Matching????

Low quality picture and bad background, but I knew they wouldn't let me take another one....so this is what you get.  Bradley took a shower and got dressed this morning.  His friend came over a few minutes later.  Look at them....both dressed in button up shirts (Bradley NEVER wears button up shirts (except to church)), matching (SAME) socks, both have a colored shoe lace on the right shoe and a white one on the left, both COMBED THEIR HAIR....haha....so funny....what's going on???? 

MESSAGE TO MY TEENAGER ~ (author unknown)

1. Yes, your freshman AND Sophomore years count towards your GPA for college entrance. Screw it up and you’ll work for low wages your whole life.
2. No means NO. In every possible circumstance.
3. Join every sport, every club, every after school activity no matter what the cost. It’s cheaper than bail.
4. Repeat after me: I am never in that much of a hurry…I am never in that much of a hurry. Now say that every time you get behind the wheel. It will save your life and that of your best friend in the seat next to you.
5. Don’t do drugs or drink - it is so not worth the trouble.
6. Don’t get a credit card. You earn it or you live without it.
7. If I yell at you, it’s because I love you. And also, because you made me mad. To avoid the latter, don't be an idiot. And don't disappoint me. More importantly, yourself.
8. Make a vivid picture inside your head of every great moment of your childhood. You’ll need those to get through adulthood.
9. Make snow angels as often as possible. Make a bucket list. Check it off!
10. Stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves.
11. Be always benevolent. Yes, that’s a word. Look it up.
 12. Be a leader, not a follower. Unless you are following the kid with the highest GPA and (s)he is going to a study group, then by all means be a follower!
13. Love your siblings, even when you don’t like them. Some day you will be trying to get them to take care of me in my old age.
14. I’ve been there, done that on more things than you can imagine. I’m not stupid and I know what you are doing.
15. Work hard at everything you do. Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
16. Cover it. (Enough said.)
17. When I tell you to clean your room, do not point at my messy room and raise your eyebrows. I’m trying to raise you to be better than me.
18. Learn to type; to budget; to spell correctly and to pray. All are equally important.
 19. Never be sedentary. Someday soon you will no longer be able to move like that. Enjoy it.

Flag Football

mandatory mouth guard

almost AWESOME interception, he HAD it, but he dropped it and in real football that would have been a live ball, but in flag football the ball goes back to the other team! 

After the huddle

going over the play

"pass it to me, I'm open"

wooooooooooo

hand shake...good sportsmanship

     Andrew's team had their first game of the season.  It was really considered a scrimmage because the referees were getting trained as it went on and it didn't count in the standings for playoff ranking, but it was a good game.  Andrew's team is brand new, they just began practicing on Monday.  There are kids from three different schools, so they don't even know each other's names yet.  The coaches are really good and a lot of the players are experienced, so they kinda knew what they were doing.  It was a very low scoring game 6-0, but Andrew's team won.  Andrew played as much as any of them (they have 13 players and only 7 play on the field at a time), but he had fun.  He is best at defense stopping passes and grabbing flags.  He also is a good decoy on offense because the other teams cover him well, so his teammates can go unmarked with the ball.  Andrew was a star because right at the very end of the game, the other team went down the field and had one play to go before the game was over, and Andrew knocked that ball down, allowing his team 6-0 score to be the final score.  Great game, fun for us to watch, fun for Andrew and his teammates, too!

tired

This picture was taken after school but BEFORE flag football practice.  Andrew got ready for his 4:00 practice at 3:00.  When it was time to go, I looked over and he was sound asleep on the couch, cleats on and everything. 

School starting, the heat, and all of his new afterschool activities are tiring him out! 

warts

Bradley has two warts on the bottom of his foot.  We've tried MANY different methods of removal  He probably needs to see a foot doctor, but we have one more thing to try first.....little medicated disks with padded padding over them....the warts might just suffocate away, we are hoping!  Surgical removal may mess up his soccer season and our check book, so we hope this works!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday

I had my birthday the other day and I wanted either of two things.....a new washing machine or a new lap top.  I also wanted a pair of sunglasses.  Well, I got two of my "wants"...I got the new washer and some cool new shades.  The shades are rockin jet ski glasses...you know, the kind that FLOAT, the kind that reflect the sun, that are mirrored, sleek, slick, cool, foam around the eyes to absorb impact, like goggles almost.....the washing machine was most needed.  Our old one didn't balance, so on both spin loads I would have to manually spread out the weight so it could spin fast....AND more importantly, it didn't agitate enough, so clothes would stay dirty and stained, no matter which detergent I used.  I knew there was a problem a while ago when powdered detergents wouldn't dissolve....so I bought liquid....with no improvement.  So Scott bought me this Maytag.  It WORKS!  Hallelujah!

ouch

 

Bradley's elbow gets scraped a lot with all his skateboarding, mountain biking, and even soccer.  It's having a hard time healing, so each and every time he scrapes over the same spot he comes home looking like this---

Beautiful Cake

My friend Michelle is so thoughtful!  She knows how much I love soccer and so she had a soccer cake made for me at a bakery.  Well, it's frosting was very thin and it was a hot day with a car ride with a lot of turns, so it didn't make it home very well, but it tasted very DELICIOUS.  I loved getting a soccer cake and eating it too.

1st day of school

We were up and ready early enough on the first day of school to have a little photo shoot...but my camera battery was dead, so I charged it a bit...then the kids wouldn't cooperate very well.  But I did get the traditional first day of school photo in front of the palm tree.  Look how big the boys (and the palm tree) have gotten over the years.  6th grade and 8th grade this year....last year of elementary school for Andrew and last year of jr high for Bradley. 

Burger

I found this on my phone.....it's Andrew's hamburger from when we were camping....two burgers and two cheese sticks and two buns (one top, one bottom). 

trip pictures (part 3)

 This team really is a great group of kids.  They are so nice, so well behaved, so much fun.  They get along great.  They really like each other. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The boys hang out place was in the back of the coach's truck.  All the parents sat on lawn chairs and at picnic tables, the boys were always in the back of the truck...that was their place.  It was cute.  I decided to take a picture.  I took this one and told them it was for the blog...so they said, "we werent ready, take another one"..... so I took this one---

 

 Andrew became friends with the guys, too.  They really liked when he brought over the pack of 50 cookies.  The cookies dissapeared in mere seconds.  10 kids, 5 cookies each.  GONE....(one kid had 6).  It was two of the players birthdays (and one was a twin, so two players and a sister's birthday) that night, so we also had cup cakes!  One player got sick that night...his dad wondered if he had eaten too much junk.

 A bunch of them around the camp fire....this was right about the time they were teasing Junior about liking Emily (Zack's twin sister), I think.  They looked good in their new sweatshirts!

 

 

 

 

After the first goal of the game.  Happy players!

 

After the second goal.

 

trip pictures (part 2)

 We went to the tide pools.  Scott said this was his favorite thing to do when he was a kid.  They found all kinds of creatures and had fun examining it all.  I didnt walk too far out....and I'm glad I didnt.  A kid about Bradley's age was out there with a nice big camera and he slipped and fell all the way it and it probably hurt and the camera did get wet. 

 

 this squirrel wasnt afraid of me

 Back to the skateboard park again.

 

 

 

 Back to the beach again.  Super foggy and cold, still didnt stop them. 

 Still trying to catch fish.

 

 Being burried in the sand is fun for kids.  I think it also warms them up. 

 

 This is not a good enough picture of how awesome that crack of sunlight through the clouds/fog looked, but it was really spectacular and bright.

 Pictures from the first game.

 

 

 

 All of my pictures up until this were far away so when I saw him coming up the sideline, I waited till he got close and right in front of me to snap a perfect action shot....but this other guy stepped in front of him.