football saturdays

Sometimes a great football Saturday is just straight up fun. I knew the weather was going to be beautiful so I told Ben if anyone offered us some tickets that I really wanted to go as a family. (My window of weather requirements for going to football games is not huge so I wanted to take advantage. ) We got two sets of tickets but ended up being able to sit together. Honestly, I didn't think WVU would even be close to beating Oklahoma State after the beating they took last week against Maryland. I just wanted to watch the band at pregame and halftime and call it a day. Very much to our surprise, it was an excellent game, we stayed the entire time and we WON!!!

I never get tired of this view.

 

 All these family and friends parked in the Young Life parking lot which was super fun to tailgate together. Speaking of tailgating, yesterday in one of his million questions, Ted asked who invented tailgating. So thanks to google, we learned a little tailgating history while sitting in the Tudor's drive thru. (Tudor's is officially our game day breakfast these days.)

 

Lilly, Sophie & Amelia colored

  

Ted & Wyatt played some football and lacrosse

Sophie was not super thrilled to go to the game. I wasn't positive we would even go to the game, so I didn't really prepare anything for her to do during the game. So, she sucked down a frozen lemonade during the 1st quarter - which I'm pretty sure is the biggest money maker at the stadium. $5 for lemon flavored ice.  She ate some popcorn during the 2nd quarter.

 

We watched the band during halftime.

 

And then ate a pretzel (because the hot dog line was so long) during the 3rd quarter. After I cut her off for the 4th quarter,  we played school, all manner of clapping games, and counted down the minutes and seconds on the very long last 9 minutes of the game. But she made it.

However, Ted watched every single play of the game. He cheered, he jumped up and down and he maneuvered himself so he could see around the adults in front of us. He LOVED every single second of it.

I love this picture. This is the boys after Oklahoma State missed a field goal.  It makes me smile so much. I love watching them enjoy something so much together.

It was a fun, beautiful day topped off with some snuggling on the couch before bed.

Sometimes a good football Saturday will do you some good!

a wee bit crazy

As usual for the beginning of the semester, things are just a wee bit crazy around here. There is barely a down moment. The days fly by. The weeks go even faster. I'm pretty sure Ben (for sure) and I (more recently) could've earned an honorary counseling degree. High School Kids. College Leaders. Freshmen in college getting a grip. Parents. Sometimes it is 100% overwhelming. But by the grace of God we keep going and God moves more and we get to be part of it. 

Anyways, some pictures from the past couple of weeks. 

At a recent visit to the Underdonk's, Ellie taught Ted how to play chess. 

The very next morning at the first WVU game of the season (I'm working on 4 weeks behind here), we tailgated together. What's a tailgate without chess? Nothing I tell you. Nothing.

This summer, Paul Millard's sweet wife, Laura, babysat my kids 3 days a week.  She is one of our Young Life College leaders, too. Ted got to spend some time with Paul and even got an autograph on his hat. It's been fun to cheer for him whether he does well or not. He's a good, good guy!

Ellie & Ted

A very generous business man in Morgantown gave us an entire parking lot for every WVU game. We sell the spots and keep the money for Young Life. It's an incredible gift. Who should pull in the first week but my brother, Jay, and my nephew, Trey. Ted loves Trey so much so it was a fun surprise. Totally random that they've parked there in the past and had no idea we would be there.

Ellie & Sophie

Labor Day we had our Funday Monday Finale. We played family football at the Lair. Sophie was all time center. Ben was all time quarterback. It was a good (and hot) day.

Topped off with a late lunch at Dairy Queen. Lunch being ice cream only.

 

Cousin Henry joined the family at the end of August. The kids have face timed a couple of times to meet him. They're not super thrilled because he doesn't do a whole lot yet. Andy still has to do all the entertaining.

I got to meet Henry a little over a week ago. Sweet baby!

Buster also poses for pictures and I hated to leave him out.

The weather was beautiful last week. We've done lots of homework and reading on the back porch. The best kind of reading is when Ted reads to Sophie and we count it as a 2-for-1 homework.

Ted is playing flag football this season. Ben is the assistant coach. They got cruuuuuushed the first game and beaten by a fair amount the two after that. Kids didn't care. Coaches (Ken & Ben) do. You would've thought they lost the Super Bowl that week. Between the Steelers, the Mountaineers and Ted's flag football team (also the Steelers), it's going to be a long, dare I say painful, season.

And we've already had our first football injury.

This board has been Sophie's ongoing project since Gary Pap redid the front room in May. It started when he let her paint her name on it. Then she used sharpie to write all over it. Then sharpie to color it all. Now she's adding stickers. It's quite the masterpiece.

Sundays nights are for leadership and first year. We outgrew the space we've used for the past 3 years. Now we're meeting at the church where Ben has his office.

These people are pretty amazing. College students choosing to invest in the lives of others.

 

summer reading list

These are books I read this summer. I read more than I have in a long time (maybe it's all the hours in the car). But I'm so glad I read each of these. Read any or all of them - you won't be disappointed.

The Five Love Languages of Children

By Gary Chapman

If you have children of any age, read this book. I'm a total believer in the "love languages" in marriages, friendships, work relationships. This just help you understand love languages from a kids perspective and how to love them in a way that makes them feel loved. Read it!

The Relationship Principles of Jesus

by Tom Holladay

This is a 40 day devotional type book about ways to model and do relationships. It has been a huge catalyst in the understand grace in my life and extending it to others. It's great for an individual, small group or whatever. Men or women. Great book!

Sticky Faith

by Dr. Kara Powell & Dr. Chap Clark

If you are a parent of a child middle school or over, or if you work with high school kids YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK! It addresses the gap between high school and college and how to help your child or the kids you work with make the transition from high school to college. I have witnessed with my own eyes (and especially this year with my heart) the huge chasm that exists as kids are given freedom and are not prepared to make decisions that will impact them forever. There is a curriculum that goes with this that we plan to use with seniors in the spring. I'm excited to lead the charge on this for our area. READ IT!

Sparkly Green Earrings

by Melanie Shankle

Somehow I started reading her blog this spring. She's funny! (I really enjoy funny, witty people!) It's a book about being a parent. A memoir type book. Great, funny, easy read.

A Modern Girls Guide to Bible Study

by Jen Hatmaker

This is a great book if you're looking for practical ways to read the bible on your own. I believe this is what I'm going to be doing when I start a morning bible study at South Ridge next month. And, of course, I love Jen Hatmaker. Excellent, easy, super practical read.

The Cure: What if God isn't who you think He is and neither are you

by John Lynch, Bruce McNicol & Bill Thrall

We are currently reading this as a church in our current sermon series. I'm only to Chapter 2 but it's a real thought changer of a book. It's different than anything I've ever read. It's a book about the choices we face and the paths that lead to Jesus and grace and being real. I like being real.

My "To Read" List (I'll let you know):

The Fitting Room

by Kelly Minter

The Prodigal God

by Timothy Keller

 

Grade Based Parenting

by Dr. Tim Kimmel

summer 2013 in numbers

Memorial Day to Labor Day (because that's the real season of summer):

2 parades

4 trips to the river

4 trips to charleston
2 (or 3?) trips to new martinsville

2 trips to lake champion

2 trips to rockbridge

1 wyldlife camp trip

2 young life camp trips
1 college young life camp trip

1 broken down bus

94 health forms collected

1 trip to the beach

10+ bike rides

lots of baseball passing
6ish baseball games

1 new bad mitten player

1 trip to idlewild/soak zone

1 week of swimming lessons

1 week of soccer camp

3 different boats

50+ hours at the pool

2 movies at the theater as a family (Despicable Me 2 & Monsters University)

4 free kid movies at the theater

3 car washes

3 weddings
2 kids that now eat hamburgers

1 dining room painted

3 oil changes

2 new tires

1 river

1 lake

1 ocean

72 days of rain (not really, but it did feel like that in june and july)

3 visits to urgent care
2 weeks of cool weather in August

2 babies added to the family - welcome Isaac and Henry!

6,500+ miles driven (mostly by Ben, mostly in the van)

30+ hours of movies watched while traveling (I do not feel one bit bad about that!)

1 hike in summersville to a big, giant cliff (i won't do that again with my children!)
9 monday fun days

2 wave pools
1 half painted deck
10 weekends out of town
1 wonderful summer sitter
4 times to church at South Ridge Church  - Yikes!
1 time to church at River Ridge - Teays Valley
1 time to church at River Ridge - Charleston
1 WVU football game 

1 summer song - Cruise by Florida Georgia Line (you can't help but roll your windows down!)

1 labor day weekend catching up on sleep

Things that did not happen this summer:
1 half painted deck
0 full fledged grocery shopping trips
1 pair of glasses not worn
0 time to myself


All in all we had a GREAT summer! I'd venture to say this was our best summer since having kids. Although it may not have been what we envisioned or dreamed of (when is anything really what you dreamed it would be?) and we didn't cross off even half the things on our summer bucket list (which may have been a little over ambitious and expensive!) it was still great. We played a lot as a family. I used my Mondays off wisely. Ben kept the kids on Fridays which was great for them. We went to the river more than we have in a long time - maybe since I was a kid. We played hard, we slept hard (and maybe not enough). We spent time with family. We spent time with friends. There weren't nap times to worry about or bedtimes to constrain us (although sometimes I would dream of putting them to bed at 8:00 pm). I'm not going to lie, I'm EXHAUSTED from summer. The last two weeks of 8:00 pm bedtimes has been GLORIOUS!  But it was all worth it!

Bring on the Fall!