First Flag Football Game

I have known for awhile now that our God answers prayer, and that He often does so in lavish ways that leave us stunned by His goodness.  Today the Bangsunds saw this type of lavish answer to prayer.

By the title of the post, you know we are talking about flag football.  If you have read "Challenging Morning" you already know what our first practice was like.  We have spent this week in preparation, buying the right gear and practicing being outside in the cold.  This morning dawned clear and beautiful, a gift from Jesus Christ to our family.  We put on our gear and headed for the field.

Our practice was at 10am.  It went pretty well, but at one point I actually had to heed a friend's advice and step away from the field.  I'm a mom.  Not only that, I'm a homeschooling mom.  There hasn't been much my kids do with which I've not been intimately involved.  When little Paul was starting to lose heart about not touching the ball on every play, I wanted to go fix it.  Awesome John Willsea (this is his new title in my book) gently but firmly told me the coaches could handle Paul's disappointment and directed me to go chat with his wife (a dear friend of mine) on another part of the field.  THANK YOU, MR. AWESOME JOHN WILLSEA!!  I thank you.  My kids' coaches thank you.  And every parent on that field thanks you.

Practice ended and it was game time!  Here are the pics and a few fun plays.

 Upward announces every kid's name and they run through this tunnel before every game.  It is SO much fun!!  Luke was the first from his team - they go in alphabetical order.  I was so proud of him.  Just a year ago, this would have been an anxiety attack.  God is so good!

 This was Paul's favorite part of the day!  No joke.  At the end of the game as we headed back to the car, he said, "I got to run through that tunnel!"  I love my little guy.

 This is the part where God gave us immeasurably more than we asked or imagined.  Luke got to take a few snaps as quarterback today.  This is totally part of Upward's philosophy, allowing even beginners a chance to play the important positions.  It was SUPER fun!

 Luke was also able to play center for quite a few plays.

 At one point Paul was able to get both flags in his mouth. It was so stinkin' cute.  Paul had a few hard moments today.  He really wants to touch the ball on every play.  This just isn't possible for many reasons, probably the most important of which is that the one time he was handed the ball, he ran the wrong way.  It was so very adorable.  He is the youngest on the team and is already becoming the a mascot of sorts.  See the below picture.

This is Paul with #45, a fellow teammate, a big boy.  This sweet young man helped Paul find his way to our sideline after running through the tunnel.  It's going to be a great season, folks.

Smiling Suns and Other Joys

We have had some fairly adorable moments the past few days.  I'll let the pictures tell the story.  :-)

 Luke has been into drawing more lately.  Erik took these shots at Luke's request the other morning.  Adorable.

 In case your day needed a smiling sun.  I also think there is a person in the lower right corner.

On Monday we had our first picnic of the year!  I LOVE eating in the backyard.  No floor to sweep.  Crumbs are for the birds - literally.  Luke also ate, but for some reason I failed to get a picture of him.

 Where's Waldo...I mean Luke?  He loves climbing this "tree" and I refuse to tell him that it's actually a rhododendron bush.  Nobody wants to climb a bush. 

You will not believe how long my children entertained each other with a tape measure today.  They measure everything.  Then they played a game where they would guess how many inches something measures, measure it and declare a winner based on who guessed closest.  (Daddy's brilliant pre-dinner activity)

We need a second tape measure.  Actually two new ones that are exactly the same.  Perhaps a Home Depot visit this weekend.

 Teamwork!

What are these children holding?  The Daddy-Man's latest, greatest idea - The Bangsund Boys Bedtime Checklist!  Tonight was its inaugural use.  About fifteen minutes before we want them to be in bed, we announce it is checklist time.  My kids love to check things off lists.  Is it a bad thing that I'm feeding this semi-idiosyncratic behavior?  Regardless, it went AWESOME tonight.  The list is comprised of things that we are usually running around doing for the boys as we try to get them ready OR things that they come out of their rooms to do after we have said good night.  So far tonight, nobody has ventured from their rooms to do anything.  WOOT!

I tried to get Paul to smile, but he really wanted to make this face instead.  Yes, he's wearing his bathing suit in this picture.  (I should just re-name this blog "The Adventures of Bathing Suit Boy.")

Paul worked his way down his list, checking off each item with a green crayon on the kitchen floor as he went.  We fully plan on laminating the list and getting each boy a dry erase marker so that we aren't killing trees in our efforts to train our children.

Everything checked off AND circled just for good measure.  He's too tired to smile.  Good thing he is completely ready for bed!  :-)


Flag Football Update:  I think this face says it all.  We've been out in the backyard twice already in all the gear (including new cleats).  It has been fun each time.  Coach Nathan sends out a weekly email with stuff to work on if we have time, as long as it is fun for the kids.  So, Lorene Park Academy (our homeschool) has had a strong focus on physical education so far this week.  Yes, we've done handwriting and history.  But we've also done throwing, catching and pulling flags!  Guess which one we ALL enjoy more?  :-)  First game is this Saturday at 11am.  I've already seen answered prayer as the Lord has given my oldest boy a huge desire to practice his ball handling even when Mommy throws it a little too hard and beans him in the head.  TRUE STORY.  This picture was taken after the aforementioned beaning.  No scars emotional or physical.  Thank You, Jesus!

Challenging Morning

Our boys went to their first ever athletic team practice this morning for flag football.  It was pouring down rain and about 44 degrees Fahrenheit by the gauge on my car, which always runs a little warm.  We arrived and they were game to get out of the car.  We met the coaches, Coach Nathan and Coach Tammy.  And then practice started.

The boys stretched with the team, ran with the team and then started drills with the team.  And now comes the part that is sad.  On his second snap, Luke completely lost his footing and fell backward with his feet in the air and his back in the mud.  Imagine the classic banana peel slip, only it's not funny because it's your sweet, precious boy who is already stretching his comfort zone.  Luke lost it.  Completely.  He burst into tears, ran to the sidelines, and refused to join the team for the remaining forty minutes.  I had tried to buy him cleats the day before, but we were unable to find a good fit for either boy at the one place we visited.  Oh, how I wish I had persevered in that hunt.

Meanwhile, Paul is doing okay, but the cold is starting to get to him.  By the end of practice he is in tears, so cold that his teeth won't stop chattering.  That's when I remember that he's wearing short sleeves under his coat.  Oy.  I needed to fight that battle this morning and I failed to do so.

The ride home is an unhappy one.  They hated nearly every minute and I'm really struggling with feelings of embarrassment and disappointment, not in them so much as the situation.  I had been looking forward to the boys' participation on a team, learning a sport, and all that fun stuff.  I have no delusions that they will be professional athletes someday.  I just wanted them to be part of something bigger than themselves and have some fun.

Upon arriving home, I bounced off the house to do the grocery shopping for the week.  I left Erik to deal with the aftermath which involved a bath for Paul, whose teeth finally did stop chattering and a complete change of clothes for Luke.

Grocery shopping is always therapeutic for me.  Of course I began my trip thinking, "Well, it doesn't really matter that my children behaved abominably.  We will never see any of those people again.  Ever."  I know.  Selfish and small.  I have never claimed to be anything other than a work in progress.  Very slow progress - like two steps forward and one step back.  Strolling the aisles buying cereal and pasta, I quietly asked the Lord what I was supposed to do.  By the time I left Winco I was considering the thought of taking the boys back next weekend.

When I arrived home, both boys were chipper and ready to talk.  We explained to Luke that we want him to learn to persevere even in the hardest situations.  We know that cold, rainy football practice isn't really a difficult life situation, but it is the toughest thing my six year old faces right now.  Luke seemed to get it.  We also made a plan for next week's attire.  It's okay to triple layer.  We even had Luke practice wearing three shirts at once.  Lastly, we are going to purposely layer ourselves and practice being outside in the rain this week.  As a homeschooler, I set the schedule, I choose the activities.  We will be spending 45 minutes outside in the rain this week in preparation for next week's practice and game.  This was Daddy-Man's idea, and I think it's brilliant.  We will also buy some cleats.

After our family meeting style conversation, the boys wanted to put all their gear on.  Jerseys, wristbands, belt with flags attached, and mouth guards.  Then they went downstairs with Daddy and practiced running around while he tried to pull their flags.  They had fun together.  This is what I had been hoping for.  Will they be able to transfer it to the field next Saturday?  Unknown.  Will we try again?  Yep.  Not because we are parents who have it all together and think that our kids will be perfect or even better next time.  More because we have a God who grows us and our kids through the trials we face, big or small, and He is good even when our circumstances are not.  Besides, if the boys improve even one tiny bit, we can rejoice and give God the glory.  Stay tuned for that possibility.

A few pics were taken before the tears began.  Here they are:

 Paul is in the dark blue with his back to us and Luke is in the light blue with his profile to us.

 Stretching

 Luke's first snap - he did great.

Paul's first snap.  You can't really tell, but he's grinning.

Bye Bye, Tree

We had some excitement here today.  And when I say excitement, I mean the type of action that only six and four year old boys really appreciate.  We had a tree removed from our backyard.  It has been leaning in the scariest way for about a month now.  We've never loved this tree.  I know.  Trees are good.  We planted two in our front parking strip in January.  I like trees.  Just not this one.

It had sharp thorny projections and wasn't good for climbing.  Various branches had been rubbing against some wires connected to our house and every time we removed the offending branch, the tree would lean over a little more so that a new branch can take over the job.  Irritating.  Did I mention that the sound of the rubbing could be heard in our bedroom and was sometimes loud enough to be heard through my earplugs at night?  Bye bye, tree.

If you look closely at that middle trunk, you can see a massive crack.  Not good.

I don't usually allow couch standing, but they were so completely enthralled.  The presence of work crews around our place has a rather hypnotic effect.  The boys stare with mouths agape and move zombie-like to whatever surface will provide the best view.  It just happened to be the top of the couch for Paul. And yes, he is wearing his bathing suit.

Machinery, on the other hand, produces shrieks of excitement and leaps for joy.  They've just spotted the chipper parked in front of our house.

One down, three to go.

I finally asked Luke to turn and smile. He did.  I asked Paul, too.  He was not able to comply.

Still standing on the couch, watching in amazement.

Why does Luke look so old in this picture?  The baby teeth help, but other than that, he seems SO grown-up to me.  In a *completely* random sidenote:  I just finished reading Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie and he cites the reason why Peter was so very irresistible: he still had all his baby teeth.  So there you go.

This man climbs trees for a living and gets to use a chainsaw all day.  My guys probably want to be him when they grow up.

Yes, that's our Christmas tree.  Yes, it was in our backyard.  Yes, these guys were nice enough to take care of it for us.  Probably the most expensive tree disposal we've ever had.  I don't recommend it as an annual practice.

Watching the chipper at work.

In other news, we had guests yesterday.  While their mom traveled with older siblings to a debate tournament, these two hung out with us.  They all had fun, spending much of their time playing pretend games that usually involved pillows, jumping, and someone being an alligator or a tiger.  Love it!

So cute!

Unexpected Hodge-Podge

Unexpected because this will be my second blog posting in as many days.

Hodge-Podge because I finally got a charged battery into my camera and discovered a very random assortment of pictures which I will now share with all of you.

The boys help me "make" bread.  Okay.  We all dump different ingredients into our bread maker.  But it tastes amazing and they like to dump things in and watch it stir.

Our favorite whole grain bread, sweetened with molasses.  It looks gross here, but I think that's part of what the boys love about it.  Turns out amazing every time.

Ever wonder, "What do those boys do all day?"  This is a fair part of it.  They also build forts, construct and deconstruct lego creations, argue with each other, pretend to be knights, and eat.

More of the above.  This is a Brer Rabbit storybook that is part of our Read Aloud curriculum.  The boys enjoy the crazy, mad-capped humor and the fact that I read it with my best southern accent.  I'm allowed.  I'm not a possible presidential candidate. (First political comment on my blog!!  Will there be backlash?!?)

We went on a date in February.  We had my mom take this picture beforehand so we would remember that we went on a date and it was fun.

Paul likes marker a little too much.  I'm so glad these things are non-toxic and washable.  Although I will say it took more than one bath to get all of this to go away.  He's never seen the old Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but I really wanted to teach him the Oompa Loompa song when I saw what he had done to himself.

I'm sorry that I can't remember why he posed like this, but I'm glad I took this picture.  It accurately portrays what he is like for much of the time - goofy.

Yep.  Goofy.  This is in the cabin at Sunriver with a bug net over his head.

There are the pictures, people.  I told you they were random.  Paul just came out of his room, pointed at this picture and said, "I know who that is.  It's Link."  Also random.  Perhaps as we get back into our schedule this coming week, things will be less random and I'll actually have a blog post that makes more sense.  :-)

Pajama Pizza Party in Medford

Greetings Friends!  I apologize in advance for the shocking lack of pictures in this post.  There is a story behind that irritating business...maybe I'll share later.  For now, I will share the cuteness before me.  My boys are currently sitting on a queen sized bed at the Courtyard Marriott in Medford, OR.  They are wearing matching pajamas and they are watching one of their favorite videos, Crazy Hair Day.  Daddy will be arriving shortly with gourmet pizza for the grown-ups and pepperoni with no cheese for the short ones.  Sparkling water for us, chocolate almond milk for them.  YUM!

We are celebrating our last night of travel after ten days on the road.  This was our very first multiple-day road trip.  We did pretty well.  There were a few moments that were less than lovely, but I think those are pretty normal for most families who travel together.  Here are some of our highlights.

Our first night on the road we stayed in Dunsmuir, CA at the Rail Road Park Resort where every room is a real caboose that has been converted.  Yes, the boys were both absolutely entranced.  This was the point at which I realized my camera battery was dead. I had failed to bring the replacement, and I was officially sad.  I know that Grandma and Grandpa, with whom we were caravanning at the time, took a few shots.  We'll see if I can get a few of those eventually.
Our second day of driving, Paul was noticeably confused.  He kept asking the same question over and over.

Paul:  "Where are we going?"
Mommy or Daddy:  A brief explanation of the concept behind a road trip
(about an hour later)
Paul:  "Where are we going?"
Mommy or Daddy:  Another failed attempt at explaining to the four year old mind why we are spending so much time in the car.

To his credit, Paul did not once ask if we were there yet.  I don't think he ever actually grasped the fact that we would eventually stop being in the car all day. Sweet, patient, trusting child.

Our  second night we stayed in Fresno.  Paul bunked in with us while Luke stayed with Grandma and Grandpa.  That works so well for our people who just haven't been able to successfully sleep in the same room yet.  And while it was just a regular hotel with no railroad theme, there was a pool and the boys found this delightful.

One thing I failed to mention earlier was the absolute deluge we had driven through and continued to drive through.  It rained all day for three days straight from Portland to Palm Desert, CA.  Seriously.  It followed us.  Crazy.

But the boys and I were NOT deterred.  Upon arrival, we discovered that the condo had a fabulous in-ground hot tub.  Being in a hot tub in the rain is so fun!  The boys and I spent our first evening thus "relaxing" while the Daddy-Man unloaded the car and set up camp.  Yes, I realize that staying in a condo in Palm Desert is nothing like camping, but it's kinda as close as I get right now.  Yes, you can mock me.

We spent the next five days enjoying the pools, the parks, and time with Grandma and Grandpa, along with a number of other So Cal family members.  (Official shout out to Betty, Ellen, Barbara and Lyle - it was great to see you all!)  The boys also were able to build legos and drive remote control cars.

Friday morning we were up early and on the road by 7am.  Our longest day of driving was before us and this Mommy wanted to be sure it ended before dinner time.  We made it to San Jose by 4:30 on the dot!  I LOVE gps.  My favorite stretch of road on this drive was Highway 152 - so beautiful!  Green rolling hills with really pretty trees.  We are going to drive that road again without children sometime.

Our arrival in San Jose was a warm welcome from Uncle Jim and Aunt Judy.  Although the boys were heinous at dinner, they were delightful at breakfast.  Road-weary four year olds are hard to please.  Sorry, Aunt Judy.  I thought dinner was wonderfully delicious.  After a fun evening around the kitchen table, we passed out in our beds.

This morning we decided to take the scenic route through San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, thanks to Uncle Jim's fun suggestion.  The weather was junk, but it didn't matter.  That bridge is cool.  The boys thought as much and so did I.  It was also super fun to go home a different way than we had come.  It was hours of different scenery before we eventually hit I-5 and turned off the gps.  Follow the road home, people.

When we saw our first sign with mileage for Portland (around 380 miles), I had the brief thought of pushing through.  Because I'm pretty done with the road for awhile.  But we would have pulled in around 9pm.  That would have sucked big time.  Besides, this is Erik's favorite hotel of all time.  The Courtyard Marriott in Medford is a pretty accommodating place, I must admit.  If they could just get my four year old to fall asleep quicker...

We pulled in here just after 4pm.  We swam in the pool.  We sent Daddy for pizza.  We put on our pajamas.  We cannot wait to get up in the morning and head for home.  I hope Paul asks where we are going.  I really want to say, "Home!"

Literary Experiences

We have been reading the Francis books by Russell Hoban.  It all began with A Baby Sister for Francis which we received as a gift from Ashli Moore about four years ago when Luke was bitty and Paul was bittier.  Although it was popular at the time, the subtleties of Francis have really started to catch on lately.  We were delighted to learn that our library has the entire collection.

In the past week we have enjoyed Best Friends for Francis, A Bargain for Francis, and my personal favorite Bread and Jam for Francis.  Each features our heroine singing her way through many of life's trials and tribulations, an attribute with which our entire family resonates.

While doing the grocery shopping today, I simply could not resist the urge to give the boys a special "literary" treat.  In A Baby Sister for Francis, Francis runs away from home.  She doesn't run far, as she deems the spot underneath the dining room table the most suitable place to which one could run away.  With her she takes five chocolate sandwich cookies and a box of prunes.

After rest time today, we had special family Francis Time.  The adults declined to sit under the table, but did enjoy a few of the chocolate sandwich cookies...Luke is the only one who ate prunes.  He loves them!  :-)  Here are the pics.

Luke took time to smile for the camera.  Paul was all business with the chocolate sandwich cookies.

Luke eats his prunes with a fork, thereby preventing sticky fingers.  Yep.