Canning buddy

The weather may not agree, but this tells me fall is here. With smells of this filling the house....

and these lining my shelves...

I am so ready for fall in every way, shape and form. After 3 years of peeling, slicing and cooking, I was sad that my canning buddy is moving away. Maddox filled in this time and although he was cute (and a little slobbery),

I don't think his canning skills are quite up to par.

But I have to give him credit for his dedication. He kept screaming at me whenever I tried to distract him and take his picture. It didn't end pretty when he chucked an apple at me.

Don't mind that it's a little blurry, I was more concerned about moving out of the way before getting beaned in the head then keeping the camera still. Despite his vicious throws, I think I'll let my little canning buddy stick around to keep things exciting. And because I kind of like him.

Soccer

I won't lie. It was hot and miserable outside. BUT I did love seeing my kids play their little hearts out there on their first game of the season. Kylie is a hustler. She's got speed and never lets the ball out of her site. It doesn't hurt that she looks so adorable in her little uniform either. Jayden is a maniac. Sometimes he forgets that his teammates are on the same team. It's not uncommon to see a little elbow or push here and there. He's about a foot taller than everyone else and has an ego twice as big. However, his aggressiveness scored him 2 goals. That boy....can't help but love him. Here's to a great season, go Panthers and Cougars! (the coach had a hard time trying to talk them out of naming the team "BYU" after Jayden suggested it and everyone else voted for it. Cougars was a respectable back up.)

Rock on

I think it's safe to say that tonight was one of Kylie's best nights ever. We went with a big group of friends to the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lavato/Camp Rock concert. I was so excited to score such a sweet deal on the GA lawn tickets but when we got there we realized why they were so cheap.  They were so far back on the lawn that you could barely see or hear (why they didn't put speakers in the back is still a mystery to me). I thought Kylie would be happy to just hang out with her friends, but I underestimated this girl and her will to rock.  She convinced me to squeeze our way to the front of the lawn section where she (we, give me credit) stood squished and sweaty for the entire remaining 2 hours. Some of her friends came and hung out for a little but eventually went back to the blankets and some even fell asleep.  She was a hardcore rocker (yes, the Jo Bro's are considered a rock concert when you're 8 years old) and I loved seeing her eyes light up and the way she would dance and sing everytime they played a song that she knew.  It was a great show and I may have even busted a move here and there to emberass her, cause that's what moms are supposed to do.

The fact that I'm doing the "I love you" sign instead of the rock&roll sign in no way suggests the kind of concert goer I am. While we're on the subject, I don't know why my mouth is open in all of these pictures either. I'm not even going to guess what Kylie's got going on in this picture. Like mother like daughter.

Some dirty fun

We decided that we needed to be a camping family. So Jason risked his life to buy a tent trailer when he followed a stranger he met on Craigslist down a deserted dirt road in the middle of the night. It all ended well, but after spending too many days and too much money fixing it up (it was a little older and more run down than we had thought) and getting ready for our campout we're starting to reconsider if we're a camping family after all. But we did have a lot of fun camping with friends over Labor Day weekend,

so after I've recovered from washing all the laundry and scrubbing down the trailer we'll see if we decide to become an official camping family or not. There is so much I do love about camping. I love seeing my kids get so dirty, seriously it makes me happy. I love that I sat on my designated camp chair 90% of the weekend, getting up only to occasionally feed my kids and take pictures of them so that maybe they won't remember that all I did was sit on my hiney. Kylie spent the weekend making up dances with Makayla,

 trying to beat the boys in a marshmallow burning contest,

trying her skills at the BB gun,

making memory bracelets (the idea was on familyfun.com, it's just duck tape and they loved finding treasures to take home)

and just hanging out with her friends.

Jayden felt like a celebrity when he caught this horny toad,

 he thought he was pretty important when he helped the big boys collect firewood,

he was on cloud nine when he got to shoot a real BB gun,

 he didn't want to leave the river

 and like his mom he loved chilling by the fire (and insisted on a fire in the 96 degree weather).

Maddox was his usual cute little self

was fascinated by the fire,

put plenty of miles on his little truck

(I really think I could make an entire scrapbook of his cute little bum),

managed to cover every inch of his body with dirt

and thank goodness the trailer pulled through with the shower.

He wooed "Beba" (Ava).

 After smashing his face on the screen and calling her name didn't work

he then took her by the hand and led her into the trailer. Oh dear.

He managed to squeeze his chubby little cheeks into this helmet and loved the quads until he cried to take the helmet off (real men wear pink, by the way).

And Jason tried to hold his own with the bow and arrow, blow dart gun and target practice along with rocking those nice calves that I love.

It was so nice to get away from all the distractions and let my kids experience some good old fashioned outdoor fun. Maybe we'll just have to do it again. in a year. if we don't sell the trailer first.