End of a Season

It's the end of marching band season.  The more relaxed schedule will be great but I am feeling a bit weepy as we approach Benjamin's last time on the field, leading the drumline.  Marching band is like a family and I've been so happy that Benjamin has been able to be a part of it.

Cross country season also came to an end this week.  Christian did phenomenally well.  He improved consistently and always worked hard.  He said he really enjoyed it and wants to continue with track in the spring.  I love how Christian always sets the bar high for himself. He strives for perfection and works hard to achieve it.  What makes me worry, as a mom, is that he is so crazy hard on himself when he doesn't achieve that standard.  No one is perfect all the time and when he isn't perfect, he loses sight of how much good he's done and becomes so depressed.

He competed in districts yesterday - an achievement just to have made it that far - but he didn't get the time he was shooting for and he left very upset.  Ignoring the fact that he's only a 7th grader competing against older boys, on a crazy hard unfamiliar hilly course when he's only competed on flat ground.  I was sad he couldn't rejoice in how well he did because I was certainly proud.  I look forward to running with him in the off season whenever weather permits.

Bella has been doing well too.  Marching band and scouts has kept her very busy.  She also attended the Homecoming dance with some friends.  I love that they don't always have to have a date to attend the dances.  So different from when I was in school.

This is the most recent court of honor.  She received the rank of star.

Peter continues to be his sweet, precocious self.  With fall comes endless pine needles and leaves to rake which he loves to jump in.  Preschool is going well and we've been enjoying fall cider mills on warm days and museum trips on yucky days.

In preschool they got to hammer decorations into their pumpkins.  He had a fabulous time doing that.

What a difference a year makes

I took Peter to our favorite cider mill last week - the first cider mill visit of Fall.  So exciting!  What a difference one year makes for a kid.  He rode the tractors independently, he didn't find the train nearly as exciting ("It's not a real train!"), and the hay bales that used to be the perfect test of one's jumping prowess, have been arranged differently for the first time in 17 years so they were not really jumpable anymore.  We still had a great time, though.  

Last time his feet couldn't reach the pedals!

No more jumping from bale to bale as it was last time:

Last time I took Peter!  Look how much he's grown:

The corn box is still a hit.

 

Senior Photos

Benjamin is a senior, which means senior photos - an overpriced racket if there ever was one.  Yearbook photos are free every other year (unless you want to order your own prints, then they're about $35).  However, as a senior, you have to pay $60 for a professional photo shoot with a company which has contracted with all the high schools in the area.  They will send the photo directly to the school if you want one in the yearbook.  If you want a copy for yourself, it's $70 per print.  Multiple outfits and settings can cost as much as $1800.  Insane.  So here is Benjamin's yearbook photo as it looks when I photograph my laptop screen with my phone:

A few others I liked from the photo shoot:

It was fun sitting in on the photoshoot.  It's amazing how many details are adjusted when taking professional pictures.  Although I'm way too cheap to order them, I have to give the photographer credit - she did very nice work.

School Has Begun

 We are fully into the swing of school now.  Painfully early mornings of seminary, long days of classes, and late nights of homework and sports activities.  Some days it's very hard, but the kids love being with their friends, love playing in the band, and enjoy trying new things.  For example, this is the first year that Christian is doing cross country and robotics and he's enjoying both of them very much.  He's one of the fastest kids on his team.

Peter has been doing well at preschool too.  2 hours/day on M,W, F.  Not too much but enough that hopefully he will make some friends with kids his age.  Right now he always seems to prefer ones that are older than him, even if it's only by a few years.

On the first day of school, Benjamin and the rest of the drumline had to be there extra early to welcome in all the kids.

Since then they've both played at multiple games and marching band competitions.  Peter is always my buddy at those.  Christian loves to come for the football.  We've gone from me explaining things to him to now me asking the questions.  He's developed quite an interest in the game. Suddenly he knows all the NFL teams and players and stats and constantly wants to watch games in the evenings, when just last year he couldn't have cared less. He's got a great one-handed catch too and will often play football with Peter in the backyard.

Peter's new thing is soccer, though.  Every day he wants to put on his cleats and play soccer with me.  So I signed him up for a class and he's loving it.  Coach Ken is great with the kids.  Here he's being "Coach Octopus" and trying to keep them from getting by him.  (Peter's in the green shirt).

Other random happenings:

Touch-A-Truck is one of Peter's favorite events every year.  This year was no exception.  The garbage truck was his first stop.  He also loved the race car, the military tank, the helicopter, and the various tractors.  What a little boy's dream.

Peter has also been hiking with a local preschool hiking group.  It's so adorable to see all these little kids exploring the woods and finding cool things to investigate.  His favorite little friend there is Emory, a precocious, brilliant 6 year old homeschooler.  She's my fave too.  He has good taste.

We attended the state fair again this year.  Kelly and I decided that we really need to go without little kids sometime.  It wasn't quite what we'd hoped thanks to a tired, somewhat cranky 4 year old.  We managed to have a decent time anyway, though, mostly thanks to the lego table and the unlimited free chocolate milk the Guernsey dairy was offering.

Benjamin has yet to attend a single church dance, but Bella has been willing to attend a few.  I love that in our ward, the kids go as a huge group and all get along really well.  I hope these friendships last a long time.