Go, Orange!

On Friday the middle school had their own little Fall Festival. This is not so much a festival as it is a competition between the classes. Due to the rain, it was held in the gym this year. Added a different flavor, but still lots of fun. Not surprisingly, the sixth graders came in last and the eighth graders won. It was fun to watch the differences between the older and younger kids. This whole afternoon was right up Kam's alley, as she is just a bit competitive and also loves doing things that are a bit crazy. She got signed up for the eating contest. Let's just say there were some really gross moments. I thought Mr. DeBoer was going to lose it just watching them at one point. Although the orange team didn't win, they learned a lot and had tons of fun!

Living For Jesus

Tonight Troy finished his rocket at Cadets. The boys were building rockets to launch at the annual fall camp-out held in the desert east of us. Scott and other fathers will be braving the cold temps with their sons to make memories and build character this weekend. :) Troy is very excited! He reminds me often how I would not let him go on this camp-out last year as a first grader. (Scott was not able to go along and I was NOT going to send my 6 year old son into the freezing desert to launch homemade rockets!) I'm sure there will be many stories upon their return Saturday afternoon.
On a side note, I had a sweet time with Troy tonight driving him to church. Those familiar with the Cadet program know that there are different "pledges" and things that the boys memorize and recite together at their meetings. The theme song is the hymn, "Living For Jesus." Troy was practicing his different parts from a paper he had been given and then we sang through the whole song on the way to church. Pretty cool! (And a new experience after having two girls in GEMS.)

Up to the Hills

We took a Sunday afternoon drive up in the hills to try and catch some signs of fall. They have some touristy apple orchard places where you can walk around not too far from where we live. They have little shops and tired animals in cages and lots of apple goodies to buy. We were a little disappointed, so climbed back into the van and headed to In-N-Out for some supper. Even though it was not what we expected, we still had a nice family time and enjoyed some beautiful weather!

Go, Mighty Eagles!

Our fall AYSO soccer season is winding down. We have only a couple of weeks left. It's always nice to have our Saturdays free again, but we do enjoy soccer season. I missed getting photos at Kam's game last Saturday, but got a couple at Troy's. Scott has had to help ref some of their games. He enjoys helping out, but would rather just sit and watch Troy play.

Trick or Treat!

This year's halloween was pretty low-key. Katie watched a movie with friends and the younger kids and I went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. It is always nice to walk around and meet some more of the neighbors and just have a time of everyone being outside. The bad part is that many people drive into our neighborhood to trick-or-treat, so it got a little crazy out there on the streets. We left Scott home to "man" the candy bowl. I noticed the porch lights were off pretty quickly as we were walking back by our house. He claimed he got tired of teenagers trying to get free candy, so gave the rest of our stash to a couple of cute kids in some homemade costumes and called it a night! Katie was Little Red Riding Hood (previously). Kam was a hippie. Troy was Bobafet, from Star Wars.

Pumpkin Time

We are finally beginning to feel fall around here, so thought we'd get in the mood by carving some pumpkins the other night. The DeJong boys were spending some time with us that evening, so that made it even more fun! This year Troy was determined to do the carving himself. He stuck with it pretty well and first got most of the goop and seeds out of the inside of the pumpkin. With careful supervision, he then got the eyes cut out. Dad helped with the rest, though. Since Katie was at Youth Group, Josh helped out and drew her pumpkin's face. We were quite impressed. The boys hung in there, but then decided Monsters, Inc. on TV was more entertaining.

A Whirlwind Weekend

It's an understatement to say that October has been a busy month. Scott has done two weddings. The kids are playing soccer and softball. Katie is rehearsing for her school play. We have work and school. I have a book fair coming up this week. There are also the different ministry things that come up and take time. Anyway, to add to the excitement, Scott double-booked himself this past weekend. He agreed to speak at a youth pastor's retreat and also officiate at a wedding for members of our church. Unfortunately these opportunities were about 2 hours away from each other. Needless to say we enjoyed both things this weekend. There was a bit more time spent in the van than we would have liked. (The retreat was in Dana Point and the wedding back in Oak Glen.) We were blessed to be able to spend that time with our friend, Jeff (who also double-booked!). We passed the time in the car talking, laughing and even singing. What an amazing story he has, too! We left the kids home (with Katie in charge) and they did great. Kamryn even filled in as the tooth fairy for Troy. :) We begin this week very blessed, but also a little tired. Thankfully there's only one more week of October, right?

Us before the wedding.

Some of the people from the Youth Leaders Retreat chatting after our last session Sunday morning.

This was a highlight of our weekend for me. A wonderful Sunday noon meal in Dana Point with wonderful staff and spouses from The River!

Had to include the self portrait of us on our early morning beach walk.