Finally Caught Up!

I feel like I am finally not as behind since school began 5 weeks ago.  The past month has been a lot of hours worked for both Nick and me.  We have also had a lot of activities for our family, too.  I wouldn't change it for anything, though.

Owen's most recent flag football game.  Gracie volunteered to hold the down marker for the game.  I mentioned before that Owen's team is pretty young, but that doesn't seem to affect his love for football.  He still has a lot of fun despite the inexperience.

Gracie cheering on Owen

Owen ready for a pass

Mizzou Football!

We have been to two football games so far this fall and Nick set the bar pretty high with the first one.  We couldn't make it until about 1/2 time for the first game because Owen had been invited to a birthday party.  It was a pretty tough decision for him, but he had a lot of fun with his friends.  However, when I told him we needed to go to the game, he did not argue or hesitate.  Nick met us on the gator in the parking lot and took us right down into the south endzone.  We were a little spoiled.  We got to cheer on the players as they were coming into the building for halftime.  Pretty exciting for a 9 year old boy.

Larry Rountree III  #34

Jarvis Ware #8

Jay Ware handed Owen his sweat towel as he was walking by and Owen thought that was the coolest thing ever.  I thought it was pretty gross on a 90 degree day.  But Owen wanted to get signatures on it and hang it in his room.

Just look at that face.  He's excited about a towel.

And finally his favorite...

Johnathan Johnson #12 (Jay Jay)

Owen was so excited to see Jay Jay.  A few days prior to this, I had both kids with me at work and I could hear Jay Jay out in the hall outside my office. I told Owen to go take a look and see who was there and Owen was speechless.  Jay Jay was such a good sport and tried to get Owen to talk to him, but Owen was a little star-struck.  It was hilarious.  I had shown Jay Jay the picture of Owen in his locker in the new football facility, so Jay Jay already knew about Owen's little crush.  

What's baffling to me, is that just a few days ago, we were at a volleyball game and Owen found Albert O.  Owen had no problems going and chatting with Albert for a bit and was able to carry on a conversation.  I asked him later why he couldn't do that with Jay Jay.  His only answer was "Jay Jay is my favorite."  I told him not to let Albert know. ;)  Might hurt his feelings.  Owen is such a funny kid sometimes.

Back to the cheap seats

Nick told us we couldn't stay down on the field for the whole game, so we went back up to our real seats.  We had a great time!

Strong kids!

Posing for a picture

Somewhere in there, we had time to light a fire outside.

I really can't remember when this was, but it happened.

Fall Softball Begins!

Gracie's team lost 5 girls who aged out of 12U, so we have some new players and we will be one of the older 12u teams, I think.  We have had one tournament so far and will have 4 more.  We aren't doing a league this fall because a lot of girls have school commitments during the week and aren't available.  Hopefully the tournaments will go well and we'll have another fun season!

Gracie behind the plate...

A called strike as the batter stepped out of the box looking at it.

After a slow start to batting, Gracie ripped a triple to right-center and was greeted by her third-base coach.  I can't help but think back to a few years ago when I happen to capture pictures like this.

It just helps to enjoy every moment.  Eventually (probably sooner than I'd like to admit) she won't have her dad waiting for her at third base.  We will both just be spectators watching as our kids become more and more independent. But for now, I love watching this connection that sport provides for Nick with both our kids.

Gracie on third again...could she be taunting the catcher???

I guess we did ok in the first tournament.  I had to miss the last game so I could take Owen to his flag football game.  But Gracie got to pitch and Nick actually said "She did amazing."  He doesn't say that often about her pitching.  Apparently she faced five batters;  hit one, walked one and struck out three, and was throwing really hard.  They ended up winning the tournament.

We won three games that day, only allowing 1 run for the whole day.  We'll see how the games go in Kansas City next weekend. Might be a little different with more teams.

Another Mizzou game!

Nick accommodated us with a ride to the south endzone again.  What a great guy.  He didn't let us stay on the field past warm-ups though.  We saw the kick off this time, but only stayed until about halftime.  It was a late game and we won 50-0.

Gracie took this picture.  Not bad.

More outdoor stuff

Nick found a pretty big frog when he was mowing after dark the other night.  Made me think back to frog-jumping contests in Huxley for Prairiefest.  I think Owen was almost 3 in this picture.

WE are heading north to Iowa again this weekend.  We have a new member of the family to see.  Josh and Julie have another daughter... Charleigh Jean Britton born 9/19.