Chandler is in his third week of football season. He's playing youth Tackle Football on a team of 6th-8th graders. They practice three nights a week, for two hours. The first two weeks were a bit rough, as it was mostly conditioning, which means ALOT of running. This past week they finally got to wear pads and helmets and do more football type activities. The coaches have tentatively decided that Chandler will be the Center for Offensive. I'm told this is the person that snaps the ball to the quarterback and then quickly stands up to block the Defensive. Chandler wasn't too excited to hear that they intend on using him as Center. Chris says it is kind of like playing catcher for baseball....it's a key position for the team, kind of like the backbone, hard work, but doesn't get much glory. Chris views this as a compliment to Chandler, because at this age it is hard to find a child who can consistently get a good snap to the Quarterback, and if you can't get the ball to the Quarterback, then there is no Offensive. It's early in the season, so who knows what will happen, and Chandler's position could change several times.
Because I am in training for my new contract, Chris has to take Cooper and Max to football practice with him. So it is the whole crew. Cooper and Max have a blast though. There's a bunch of other siblings that come, so they spend the 2 hours running on the playground with the other kids, eating a snack, and sometimes watching a movie in the van. They usually come home dirty, hot, and tired.
The other big event in our family this week was that we switched beds for Cooper and Max. They share a room and have a bunk bed. Cooper was on the top bunk and Max was on the bottom. Cooper doesn't really like the top bunk, and has asked consistently to put the beds back to being single on the floor. I don't want to do that, as we had it that way for a while, and just doesn't leave much floor space in their room. Max on the other hand, loves the top bunk and is always asking if he can go up there (he was only allowed to go up on Cooper's bed with permission). He knows that there is no playing allowed up there, it is only for reading and sleeping. He likes to go up and lay there and play quietly with stuffed animals. So we decided to switch their beds, and they were both happy about that. I thought it would be a good idea also as Max is the one that says goodnight, rolls over and is almost instantly asleep, while Cooper is the one that comes out about ten times a night asking for various things and then usually ends up in my bed before the morning arrives. I knew I could trust Max to follow the rules, as he is generally a mini-Chandler. That means he likes rules, likes routine, and is usually the one that likes to remind US of the rules. Both he and Chandler are the type of child that makes you think you are a great parent, but really what happened is you just lucked out with a child who is mild-mannered and easy to be a parent to. Cooper, now that's a whole different, interesting and fun story for another day.
Friday, for our Nature day, we went to the Mills River Recreation area. It's basically a very shallow part of the river where the children can go to swim, throw rocks, and there's even a bit of rushing water that you can tube down for a few feet. We met some other homeschoolers there, and the boys had a great time. I didn't pack a lunch, even though we would be there over lunch hour, cuz I had no portable food in the house. I honestly planned on stopping somewhere on the way and picking up something, but there was not one single place to stop as it was all very rural and country-ish. I told the boys "So we didn't bring any food or snacks, so when you get really hungry, we will just have to leave to go home and eat." They didn't ask one time for food (that's not normal for my children), because they were too busy playing. After three hours, I decided I better get them home to eat before they decided they were "staaaarrving!!!".
We ended our week on Saturday with Chris and Cooper going to Lowe's for the Kids Build-It workshop. Cooper loves to go to these types of things where he can use a hammer. They built a bug box, which is SO the perfect thing for Cooper. He was very excited to show us his finished product!
So this was the end of our quiet time. Football games start next Saturday, and that will be every Saturday for several weeks. Awana starts this coming week for Cooper and maybe Max (haven't decided if he will participate or not). Cub Scouts start the following week, and then life just gets busier and busier.
Cooper and Max in their new bed arrangement. Cooper is totally posing, by the way. He thought the picture would be better if he was laying in his bed. (Did you know if you double-click on the pic it gets bigger?)
At the river. If you look way in the background, you can see Chandler floating down the river. Max is playing in the water, looking for fish.
Max is working on the letter "S", creating it out of Play-dough. Cooper felt the need to participate in this activity which is fine. It's a limited time in life that you can enjoy Play-dough so why not!
Cooper working on his bug box at the Lowe's clinic.
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