fisherman drew.

drew is ALWAYS asking to go fishing.
it's all he ever asks for.
fishing is in our blood.  my father and both of our grandfathers were fishermen.

there is a man at church who is a grand fisherman.

i have mentioned to him on more than one occasion that drew would be the perfect "fisherman's helper."
at the beginning of the week he spoke with todd and told him this was a great week for salmon fishing.
(technically it is a special kind of salmon, maybe rockport? it's a mix between salmon and bass, i think.)
the rivers were high from recent flooding and the weather was pretty warm.
todd took drew out of school on thursday around noon and they drove to a private section of river...

drew caught three, todd caught one and our friend caught one as they were about to leave.
well, technically each person is only allowed to catch two fish- so drew and todd both caught two.
my freezer is full of fish and i'm pretty impressed.
(they got home 30 minutes before jakob's party... i was not too excited about the whole house SMELLING like fish...)

i LOVE that my boys get opportunities like this!

mmm.  fish for dinner anyone?

6th grade boy.

i love this kid.

he's something.

a big tease, very smart, very sarcastic and logical and "right"

and... so funny.

as much as i am on his case (telling him to BE KIND!),

i hope he knows that i really, really, really think he's awesome.

although, the professor thinks he says he's awesome too much...
drew often sings a song "d-r-e-w-is- a-w-s-o-m" 
i laughed that he wasn't even spelling awesome correctly!...
now, he has to sweep the floor every time he sings his little prideful song.
(to keep him humble.)

drew is still awsom!

and, my floor is shining!

he just got a locker (they were under construction) and he wanted to decorate it.

he's ready and in the car 30 minutes before school starts because he's nervous he won't be able to open his locker on time..

drew informed me yesterday, that it was a good thing the janitor was there with the key yesterday or he would have been late and i would have owed him five bucks!
right... 

so, i picked up a couple things at the dollar store.

to surprise him.

yup.  we have a dollar store here in our town.

the most organized dollar tree you have EVER seen.

it's my new BFF.

and,
i wanted to show you drew's talk from last Sunday.

he had 3 principles.

3 scriptures.

3 applications.

he shared his testimony at the end.

two funny stories...
1.  Drew's talk was on reverence.  todd was speaking last sunday and so i was by myself with the 7 kids.  (again, somehow it's easier without my husband-- no idea why?)  anyway, drew was teasing with anna.  tickleling her or trying to take something away from her that she shouldn't have been looking at.  Then i saw him go, "Oh.  I forgot."  And he folded his arms, bowed his head and sat quietly the rest of the sacrament time.  In his talk he said, "I always try to fold my arms and bow my head and close my eyes during the sacrament to help me be reverent.   I like to bow my head so that if I forget and open my eyes, all I'm looking at is my shirt."  :)
2.  i was cranky one night when he came home from scouts.  i was trying to remind him to do his dish job and he started complaining.  mid-sentence he stopped and said, "Oh.  Um.  Never mind.  I'll do my job mom."  As he turned and headed to the kitchen I heard him say to himself, "A Scout is Cheerful."

Really, he's so funny.  I love that kid.

The other day he made a comment about me not posting enough pictures of him.

and, he's right.

enjoy!!
(this is SO drew... and SO jakob.... i'm SO glad they have each other.)

drewser makes us ALL laugh.

i love 11 year olds.
a lot.

benched.

have you noticed i've been CAH-RA-ZEE lately?

a.  is it just because it's fall, and my kids are in many sports

soccer, soccer, soccer, cross country, cross country, football, scouts, activity days...

we couldn't even find a time for piano lessons this fall?!!??!!

b.  is it because i'm still moving in to a new house and i haven't figured out where everything goes?

i still have no pictures on my wall and a room full of books to unpack and put away.

c.  is it because this is my first summer with seven?  is it the new baby who is tipping my ship?

d.  is it because we live in a small town and i'm driving HOURS and HOURS of my life to get to football games, and doctor's appointments, and grocery stores?

and, i get LOST all the time.  ALL. THE. TIME.
e.  all of the above.

so, this week, i'm benching myself.  taking me out of the game, as much as possible.

to CLEAN and UNPACK.

because i just can't take it anymore.

it's like having my christmas tree up in February.

oh, we'll be able to have a REAL tree again this year! 

do you know 80% of the country's christmas trees come from this place?

and, grass seed.  this is where most grass seed comes from.

because it is BEAUTIFUL here.

i digress...

so, i'm benched.

are you laughing?

i am.

because, i'm the MVP, the quarterback of this team.

and, it's hard to bench yourself when you ARE the game.

but... i'm really going to try. 

and, my kids... they'll just have to WALK to the 6 doctor/dentist appointments we have this week.

hah!

anyway.  i may have to ground myself from the computer until my chores are done.

i'll hurry.   promise.

and, we can play later.

{don't you LOVE these pictures?  even though i spend ALL DAY on Saturday with football, it is SO FUN, and beautiful.  My two hour drives to schools around the state are so lovely that i can hardly begrudge the football federation.}

this is the road to my house. BEA. UT. IFUL.

today, i need to go down that road... and just hang out for a little while.

this... is my driveway...

 see you... someday soon!

ps.  guess what?

i love football.

i'm as surprised as you are.

it's crazy long.

but, really fun to watch.

more fun than soccer, i think.

wouldn't life be easier if good things were easy?

10.

drew is 10.

he's really fun.

and creative...

want to make a ninja star?-- here are the directions.

his birthday is June 1st-- he's getting ready!

love that kid.

let's skip halloween.

because... i don't have pictures and it's killin' me.

i still have a basket of my kids' halloween costumes so i can dress them up for a picture... but, it's painful for me to think about.
almost as painful to have one whole year with no costumes.

halloween this year was OK.
actually, i kinda hated halloween this year.
and i kinda loved it.
i was without husband.
and, i didn't want all the candy in my house.
we went to fall festival at the school... i forced myself to go...
no, i wasn't excited even though i love my school and pta plans fall festival.
still... too many kids/people and candy and organized chaos.
i'd rather be home.
but, my kids love it...
this year they had a lot of games, you had to work hard for your candy...
which takes time...
so, my kids only got a sandwich bag full of candy...
it was PERFECT.

the little girls had a play group party where they dressed up again, and jakob got invited to a party on Friday night... he wore his costume, but discovered when he got there, that he was the only one dressed up.  :)

when it was time for our church trunk r treat,
i was alone, and jakob had a band concert that we all needed to go to from 5:30-7:30pm,
i gave my kids a choice of what we would do afterwards...
trunk r treating, $2 cash, or ice cream at Cup of Yo. 
they choose Cup of Yo!!!!! 
Horray!!
No costumes, NO CANDY, just $15 of frozen yogurt after the band concert and they went to bed with all their teeth in tact.

we didn't trick r treat on Sunday,
so, ALL the candy and trick r treating they got was at our school Fall Festival.
isn't that amazing??!!
i did kinda miss the candy sorting piles...
that is my favorite part of halloween.
but, i don't miss the sugar.

and-
I'm so ready for THANKSGIVING!!!
and Christmas.
i put a turkey on my window yesterday...
We had our fun Harvest Feast on halloween night... i'll have to post pictures.
We also watched CREEPY CREATURES a National Geographic special... that was fun.
When that was over we watched a documentary on the World's deadliest drug... Meth.
My kids were entranced and freaked out... in a real scary way.
And, we played Werewolves... spooky.
My mom and my aunt came to visit.
We got THREE trick r treaters.  THREE.
i think it's because there are a lot of Christians in Lubbock who don't trick r treat on Sunday or maybe they just go to their own church parties and not around the neighborhood.
At least my kids weren't crying at the door while their friends filled up on candy.

Overall, i loved this holiday.
(yes, i'm still going to make them dress up again for a picture...)
even if i did it a little shabbily.
sorry halloween...  i kinda missed you this year.

he's ten.

after spending a day with my second,
i am reminded that... he's still my baby.

sweet, freckled, noise makin', always right, active, little guy.
and
i love this kid.
when i was younger and carried around baby dolls pretending to be a mommy...
this is what i wanted.
this feeling of he's great and he's mine...

i've invested a lot of time and energy and patience and prayer into this kid.
and, he is becoming.  without me.  because of me.  and in spite of me.

on his birthday he caught 3 fish.
remember, that was his summer goal?
my trick-- take my family to the park and just watch as they make friends with the fisherman.

on his birthday he invited a friend on his mom-date.
we saw how to train a dragon- at the dollar movies.
he loved it.
he got gummy worms and a slushie.
he has never gotten a snack and a drink at the movies before.  never.
oh how his life would have been different in another family.
during the whole movie he kept offering me sips.
"you can have as much as you want mom" he must have whispered 10 times.
sweet boy.
we went to fuddruckers for dinner.
the world's greatest burgers.
(because i couldn't do completely fast food or mac n cheese from a box.)
all 3 of us got a kids meal.  drew got a shake with NO whipped cream.

he still hates whipped cream.  (??!!)
the boys played for 20 minutes with their 25 cent ninja guys from the gumball machines.
they talked about their little sisters.
"my sister bites everyone" drew's friend said.
"Yeah, well, you should see my sister.  She can beat up a 6 year old." drew matched.
(huh?!  too funny.)

on his birthday it started to storm.
we were driving home, we rolled down the windows and got wet.
drew and i laughed, his 10 year old friend said, "come on guys, you're scaring me."
after dropping off his friend, we ran inside and changed into pajamas.
i jumped on my bed and pulled a quilt around me to listen to the storm.
drew climbed in with me.
he spent 20 minutes telling me about the super powers his ninjas had.
then, he asked if i wanted one.
sweet, sweet boy.
i love that kid.
i love 10.
growing, but still young.

on his birthday i remembered the little guy.
i saw the growing boy.
and i celebrated the time we have together.
thanks drew.
you are joy.