As usual the boys took on Soccer as the fall started.  They all love  it, and they are all good at it.  It is fun to watch them play.

This year is turning out to be quite the busy one and I am finding myself not as available to watch and attend every game, and therefore also not great at picture taking.

The only pictures I have of the entire season are below.

And poor Ansel, for some reason I can't find any pictures of him this season.  I remember taking some for each of them, but somehow his got misplaced.  Oh well...

Continuing the tradition of friendly rivalry, Micheal and Levi once again played each other this year.  They are both smiling at least, so that is good.  Just try to ignore Levi's gloating fingers as he holds up the 2-0 score for the picture! ;-)

Calder is so fun to watch with that mop of curly hair bouncing around and he dribbles and kicks and runs and scores.  He is just cool.

One of my favorites of the season, who couldn't love that kid!

Look at that smile.  He is having the time of his life.

We can get him to play with his food, but eat it??....

Silly kid did this all on his own. He came and got me one day, saying, "Mom, mom! Come and look at what I made!" I followed him down the hall and found this "food" art, displayed proudly on the carpet in front of my bedroom door. What is a mom to do?

The two pirate booty puffs are supposed to be the eyes, just a little too big for it's head. He definitely prefers to use KK on paper and in writing his name, who can blame him. Two letters or six, lets see.....

This is the first year that every kid in the family is going to school, of some sort!

They are all excited for this new year.  Calder got the teacher he wanted, Ansel got to be in Calder's old classroom with the classmates Calder had last year (it is a 2/3 blend, so the second graders last year that were in Calder's class, are now the 3rd graders in Ansel's class.)  Ansel loved being a Celebrity when he walked in the classroom and all the 3rd graders came up excited that Calder's little brother was in their class.

Calder and Ansel in front of their school 

Kaelan got to go to preschool this year.  The preschool he attends is in another elementary school in West Linn, that has a preschool as part of the school set up.  They have their own classroom in the kindergarten wing of the school and they get to go to recess, library and school functions.  He is obviously very excited about the prospects!  Not to mention he had 3 friends from church in his class.  Very nice, for him, and for me!  Yay for carpool!!.

No actual pictures of Levi at his school this year, but he did show me his schedule

And we did manage to capture a bit of the school as KK and I sat and waited for the welcome portion to begin.

It is going to be a great year!

A 7th grader, a 4th grader, a 2nd grader and a preschooler...

I foresee busy times ahead.

Every Summer we make it a tradition to go explore someplace new in Oregon with Aaron and Emily

This year we chose the Dunes along the Oregon Coast.
They did not disappoint!  My kids were in love the moment we got there.
Miles and miles of sand, pristine sand and their imaginations.

We hiked the dunes several times, including once and night, navigating back using the GPS of our iPhones.  Handy little buggers.

Kaelan loved the way the sand felt between his toes and kept want to just feel the soft sand.

Ansel loved to pretend that he was crossing a long desert...

Calder loved jumping off the top of dunes and rolling/running down to the bottom.

Joe made it the whole way without ever taking off his shoes.  Crazy!

The kids loved finding creatures in the sand and following their footprints

Kaelan captured several "friend buggies" as he called them and let them hitch a right on him.  He was devastated every time he lost one.  They were his pets.  Too cute.

Some of the kids in the distance, just to give perspective of the enormity of the dunes...

Emily's parents and Joe's/Aaron's parents were with us as well.  Emily's parents love crabbing and went several times, bringing in a haul for us to enjoy as a meal.  The boys were fascinated.....

But not sure they looked edible...

Calder was loving being able to be up close and personal to a whole crab...

Ansel was definitely not sure about eating them..

But he was willing to help crack them open!!

Calder gearing up to partake in the crab feast!

After they ate.. and they DID! They all had to had a crab claw and it was Lord of the Flies with their crab topped sticks.  

There are some very cool lighthouses along the Oregon coast, and it is always fun to go check them out, since most of them aren't being used anymore.  They have been made extinct because of the nautical technology that we have now.

Kaelan looking up into the light portion of the light house

So Pretty.

The stairs we traversed

Lighthouses really are so pretty.

Levi and his buddy Ezra.

Levi loves the babies.

So fun!  I hope we get to do it again soon!!

 

 We went to our very first Timbers MLS soccer game today. It was SO fun. The kids had a great time and the boys caught an awesome Timber's soccer ball that they were throwing into the crowd. Talk about kid heaven. They ALWAYs want to be the one to catch whatever is being thrown, but of course, it never happens, except for today. We parked at Joe's office in downtown Portland and then took the Max into Jeld-Wen Field. We were attending the game with the Cub Scouts so the boys were even happier to be joined with their friends at the game.

We got their before anyone else, and had to wait for the person who was picking up the tickets at will call, so the boys made the best of it by playing on the giant face statue outside of the park.

 

Kaelan, peering through the metal stripping of the statue:

Levi in the eye:

Everyone in the Face, Ansel is hiding behind the nose.  

This statue is so cool.  It is good for hours and hours of playtime.

The Awesome Timber's soccer ball that the boys caught.

The Timbers fans are VERY enthusiastic.  The boys definitely got caught up in the energy of if all.

What a great fun way to spend an evening!

I definitely want to do it again.