Annual Halloween Party!

The football players - it was amazing to see the change in our sweet boys once we put the real football pads on them! The testosterone was oozing out of their bodies!
Look out, here come the McIntyre men! I wouldn't want to face them on the field!
Super fun moms - some dressed up, some not - but all dear sweet ladies whom I am proud to call friend!
And then there are the kids! So cute and ready for Halloween fun!
Great friends!

I don't love Halloween the way that some people do. I have friends who declare it there favorite holiday, but I would honestly be happy if it came and went with no celebration what so ever from our family. I do however LOVE the annual Halloween party! Every year one of my most favorite friends has this fabulous party where we all gather for a few hours to eat, laugh and enjoy each others company. The kids have fun running and playing in their various costumes and the parents have fun just sitting in catching up with one another in a relaxing atmosphere. I am so thankful for all of those friends who touch my life in countless ways and even though I don't see most of them as often as I would like, I hope that each of them know what a special place they have in my life and the life of my family. May each of you have an incredibly blessed week filled with laughter, family, friendship and just a little bit of candy!

My favorite camping photo

What precious boys!

Thank you Lord for these gifts that I have the privilege of knowing and watching grow. I cannot wait to see what incredible men they become. May they always see the world as a place filled with beauty and wonder and may they continually strive to make it a better place by shining your light, by helping those who are less fortunate and by sharing your word with those who do not know your grace and love. Thank you Lord for the joy they bring me on a daily basis. Thank you, for I cannot imagine my life without them.

Lucy, live and in person (sort of!)

It is so hard to get Lucy to be still, but I thought these videos were pretty cute! She is adjusting well, maybe too well - she has chewed up some toys and left a "present" in Lu's room! Oh well..she is just a puppy after all! The boys are loving her and hope that is warms up tomorrow so they can take her on a walk. I think we have some real fun days ahead!

I think the reason she likes Lu's face so much was there was about 1/2 a chocolate chip c0okie left on there!

Camping

Not only did we get a new puppy this weekend, but the boys also went camping this Saturday and Sunday. G and the boys loaded up (a lot of stuff!!) and met up with 3 other dads and 4 other boys and headed to the lake for a great weekend! They had a blast (and I had a nice afternoon and evening to myself). Here are a few pictures from the action packed weekend. Enjoy!

Meet Lucy !!!

This is Lucy! Isn't she oh, so cute!

This was right after she arrived at her house. She stopped checking things out just long enough for me to snap a couple of pictures and then she was off again to explore her new home!
The boys went camping this weekend (more to come on that in a minute) so they had no idea that when they arrived home there would be a precious puppy waiting for them.
Words cannot describe how excited they were. I tried to get them on videotape to truly capture their reaction, but it is hard to capture a puppy and 2 incredibly excited boys on a small video camera!

I know we will have many more happy memories to make with Lucy...and I hope you enjoy reading about her, because I feel like there will be many, many stories to come! Oh, and Lu thinks she likes him best because she follows him everywhere!

The Lake

I am so thankful for my sweet, smart hubby! (Luckily he never reads this blog so he will not use this information against me!) He has been wanting to take our boat out FOREVER (we have not been since our camping trip in late August), but our weekends have been packed with activities. This was the first weekend we could be home and just enjoy so I wasn't really "on board" with going out on the boat. You know, there are clothes to be washed, floors to be mopped and groceries to be bought (we had pancakes with no syrup for breakfast!) G however refuses to get bogged down in all of that stuff and reminds me that days like today are precious! The laundry will still be there tomorrow and the pancakes without syrup weren't too bad! So I packed some snacks and some towels and off we went this morning. Well, we had a blast. The weather was so beautiful and the lake was empty. The boys enjoyed riding the tube, riding really fast in the boat, and just playing in the lake! I enjoyed being out in the sun soaking up some vitamin D. It was nice to be out on such a gorgeous day after working all week. We ate lunch on the boat - sandwiches always taste better there and truly enjoyed each other's company. There was a lot of laughter and great conversation.
It was cool after you got out of the water and on to the boat so the towels were used almost more like blankets today!
After a ride on the Big Mable, the boys claimed that the water felt warm. (I wouldn't know as I did not get in today! I am not fond of being wet and cold!!)

Just singing away to one of B's favorite songs!

Hold on boys! Dad is serious about making each of you daredevils. I am sure we will regret this later......................

The Bahamas Project

B with his friend CP playing his Bahama Trivia Game. I wonder if he knew the answer?
Have you ever seen such cute Elvis's??

B with his friend Maurice.

Each student in B's class had to pick a topic that related to North America. While we have talked about going to the Bahama's, but have never actually been, that is the topic that B chose. He did a really great job of researching and learning many things about the islands. For his project "product" he made a game. There are 12 questions on the board and you roll dice to know which question you will get. The kids had a great time playing the game.

B and his friend BD playing the Bahamas Trivia game.

The research paper was done only in class to prevent the parents from "helping"! We were so proud of B's paper. It was neatly written,easy to understand and full of good information about the Bahamas! He is now trying to talk us into taking a family vacation to the Bahamas later this fall........we are listening to his suggestion. It does sound fun...

Fall Ball in action

So it seems that I might have mastered the art of posting a video. I can not be sure until I try again, so here it goes! We had a great baseball game last night where B's team won 15-2. We are not sure what happened between Monday's game (where they lost and were uninterested, almost lethargic about playing)and last nights game where they were firing on all cylinders. Needless to say there were some happy kids in the dugout and the end of game snow cones tasted that much sweeter! We have one more week of fall ball and then we are done. I think this was great practice for the spring. Where spring baseball is big and competitive, fall ball is more laid back and fun! The team we are on is full of great kids and it has been such fun to get to know so many more sweet boys and their parents. Hope the video will post. I am going to try and get fancy and do pics and video. Wow - am I brave or what??

Will a video ever post?

If you have any idea how to help me post a video I would really appreciate it! I have tried this every single day for over a week and still cannot make it work. I see videos on many other blogs and think to myself, it can't be too hard..........apparently for me it is..............help!!!! ( I can even see the video when I go to preview, but when I actually publish post it's nothing but this blank box with the red x. I think I might cry now:()

Boy Scouts

So, Lu had his first boy scout meeting tonight and I can not describe to you how happy he was. After spending last year watching his Big Brother go - you must be in first grade to participate - he was on cloud nine. There were 3 other little boys there and they were so cute! The leader did a great job and seemed to really enjoy it! I think this is going to be a great year.