Archery competition

Brady recently (ok, a month ago) had an archery competition. This is the first year that his school has had an archery club. The resource officer (is that what you call the police officer at the school?) got it going at two schools in the county. Brady was interested in giving it a try, and we didn't already have enough going on, so we said sure! (sarcasm alert!) He has really enjoyed it, and he's pretty good at it too. He won third place at his competition! He has fun with it, and I think it's cool that he's learning something new.

Avery's a teenager!!

Today is Avery's birthday, and he's 13! I can't believe it!! I certainly don't feel old enough to have a son that's a teenager!! He's an amazing kid, and I'm so proud of who he is becoming!
Here are a few pictures of him, from the past few years. Enjoy!
He's gonna kill me for some of these! :)

a poem

i feel like crud
i have a lot of snot
my eyes are watery
and my mind is shot

the coughing i can't stop
nor the sneezing and the dripping
it's not very fun
it feels like i am tripping

my eyes just want to close
and get a little rest
but breathing is required
and the boogers make a nest

my mind is a little jumbled
poems are not my forte
but laughing always helps
make me forget and to snorte

now that my poem is all finished
some rest i'm after now
no coughing, sneezing or snotting
will be great, right after some chow

The end of an era...

okay, not really, but it is the end of football for this year! Brady had his last game this past Saturday. They ended the season with a win, and a great record 5-2. I was really hoping that Brady would not like football, but it didn't happen. At all. He loves it! It was more fun to watch then I thought. I know that will change as he gets older, and they start hitting harder. I have a video to put on here, but it's not cooperating this morning, so I'll keep working on that.
This is our first week with no practices since the beginning of August. I'm not sure what we're going to do with all our time. Brady is still doing archery through the school, but he just stays late one day a week, and there's no running involved!! Cross country and soccer are finished for Avery too. I really don't think we remember what life is like without all that going on. I'm very excited to be reminded though!
Here are just a few of the things I'm looking forward to...

• family dinners at the table
• not having to make sure uniforms are clean
• not living in the van
• not eating out as much
• we can get all the chairs, blankets and equipment out of the back of the van
• more relaxing afternoons/evenings
• not having to worry about when homework is going to get done
• we might actually have time to play outside together
• not being so exhausted all the time from the constant running
• not driving to the other side of town every day(50-60 minutes round trip)
  
• saving on gas
• knowing that everyone is in one place :)

Cross country state championships

before the race

you can't see avery in this one, but i just wanted to show how crazy it was!

after the race. he doesn't even look like he just ran two miles!

A few weeks ago Avery qualified for the state championships in cross country. He was very excited to do this in his first year running. So, last weekend we went to Knoxville. There were four runners from his school, one other boy, and two girls. There were nearly 300 boys running in the varsity race. He's only ever run with about 150, so that was a big change. This was only the second two mile race he's done all year. The course was pretty challenging as well. It was a great experience for him, and he's already thinking about next year. He really misses practicing with everyone at school, but he seems pretty determined to continue running on his own, which is really cool. I can tell he really loves it. He's currently training for a race at one of the state parks around here. It's a six mile race, and it's only a little over a month away! Keith's going to train with him, but it falls on a guard weekend, so he'll have to run on his own. I'll be there cheering him on the whole way! Anyone want to join him?!?
A big thanks to Mom and Dad for keeping Brady and Chloe for the weekend. It was fun to have time with just Avery. We're so proud of him!! It was a great weekend!

Bad weather

A couple of nights ago we had some bad weather heading our way, so we had to wake the kids and bring them downstairs. We were trying to decide, but when we could pick out our street on the map, and it was in the path of a possible tornado, the decision was pretty easy. All three kids are pretty heavy sleepers, so it took a little longer than I thought to get them downstairs. Except for Chloe. Keith just picked her up, and brought her down. She never even woke up! The boys were awake, but only barely. By the time we got everyone down, the worst was almost past. We waited a few minutes, but thankfully there was no tornado or anything really severe.

Cross country

The county championship was yesterday afternoon. I thought it was the last meet, but we still have one to go, and it's the biggest yet, because they learn if anyone qualifies for the state meet in Knoxville. Avery had his best meet yet, I think, and he earned a medal. He finished 25th out of seventy something. I'm not sure exactly how long it was, but it's usually 1.25-1.5 miles. He finished in 10 minutes. It's so fun watching him compete, but I get so emotional that I can't yell or cheer for him! I don't know why I get that way, but I do it every time.
I was very excited to get a picture of him running this time!!