Football

It's that time of year again! Fall! My favorite season...and with it comes all my favorite things, including a good football game. This year, Jonas decided to play flag football again. He really enjoyed playing. He had a great season! He grabbed several flags, blocked a TON! (this year the concept of blocking really clicked for him), ran in quite a few touchdowns, threw some great passes, received a couple of passes, and just had fun. He was definitely a player that the coach could count on...even if he didn't complete every pass or missed a few flags, he was just consistent and willing to play hard. He was a play maker and we loved watching him play. What I loved most though was that he simply wanted to have fun. I'm proud of him (and our others boys) for playing sports. It's not always easy to place yourself in a situation where you have to depend on others doing their part to win. It's hard to handle the losses. Jonas would get pretty teary and frustrated after each loss, but he learned to manage it better as the season went on. He is learning how to lose gracefully and how to be a good sport. He is learning how to respect his coach and his teammates. He is learning that, while it may be hard to have a bad game, it doesn't need to define his life or that moment or the next game. He is growing more mentally tough...and that is needed in life. Overall, he had more wins than losses. By the end of the season, he had not only honed his football skills, but his mental and emotional skills as well. We had several people come support Jonas throughout his season (Katie, Greg, Gma Penny, Grumpy, the Irons, the Tanners, Nichole, Gma & Papa), but only snapped a pic of Jonas with Nichole and my parents. Still, he loved seeing so many people come to support him. (Oh...Nolan is playing flag football and Camden is playing soccer too. We were lucky to make it to one of each of their games. Great job boys!)

Hello Fall!

This is my absolute favorite season of the year! I love Fall! I love the cooler weather. I love the leaves changing colors. I love the fall festivals. I love the soups and chilis. I love pumpkins and cornstalks. And I really love the anticipation of coming holidays. For the past few years, we, along with the Tanners, have welcomed Fall with a fun evening full of chili & cornbread, fall festival type games, and a caramel apple bar for dessert. In preparation, Jeff and I took Jonas, Carter, and Everly to Riley's in Genola to pick some apples. We picked eight 5 gallon buckets! I'm not sure if Carter and Everly picked as many as they tried to eat, but they were sure cute doing it.

On Sunday evening, we all gathered to celebrate Fall. We had our yummy dinner then played a few games. I put the older boys (who think they are now too old to participate in these games) staff a few of the games (e.g., witch's hat ring toss, monster corn hole, pin-the-nose on the jack-o-lantern, and turkey dart toss) then everyone enjoyed bobbing for apples and eating a donut on a string. After our games, we took all those apples and broke in our new apple press. We had no idea how many gallons of juice our haul would yield! Holy moly! We were thankful we had people there to give some away, but the boys had fun turning the press. However, they only lasted awhile before the siren song of flag football won them over. 

Finally, we indulged in a caramel apple bar. Each year I try a new topping along with the tried and true favorites like M&Ms and Oreos. This year I tried Fruity Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Not too bad. Surprisingly, I like the potato chips too. A little salty to counteract the sweet. I'm excited to keep experiencing the sights, sounds, and tastes of this amazing season!