Comfort Dogs

If the LCC Comfort Dogs are present at a conference, you can be sure that there is a spot of happy.

This is Tara. She's a cancer survivor, having lost all her fur during chemo. It's all back now and she doing great. Such a sweetie. 

Here's Howe, the patriarch of the group. 

Scenes from a XC Meet

Today was a cross country meet hosted by St. John's Ellisville. This meet was only for Grades 1 thru 8, so Connor had an off day.

He occupied himself by climbing trees and playing with Nicholas. 

Cristian got ready.

Daddy and Connor waited at the starting line. 

Off they go!

Christian jumped out to a fast lead and never let it go.

Near the end as he turned down the stretch he looked back and saw the same runner who nearly beat him at the last meet. 

Christian turned on the speed and flew in for a fast and safe win. 

For the Record

Being awake at 2 in the morning while everyone else in house is peacefully sleeping is becoming tiresome.  

Saturday Snapshots

I made the mistake of actually believing the weather radar today.  The weather report on the news and the weather app with radar that I looked at each said that the afternoon was going to be rainy.

Good, I thought.  We can have soccer rained out, and spend the day getting things done around the house.

Nope.

The soccer game went off as planned.  Christian and his team played strong.  The boys are starting to gel again--after not having played together on a team for a year, it took them sometime to settle back into their groove.  They're starting to get it now.

Christian scored two goals today.  I love watching him play. He keeps getting stronger on the field.  Today, he started to understand how running on the cross-country team is helping him on the soccer field.

It was a tough 4-2 loss.

Third child...happy to play on the ground.  With no socks.  And a shirt that barely covers his belly.

Back at home, what the boys were really looking forward to doing.  This Rainbow loom craze is taking over the grade school set.  I grabbed one this morning, thinking it would keep them busy if we were stuck inside all day with rain.

I'll regret this.

It's taking some time to get the hang of, but they are focused...and cooperative.  (VICTORY!)

Nicholas is reminding me that teething is ok...four teeth in, one soon to follow.

And, let's not forget, that a box is the best toy ever.

Rockets

Earlier this week the Science Club invited the parents to come watch the kids launch the bottle rockets they had made while studying NASA and space. 

The rockets were made with two liter bottles, water, and somehow used a bike pump and tubing to launch. Christian so far has forgotten that he has the instructions at home.  When he remembers, I have no doubt this will be happening in our yard. 

The kids had a blast, and the parents kept careful eyes on the trajectory of each rocket. Rockets were flying everywhere. Several landed on the roof of the school.

Saturday Snapshots

Yesterday was a day that the schedule smiled on us.  The only thing on the day's schedule was an 8:30 am soccer game for Connor.  Done by 9:30 with a full unscheduled day ahead, yes please!

This is a big team of boys, which means that at any given time, a healthy number of boys are sitting on the sidelines waiting for a chance to get in the game.

When boys are left to sit and wait, sillies happen.

For the older siblings, waiting for their brothers to finish the game means finding something to entertain themselves.  Today that thing was a giant pvc pipe.

For the baby brother, that means cheering on the big brother while stuck on a blanket with Mom.

The big news today was that the Chargers came out strong, and won their first game as Chargers!  4-2.  Connor had his first goal in a game today as well.  He was a happy kid.

Happening Around Town

If it's a fall weekend in St. Louis, there must be a million possible things to get out and do around town.  Here are just a few, if you need some ideas for getting outside.

Taste of St. Louis is happening downtown at Soldier's Memorial.

Art in the Park will be tomorrow afternoon in Francis Park.

The Scottish Games take place today in Forest Park.

You can learn about the misunderstanding and persecution of wolves at Wolf Fest at the Endangered Species Center in Eureka.

The Strange Folk Festival in happening in O'Fallon, IL.

St. Charles Oktoberfest

You could catch a performance of Fiddler on the Roof at Christ Memorial Lutheran Church tonight or tomorrow afternoon.

For weeks I've been seeing the signs for the Nine Inch Nails concert on Tuesday night...I asked Darren if I blinked and woke up back in high school...

You can watch model boats sail in the 25th Annual Regatta of the St. Louis Admirals at the Boathouse.

Run!

This is a shameless brag post by a proud Mom. The boys had a cross country meet this afternoon. For the first time this season, the kindergarten kids were separated out for their own race.

Connor was the only CCLS boy in the kindergarten race, but he owned this race.

Coming down the stretch. 

Blue ribbon!

The CCLS kindergarten girls also took first and second in their race. 

Christian, competitive as he is, wasn't about to let Connor be the only one coming home with a blue ribbon. His field  of first and second graders was much larger than the kindergarten field. 

As they took off, Christian was in a full sprint. He hasn't yet learned how to pace himself. He jumped into the lead and I began to hold my breath because I didn't want to see him exhausted before the final stretch. 

Righ about here, thanks to a friend on the sidelines, Christian realized he had a runner on his heels. Christian's determination cranked way, way up and he got serious fast.  The look on Christian's face was along the lines of "oh heck no...you aren't passing me."  Christian shoved himself in front and muscled his way to a blue ribbon. 

It was so fun to see them race with determination and intensity. Such fun. 

A Different View of the World

If you visit The Internet Map, you can see what websites are the most popular in any country in the world.

I'd show you a picture of the US, but I'm not tech savvy enough yet this morning to capture the image.  Go check it out.

Saturday Snapshots

If it's Saturday, we must be at the soccer fields.

Today was originally going to be a goofy morning, schedule-wise.  The boys were supposed to have a cross-country meet at Lutheran South, starting at 8:30, followed by soccer games at 9 and 10.  Thanks to the rain from yesterday, the cross-country meet was cancelled.

The morning kicked off with Connor's kindergarten team.

The team, as usual, started out with instructions from the coaches.

Imagine photos of a good effort here...I got to talking and didn't take any photos. And these were all with the iphone, so the quality leaves something to be desired.

After the game comes the best part...snacks.

On to Christian's game across town.

Connor, Nick, and I arrived about 10 minutes late due to Connor's game.  When we got there, it was apparent that there was an aggressive game happening on the field.

Sure enough, there were boys falling down all over the place.  A healthy amount of shoving, and some penalties by the other team that left a few of our boys, including Christian twice, on the ground with the parents attention on high alert.

After a few words with Coach, Christian popped up, and headed to the sideline to catch his breath.

On the other sideline, siblings played.

Christian charged down the field to score the Chargers only goal of the game.  It was a tough loss, but the boys were in good spirits, settling into a game of football after coach dismissed them.

Boys.  Always moving.

What a Way to Start the Day

The alarm went off around 5 this morning. Grumbling because I hadn't gotten much sleep (yay for teething babies!!) I discovered that we had no water. 

Ugh. 

I called the water company and learned that there were not one, but two water main breaks in our neighborhood that could be causing decreased water pressure or no water. We're in the no water camp. 

So Nicky and I took an early morning water to check it out. Sure enough, the crews were working just where the alert on the water co phone line said they were. As we walked, I noticed yellow tape around the end of our neighbors driveway. Hmm 

A few minutes before six, the trucks and Bobcat rolled onto our block. After a few minutes of staking and rearranging the trucks, the Bobcat started digging--directly behind our neighbors car. 

I guess the noise of the digging finally woke him up because it was at this point he came out to see what was going on. 

Then he moved his car down the driveway, away from the machinery. 

I hope this gets resolved quickly. 

Run, boys, run

The boys had a cross country "fun run" today at St. Paul Des Peres. The K-4 grade kids had to run 3/4 of a mile around Des Peres Park. 

Christian came in 7th overall. Not bad for a second grader. 

For a kindergartener running against a bunch of older kids, Connor did pretty well. He runs with intense concentration. 

Daddy was proud. 

Constitution Day

226 years ago today, the U.S. Constitution was signed by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

Did you know that if your school receives federal funding, the school is required to provide programming for Constitution Day each year?  This is good, but hopefully our students are receiving a healthy civics education beyond just Constitution Day. Parents and teachers can find resources to help teach civics at iCivics.

You can test your knowledge of the Constitution with this quiz found on the ConstitutionFacts page.

Saturday Snapshots

Saturday...soccer day.

The best part about soccer today--the weather.  After sweating it out last week, today was marvelous, cool and sunny.

First up was Connor and the Kindergarten boys.

During warm-ups, Connor took advantage of Daddy being in goal.

Then a few other boys thought that looked like a good idea.

Coach called them over to stretch.

Nicky wonders, when do I get a nap?

The boys lost, 3-1, but for only playing together for a few weeks, they're doing great.  This team has a lot of potential.

On to Christian and the second graders.

Christian is number 23 this year.  He had some great drives down the field with the ball.  This one led to a goal.

After the goal, he and his teammates celebrated on the way back to mid-field.

I'm not sure what happened here, but somehow, Connor ended up upside down.

Final score, Chargers 3, Our Lady of Lourdes, 2.

Go Chargers!