Soccer is over = (

So soccer is over and after the last game yesterday there was an awards ceremony and all of the teams in the 4-6 year olds division got 1st place trophies. Here Seth just wanted to make a funny face for the camera.
Here's Joel with his trophy and his "player of the game" medal around his neck.

What would soccer be without a pizza party!! After the last game the whole team went to Idyllwild Pizza Co. for a party! Complete with pizza, cupcakes, silly Irish hats and awards from coach Jeremy! Thanks coach..... (In this picture is Coach Jeremy, Joseph Tiso and Breanna)

Lucas Schipper and Joel being silly at the party! Fun times had by all!! Joel got the "Great Goalie" award, he frequently asked to play goalie and did well defending. I guess there's no rest for the weary.....Josh just told me that volleyball (adult league in which Josh plays) starts the week after Thanksgiving.

Abatement...a four letter word?

When you live in the mountains, there is the nasty requirement of abating your property to decrease the risk of fire. All dead pine needles and leaves need to be cleared. If you don't do it the fire department cites you so here...."abatement" is kind of like a four letter word (though I realize there are nine letters). So today we started raking in our yard. The boys helped out a great deal and Josh went to the dump two times! We could pay someone to do our abatement but decided to do it ourselves, save the money and get a little sunshine and exercise at the same time.

Joel is actually quite good at helping get the pine needles out from under the trampoline.

Joel really was a big help, here he is in one of our piles of pine needles.Abbey was there, but in all honesty, she wasn't much help =)
We got a lot of work done.....but we'll have to do some more next week.

The flour game

Josh and I are blessed to lead one of the small groups for our church's high school youth program. This week we had a "fun night" since last week we ended a great study on Acts.
So.....we played the "flour game", hence all the "white" faces.
We're all a little crazy but have a good time when we are together. Thanks for the fun guys!!

Last weeks game

Well I realized I haven't posted about last weeks game by the Fightin' Irish. Well we gave the killer bees a thorough "stinging" if you will. Maggie and Alia scored 3 times each and share the title of "player of the game." Joel is still enjoying soccer and wishes every day was soccer day! When we decided to sign him up we had no idea if he would like it or hate it but we wanted to try it out. We don't have "world cup" dreams for Joel yet but we are so glad he is loving soccer.....only two more weeks, which is good because it's getting mighty chilly up here at 5300 feet! It actually snowed this weekend. It didn't "stick" in town but it sure gave the top of the mountain a beautiful dusting.

Thanks Uncle Jess

Josh's uncle Jess (the youngest of the four brothers) makes wooden toys as a hobby when he's not driving an ambulance in south Florida. For all of you that have never seen the family train....I'll explain. At Josh's grandparents house they have a train that Jess began making many years ago with a small train car for each family member. It sits on top of their built in entertainment center/bookcase and it is a special family heirloom of sorts. Well this week in the mail we got Abbey's train car! I love it.....it's a "cageless" butterfly cage!
He also has made "banks" for all the kids. So he made Abbey a butterfly truck that's also a bank. Maybe, just maybe if we keep putting our spare change in it we'll be able to send her to Biola for about a week when she turns 18 =) Anyway.....so this was our "shout-out" to uncle Jess....THANKS

The Irish all with Sugar hangovers

somebody found the bag of pretzels.....!!

The Fighting Irish played the Jaguars today but having games the day after Halloween is just crazy! Most of the kids were tired and the Jaguars didn't have enough kids to play so they borrowed a player from our team.
While Joel was helping the Jaguars out as their goalie he made a great save and stopped his buddy Lucas from scoring a goal. Since the Jaguars didn't really have enough people to play and we had to help them out and let them borrow players....I'm not really sure if there was a "winner"

Here is my mom (Nani D) with Abbey.....I just thought this was a cute pic of her laughing! It's so fun to have someone to dress in pink!

The Parade

In Idyllwild Halloween is a big event. Since we are fairly rural and we don't have sidewalks or street lights their is a long held tradition of trick-or-treating at the businesses in town. It starts on the main street and everyone starts at the top the streets are closed and everyone walks down trick or treating all the way and then in the center of town there is a carnival that supports the pta. Well Halloween was Friday and I think we about doubled the towns population at the festivities.
Here Seth is "fishing" at a cute little carnival game....he didn't want to do it until he saw Joel do it and Joel got a little basketball.....so, then he thought he would try.
The Fire Dept. sponsors the booth where you put the candles out with a squirt gun.
Here's Joel and Seth trick or treating with Nani....and look a storm trooper in the background.
Did you know that pumpkins age quickly. In only two weeks they go from cute Jack-O-Lanterns to very toothless old-man pumpkins.

Halloween Party at preschool

Joel and Seth go to a home Preschool and on Halloween we went to a little party their even though it wasn't their normal day to go to school.....Aren't they cute
My mom and dad were visiting so we all went to join the festivities and hear the kids sing songs.

This is Seth, he's excited because he just "pinned the stem on the pumpkin"

And of course we brought our little pumpkin!
Here's our little Ghouls....looking so happy