Wordless Wednesday: Soccer Saturdays

I have been slacking on posts- or rather publishing posts. I have 8 posts waiting for pictures! It's hard when you're the photographer in the family and no one wants to photograph you. :)
This is what we have been doing with our Saturdays for the last 2 weekends:

(Tate #4)

Mayer is a BEAST! He loves it; but is super serious and all business on the field. He scores, blocks and has even had a few assists (that may or may not have been accidental).

Tate loves it too; however, face is exactly the opposite! The joy he has while playing is obvious and has been since the first time he ever played. He may not look like a serious competitor, but don't let that smile fool you!

I never expected to be a soccer mom, but I really enjoy our Saturday mornings (with the exception of the chilly Kansas weather)! :)

Wordless Wednesday: Reading and Theater

 

I love this picture of my boys reading!  Reading is an important bedtime ritual in our house. Both Michael and I read at least one book every night to each boy so they get one-on-one time with us. I feel like it is also important for them to see us reading for pleasure. I've always been an avid reader. Michael wasn't much of a reader when we met and living in a small town, he never had a library card! Now he has a library card, averages about one book a year and always has at least one magazine he's reading.

 

Yesterday at lunch I was treated to a puppet show. My own personal dinner theater! :)

Wordless Wednesday: Skates, Valentine Shirts and Sleds

Last Thursday Mayer's school had a skating party. Tate loved it! Mayer wasn't too impressed. The skates were too heavy for him and all the toddler skates were already being used.

 

I made the boys two shirts each for Valentine's Day.

 

The weather has been beautiful lately and the boys have been taking advantage of the last pile of snow. They are practicing their Olympic skills! :)

 

The other shirts I made:

I was told the shirt on the right looked too girly for a boy, so my niece, Julianna got a Valentine's shirt. For both of Tate's shirts used a modified version of this pattern. Mayer's tinman shirt was a self-drafted pattern and for his long sleeve shirt, I used this pattern- a smaller version of my Valentine shirt. I prefer sewing raglan style shirts because the sleeves are much easier.

Wordless Wednesday: Thawing Out

 

We are finally thawing out after last week's snowstorm. Yesterday was the first day we saw the sun in over a week! Thankfully we've had this to cheer us up:

 I'm definitely ready for spring!

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Kansas Day!

Happy 153rd birthday, Kansas!

  I couldn't resist sharing our Kansas Day 2011 picture too... my how we've all changed!

Wordless Wednesday: Books In Bed

We have a strict "no toys in bed" rule. They have their "babies" (stuffed animals), but I just can't say no to my boys reading in bed! Probably because I was guilty of reading after bedtime when I was growing up.

 

Wordless Wednesday: Basketball and Birthday

 

Both boys are playing basketball this year, so Saturdays are busy, but so much fun! Mayer spends most of his time chasing the ball. Tate is starting to get things figured out- dribbling, shooting, rebounding, stealing.

 On Sunday, Mayer turned 3! He had an elephant themed party. My sister-in-law made his cake.

I can't believe he's so big old! He finally got a big boy bed and is so proud of it. He even invited everyone to sleep with him. "We can fit! It's BIG!!"

Wordless Wednesday: Sadly Mistaken

I have always argued that Mayer looks like me when I was a little girl (reference here and here). He has seen pictures and thought they were of him.

I hate to admit that I was wrong, but I may have been. When we were looking at old family pictures last weekend, I noticed that Mayer looks an awful lot like my brother-in-law as a toddler. I also noticed that Tate makes some of the same faces as Michael and they look a like too.

Can I be half right?! :)

Wordless Wednesday: Opening Weekend

Fall colors in Western Kansas

Pheasant hunting
 

The drought has hurt the pheasant population. We didn't see a single pheasant! At least the scenery was beautiful and a good time was spent with family and friends. 

"It's not the hunt. It's the hunt."

Wordless Wednesday: Halloween Costumes

When Tate decided he wanted to be a Kansas City Royals baseball player for Halloween, specifically his favorite player, Alcides Escobar, I started looking at jerseys. I was not willing to pay $60-$70 for one shirt for a 5 year old. Then he recruited Mayer to be Mike Moustakas, so I would be looking at the cost 2 jerseys!
So I came up with my own for about $1 each with shirts from the Salvation Army. From men's dress shirts...

to baseball jerseys!

On Saturday, we participated in a 5k and we were encouraged to wear costumes. So Tate recruited Michael and I to dress up too. Our family got a prize for our group costumes.
Mayer finishing the race:

Tate after the race:

I found some athletic fabric for $3.25/ yard to make the boys' pants. The blue stripe is nylon cord I got for 50% off ($0.99). I got the fleece for their hats for less than $5. The most expensive part was the lettering on the back of the jerseys, but still I made 4 costumes for less than the cost of one jersey! :)

Wordless Wednesday: Pumpkin Patch 2013

Last Sunday we visited the Harvest Farm Pumpkin Patch. It has become a tradition for us to go with my parents, my siblings and their families. It's a lot of fun...

The rusty merry-go-round:

The giant slide:

Bull riding and roping:

 

The boys LOVED the zip-line! Actually, all five kiddos did.

We rode the crazy bicycle, played miniature golf, played in the sandbox, jumped on hay bales in the maze, and do much more!

 

We even managed to get a halfway decent family picture. 

Wordless Wednesday: Wild West Throwdown

Michael participated in a crossfit competition last weekend. He has been working really hard and he did a great job! He was on a team with 2 co-workers, their daughters and an officer from Dodge City who was looking for a team. Since 4 of them are law enforcement their team name was "CF Team Five-O."

There were a few things that made this team amazing. I think the two fathers and daughters competing together was special. I used to compete in swim meets with my dad and I have fond memories of it.
Only one member of the team works out in an actual crossfit gym. There were several events in the competition that included things they had never done before because their gym doesn't have the equipment. Michael really struggled with ring thrusts because they don't have rings. They usually substitute with a bar, which doesn't use the same muscles. They didn't know the WODs (crossfit term- workout of the day) they would be doing ahead of time, so they couldn't practice specific things they would be doing.
Finally, the average age of the males on the team was 40. They were the oldest competitors by far! Pretty sure my husband had the most gray hair.  :)

   

I didn't take all the pictures- some of the pictures were taken by a friend and some were borrowed from a Facebook page. (Give credit where credit is due!)

Team five-0 may have placed last in almost every WOD, but each team member gave their all in each of their events. They did better than they expected with room for improvement for next time! These cops definitely do NOT fit the doughnut stereotype. Great job!

Wordless Wednesday: Grand Slam

Tate has become a HUGE Royals fan. When they are actually on TV, he doesn't get to watch many games because he's usually in bed, but he faithfully listens to them on the radio. It has become my job to keep up with the games and tell him the outcome (thank you ESPN scoreboard app). 

Sunday afternoon he got to watch the end of the game at my parents' house. It was the bottom of the 10th inning, 2 outs, the bases were loaded and it was a full count for batter, Justin Maxwell: 3 balls- 2 strikes. It doesn't get much better than this in baseball:

I still get goosebumps watching it! Even if they don't get a wild card spot in the playoffs this year (they are 3 games behind), it has been fun listening to the games. I will admit at the beginning of the season, I was not thrilled that Tate wanted to listen to Royals baseball. I grew up listening to the Royals, but baseball has never been my favorite sport. Because of my son's enthusiasm and the Royals' play this season, I have renewed my fan status. (You may call me a fair weather fan.)

After watching the grand slam home run, we went across the street and played an impromptu game of whiffle ball. We aren't nearly as good, but we had a lot of fun and that's all that really matters!

Can you spot the ball Tate just pitched? (The batter, Aunt Amy, missed it too!)

Here's the cheat sheet for those that missed it:

As of right now I don't foresee a pitching career in Major League Baseball for him! They won't be asking Mayer to be a designated hitter either, but we're going to keep working on our game!

Wordless Wednesday: Kansas State Fair 2013

This year was the 100th birthday of the Kansas State Fair.

We rode rides and ate fried foods.

I worked 4 concerts: Kansas, Eli Young Band with Mockingbird Sun, Theory of a Deadman and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Wordless Wednesday: Joy in the Game

Tate is playing soccer again this fall. While most of the time he still runs around and just smiles, he is getting more aggressive in the game. You can see it is pure joy when he is out there!

The won their first game. Tate blocked a goal and almost scored. He also has a little crush on the girl in the picture- even more reason to smile!

(* The photo on the top right came from the YMCA Facebook page.)

Wordless Wednesday: Labor Day

We went to Wilson Lake for Labor Day Weekend. It was the first time we had been to the lake all summer!

Mayer helping Pa drive the boat.

Saturday morning started with a workout. The boys going for a run without me. I'm still trying to nurse my shins. :(

It took a LOT of convincing to get Tate on the tube. Mayer LOVED it! He had Michael and I cracking up because he was making sound effects.

Tate preferred swimming...

and fishing... as long as he didn't have to touch what he caught!

He's mad because his face got splashed.

Pretending to use Mia, their cousin (she doesn't know she's a dog), as a pillow to take a nap on the boat.

We met some Chinese foreign exchange students attending Fort Hays State. Michael and my brother-in-law took several of them on a boat ride around the lake. My nephew, Gage, taught some how to catch crawdads.They took my Father-in-law's picture as a "local fisherman." :)

Tate explaining why he wouldn't help catch them because they pinch.

Sunday morning I noticed I had made everyone's shorts (or undies in Mayer's case). Don't they look thrilled to be having their picture taken.

It was a beautiful weekend!