Halloween Spooks!

Okay - I know this blog is late but several people have asked about my pumpkins. I've told them I refused to do the same thing as last year (57 carved pumpkins with everything you can imagine.)

Laura was my inspiration when she came home and said something about a "cute" spider she had seen while shopping. So - the boys and I went to work and although there were a lot more pumpkins in the yard this week - a lot less flames!

Notice Ryan's favorite with the legs in the air!

Who knows what we'll come up with next year!

Fake Christmas Spirit!

Yep - I have broken all the rules and destroyed the opinions and respect of all those who believed in my undying Christmas spirit. Yes -- after years of whining about the cold, pine needles in the house, dried out tress by December 14, and always trying to find the "good side" we saw on the dark lot - we broke down and bought the fake tree. I may have been under the influence as it was Black Friday and I was at Costco with all the kids and no Mom. That said - the tree looked awfully good and the positives seemed to outweigh tradition. I did commit to still take the boys out and pretend to be looking for a tree so we can throw snow balls and have fun but Mom is exuberant!

So - with no fear of letting it dry out - we decided there is no better way to spend our Sunday night than breaking out the new tree and doing some decorating. A few fun highlights!

Whose kids are these?

Thanks for Turkeys!

Well - the boys and I decided we needed a Thanksgiving day entry so here goes. I'm letting them pick the items they are most thankful for:

Kate: Kate is easy to fill in for. Although she cant' talk yet - she is clearly most thankful for her visiting cousin Baby Jessica. Since meeting her earlier this year, Baby Jessica has been the standard by which everything Kate does is measured. Kate enjoyed having a younger friend around and other than learning Baby Jessica is not as quite as tough as her brother, the two had a great time!

Tyler: I would have sworn that Tyler was going to pick the food. Tyler always picks food! Instead Tyler's favorite part of our holiday was our Friday trip to CDA. The boys (including Kate) headed to CDA to let the ladies of the house have a break and to stretch our legs. We looked for three geo-caches and although we only actually found one - we had a blast. Tyler loves geocaching. After that - we stopped by Dad's office for some hot cocoa to help us warm up and a little miniature golf for fun! A great way to spend the morning!

Ryan: Had to be first and was most adamant he is most thankful for Rolls! Yes -- the bread like food item that as far as we can tell Ryan lives on. We are currently working on polishing off our fourth bag of Costco rolls (yes - had to go back for more on Friday) as well as 4 batches of homemade rolls by Grandma! What will Ryan do when we run out of rolls?

Corey: Okay - He's a teenager (almost)! He didn't like anything. Too much family, lost his bedroom and Dad ate all the pumpkin pie. Regardless - I think we saw a smile or two during the "Family Shoot fest" on the XBox with Uncle Frank and Dad!

Mom: Mom's are required to give sappy answers and our Mom is no different. Mom's favorite part of the holiday was just being together. Not that she loved the noise, dishes, fighting, shopping, laundry, messes, etc. - but she loved the opportunity to have family in our home and create memories. Some that stand out:

FOOD! Another great Turkey (No Christmas vacation this year!)

Having Mom in town (it helps that Linda loves to do dishes!)

Dad: Let's try and keep this thing real okay? The food was great, the time off was wonderful and the sleeping in (sort of) was marvelous! I loved running around CDA on Friday and even catching some tidbits of football on rare breaks. But my favorite part of the break has to be the beginning of the Christmas season. Not the shopping and the chaos that goes on with that but the lights and decorations! Thanks to some help from Frank - we got our lights up late on Saturday. No one fell off the roof (Not like my Dad!) and we now have our lights and singing Santas. No pictures but be sure we are well lit. Everything I learned about exterior illumination I learned from Clark Griswald.

Corey Crowned Cross Country King!

Corey tried his hand (or maybe I should say feet) at cross country this year and found some success. Even though mom and dad missed his first meet in early September while they were in Hawaii, that did not slow Corey down. Corey won his first meet here in Liberty Lake and never looked back.

Corey went undefeated until the last two meets of the year. Corey's only loss came at a nail biter when he was literally "out dived" at the finish. That meet was Corey's fastest time of the year and was definitely the hardest course.

Corey missed the last regular meet due to a cold but came back at all-district with a vengeance. After swapping the lead the whole way with the Taylor (the young man who beat him), Corey took control with 400 yards to go and this time won the sprint to the finish.

Although Corey likes the meets, he definitely liked practice more and the 8th grade girls team the best.

Boys TRI something new

July 12th was all about a day at the races -- but this time it was not Mom or Dad who was doing the event. Instead, Corey and Ryan tried their hand at the Valley Kids triathlon in Liberty Lake. About 100 kids participated. Unfortunately -- Tyler was too young to participate.

Corey went first. He had been training hard as was shown by his incredible physique.

Or maybe he hadn't trained at all. Corey found the swim a bit challenging and although he got kicked in the head, managed to come out of his gruelling 80 yard swim about 1 minute back.

Then after a great transition, Corey donned his specially designed helmet and took to the road bike. The specially designed Mohawk Helmet cover provided the extra boost as Corey moved up from 10th to third.

Corey was glad to final be on the run as this is his favorite part. The run was pretty steep and most of the participants in all age groups walked some portion but Corey put on the burners and made the race for second close.

Not minutes after his finish -- Corey pointed out he would like to do another and is now signed up for the CDA triathlon in August.

We got back down to the lake just in time to see Ryan take off this time. Ryan had spent a lot of time prepping himself. He started with a heavy dose of meditation and focus sessions



and finished his preparation off with some significant body branding to scare the competition off.


Ryan has never liked the water that much (you should try getting him to shower) so the swim was a challenge. Thank goodness for free water noodle support stands (which sold out on lap one)

After surviving the swim - Ryan found his attention to detail hurt him in transition one. The effort to get ALL of the sand off his feet before putting his socks on made him pretty late out of transition 1.

But he made that up on the bike. Ryan stormed around the course on his faithful steed helped also by his custom designed SPIKEY HAIR helmet cover.


Note the carnage behind Ryan caused by his passing with such great speed that it blew some of his competitors literally off their seats.

Then the run was hard but good. Ryan pounded up the hill for a great finish.

Although Ryan too thought this event was very fun -- he has stated it may be his last!

We all had a great time watching them and are so proud of their efforts in this event.

NORBA Jr. National Champion

Corey recently participated and won the NORBA Jr. National Downhill Championships held in Liberty Lake County Park. The competition was stiff (as seen below)

But Corey was able to hold then off with his tenacious climbing skills and his fearless descents (undoubtedly helped by his cool looking armor). The total event was a great success and everyone enjoyed the event.

POST NOTE: Unfortunately -- Corey was stripped of his title upon returning to the parking lot when his pre-race drug testing showed abnormally high levels of Sugar and Chocolate in his blood.

SINKING SHIP

Well - we knew it was only a matter of time but Ryan's ship has sunk. As part of his third grade end of the year celebration, Ryan's class had a Titanic party. The whole class prepared for months by earning the money to buy there tickets on the vessel, research the person they were assigned to be, and even learn to dance! Ryan's really enjoyed the getting ready and the party was a huge success. As our family clothes-horse, Ryan loved the chance to dress up and Dad and Ryan had matching bow-ties and canes.

We are just grateful that Ryan was able to catch one of the life boats!