Leaf Rake

Hi, this is Henry. Things have gotten so crazy at our house that I have been enlisted to record some of the blog posts. It's not my fault that we are 6 months behind.(cue cool time machine music)

Raking the leaves is so much fun, especially when it's not 30° by November.

Sam has decided that jumping into the leaf piles is the coolest thing since skipping the actual raking.

Note how content Archer seems compared to Sam, who is just realizing how spiky dead leaves can be.

This picture was apparently taken after Sam had recovered from that last jump.

Archer was surprised when we took his picture, which conveniently made him look right into the camera.

He is so happy. Just look at that smile!

Archer's pure joy at playing outside.

I wonder what he thinks about when he stares into space like that.

Teamwork! Or, in other words, I pose for the picture while you pretend to be working.

Being outside is one of Archer's favorite things.

Sam did not expect the leaves to get in his eye.

And here are all the brothers, getting their outside screen time after a hard day's work.

Pokémon Halloween

The boys have been living and breathing Pokemon for most of this year.  They can't get enough!  I kind of love it because it has really unified Henry, Ellis, and Sam, and has given something to talk about, think about, and dream about together.  It's something that they all have in common.  That wasn't the case before Pokemon hit our house.  In fact, I'm giving Pokemon credit for helping us survive summer vacation with no one killing each other.

So when Pokemon was the unanimous choice among the boys for our Halloween costume theme, I resisted slightly, but had to give in because I feel like I owe Pokemon something for bringing peace and unity into our home.  Good job, Pokemon!

  Ben was unavailable to attend the ward Halloween party due to work travel, so we had to do the family theme without him.  We had all sorts of disasters with getting the costumes delivered on time (because all Pokemon-related stuff ships from China -- ack! -- which is not 2-day shipping.  And 2-day shipping is how I roll).  

 Archer's costume is a hack....a hack I am pretty proud of, I might add.  I found a clearance costume of a yellow dog from some Nickelodeon show, and I was able to turn it into Pikachu in two hours of mad scrambling, and I do think it turned out pretty cute - although you'll notice that it's a bit tight!

 Henry has a great smile on his face, but he was gravely disappointed that his Umbreon costume didn't arrive in time either, so he had to go as Ash, the Pokemon trainer.  He was a good sport.

 It was tricky to get Pikachu to stand in place for the pictures.

 Because he would prefer to be doing this!

 and this...

 and this!

He managed to stay in place when he discovered the incredible stash of sugary goodness that The Brothers were able to scrounge up! 

Post Script: Henry's costume arrived the next week, and he had an epic Umbreon moment to make up for the lost opportunity on Halloween.  He has also been using this hoodie as a "snuggie" to keep him warm around the house.  I won't let him wear it to school on a regular basis because it has a tail, and that would be weird. Control freak? Yes.

Random Fun with the Boys

One of my favorite parts of the day is just hanging back and watching this pack of boys as they walk home from school with their friends.

Sam's first soccer season was a smashing success. He's had a lot of chances to practice with his older brothers in the back yard, but since they have always been bigger than him he was convinced that he wasn't very good at soccer. It took a bit of pushing to get him to even go on the field for his first practice. But once he got playing, he realized that dribbling around these kids was way easier than trying to get past Ellis! In the end, he scored in almost every game of the season, and was the Sharks and Minnows champion of his team.

Ellis' main accomplishment this season was perfected some of his goal celebrations. And luckily, he scored quite a few goals so he could put them to good use!

The medal is cool, but Sam's mostly in it for the snacks.

I just like this picture of Sam.

And we can't leave Henry out of the fun! One of the best parts of kids getting older is that they start to become capable of putting together their own snacks. Here is Henry with his chicken nachos on a Sunday afternoon.

Rather than finding a way to get RSL players to sign his hat, Ellis decided it would be cool if he just signed it himself. Nothing could be more Ellis than that!