Flag Football Season

We have been looking forward to the next sport season for Zach for a few months now.  At last, mid September got here and the start of Flag Football.  This is only Zach's second year playing flag football, but he is really doing well.  We have loved watching him learn new things at practice and then implementing them during his games. 

This year Zach's team is wearing a lime green shirt and their team name is the Cobras.  Isn't he cute?

This year the league is for 3rd and 4th graders, so there are quite a few kids older and taller than him.  But he did great.

As usual, Jeremiah was roped into being the assistant coach.  It's been a lot of time away and a lot less help with the other two on the sideline, but it's been fun for the two of them to do this together, so it's been worth it.  Jeremiah was mostly in charge of defense, so it was fun to see the two of them out there when they were on defense.

Zach's main position on offense was the center.  He was about the only one who could snap the ball decently, in fact he was leaps and bounds above all of the others.  I don't think they fumbled the snap once with him as the center.

During the last half of the season, the main coach realized that Zach could perform well as quarterback as well, so he's been having fun doing a few plays as quarterback during each game.

 

He's also played extremely well at blocking.  He seems to understand the concept and does a great job creating a gap for the runner on his team.  He definitely reminded me of his Uncle Taylor when he did such a wonderful job blocking - he had a great example on how to do it right!

One of the other things he's been able to do is kick-off.  He's actually got quite a good foot on him.

 

As exciting as the games are, the sidelines are almost equally as exciting.  Between Tate and Hailey, it seems there was always something interesting going on.  Tate has determined that he is old enough to get out of the stroller and sit on a little kids camp chair.  He loves it and spends most of his time getting in and out of the chair, as well as ...

... playing with a spare football.  He was hilarious, he would walk around with it, throw it, pick it up, sit down with it, etc. - you get the picture.  He just loved it and couldn't enjoy the game without it.  I think he's aspiring to be just like his older brother.

We've loved having Nana and Papa come and see a game or two so far as well.  It's always great to have more than just Tate, Hailey, and I cheering on the sidelines!

Zach has a few more games left and we'll be sad when the season ends again.  Although the practices have been many and a little tiresome, we've loved watching Zach play!

Gymnastics!

With much anticipation and a summer off, we finally got to the starting day of gymnastics for Hailey.  We gave her the choice between gymnastics, dance, and cheerleading this fall and at first she couldn't decide, next she would rotate between all of them and it would be different each time we would ask, but finally she settled on gymnastics.

Since she is in afternoon kindergarten, we were able to find a morning class to put her in and it works really nicely with our schedule.  Especially since when we started, we found out another friend of hers from our ward is in her class as well!

After a few classes, it was obvious that she remembered quite a bit from the previous class she had taken and although she wasn't perfect, she did remarkably well.

Here she is on the balance beam.

And on the uneven bars.

They even did a little bit of work on the parallel bars.

And then finally had fun running and jumping on the springboard as well as up and down on the mats.

She is absolutely darling to watch and we are so happy that she is having such a great time. 

Daddy Season

Ever seen Looney Toones?  Remember the scene with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Elmer Fudd?  It always went something like this:

Elmer Fudd:  Ssshhh, be verwy verwy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits.  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Bugs Bunny:  Rabbit season?  What?  No, it's Duck Season!
Daffy Duck:  No, it's rabbit season!
Bugs Bunny:  Duck season!
Daffy Duck:  Rabbit season!
and on and on and on.

Keep this in mind as you read this post because at our house:

It's not Rabbit Season ...

It's not Duck Season ...

It's DADDY SEASON!

Zachary:  Be verwy verwy quiet, I'm loading my gun ...

Zachary: and practicing my aim because it's ...

Zachary:  DADDY SEASON!

Oh no, it looks like the tables have turned and the hunted is now the hunter!

Don't shoot the picture takers!  Hailey, Tate, and I are innocent bystanders!

There you go, maybe it's not Daddy Season, it's Zachary Season!

Ah, finally got his gun back - funny how everyone wants to shoot us three!

Off on another hunting expedition, wonder who he's hunting this time?!?

Too funny!  Zach always likes to follow his dad around with his gun while he's mowing the lawn.  I'm not sure what prompted this whole idea, but it's pretty funny to watch.  Yep, at our house, every lawn mowing day is Daddy Season!

P.S.  No innocent bystanders (or onlookers) were harmed in the making of this post!



DON'T FALL ASLEEP!

At least not at our house, because you just never know what might happen ...  you just might wake up looking like this:

I guess Hailey decided Dad needed a make-over while he was sleeping - doesn't he look beautiful?  I don't think there was room for even one more bow on his head by the time she was done!

She had so much fun doing his hair and although he'll probably kill me for posting this, I thought it was darling that he let her do it.  He knows how happy it makes her and he'll do just about anything for his little princess!

I think he looks AWESOME!!!

Cartoon Buddies

Now that school has started and Zach is gone in the mornings, Hailey and Tate have become cartoon buddies.  Their favorite thing to do is spread out the blankets and play on them while watching cartoons - Tate's favorite is Mouse and Duck (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) and Hailey will choose to watch that just for him.

They love to sit there and watch the cartoons together.  I love when they lay by each other on the floor - it's so darling!  I caught this picture of them both smiling and happy, I just love it when they play together!

What cuties!  It's fun that they have some time together just the two of them!

Silly little monkeys!



Hailey's First Day of Kindergarten!

Well, it happened. My baby girl grew up and a couple of days ago she started Kindergarten!  Why is it this day is so hard for a mother? 

I knew she would do fine and I knew she would love it, but I still had a hard time realizing she was off and into school.

We signed her up for afternoon kindergarten because we thought it would be nice to have her go to school while Tate was napping in the afternoon.  When Tuesday rolled around, she was so excited, she could hardly stand it!  Her brother started 3rd grade a full week earlier and she has been dying for her turn to start!

This is the outfit she chose to wear - her cousin Libby has this same top and she wanted to save it to wear on her special day.  Isn't she darling?

She made sure I got a picture of her new shoes too!  She just loves the purple on them and they just happened to match the shirt she chose to wear.

This is her brand new backpack - she wanted to still use her red ladybug one from last year, but it was starting to rip and we weren't sure how long it would last, so we got her this new one.  Pink with princesses - what else?!?

She got a little bit nervouse right before we left the house, but she loosened up once we got to the school.  She ran right up and found the door with Mrs. Mikulecky's name on it.

Once she put her backpack on the ground next to the door, she even stopped for a quick picture by the door.

And then she was off to play on the toys.

She had a blast climbing up ...

... and sliding down.

She even came back once to twice to talk to Tate.  He loved watching and all of the rest of the kids playing - it was quite the entertainment!

Before we knew it, the bell rang and everyone ran back to their spots and got their backpacks on.

Isn't she the cutest?

Next thing we knew, Mrs. Mikulecky opened the door and welcomed them all to their first day of Kindergarten.

They all waved to the grown-ups and then off they went inside for a super fun first day!



I hate to admit it, but I cried a bit on the way home.  Just like the week before with her brother, my mind kept flashing back to this.

Seems like just yesterday...

And now she's a big girl and in kindergarten.  Time flies by so fast. 

We picked her up a few hours later and she was all smiles and so excited to tell us all about the fun and exciting things she did at school.  In fact, she had such a great time, she couldn't wait to go the next day.  I knew she would love it and I'm really proud of her!



Pack Meeting - Zach's First Scout Award!

After being in Scouts for almost 6 months, Zach finally got his first major award at Pack Meeting last week.  He has actually had quite a few things passed off for quite some time, but we've missed a few pack meetings with sports and such and then they took a month off in the summer.  So after much patience, Zach finally made it to one where he was presented with his Bobcat Award.  Unfortunately, Tate was having a hard day and wasn't feeling well, so he, Hailey, and I had to stay home.  But his Dad was there to help present him with his award. 

He was so proud and excited!

We sure are proud of him!  He is just loving scouts and we are having fun watching him work on his requirements and get them passed off.  He had really been working hard and should have his wolf all done here in the next month or so. 

We are so proud of you Zach - keep up the good work!