The Daily Life
The last time I wrote, it was the first few days of school and things were just getting back on the fall schedule. So here we are, September 30, and everything is in full swing. The boys are both very busy with football and Avery is doing her weekly clogging/tap class at Fuzion. Every day I get the kids ready for school from 7-7:45 and then we all hurry out the door. I drop Avery off at the elementary school right across from our house first, then drive about five minutes to Caleb's middle school and drop him off. Gabe's Jr. High school is the furthest one away (all the way on the other side of town) so sometimes Josh will swing by the house if he's working and drive him over there in his police car. If Josh isn't able to, then I will take him too after I drop Caleb off.
My ol' Buick Enclave is like a little school bus driving all around town! They COULD actually take the bus (well not Avery because the bus doesn't come through a neighborhood that is right across the street from a school) but the boys could! They just don't want to because they are spoiled and it takes a long time.
Josh's schedule has been a little worse (in my opinion) ever since he became a sergeant a couple of months ago. Basically before he became sergeant, he was able to always pick the day shift (6am-6pm) because he was pretty high up on the totem pole and could get what he wanted over the younger guys when they picked shifts. But when they made him sergeant, they said the wanted him to switch back and forth from doing day shift and swing shift so he could get to know all the guys and know things that were happening at various times of days. So now he basically will work 6am-6pm for a month and then switch to 2pm-2am for a month. I HATE the 2pm-2am shift. It's annoying because when the kids (and I) are in school during the day, he is home or at the gym just killing time. Then right before they get home and all heck breaks loose with after school stuff/making dinner/homework, he's like, "K bye!" and he's off to work. It's super lame. I just keep telling myself that him getting sergeant will hopefully be a good thing in the long-run because it puts him better in line for lieutenant and assistant chief (which are 9-5 and higher paying jobs).
As for me, I am working as a part-time school secretary at Avery's school again this year. It's such a small amount of hours, but it's just right to get me out of the house every day and able to chit chat with some grown-ups (and kids... which I don't really need...lol). But I basically drop the kids off at school, get back home, clean up the kitchen from the morning tornado, do some laundry, sometimes prep for dinner (because from 3-5 is always CRAZY!), take a shower, run errands if I need to, and then go to the school at 11:00am. I am there until 1:00 and then I come home and have until 2:30 when Avery gets home from school. (Isn't 2:30 early to get out of school? And on Fridays all three kids even get out an hour EARLIER!)
When Avery gets home we usually try to read and do math flashcards for about 30 minutes, then we have to leave to go get Caleb from school. Gabe has been having football practice most weekdays right after school, so it's nice that I don't have to go get him too at 3:30.
Caleb and Avery are home then from about 3:30-5:15 (unless Avery has dance, which is from 4:00-5:00) and then at 5:15 we load up the car again to DROP Caleb OFF at HIS football practice and then pick Gabe UP at his! Then Gabe comes home, eats, does homework, and sometimes then goes to a young men's church activity. Josh either gets home at 6pm (quick eats) and then goes to help assistant coach for Caleb's team. Or he's just gone at work until 2am.
So in conclusion, family dinners are not typically a thing for us because everyone is eating at different times and we aren't all back under one roof together until 7:30 or 8:00 every night. Then it's time to get ready for bed and do it all over again the next day!
As you can see, we are still BUSY, just not with the FUN things like exploring national parks and going on adventures!
Labor Day
We DID have one last mini-adventure over Labor Day, which was September 2. School had been in session for about two weeks and they had that Monday off, so it was a nice little break. We decided to utilize the annual National Park pass we had bought when Josh and I visited Grand Teton for our anniversary.
We loaded up our kids (it only took a LITTLE convincing) and drove then the two hours to Jackson, WY where we grabbed lunch at subway and then drove into the Grand Teton park. We took the inflatable kayak along and we all took turns paddling around in that and swimming at String Lake. It was a little windy that day (the day Josh and i went was PERFECT weather) so the paddling was challenging at times due to fighting the wind. The boys saw the HUGE rock in the middle of the water and of course HAD to swim out there to climb it and jump off! The first time they did it I was a little nervous they wouldn't jump out far enough and they would break their legs or something. But then after a couple times they were pros and there was no stopping them. They spent a good hour doing that. If you look at this next picture really close, you can see the big rock and them standing on top of it.
But about 5:00, we headed back out and ate dinner at Dairy Queen. Josh finally got the orange dreamsicle dipped cone he had been wanting since we were there two weeks earlier. I even took a picture to capture his happiness.
Gramp's 90th Birthday in Wisconsin!!
After Labor Day on Monday, I basically just had Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on mom/school duty, then on Friday, September 6th I got to fly home to Wisconsin! I booked my flight out of Idaho Falls so it was super convenient to just have Josh drive me there in the morning (it's about 30 minutes up the highway from our home.)
I didn't have a SUPER smooth day though because my flight was delayed leaving Idaho Falls and therefore I was landing right as my next flight was taking off. Sad face. :( So I missed it. So I hurried over to the customer service desk and told the lady that I could fly to Appleton, Madison, or Milwaukee. She found a flight that was leaving like, RIGHT away that went to Chicago and THEN Madison, so I would arrive there at 5pm. (I was originally supposed to arrive in Milwaukee at 2:00.) So I RAN to that gate and got on just as they were boarding. Then another quick layover in Chicago and I was on the plane to Madison! I was pretty glad that I had decided not to check a bag and just take a backpack. I was running through both the Denver airport and the Chicago airport with my backpack! It was a good workout.
Once in Wisconsin, my mom picked me up and we met up with my brother (who had also flown in) and my sister, Jasmine, Brayden, and grandma Dahlke and we went out to fish fry at Ledgeview Lanes. (Only in Wisconsin do you eat a fish fry dinner in a bowling alley... I'm telling you, we're classy like that. ;)
The next day was Saturday and my mom, Jasmine, and I went to TJ Maxx while Rachel and Brayden met up with the crew of Aaron, dad, Gramps, Melissa, and Jim and Terry and watched Brayden's flag football practice. (I was in hiding mode from my grandpa.)
After that, mom, Rachel, Jasmine, and Brayden and I went to Fond Du fest (another Wisconsin thing) and ate lunch.
Then at about 2:30 we drove over to the Country Inn hotel where the surprise party was. Gramps had NO idea. I literally can not believe that everyone kept it a secret. But when he walked in and we all yelled "SURPRISE!" I think he debating walking back out. Luckily he DID enter the room and it was a nice party. My dad made a video montage of old pictures and videos and there was some food and cake and we just chatted for a while.
After that, my brother and I went over to my grandpa's house for a while and we looked at some old photo albums. I took pictures of pictures to add to my family tree ap and then we went and met up with the rest of that gang at Culver's.
Sunday I went to church with my mom, Rachel and her kids at the newly redone FDL ward building (they added on some more classrooms and a bigger cultural hall) and then we had lunch at her house after. Grandma Dahlke cane over for lunch too. We had dinner at the Pizza Ranch with my dad, Melissa, gramps, Jim and Terry, Rachel and her kids, and my mom. Then I went back to my grandma's house. Staying at my grandma's condo is so nice because it's quiet and I have the whole downstairs to myself! My brother stayed with my mom (with Rachel, Jasmine, and Brayden) and he was like, "Why didn't I think of staying at grandma's?"
On Monday, I got picked up from my grandma's house by Gini and we went shopping with her little girl, Grace (who is 3) in Oshkosh. (Her other two kids are in school from 8-3). Then we went out to lunch at Panera and came back to Fond du Lac and went to her house. They just moved into a big house on Whispering Springs golf course this year, after Drake retired from playing basketball in Italy. (I KNEW I needed to get out there to Italy because he was close to retiring! I'm so glad I did last year!) Now Drake is coaching basketball at Marian.
So that was a fun day to catch up with Gin and see her Fond du Lac life!
Monday night I got to spend time with my grandpa and dad and Melissa again. Then I watched some Bachelor in Paradise with my grandma and mom.
The next morning I flew out of Milwaukee and back through Denver (made my connecting flight this time!) and then back to Idaho Falls. Josh and Avery were just pulling up as i walked outside.
Spirit Week
The next week was Spirit Week at all the schools in Rexburg because it was the high school homecoming week. So from Monday-Friday September 16-20, each day they had a different things to dress up as. Here are a couple pictures of Avery and I from "crazy hair day" and "superhero day" (I was Supergirl in disguise.) I also wore a purple wig for crazy hair/hat day!
My boys were pretty lame. They dressed up for "sport day" (Gabe wore a soccer jersey and Caleb wore a Packer jersey) and then on Friday they both wore their football jerseys. ACTUALLY... funny story. Caleb even had a GIRL wear his jersey from last year! Apparently it's a thing to have a girl wear your jersey in 6th grade. This girl named Brylee wore Caleb's. I have never met this girl but apparently she gives Caleb candy from the school store every day, so she has won his heart. lol
I posted the story on instagram about how Caleb came home from practice on Thursday and was insisting that his jersey HAD to be washed and smelling good for tomorrow. I was assuming HE just wanted to wear it, but I just thought it was weird that he cared for once about smelling good in clean clothes. Then it gets to be Friday morning and I see he isn't even wearing his jersey! Finally it clicked in my brain that he was going to take it to school and have a GIRL wear it! So I made him take his jersey from last year for her and he wore his current jersey. He has a game every Saturday morning so I just didn't want to risk it getting lost or going home with a girl after school on Friday and then us frantically needing it back for Saturday morning! Apparently every other mom thought the same way because Caleb said all the girls were wearing last year's white jersey and the boys all wore their current gray/red ones.
The crappy thing was, the weather was awful on Friday. POURING down rain. So the kids at the elementary school didn't even end up going to the parade on busses like they normally do. I guess Caleb DID choose to ride the bus and watch the parade in the rain (they let the middle schoolers choose) and Gabe ended up walking from his school over to Freddy's with some friends for lunch and then Josh picked him up from there and brought him home. Caleb ended up going home with a friend after school. It's kind of crazy that my kids are getting to the point where they are old enough to walk around town with friends and go places and I don't really know where they are. I've been fighting it for as long as possible but maybe Gabe DOES need a cell phone soon. I'll get him a flip phone like my grandpa.
Football:
More football stuff.... I forgot to mention that our high school just built an amazing new stadium! They had it's grand opening on August 30th for the first home game. It was a beautiful night and the whole city turned out to support the Madison Bobcats. They had an AMAZING win too. We were down in the beginning of the fourth quarter like, 19-6 I believe. We had been looking terrible the entire game. Dropping passes... fumbles... just a mess. Everyone was like, "Let's just leave." Then in the fourth quarter with like 40 seconds left, they scored and it was 13-19. So then the other team has the ball and it's only 40 seconds left and they keep taking a knee and we are like, "Darn... still no chance we can win." Then the other team has a bad snap from the center (we pointed out to Caleb the importance of the center's job!) and our boys get the ball! They drive down with like 20 seconds left, complete pass after pass, and SCORE in the last 5 seconds!! THEN they make their field goal, making the final score 20-19! It was insane. The announcer was like, "DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?!!!" Fans went crazy. It was a night to remember. Caleb and I had rode our bikes over there and started to leave but then stopped and watched again as we could here good things happening! Gabe and Avery had already gone back home, so they missed out!
And MORE Football Stuff...
Can you believe how long this post is?! Sheesh.
So now to talk about MY boys and football. Caleb, as you may know, has been playing consistently since he was like 6. He did flag until he was old enough to do grid kid, which was like fourth grade (age 9?) Then he started gird kid with this group of boys from some surrounding schools and so he's been playing with the same coach and boys for the past three years. He keeps improving each year and he's to the point now where he basically plays every second of every game (except for during the kick off and kick return, because he's over the size limit...) If you are over a certain weight they won't let you carry the ball in grid kid. Caleb is over the weight limit this year.... he is also currently over the weight limit for NEXT year too.... lol. He weighs like 170 with his pads and helmet on. So he plays center and gets to snap the ball to the quarter back. He is by far the biggest kid on his team. He enjoys it and has made a lot of friends and at school I feel like it's put him in a good place socially because as grown up and he's had different teachers and classes there has always been some boys from his football team that he's already known. Here are some pics of Caleb (#73) with his team and me with some of the moms in our matching shirts.
Caleb with his cousin, Berrick, after they played each other. (They are both 11... and Berrick is actually a few months OLDER than Caleb.)
Gabe decided to try football this season for the first time. Grid kid ends after eighth grade and then they would have to try out for the ninth grade team next year. So Josh told Gabe, "Just try it this year and you can decide if you want to try out then for ninth grade." Gabe played flag for a couple years when he was younger, but he always ended up on crappy teams. Then when he would do soccer in the summer as a child, he was ALWAYS winning and on good teams. So I think he just naturally started to think, "I'm a better soccer player."
So he basically did soccer through the rec department from ages 6-11 and then when he was too old for that, he started playing on the middle school and club soccer teams when he was 12 and 13. He's enjoyed it, but honestly I don't feel like he loved it enough to actually work hard at it when he wasn't at practice. He came into it with a lot of natural ability and was easily beating other kids when he was 9, but with time, other kids from his soccer teams who eat, sleep, and breathe soccer have just gotten better and better and I feel like those are the kids that are going to try out and make the soccer team in ninth grade. There's got to be at least 30-40 boys who have done these club teams for the past few years and I know for a fact the ninth grade soccer team only takes 15 (I know the coach's wife.) Soooo.... you do the math. There's going to be a lot of sad ninth grade boys who don't get to play soccer in high school.
Therefore, Josh said to Gabe, "If you've ever thought about football.... just try it this year. It's your last chance to get some experience in it before high school."
And guess what? Gabe is killing it. I think maybe that soccer actually kept him in decent shape. lol Even in soccer, Gabe was always an aggressive player. He fouled a lot. lol One time a mom on the opposite team actually was screaming on the sideline, "Take number 7 out of the game!!! He's going to hurt someone!!!" And Josh was like, "He'll be fine... sit down...." and then I thought him and this mom were going to brawl. lol
So anyways, they've got him playing both offense and defense. Typically he's playing defensive tackle. He's pretty good at scrambling around and breaking through the line to get to the quarterback. He made a good play the other day where he broke through and jumped up to block the quarterback's pass. Then when he was playing offense on his last game, his quarterback was starting to get sacked and he tossed/dropped the ball in the air and Gabe jumped up and grabbed it and ran for about ten yards. As he stood up from the tackle, I was like, "Wait....Was Gabe just carrying the ball?" Not by the quarterback's intention, but yes. lol So I think Gabe definitely has the ability and the potential to play football next year. We will just see if that's what he decides to do. Maybe he will still play soccer this spring and then try out for ninth grade soccer. Who knows! Whatever he decides, I'll be fine. (I won't speak for Josh though... haha.) Here are some pics (he is #23.) Gabe's team has played four games and is currently undefeated.
So that's all the excitement I can think of in our lives right now! We are currently off school this whole week of Monday, September 30th to Friday, October 4th for "Spud Harvest break." It used to be a time when a lot of school-aged Jr. High and Highschoolers would help on farms getting the potatoes out of the ground. But now most kids don't even do that. It's just a time for vacations! We are being lame though and spending the week at home. It's been really rainy and cold. We debated going to southern Utah for the week or going to the Oregon coast, but then ruled it out because, you know, football! It rules our lives right now and Josh didn't want them to miss any games! Plus we are saving money for a cruise in January, but SHHHH don't tell. It's a secret from our kids that we plan to surprise them with at Christmas!
That's all for now!
