On the hunt for a Christmas card.

Photo shoot, November 2014.  

Sure, they look photogenic. They lie. 

This was a crazy a** 20 minutes. 

But, luckily our photographer was up for a challenge. 

Head band is cute, right?!

The bangs that she cut during class are not. 

Now, THIS IS MORE LIKE IT!

"Laugh like you just made fun of one another" 

Monster Dash!

A 5K Monster Dash to celebrate Halloween.  It sounded like fun.  And it was.  It was also freezing cold, wet and tornado like.  These are just a few of the things that helped me get through it.    

You had to be in costume.  

G was a punk skate board dude.

Avary was a black cat.

Max, Griff and Mo.  

Good buds.

Chloe, MacKenna and G and A.

MacKenna, Avary and Chloe.  You can't even believe how cold it was.  They were such good sports.

Griffen crossing the finish line!!

And this one too.

This was one of those things that we can say 'we've done that'. 

And NEVER do it again.

So, funny part to this night.  Jackson stayed home while the four of us went to the race.  Because of the weather, the power went out.  When the power goes out, it gets dark in our neighborhood.  WAY DARK!  We came home and found Jackson in his bed, with the covers over his head, hiding from whatever the dark brings.  Silly boy.

Kick or Treat!

Avary and her soccer team played in a local Halloween tournament.  They all had so much fun and finished in 2nd place!

They played 5 games throughout the whole day starting at 9am.  Luckily there was things to keep them busy.

Last pep talk from Coach Ross.  For playing in a U10 league, these girls all amaze me.  I could watch them every weekend.  Oh wait, I do.

Colorado Youngs were in da house!

So, it was back in August, but Brian, Gia and Kaycie were here!  And, it was fun!!

We went to a place called NW Trek.  There was wild life, but most importantly, there was a zip line!  Fun times and lots of laughs.  

Craig is the blue dot.

Somebody was a little excited!

J, Craig, Brian and Kaycie.

Waiting for the s'mores.

yup, they're brothers.  You'd never know by the looks of it.

This was a couple months ago, but I still remember how proud of Jackson we were for doing this.  It was about 4 hour adventure and he never once gave up!  I have videos of this on my phone.  If I can figure out how to get them from there to here before I am 95, I will.

Some might call it a "Once in a Lifetime" opportunity.

Avary had a game this morning at her home field, Starfire Complex in Tukwila. Just so happens to also be the practicing field for the Seattle Sounders.  Just so happens that they were all there this morning practicing at the field right next to our game. Just so happens that I didn't see much of Avary's game.  

You can barely see them in this photo behind our goal box. 

Normally, any game of Griffen or Avary's that's before noon is a no-brainer as far as Jackson even considers joining us.  Boy is he happy he woke up "early" and made the trip with us today. 

The players walked past us.  Each and every one of them.

Yup!  That happened!  I tried to explain to the boys that some kids are lucky enough to meet and see up close a player or two in their lifetime.  Today the boys were lucky enough to do both.  With most of the team.  

Amazing.

Damion Lowe.

Sean Okoli.

Obafemi Martins.

Djimi Traoré and Michael Azira.

Aaron Kovar. 

Kenny Cooper.

DeAndre Yedlin.

Chad Marshall.

Brad Evans.

Gonzalo Pineda.

Clint Dempsey

Even us moms got into it.  

I might've rubbed his back a little longer than I should have.

(just a little)

Marco Pappa

Kévin Parsemain

Grand Finale.......

Griffen and Coach Ziggy Schmid!

So, yes, Avary had NO IDEA any of this was going on.  As far as she knew we were watching her game.  SHHHHHH!  I'm trusting you that she will never find out......

And the award goes to....

Jackson received a sportsmanship award from his school soccer coach this morning during an assembly.  He played his skinny little butt off.  My words, not his.

Million Cookie Challenge Accepted!

Two words was all it took; cookie & challenge. They were in! 

Avary and her friend, MacKenna, joined in on a local event. A company, here in the harbor, sends cookies to troops in Afghanistan every year. The troops will receive them in time to enjoy during the holidays. We only made 2 dozen, but still played a big part in sending some home baked love to our Heros. 

The girls wrote little notes of encouragement on the bags we filled with cookies.