Sport of all Sorts

Jacob was in a 6 week Sports class at the YMCA from October to December.  He really enjoyed it.  The class was too small for them to break into teams and play but it made for some good one on one learning.  Jacob was really looking forward to basketball so it figures they learned that the week he was in Ohio.  Here are some pictures from flag football week.

Thanksgiving

We went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving.  It was a crazy but fun weekend.  We pulled the kids out of school at lunch so we could avoid the bad Wednesday evening traffic. Tonya and her family had arrived on Tuesday.  Martin was supposed to come but Jenny ended up in the hospital with complications from her gull bladder surgery so they did not make it.  My parents had come to Indiana for grandparents day a week and hald before and had taken Jacob home with them.  He was supposed to get one on one playtime with baby Keltin (Martin's son) since they were coming a week early.  Needless to say we had one very disappointed boy on our hands.  Mom and Dad had been counting on Martin and Jenny being around to watch Jacob while they worked.  Jacob got to spend a day at his friend Tyler's house.  Tyler had lived in our ward in Illinois and moved to the Cleveland area when we moved to Indiana.  My Aunt Karen and her family also came.   We had a fun full house and some crazy fun!   On Thursday Aunt Judy, Uncle Wayne, and my three cousins anad their families came for the day.  Its our tradition.  Growing up we would always meet at Grandma's for Thanksgiving and going shopping on Black Friday.  Our trip always included eating a hotdog place.  I was a brat and would through a major fit about this.  Afterall I was a teenage girl and hotdogs were not cool or healthy.  I would insist that they let me stop and buy a sub on the way.  As the grandchildren grew older and moved away the tradition gradually died off.
Asha lives in Pittsburg now and hosts Thanksgiving for her family.  Several years after Grandma passed away a new tradition was born.  Friday morning the Persauds wake up and drive the two hours to Cleveland.  And what do we do?  You guessed it, we shop and eat hotdogs.  Even last year, I refused to the hotdog and ordered their veggie burger instead.  It left a lot to be desired so this year I decided my revolt had gone on long enough.  I ate two hotdogs!!  We had incredible weather this year.  We spent the day at Crocker Park and even got to see Santa and ride a "train".  The train was really more of a tram but the little boys enjoyed it.  Its always sad when the day draws to a close and the Persaud clan files back in their rented van.  Special thanks to Asha's husband Shane who kindly drives the full sized van.  I know its probably not his vehicle of choice but it keeps them from needing two vehicles.  And somehow he manages to still look cool driving it.
Saturday we made our annual trek to the Wilcox Tree Farm to get mom and dad's tree.  Aunt Karen and family came with us.  I think we took 17 people to go cut down one tree.  We all had a great time and enjoyed the wagon ride and free hot chocolate.  Afterwards, all the local relatives joined us for game day.  I got a call later in the day from Nicholas.  They had spent Thanksgiving in Michigan with some old friends.  They had bad weather on the way out that made for a long trip.  He wanted to break up the return trip and called to say they'd be coming to my parents later that night.

The cousins were thrilled to see Weston.  This is all of them except Keltin....but we look forward to the arrival of Nicole in April!

Before heading home on Sunday, the kids got to decorate the tree

Our family at the tree in Crocker Park

Jacob and Mason (6 months apart in age)

The Persauds stopped at a coffee stand in Crocker Park.  My girls saw they also had hot chocolate and used their own money to buy some.  They thought they looke so cool with their cups of cocoa

I thought I had some pictures of our tree hunting expedition with the Sass family but can't seem to find them.

New calling

So much for thinking that life was going to slow down.  Why do we even fool ourselves into thinking that will ever happen, it never does.  I know I promised I would do better at blogging after the new year, but I had no idea I was going to get a new calling.  When we moved to this ward, I was called as a primary teacher.  About three months later I was released and called to be the primary chorister.  That seemed scary and overwhelming at first, but I LOVED it.  Seriously, its the best calling ever!!!!!   But, unfortunately for me, I barely had the calling for two months.  Mid January I was yet again released and this time I was called to be the Primary President.  But, we still do not have a new chorister so I've been pulling double duty.  Hopefully, that will not last much longer.  Although I was really sad to be released as the chorister after such a short time, I know I needed to have that calling before being called as president.  I've done just about everything else in primary but was always intimidated by the idea of teaching the songs to the children.   If a chorister had called oof sick last minute it probably would have caused a major anxiety attack.  Now, however, I will look forward to getting to help with music once in awhile.

A boy and a pond

I love this boy!!!!!!

(even when he has too have cavities filled)

The pond behind our house

 

Jacob keeps hoping one of his Grandpas will come and take him fishing in the pond this summer.

The kids have all enjoyed catching the frogs that live her.  There are hundreds of little frogs out on the banks during the summer evenings.   Sometimes Jacob yells at the geese to get off his pond.  The neigbors think its funny that he thinks its "his" pond since its on community property.

Halloween

This year was quite a change from Halloween in  Edwardsville.  First, trick-or-treating was actually on Halloween since there was no parade.  Second, there were actually posted hours that didn't span a ridiculously large portion of the day.  And thirdly, we went from having hundreds of trick or treaters to having 10.  Yep , you read that right 10.  It certainly saved us money on candy expenses, but it was not nearly as fun.  I enjoy seeing kids in their costumes!

In case you're not up on the tween aged girl culture.  The older girls are dressed as characters from Monster High: Frankiestein and Clawdeen.

Apple picking and Fall Fun

We found a town about 30 minutes away, literally in the middle of nowhere that had an apple orchard and a pumpkin farm.  One WARM fall saturday we decided to check them out.  Our first stop was the apple orchard.  A wagon pulled by horses took us out the the apple trees.  The wagon was filling up on the return ride and we were in the front,  The driver turned around and asked Katy if she wanted to sit up front with her.  The other girls were a little green with envy.  After a few minutes, much too our surprise, the driver handed Katy the reins and started instructing her how to steer the horses.  I thought the other kids were going to die with envy at this point.  Katy, who is always up for a new adventure, was beaming with joy as she drove the wagon.  I'm not sure the mom with the 2 month old baby was quite as pleased as we were when Katy took the reins :)  The apples were delicious!! I'm not a huge fan of store bought apples but I just can't get enough fresh picked ones.  Jared was shocked at how fast our family went through the basket of apples.

Next, we hit the pumpkin patch.  WOW!!! can I just say it pays to live in the country...I've never gotten pumpkins so cheap in my whole life.  Not even in Avon before it became overdeveloped.  We were able to get all the kids one for the price of one walmart pumpkin.  The kids enjoyed the play area that was set up. Highlights included a maze, te ever popular face cutouts...

 .....a haunted bus

 ...a wooden train

 Mom forcing them in a group photo...not such a highlight for them.  Notice Ms. Bella's facial expression and body language.

It was a fun day with perfect weather.  I love fall even though it means the onset of winter!!

Walk-A-Thon

The fundraiser for the girls' school this year was a walk-a-thon.  (Special thanks to those that sponsored them!)  The event was complete with warm-ups and lots of walking and even some running.  Family members were allowed to walk with the students so Jacob and I joined in on the fun.

I felt like we were in the story of Goldilocks though...only it read a little differently:

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jacob.  One day he went to a school to see his sisters.  His sisters were having a walk-a thon.  Jacob looked at all the big kids running and walking and thought it looked fun.  Jacob wanted to run with the students so he found his sister Bella's class and joined them.  Bella and her friends were sprinting and poor little Jacob could not keep up.  They were  too fast.  So Jacob left and went in search of Xandy's class.  Xandy was walking with her friends.  Jacob joined them, but he wanted to walk not run.  They were too slow.  Jacob was sad but then he remembered he hadn't tried Katy yet.  He looked around and found his biggest sister Katy.  He told her he wanted to run but Bella was too fast and Xandy was too slow. " I will run with you" said Katy.  So together they started to run. Katy slowed to Jacob's pace.  She was careful to not run too fast or too slow. She was just right!  The End.

Bella warming up

Xandy waiting to start

Katy wearing the punch card that was stamped for every lap completed

Xandy actually running at one point

Katy running