Are you ready for some Football?

Connell had his first official game on September 13th against Corpus Christi. They ended up winning 22-18. He is playing offensive line for the most part. He had to go to weigh in the other day and he weighed in at 60.5 lbs. He is playing for the 2nd grade team even though he is a first grader. Let's just say unfortunately for Auburn his game was much more exciting than their "victory" over MS State. Here is the rest of his schedule for those that might want to come watch.
Sept 20th--9:45 AM--McT Front Field vs. St. Dominics
October 4th--11:00AM--McT Front field vs. St. Pius
October 11th--9:45 AM--McT front field vs. St. Ignatius
October 18th--9:45 AM--McT front field vs. Corpus Christi
October 25th--8:30 AM--McT front field vs. St. Dominics
November 8th--9:45 AM--McT front field vs. St. Pius
November 12th--5:45 PM--at the Lip vs. St. Ignatius.

I will keep everyone updated with all the adventures in football. But for now here are some pics from the game.

Swimming Advances 2

Not to be outdone by big brother, Clara made significant strides in the pool this summer as well. In the beginning of the summer she was barely getting off the steps. Then she got brave and began jumping off the side into the shallow end. By the end of the summer she was jumping off the diving board and swimming to the steps and even a few times the length of the pool.

Swim Team 2008

Connell joined the Heron Lakes Swim Team this year and in the beginning he was fairly slow. By the end of the season he was really getting the hang of it. It was amazing how much he had grown and accomplished as a swimmer by the end of the season. These are some of my favorite pictures that I took with my new camera. Notice the form.



This next pose is an Ode to Michael Phelps fans. A lot of people say he has the same physique as Michael.

This is one of my favorite backstroke pics. It was one of his favorite strokes.

At the end of the season we had a Trophy presentation for all members of the team. Connell also got the award for Most Improved Swimmer for his age group. After the Coach's comments I was almost brought to tears. Connell was the first one there everyday ready to swim. And if you would have seen him 2 years ago when he refused to get off the steps you would have known how far he's come.

Beach in July

We went down to the beach the 2nd week of July for a conference. It worked out well though, because Katie and Colby and their kids were vacationing the same time we were down there so we got to spend some time hanging out with them. I was thrilled because there weren't any fights between the kids. Here are a couple of pictures from the vacation.

Perspective

Yesterday I arrived home after a long day at work. As most working moms, I didn't even take my shoes off before I had checked the mail, brought the recycling bin inside, moved the wash into the dryer, unloaded the dishwasher, loaded the dishwasher with the dirty dishes from lunch and wiped down the table. Then I took a look around and saw about 4 pairs of crocs, blankets, crumbs and two children who couldn't keep their hands to themselves and continued to scream at levels that I am quite sure only animals at night can hear. I moved into the living room to discover a rotten banana. At this point when I sat down to return some phone calls I was interrupted no less than 5 times before I got off the phone. By the time Ben had arrived home at 6:30 I was folding the laundry that was in the dryer and had already taken away TV privileges for my two screaming kids. We finally sat down as a family and the kids continued to scream and fight. We have been working on not yelling at them so I calmly told them that they are not going to be able to behave this way once the baby comes. I told them that I will not bring the baby home when they are acting like this. To which Connell responded, "so you're going to sell it?" No was mine and Ben's reply and we explained that Mommy and the baby would just go live somewhere else until they learned to behave. Clara with crocodile tears welling up in her eyes and her bottom lip beginning to quiver responded, " But Mommy who's going to do the laundry?" And that is perspective.

HALLOWEEN

You all are probably wondering okay how do we get from the 4th of July all the way to Halloween. I went to the doctor yesterday and they have scheduled baby Heinz's delivery for Halloween. Our little goblin will be here on Halloween morning unless he or she decides to come earlier. There have been suggestions of Hallie, Elvira, or Ichabod for names, but I think we will stay away from those. The doctor did make me promise that I would not have a pumpkin cake every year for the baby's birthday. So anyway the countdown is on.

4th of July

The Fourth of July was my 32nd Birthday. We celebrated by having my family over for lunch and a little bit of pool time. It was one of the most relaxing birthdays I've ever had. Here are some pool pics.


After everyone left we hung out around the pool and swam with the kids for a little bit before heading up to Heron Lakes to enjoy the fireworks. Here are some pictures of the fireworks I took with my camera.



Here is one of my favorite pictures of Clara at HLCC waiting for the fireworks. She also stole the camera and took one of me and Ben. She took a lot of others which were deleted, but this one somewhat turned out.