Oh, those O's

Two brothers, each just shy of 8 months, eating Cheerios. 

Well, Connor had to take a break for his thumb. 

What this picture doesn't show are the O's stuck to the back of Nicholas's head

For the Love of Pumpkins

I can't remember the last time I carved a pumpkin.  It's been ages--pre-kids even.  For the first few years, I told myself that the boys were small enough that they wouldn't even notice that we didn't carve up our pumpkins. 

Last year I had good intentions, but ran out of time before Halloween. No one noticed. 

This year, I've considered it a major victory that I even got the pumpkins brought home. Forget about the big trip to a pumpkin patch, there's been zero time for that.  Connor's class did take a trip to the pumpkin farm, so I'm considering that good enough. 

Anyway, I've gotten so used to not carving pumpkins that it hadn't even crossed my mind. 

Until Connor asked me right as I was making dinner last night "When are we going to carve my pumpkin?"

Um...

A quick mental review of the upcoming week told me that the time for carving pumpkins was now or never. And, since the boys had latched on to the idea, out came the knife. 

Before we destroyed the pumpkins, we did the obligatory fall pumpkin photo. 

Sidebar: I really do.not.like.halloween.  I don't like having to come up with costumes, deal with the spooky stuff, and having to carve a pumpkin.  Thank goodness the boys can go to the store and pick out a costume as I'm creatively challenged. 

After I scooped out the seeds, I had the boys draw their jack o lantern faces on the pumpkin. I started to carve, but then, here came Darren to save the day. 

After last night, pumpkin carving has become his annual job. He's better at it than I am, and the boys think the power tools are fun. 

World Series Game 3

Rather unexpectedly, I was given two tickets to Game 3 of the World Series. Darren let Christian have his ticket...what a gift the memories are going to be for Christian.

I didn't tell Christian where we were going.  I even made him cover his eyes for most of the drive to the stadium. On the way over, he asked "are we going to Busch Stadium?".  He talked himself out of that saying "why would we go there since we don't have tickets After we parked I gave him the tickets. Pure excitement. He was so thrilled to be there. 

You can't go to Busch and not say hello to Stan the Man. 

We were early enough to spend time watching batting practice. We caught the Cardinals just as they were leaving the field, but were able to watch the full Red Sox batting practice.  Christian decided that their pitcher was tossing them easy balls so they could show off with big hits.

Always reading, Christian checked out the program.

As the pregame started, out came the Clydesdales.

Lots of red.

This kid sat in his seat, glued to the game. At home he watches the games right up by the television, on the edge of his seat, focused.  He watched the game last night much like that.  Not a single bathroom break, not a single "when can we leave?", nothing.  This morning I told him that if he could sit through four hours of a baseball game like that, an hour at church should be a breeze.

Let the game begin!

In the top of the sixth, Christian decided it was time for a nap. 

He slept through the seventh inning. That catnap gave him the energy he needed to stand and cheer the rest of the game, right down to the final crazy run. 

And best of all,

Cards win!

The end of the game was so wild...everyone in the stadium was on their feet jumping and screaming, and for a moment, no one seemed to know what had happened--except that the Cardinals won.  As people filed out, lots of folks were stopped at the tv's out in the concourse trying to grasp the obstruction call.

On the way home, we listened to the KMOX post-game report.  Christian was so quiet listening that I thought he'd fallen asleep.  Nope, he was paying attention.  This morning, when Connor asked about the game, Christian said "It was the best game ever!" He went on to explain the last pay, almost word for word what he'd heard Mike Shannon explain last night.  Smart kid.  All morning he's been reading the paper and listening to ESPN recap the game, beaming.

Sports Saturday Part 2-State Cross Country Meet

This morning was the Lutheran Sports Association of Missouri State cross country meet. After the morning soccer game, we hustled to McNair Park in St. Charles for cross country.

The kids in fourth grade and under ran in a one-mile fun run, while the fifth-eight graders ran a to-mile race to qualify or the national meet. We were a but concerned about Christian's energy racing so quickly on the heels of a soccer game, but we shouldn't have been. 

Before the race the coaches of the 17 schools present had a short meeting. 

Map of the course. 

Cheering on the girls. 

Then we experienced something we haven't experienced all season...in cross country that is. 

Witness the face of defiance. 

I DO NOT want to run. 

No amount of pep talks could convince him otherwise. 

Our older boys on the team were great about trying to encourage Connor to run, but he wasn't having any of it. 

Off they go!

From where we were standing to watch the first pass through, we had to wait or the kids to come over a hill.  When the rabbit and first couple of runners passed by, I started holding my breath. And we started counting runners. 2-3-4

Whoa!

Here he comes! Holding position 6. 

After he passed by, we ran across the way to catch him for the finish.

Christian was running strong, not letting go of the sixth position.  

Uphill for the final stretch.

Whew!

Time: 6 minutes 45 seconds. 

Hey, a medal!

After the boys finished, the parade of schools took place. CCLS led it off.

This was followed by a brief worship service, then the older grades races.

The CCLS girls took first place as a team, and the boys placed third. They're onto the national meet in a week or so. 

Great racing today!

Sports Saturday Part 1-Soccer

The day started early today...Christian started us off with an early soccer game followed by the state cross country meet, ending with Connor's soccer game.

We loaded up the coats, gloves, blankets, and snacks because it was cold this morning, and we knew we had a long day with active kids ahead. 

First Christian...

Christian scored the only goal in what was a tough game for the boys. 

Then Connor...

Connor spent the second half of the game as goalie. 

The Kindergarten team won, 5-3.

Finally, Nicholas.

No Kidding

A recent study found that irregular bedtimes for children leads to poor behavior.

No kidding.

Children with erratic bedtimes are more likely to have behavioural problems – including hyperactivity, problems with peers and emotional difficulties – and demonstrate symptoms similar to jet lag.

 

For childrenwho go for longer periods without a regular bedtime, there is a more pronouncedimpact, caused by disruptions to natural body rhythms that can cause sleepdeprivation. This in turn has been found to undermine the way the brain maturesand children's ability to behave well, according to a study of more than 10,000children carried out by University College London (UCL).

The original study can be found in Pediatrics.