and nothing was working to calm him down. It was a long night. I am really HOPING that tonight is better. We have antibiotics and numbing drops for the ears, plus Tylenol going every 4 hours- maybe he will rest some tonight. Please, Oh Please....

He weighed 23.5 lbs today and was 29 1/4" long. He is meeting and exceeding most of his milestones that are recommended by his pediatrician. He is generally a very happy kiddo.

He still isn't the best sleeper, but we are trying to make progress. He also still hates his car seat, but if Mac and Lilly are in the truck, he does OK. When they are gone, he screams the entire trip. He has missed them a lot since they started school.

He plays rough- likes to pull hair, scratches, throws things and just plain loves to "rough house". He has not been biting and I hope it stays that way! He can take about 3 steps all on his own before plopping to the floor. He will be running in no time.

* A few highlights this month- riding dirt bikes in LaPine, first taste (just a small one) of chocolate pudding and ice cream, first steps un-assisted, Mac/Lilly starting school and cheering Mac on at his football games *

Bunco Trash...

Bunco is back in session...
(we take the summer months off)
Anyhow, this month we (my Canby group) kicked it off with a bang- the theme was
"Trailer Trash Bunco Bash".

I think we all nailed the costumes perfectly...

Niki and I were both thinking moo-moo's when we came up with our costumes. ( I am in the hideous purple/blue outfit)

Gail was disguised as "Bubba" and Carla was disguised as "Carl". Bunco turned out great and I am glad we are playing again! I wonder if I can talk my Sandy group into "Trailer Trash" night...

Moto's

We spent Labor Day weekend in LaPine. It was a great trip. Mac brought his friend Tristen along to ride motos with us. The weather was great and we all spent the days riding the trails and having a great time. Mac is above and Lilly is pictured below. She rode the heck out of the dirt bike...

"The 3 Amigos"

Warrior Dash 2010

YEAH!
Pat is a true WARRIOR! He made it...here he is coming through the finish line!

Dan did the race too, but had already cleaned up before I snapped a picture of him!!

There was about 5,000 people that earned their Warrior Titles on Saturday! It ROCKED...and OH YES, I AM DOING IT NEXT YEAR!!

What is Warrior Dash?? It's a crazy, insane race that sends runners through muddy mayhem on a 3.15-mile obstacle course in the quest to become Warrior royalty. You have to rappel down steep ravines, swim through waist deep water over a bunch of big logs, run up steep hills, run down steep slippery muddy hills, speed step through hundreds of tires, maneuver over cargo nets, climb up and over huge straw bales, climb/jump over rusted, wrecked cars and trucks, navigate through DARK, TOTALLY BLACK trenches, leap over actual FIRE and scramble beneath barbed wire as you near the finish!!
Sounds easy...right??
Pat did the entire race in 26.57. He was 36th out of 319 in his group. Not to shabby for an old guy- Just kidding...you rock Pat!
We had a whole group of friends that did this event and I am proud of all of them! It was great to see them finish and accomplish something so crazy! YOU ALL ROCK!
I am excited for my turn next year...
PS: there will be hundreds of pictures floating around FB this week...also, here is the link to the actual event-
http://www.warriordash.com/register2010_northwest.php

First week down...many to go!

We survived and thrived the first week of school. It was an adjustment for all of us. I miss them terribly during the day, good thing I have Griff to keep me company.
He misses Mac and Lilly too! He was crawling from room to room looking for them. It was cute, but sad at the same time.

Lilly was all about her outfits. She wore frilly dresses almost every day. I did talk her into wearing jeans on Thursday because she had P.E.
Funny...she did not request that I take her picture that morning either- silly girl!
Mac was told by his Football Coach to wear his game jersey to school every Friday because they have games on Saturdays. He looked handsome in it and was more than "pleased" to be wearing it. When I watched him walk into the cafeteria before school started to meet up with some of the the other football players, I had a major flash back of my high school days...too funny. Some things never change-

All in all, it was a good week. I think this school is going to work out great for the kids. They are definitely given opportunities to learn things they would not elsewhere. I am excited to see how far they go. Lilly is already speaking a bit of Mandarin Chinese. She seems to be picking it up faster than Mac is. I am going to see what I can learn too. If I don't, I will have no idea what they are saying...

It's Official...

...Mac is a 4th grader and Lilly is a kindergartner! This morning both kids were very anxious to get to their new school. They were both up plenty early and buzzing around with excitement. The morning went very smoothly.

I let both kids pick out their outfits for the day...

Lilly's was definitely bright and interesting...just what I would expect from her. (at least she let me talk her out of a pink sparkly scarf she wanted to wear with this outfit)

Mac's was the usual- shorts and a hoodie. Nothing predictable about this kid- HA! It was a bit chilly for shorts, but Mac wears them when it's snowing, just like his Dad...

I handled the drop-off/goodbye pretty well until it was REALLY time to go and Pat was forcing me out of her class room. As soon as I reached the door, the tears were falling down my cheeks and there was NO stopping them. We took Lilly to her class first and met Mac in his after we were done in Lilly's. I think Mac was relieved to go into his class without me tagging a long. When we went to his class, he was already prepping for his day. He gave us a quick good-bye wave and out we went. I am so glad that Pat was there with me!

I think Lilly is going to have a great year. She is very social and makes friends easily. She liked her desk and was ready to get started!
The day has been very long for me...I have just a little over an hour to go before I go pick them up, Griff is napping at the moment and the house is just TOO DANG QUIET! I know I will be busy soon and the days will go by quickly...

Strength...and God's Speed...that's what I need!

I have a quick request...need some prayers for tomorrow morning.
Lilly starts FULL DAY kindergarten and Mac starts the 4th grade at the new Charter School.
I need STRENGTH in my wobbly, nervous legs to walk them each into class tomorrow, so please say a prayer for me!!
I have been a nervous mess all day...plus we got back from vacation today and I barely have time to get all their stuff together and lunches made... (this where God's speed comes into play)

Anyhow, they are as ready as can be. Lilly picked out her own outfit and is SUPER EXCITED. Mac is very excited too! He really likes his new teacher, Mr. Gooda. Pat and I were really impressed with him as well!
I am going to try my darnedest to get them to their classes without sobbing and embarrassing them...Pat will be going with me, so I can kind of "duck-out" if needed. Time is just going by way too fast for me.
I will keep you all posted on how the day goes, plus I have some great pictures and videos clips from our trip to LaPine.
Ta-Ta for now...