Team Captain

So yesterday Travis (#82) and three other boys got to be the team captains for the football game. They lock arms and walk to the middle of the field together.  This was the second time he got to do this. Pretty cool.  

I also think it is pretty neat that the team is wearing pink socks for Breast Cancer Awareness month. 

Way to go Airmen!

Coming Up For Air

Holy Cow, I can't believe how busy we were during the month of September.  Our schedule has kept us all on our toes.  All we did was go to football practice (2 hours a day 4 times a week..we get home by 9-ish), baseball practice (1 1/2 hrs. 2 days a week), football games, baseball games, work, eat and sleep. Pretty much it was in that order too!   Sleep? I am not sure I remember what that is. Thank goodness we are finally on our two week fall break. The boys and I are still trying to catch up a bit.  I realized I never posted any pictures from Connor's first football game. The first game was scheduled for 7 am.  He had to be there by 5:30. The football field was an hour away from our house.  This meant we had to leave the house at 4:30.  (Can you say good-bye to sleeping in on Saturday mornings??!!)  Here was Connor, dressed and ready to go.

 Yes, I feel your pain. Poor Connor had mom pestering him for an early morning photo.

 Finally he cooperated (sort of).

 Yes, we got to see the sun come up. It was beautiful.  Plus, Connor thought this hill was a volcano. There was no convincing him otherwise!

 At half time they line all of the helmets up.  Getting a snack is the highlight of the game for Connor.

 These two barely touched each other, so funny to watch!

 End of the game snack is the BEST!

 Later that same day Travis played a baseball game.  (He also had a 7 am football game that day so Daryle and I had to split that one up.)  Here is Connor with his friend Kate.  Travis and her brother Ryder have been playing baseball together for the past 3 years. These two have so much fun hanging out and playing together while their brothers play baseball.  It's fun to see all of them grow up!

 Travis plays for the Hooligans.  They are hoping to make it a club team after this season in their current league.  This team has come a long way and are actually doing pretty good.  (As you see here, this was a strike!)

Sometimes between games or after the games my parents come over.  On this day my mom played Monopoly with the boys. They sure love when she plays games with them.

 Most of our month was spent at football and baseball fields.  Hopefully we only have one more month of this craziness.  Connor's team should be done at the end of the month. Travis' team is a different story. He is on an awesome team. So far they have only lost one game and are expected to be the number 1 seed for playoffs. I have a feeling their season is going to be a long one!  This baseball league that Travis is on should also end early to mid-November. I think. Then I hope I get to rest. I figure that will be around Thanksgiving weekend. I had better get it all in then. Because the week after that soccer starts. They are both going to play this time.  Thank heavens those practices are only once a week. If we are lucky maybe their practices will be on the same day (fingers crossed....).

Phew, who knew raising boys would be so exhausting??! 

We love it though. I wouldn't have it any other way!

It's offical... football has taken over our lives!!!!

August arrived and left with the blink of an eye!  Between starting a new school year and BOTH boys playing tackle, yes tackle, football I don't know if I am going or coming around here.  For three weeks solid Travis had football practice for 2 1/2 hours 5 days a week. Since Connor is younger his practices were 1 hr. 45 minutes for 3 days a week. Can you say EXHAUSTED???  Now we are on a "normal" schedule. This means they have practice twice a week.  Oh yay you might  think.  Well think again.  Travis has practice Tuesday and Thursday while Connor has it Monday and Wednesday.  That means we have practice 

every. single. night.  Daryle and I have an understanding that we will each take two nights at practice and two nights with the other child at home.  Plus this is August in Phoenix. Even though we have been pretty lucky with the evening temps it is still warm out there.  However, the boys are enjoying it. They are learning a lot, meeting new friends, and boy are they in shape!  Connor is #45. Here is is at one of his practices.

When my mom went to visit my brother in Seattle she got him a WSU shirt because that is my brother's Alma Mater.  Does this face look intimidating or what??!

 This morning was Travis' first football game.  Connor starts next week.  Thank goodness we got to break into this easily.  This game was at 9 am but he had to be there by 7:15. Luckily Daryle took him and Connor and I arrived closer to 8:30.  We had a huge monsoon last night.... which means it was HUMID out there and HOT HOT HOT!  Here is Travis before the game.  Go #82!

 After the first quarter I thought we were going to see a lot more of this.... standing on the sidelines.  (I was totally ok with that... lol)

 Did I mention it was humid??  This is sweat, and we had only been there about 45 minutes at this point. Thank goodness we had some shade!

 After our team was winning 28-0 Travis got a lot of play time in.  #82 got a lot more playing time than I thought he might.

 After the game here is my very sweaty, very tired, very hot and hungry kiddo! He's still smiling, so I guess that is a good thing!  (When he got home he was SOAKED right down to his undies!  I know, TMI!)

 We did have a little "scare" during the game.  A kid on the other team hurt his back.  After a 30 minute delay to the game he was taken off the field in an ambulance.  They say it is precautionary and he will be fine. However, for this being our very first football game EVER it kind of shook me up.  Travis was a little shaken too. When I asked him what he thought of his first game he said, "Well, that was a little weird. That kid left in an ambulance...." I said I know, but what were you thinking BEFORE that happened??  He smiled and said he liked it. Phew. Then Daryle said, "Well, I am not sure how much more of this your mom can take!!!"  We all laughed.  Well, maybe Daryle laughed more than me. I think he may be right on that one.

So now we just took Connor to the library to get his very own library card!  As you can see, he was quite excited about this!  I told him this is what we do when you get to Kindergarten. 

 And he LOVES Junie B. Jones.  He thinks she is his BFF.

As for Petey... he has been getting lots of rest.

 Travis' first night of no practice had him sleeping in this chair by 7:30. (Wish it had been me.)

I can't believe it is already Labor Day weekend and will be September in just a few days.  Wow.  Just when you think time can't possibly go faster it does.  Thank goodness we did find time to go to dinner and celebrate Travis' Gotcha Day.

I have a feeling the rest of the year is going to be like this.  Travis is doing great in 4th grade. Connor LOVES Kindergarten.  Daryle and I are just trying to keep our heads above water. 

And oh yeah. Daryle also signed Travis to play fall baseball.

So much for sleep. I think it's overrated anyway!!

Travis' Journey Home

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Sometimes I can hardly believe it has been 9 years since we brought Travis home.  In some ways it seems like yesterday. In other ways it seems like a lifetime ago.  Either way, I wouldn't change a thing! 

This summer I decided I needed to make a video for Travis like I made for Connor. The challenge was that most of Travis' first year or two home was taken on film.  I started to get CD's made when I developed the film but all of the pictures I took in Russia were on film only. Luckily I had saved the negatives and fortunately Costco does an excellent job at putting negatives onto CD.  I also had to do some scanning.  It took me days to get it all accomplished. I am so glad I had the time to complete this project.  One thing I noticed as I was doing this was that we all looked so YOUNG!  LOL  I don't know if parenting has aged us or what... I don't FEEL any older! 

All things aside, we are so happy to be celebrating this special day after all these years. Sometimes going through the daily grind, along with life's ups and downs, makes us forget what we went through to bring Travis home.  Keeping this fresh in our minds once a year is a good time to reflect on all of the good that has resulted from this adoption.  This is my family. I never in a million years thought this would be how my family would be made.  Once again I am reminded, and am in awe, of the power of faith and prayer in our lives.  I see it first hand in the eyes of my children. 
I am beyond grateful. 

Happy 9th Gotcha Day Travis!
I love you!
XOXOXOXOXO

July 2013

July has been a busy month.  We began it by flying back to Arizona from California.  

Neither one of us could figure out where to look!

 Since we were not with Daryle on the 4th of July he saved some fireworks to do with the kids. It worked out because we didn't see any fireworks at all while we were in California.  

(Actually, we were passed out early. We had spent the day at the beach.)

 Connor does not like the noise!

 Our friends Traci and Haley came over for a visit.  Good thing she likes Power Rangers too!

 Travis is finally looking bigger than the dog.

 Dinner of champions.  Poptarts and a lunchable. Please don't judge... it was summer!

 Travis got to be Security Kid again at one of the Dbacks games. Lucky kid even saw his friends there too.

 Checking out the field for safety.

 He bought a new hat with his hard earned money.

 One night Daryle took Connor into the bathroom to brush his teeth.  We had a friend in there... hello Mr. Scorpion!  Yikes, it was big!

 This past Wednesday, July 24th was the first day of school.  I can hardly believe I am the mother of a 4th grader and a Kindergartner.  Both of my kids are now "school age".  I feel kind of old.

 Such a cutie! I am so lucky to get to see him at lunch every day.  He is still little so I get at least 2 kisses and he puts his arm around my neck when we talk. I just love this little guy!!

 Daryle always takes off on the first day of school.  I love that he does this. He always takes cute pictures.  Of course Travis didn't want to be seen with him and ran off to play soccer on the big field.  Thankfully he had to take Connor to the other side of the school where lots of parents had cameras.  Connor is so lucky to go to school with 3 of his good friends from preschool.  He is already asking me if he can go to High School as well as college with them....  All I can think is "Here comes trouble!!"  lol   At least he knows college is in his future... right?

The school year is off and running in our neck of the woods. I get one year with both of my boys at my school together.  

I think the real tears will start for me next year when Travis goes to Middle School.  Until then I will enjoy this year to the fullest!  So far so good!

Santa Rosa 2013

At the end of June we bought a new car to replace the one that was totaled in the car accident. We have been very happy with our purchase.  It has more technology in it than our house I think!  haha

Grandpa and I took the kids to Santa Rosa for a week.  It wasn't really a "pleasure trip" and Daryle couldn't go since he had used up so much vacation time when he was sick earlier this year.  Our main goal was to finish cleaning out Grandpa's California house and put it on the market to sell.  Goal accomplished!  Now we just wait for it to sell. Since we were very busy with this task we didn't get to visit with our friends or go to many places.  We did make it to our favorite park twice and the ocean once.  Other than that it was hanging out with Grandma and her cat Missy while cleaning out grandpa's house.  He has lived there since 1965 so there was a lot to go through.  At times it seemed like we would never get done, but in the end it all came together nicely.  We finally managed to see the light at the end of the tunnel!  I did manage to capture some of our trip in pictures.  Enjoy!

 Oh yeah, there was an intense heat wave while we were there.  Plus no air conditioning. Miserable doesn't even begin to describe it!

 People who know me know I am not much of a "cat" person. That is why it was so funny that Missy sat right on my lap. Ugh was my initial thought.  After spending a week with her we have actually formed a bit of a bond. That is saying a lot for me!!  She really is a sweet kitty.

 Every time Missy came around Travis he wanted his picture taken with her.

 Monopoly anybody?

 Our favorite Santa Rosa Park. (We should have brought some bread for the duckies....)

 Going on a short hike.

 Playground time.

 I was actually ahead of schedule and was able to spend a day with the boys at Bodega Bay.  I have never seen the beach like this before. If you know Northern California beaches then you know they are usually gray and foggy.  The sun comes out for a bit in the afternoon then the fog rolls back in again. Well, this day it was like a Southern California beach day!  The sun was out the entire time.  We spent 4 hours there... and got a little sunburned... oops... where was the fog we usually see???  No sweatshirts for us on this day!  The three of us had so much fun.  It was a great way to spend the 4th of July.  Seeing all of the campers there made me want to go camping at the beach sometime. 

 Back to Grandma's and to see Travis' new  BFF Missy.  It was a shocker that she let Travis pick her up. She doesn't let anybody pick her up.  We think Travis is a "cat whisperer".  I don't know what Travis will be when he grows up but for sure I know he will be around animals somehow.

All in all we had a very good trip.  We got a LOT of work done and towards the end of the week the weather cooled off for us.  Thanks Santa Rosa! Until next time....