Walker's Character Parade

 My Power Ranger left his mask in his class room.  He was still smiling, though.  Always.

 Walker and his latest BFF, Grant.

 Walker's class.  The little soccer player in the front is Emilia, our car pool buddy and another of Walker's BFFs.

Fall Break

 The boys had so much fun swinging on these tree branches at the pier.

 This boy...that tongue!

 This was Walker's first time being able to climb the whale by himself.  He was so proud of himself!

 Sweet big brother Jake pushing his littlest brother. :)

Like I said in the previous post, the boys had fall break last Thursday and Friday, so we hit the road to Georgia to see my mom.  My dad had to be out of town, so we met mom in St. Simons and enjoyed time with just her.

Mom has been having a hard time lately.  I think the emotional toll of this cancer roller coaster is really wearing on her- she's tired of having to go to chemo every two weeks, the side effects of the chemo, not being able to drive, the pain, the leaky, malfunctioning feeding tube, and just overall not feeling like she has any control over her own life.  She's seen several friends that were diagnosed with various cancers around the same time that she was that have completed their chemo and are cancer-free, and she's frustrated that there is no end in sight for her.  She has several tests and procedures on November 3 to decide if she is a candidate for surgery, and that would be huge if she is.  The surgery is a very major surgery, and to be honest, I was a little hesitant about mom having it.  After seeing how mom was this weekend, though, I know she needs that surgery now.

Despite it being an emotional weekend, we still managed to have fun.  We took the boys to the pier every day and played, ate lunch, got ice cream, and browsed the shops.  These boys live a tough life, I tell you.

Here is a funny story from the weekend- when we arrived Thursday evening, mom was just standing there, and suddenly her tooth (well, veneer actually) fell out.  We got a pretty good laugh about her redneck smile.  Well, about an hour later, dad was wrestling with my oldest two, and they knocked his tooth (veneer, too) out!  (They also bent his glasses).  Ha!  And would y'all believe that the tooth fairy found her way to my parents' condo?  Hahaha!  The boys thought it was hilarious...my parents, not so much. :)

Temple

 How funny is this?  When I saw this picture, and after I cracked up for a good minute, I was like "why is Tyson watching the offense play?"  When I went back and watched the game on DVR, I saw this play and realized this was a crucial third down, and I guess he was getting the defense ready.  Can you tell how excited he was that we got the first down?  Hahaha!  Too bad we turned it over on the next play.  Sigh.

UCF beat Temple 34-14 this past weekend.  We actually missed the game, though, because we were in Georgia spending the boys' fall break with my mom at the beach.  I guess the Rivals photographer realized I wasn't there, so he took a TON of pictures of Tyson. :)  I'm not complaining.  Go Knights!

Jake's Last Game and Trophies x 2

 The little brothers- Walker, Ben, Dalton, and Grant

 My goalie

 End of the season party- Ryan, Daniel, Jake, and Michael

 Coach Rich handing Jake his trophy.

 Walker's end of the season party.

 Coach Jamie and Walker

 First of all, I was wrong the other day- Walker ended up having his last game last night.  We had a last minute make-up to our make-up game.  Hahaha.

Jake also had his last game last night.  I didn't get too much on video since he plays goalie mostly, and the other team never even got close to the goal.

I'll tell y'all what, I'm so glad soccer is over.  It was a lot harder than I thought it would be to shuffle two kids to and from soccer with a baby in tow and juggle two games (often at the same time) on Saturdays (and some weekday games) in addition to our football games.  And to make matters worse, we found out (the hard way) that Jake is just a lot more competitive and aggressive than the other kids that play YMCA socccer; he got yellow carded almost every game and even got a red card one game.  :(  Towards the end of the season, we realized the best place for Jake was goalie and he rocked it.  I wish I could've gotten more of his blocks and catches on video- I think he only got scored on once the whole season.  Jake is definitely defensive-minded when it comes to soccer.  I'm so proud of him.  Even with all that foolishness with the yellow and red cards, Jake kept his head up, never quit, and kept playing hard.

Walker's Last Soccer Game

 Walker heads down field for one of his four goals of the game!

 Walker's teammates congratulating him after a goal. :)

 This is kind of hard to see, but Walker kicks...

...and he SCORES!

Don't blink or you'll miss this goal.  We had just started the game, and I hadn't even turned my camera on when I realized Walker had the ball and was headed for the goal.  Ha!

Today was Walker's last soccer game of the fall, so I figured I needed to bring my camera and update my picture.  Man!  This kid had the game of his life!  He scored 4 goals today!  He said he scored 2 for me and 2 for my mom. :)

Walker and Jake have had several games at the same time, so I've had to run back and forth between fields and I haven't been able to see all the games like I would've liked.  Walker said he scored 8 goals this season in the 6 games that he played (he was sick one game and we were in Georgia for another).  He has come a long way from last season!  I'm so proud of my big boy!  Go Walker!!

Tulane

 Tyson looks tiny next to those football players!  Ha!

UCF beat Tulane 20-13 this past weekend in a scorcher of a game!  Seriously, this was probably one of the four hottest games in my career as a coach's wife.  I ended up getting a sitter for Anderson last minute, and I'm so glad I did.  He would've melted!  The big boys barely noticed the heat, though, with all of their snow cone consumption. ;)

My Grandmother's Funeral

 Rosemary Barrs Peacock

June 19, 1931- Sept. 30, 2014

 Most of the great-grands- Chase, Jake, Carson, Walker, Ryleigh Kate, Spenser, and Connor

 The grandkids (Christy, Chris, Trey, me, and Amy) with my Granddaddy in the middle.  This was after the funeral, so we were looking a lot rough

 Back in Thomaston after the funeral...

 ...pumpkin carving with Perrin.

Last Friday, October 3, 2014, we buried my sweet grandmother.  She lived a long, happy life for the past 81 years or so, but these past 2 years, she had really struggled with Parkinson's dementia.  I was able to tell her goodbye via phone before she passed, and for the first time in two years, she spoke and said "I love you."  It was exactly what I needed to hear; I'll never forget that moment.

The boys and I stayed in Thomaston with my parents for the funeral, and we really enjoyed our time there.  We watched a lot of football, carved pumpkins, and just enjoyed being together. :)