Halloween 2012

Yes,  I have to put in the date,  because it was SOOO LONG AGO.  

It was a Dark and Stormy Night.

The gray clouds hung oppressively low in the sky.  As I walked home I sensed a familiar but odd sensation, a reminiscing of my long past youth.  Strange creatures were afoot.  As I arrived home I came upon and captured an image of one of the creatures sleeping in some sort of transportation pod.  It is assumed this creature had traveled long distances in turbulent conditions,  as the pod is nearly indestructible.  We also assume this creature is extremely fragile,  since it had been covered in cotton balls, we assume, to cushion its journey. 

This creature was especially ferocious and demanding.  Quick and cunning, he must be watched closely at all times.  He has a strange attraction to cars and candy.  The specimen's head is also extremely hard and though not used as a weapon,  it's head has been known to injure his companions and caretakers alike. 

This creature is hideously ugly with its green face and green hair. Incredibly strong for its size and weight, and surprisingly fast,  this creature has shown an aptitude for maneuvering any type of ball with any appendage. Although it prefers a monotonous activity of repeatedly bouncing a ball against a floor and specific wall of its habitat,  which it calls wall ball, we are assured that this behavior is not an indication of its intellect.  This one also as shown a strange attraction to candy,  but to also to green peppers and lettuce (Perhaps explaining the green color?)

Each of the creatures claimed a gourd, we traditionally call pumpkins, and placed an image upon the gourd.  We assume the image was meant as manner of intimidation or warning,  however each character seems to be smiling.  Based on the coloring, of the image, we will leave you to ascertain which creature created which image.  Below is a picture of the creatures with their gourds.  This collection of gourds includes two simulated gourds that the specimens would later use to extort candy from surrounding habitats.     

  This is the last picture we have of these creatures.  They apparently received some sort of signal from the home planet, as they met up with a number of other creatures whom were also harvesting candy from the surrounding habitats.  At one point we were able to locate the simulated gourds they had used to collect candy.  Though no candy was recovered,  a number of discarded wrappings were recovered.  Leading us to the conclusion that large quantities of these candies were consumed. 

Be on the lookout for these creatures,  keep valuables and candy locked up or out of sight if they are seen in your area.  However, if they approach you seeking candies, it is in your best interest to give them a small amount in hopes they will continue their foraging elsewhere. 

Catching Up

What a fall!
Tyler turned 3.  He is a wonderful sweet boy.

Edith Daenera Ellis came to the world on August 27th.  Welcome to our family!

The war room on draft day for fantasy football - The League of Fire and Ice

Zach started the first grade.  His teacher's name is Ms. Harrell.

 Goodbye Zach.  I'll miss playing with you all day.  (Sort of.)

Another season of soccer.  Zach was #3.  He's still the fastest.

Playing with Edi.  As Tyler is fond of saying - Everybody loves Edi!

Clever stories will come later.  With love, Shannon

Preseason Part II

We decided to take the boys to a preseason Game Saturday night.  It was a blast; and all that walking up the steps,  we hoped to get Shannon started on her work. (read labor)

 

The seats were high, but a good angle to show Zach what was going on.

The game was against the Tennessee Titans, and for those of you who don't know, former Seahawks Quarterback Matt Hasselback, and former Huskies Legend Jake Locker both play for the Titans. This made the game kind of fun, because thousands of fans still wear a Hassleback jersey to the game. 

 Also, for those not in the know, Tyler's favorite state is Tennessee. I don't know why, but it has been for a long time. When he found out one of the teams was from Tennessee he was jubilant. Additionally, Tyler like to yell.

 We told him he should yell for Tennessee; and when their offense was on the field, Tyler would stand with the rest of the Seahawk faithful and yell, "Goooooooooooo". 

 Only when Tennessee would get a first down, or complete a pass and rest of the fans would sit down, Tyler would jump up and down and yell, "2 Points, 2 Points"

He got a lot of strange looks from the fans around us.

Later Tyler gave up yelling go,  and just started singing loudly(like yelling, only rhyming).  That also received strange looks from the fans around us.

We stopped at Tat's before the game.  This is a great place for a philly cheesecake style sandwich;  or fries depending upon the audience.

The highlight of the evening was the train ride to and from the stadium.  The eyes of both boys were glued to the window and they were constantly shouting out everything they saw.

On the way out of the station a woman commented to Shannon that they were well behaved but you could tell it was their first time on the train.  Unfortunately, no,  they are just always this excited about the train.

Don't they look alike?  They aren't grumpy,  they just were upset that I was distracting them from looking out the window.

Are you ready for some football?

Training camps have started
Hard Knocks (two words) started this week.
We watched NFL Networks coverage of  six preseason games Thrusday Night.
We watched Tim Teabow Friday Night.
Not surprisingly, Zach wanted to play some football.  Tonight though,  Tyler decided to jump in.
During the game,  Tyler snuck up behind Zach and tackled him shortly after the ball was snapped.  And suddenly the game was on.

Here is Tyler helping Jeff out on Defense:

Here Tyler has designed a play and is showing Jeff where to go:

Zach and Kristin cooked up a blitz,  and Tyler was running for his life:

Tyler and Jeff run the two minute drill:

After breaking down the video from the first preseason game,  we feel comfortable with our assessment of Zach's football abilities.  Tyler showed some real promise,  he has the 5( or 10) step drop back down.  His throwing motion and accuracy rival Tim Tebow's.