Sept Pack Meeting

Jake getting his Wolf and face painted from Sister Graham. She is the master mind behind these pack meetings.
Lighting the arrows of light, complete with wisdom from an ancient man-I think he may of supposed to be Mormon ( at least that is what someone said- I need to check).
Maybe this is supposed to be Moroni, Lighting the arrow of light.
Getting ready to shoot the arrows of light.

This Cub Scout Troop we are in goes over the top for Pack Meetings. Last month they did the Olympics with games, medal stand and medals for all ( even the little kids). I had heard when someone gets the Wolf or Bear it is quite an event. Tonight Jake got his Wolf Badge. When he recieved the Wolf they put a wolf head and skin on him and painted his face. He was pretty excited. There were two boys who got their arrows of light also. The highlight of the night was having the Indian shoot flaming/fire arrows into the sky.

FB Practice with a Cowboy

Tonight at practice one of Jake's coaches has arranged for Danny Amendola a WR for the Cowboys to come and talk to the boys. He wanted Amendola to talk to them because he is smaller guy and remind that it really takes discipline and work but you can still be a good FB player. He is a young guy and real nice to the kids.I think he played at Texas Tech and is from the Woodlands. Chase was pretty excited to get his picture with him and play catch with him.




Jake waiting to get his autograph



Jake's Team



Chase and Amendola

Saturday was a fun day, we would have liked a few more wins (and points) but we will take what we get. We started with Jake's game. They are still undefeated and in the upper tier in their league. We are so used to Frisco Football it has been a little hard for me to change this year. Jake has a bunch a good boys on his team and a good group of coaches which really helps. We miss playing with our friends in Frisco though. Jake scored once for an extra point.
Chase's team lost in last few minutes. One thing that is hard for Chase this year is that in ASA they won't let you block like they do in FFL. But Chase still blocked to the whistle every time. Chase is just waiting for tackle next year for when he can actually hit someone.
Allie's team lost right at end too. Allie got on such a good team. Her coaches are really good and are teaching them so much. Allie had goal but they lost 2-1.She is getting pretty aggressive and so much fun to watch.
Nielie topped off Jake's game by falling on the bleachers and cutting her gums really good. She also cut that little piece of skin that connects her gum to her lips. She was pretty much out for the rest of the day.
I sat in the car for most of Allie's game with her because she was so miserable. This is a picture of all of them walking back to the car after Allie's game.

Fall Saturdays

Tinkerbell

Friday when I was trying to clean house Nielie was keeping herself busy. I came back in the laundry room to put clothes in the dryer but she got to the dryer before I did. It kind of scares me because she tries to shut the door. The chocolate is from the M&Ms she found up on the piano. Hayley told me the other day that my standards had really fell after she saw what I let Chase wear to school. I hate to admit that she is so right.

Chase and Christmas

Chase loves Christmas. I have been trying to focus his attention to Halloween, but since he has been thinking about Halloween since July he is ready to move on to Christmas. This morning he had to wear this sweater that Grandma and Jenni got him last year. He loves the all the Santa Claus Movies and any Christmas books he can get his hands on. I keep telling him he may be the next Santa Claus. The other day he told me he thinks he really may be the next Santa Claus because he started "really wanting cookies all the time". By the way he wrote a thank you letter to Santa last week thanking him for all the toys from last year. Then he wrote to the elves because they get forgotten about. I really think he may be in line to be the next Santa.

Nielie's New Tricks

Nielie put the stuff on the table all by herself, this is actually Allie's doll table. She was so proud of herself.




This day she was fascinated with doll chairs. She took it everywhere.



I know this is really scary looking and it is. She would not stop till she got to the top. I would pull her down time after time. I took the ladder down so she wouldn't climb up but you can see she found her own way up there. I think the novelty has worn off, because she doesn't do this as often.

You can also see how her hair grows straight into her eyes. We have to always have her hair in a pony. When she wakes up in the morning she will blow it out of her eyes. She is so fun right now. She loves Dora, and would wear her Dora flannel nightgown all day if I would let her. She is trying to talk also. The other night we were eating dinner and we were all talking, not really paying attention to Nielie who was in her high chair. In the middles of it she said "yummy", I stopped and looked at her and said what did you say? She looked at me underneath her hair and said "yummy". Tonight we were saying prayers and when I was saying the family prayer someone was chomping on ice right in my ear, I was getting ready to get mad at someone (of course a big kid) for eating/drinking/ not paying attention during the prayer and I look up and it is Nielie kneeling down by me, chomping on ice right by my ear.

Free Market Foundation

I will admit I am a political junkie. I drive my husband crazy because I would much rather watch the news channels than just about anything else. My favorite channels on the radio are am talk radio. I have been depressed the last two days b/c my fav Lara Ingram got taken off the Dallas channel. She was my friend, I have never met her but I felt like I knew her. I have some back ups but she was my favorite. When we moved here a few years ago I signed up for Free Market Foundation newsletter so I could get their voting pamphlet. I would get their emails and hear some about them. They do lots of very important work in and out of the court room preserving conservative Christian values here in Texas. Anyway at Jakes FB game a week ago one of the moms was talking about how her husband was at the RNC and she didn't want to go b/c she has went before but then when Sarah Palin was chosen she really wanted to go. Anyway we started talking about Sarah and how exciting this has all become. She asked me if I knew what her husband did, after telling me I knew why his name was familiar. He is one of the driving forces behind Free Market Foundation(actually the President and general counsel). She invited me to this luncheon. I was really glad I went. I know I need to do my part to stand up for families, marriage between a man and a women, life, and everything else that has made our counntry great. I really appreciate people like the Shackelfords who really give their life fighting for Christian values. I know that I can't do much but I have to admit that Sarah Palin has made me think that I can make a difference. We have to start in our community. I am thankful for Grandpa Hartley watching Nightline and all those other news shows even though I was bored at the time. I remember just wanting to understand what they were talking about. I think some of it rubbed off. I am afraid it is happening to my children as well. Allie loved to debate kids about Romney last Spring. She even wrote a mock newspaper article for TAKS pretesting about Romney getting elected. I think my Aunt June would have been proud of me for attending and if she lived in Dallas would have been there too.

The Bus

This year my kids ride the bus and I LOVE IT. The reason I love it is because I do not have to wake up Evie and Nielie to take them to school. It is really nice because my girls will sleep to at least 8 or later. When the kids leave for school the girls are asleep and 90% of the time Nielie is asleep when they get home. I feel like they so much happier not getting woke up in the morning and afternoon picking up kids. It is nice to be able to focus on the big kids in the morning and get them out the door. They seem to think it is pretty neat too. This is a funny side note, another reason I love this town. One of my friends, who has a kids in college and some that ride the bus with my kids grew up here. She told me the bus driver is the same bus driver she had. It reminded me of Mr. Walker and how he drove Troys kids after driving us all those years. Remember all those mornings he waited for us? What about Sarge, and how Mom thought that really was her name? She really was nice to us though and was such a good lady but she could really scare us. I still remember when she would sometimes ask to use our bathroom, that was so weird but it was an awful long bus ride. It was a good thing that she drove in the afternoon, we would have missed alot of school if she would have been the driver in the morning, she would have never waited like Mr. Walker did.

Back to School !!!!!

The kids have been back in school for a few weeks and are loving it. Jake was so excited four boys from his FB team are in his class. Chase loves his teacher, I don't know what she is doing but she is really motivating him. It is really fun to see him excited to go to school. He loves bringing me home his folder and showing me what he has done. Allie has some some nice teachers too. She is having fun playing FB with boys at recess. She told me the girls play tag and that is kinda boring. In fact Friday after school she got invited with Jake to over to friends house and play FB with the boys. I asked her how it felt to be the only girl with 11 boys, she didn't answer me. She knows how to make her Daddy proud!

Supermom Blogger

I saw this on the Today show today.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26620845/

Her sister continues to write about how she is doing. Her sisters blog has some pretty neat thoughts into tragedy and life. Anyway it has inspired me to enjoy each day. Besides the fact that she shares the same religious belief as me, she is a mother, a mother who knows what really is important.
http://nieniedialogues.com/