Monsters

We've been counting down the years until Ben is old enough to wrestle. We've known for some time he was going to love it; he's demonstrated his desire and strength in our living room since he was 2. But the rules are, in our town, you have to be 5 and in Kindergarten (or Kin-dee-garten, as the coach says). Last year, at season's start he was 5,but still in preschool.

We all went to the first practice. Theo was worried about bringing Hunter, but after a conversation I had with the boys, I thought Hunter might need to see what's really going on there:

Ben says he's excited about wrestling. "I am going to win! I'm going to take the other guy down!"

I tell him, "I am excited, too. You follow the coaches instructions. You know you can't hit in wrestling, right Ben?"

"No, you can punch, though!"

"No! Ben! Never!"

"You can slap, though."

I'm worried now... "No Benjamin! There are rules and you're going to have to learn them. Hitting is not what wrestling about." I resigned to leave the rules to the coaches, and a bit silenced by his reactions, I'm interupted by a bystanding Hunter, "Mah. You betta bwing a wot of ban-aids"Apparently Hunter thinks wrestling is going to be like the few seconds of the UFC fights he has caught on our TV!

Hunter seemed worried. So, I thought we should at least show Hunter what his bruh-der is going to be doing two nights a week from now until March.

Brand new wrestling shoes.

Ben loved the first practice! His favorite part was the game they ended the night with: Sharks vs. Minnows. The coaches were sharks, and the kids had to try and cross the gym floor wall to wall without being taken down and thus changed to a shark. Ben loved being a shark so much he purposely cheated on the last game and went back to one of the coaches to be tackled even after escaping.

This week, just as Theo was preparing to take Ben to practice, Hunter became ill and threw up. When presented with the option of taking "the wrestling one or the puking one," I chose wrestling, grabbed my knitting, and my camera, and headed out.

When we arrived Ben ran off as fast as he could and did a huge flip. I was a stunned. I didn't think he could do that. I did the mom thing, "Oh! Be careful! Be careful!" and "Are you supposed to do that?" I saw broken wrists. Twisted arms. I worried he should know some sort of gymnastic techniques... and then I reminded myself this was a padded room, and he was just doing a running summersault. Jeez.

See he upside down kid in the blue t-shirt, gray pants? Yup, that's Ben.

Each one of this runs ended with this amount of happiness.

A coach helps Ben perfect his abdominal exercises.

Ben and another wrestler do an learning excercise, stepping on the opponents toes (which led to reaching for and/or evading the toes, and then take downs using the opponents whole legs.

The next day, he said something to the effect of, "All you did was knit the whole time you were at my practice." Hmpf. Smartass. I was knitting. But also watching him, and taking pictures, and making friends with the mom next to me who's son happened to be paired with mine. But I can tell you, for sure, this is not the first, nor will it be the last, that I have not met Ben's expectations. Just look at his face.

Oh, and the team is called the Monsters. Too cute.

Everyday Lately

No big picture-taking events going on in our lives lately, just normal, glorious, everyday stuff.

Ben had his first performance of the year. His kindergarten class sang with the preschoolers from his school at another classmates church in town south of us. I enjoyed going to another church like ours, and Ben sang all the words: miraculous. Everyone told me his K teacher is great at getting the kids to sing, and they were right. Also, she played guitar along with them, which was nice.

Ben has been spending the little free-time he gets between wrestling, church, and school with his legos still. Last night he constructed an airport with a car, airplane, and more. He brought it all downstairs to show me, and ellaborately explained the whole thing. This was a "Fun Airport," I'm guessing like a "Fun House."There were two big sticks to smash your head, and a wrench to "wrench your bones." Alrighty then.


Meanwhile Hunter squished his Schmoopy cat. She is getting so big!

This is from last week. Hunter puts this costume on all the time. It so cute to sporadically see Buzz with his wings go flying by.

Hope Fall finds you all well.

Still Knitting

We've been so busy around here! Ben has started wrestling two nights a week, and I feel like I'm constantly driving the kids to and from school. In between the cleaning, driving, and general family life I have been busy knitting. I am still finding so much joy in the process. I find myself awake at night with ideas! Here are some of my latest creations:

Head on over and look at the goodies in the shop!

A Little Autumn Fishing

The warmth of yesterday afternoon (68-70F) lured us outside for a little evening autumn fishing on the Rock River. We quickly ate dinner, and headed out to Theo's favorite spot.

Theo was still in his hunting clothes, he took Laura out for a few hours just before we fished.

Hunter and Benjamin were excited to bring some of the candy from grandma's packages with them for snacks.

Ben loves Butterfingers, but I don't buy them a lot of candy. This was an awesome treat for him. He woke up and asked for another first thing this morning, too. Cried his eyes out when I would not give him a butterfinger at 5am. Nice.

We don't pay for me to have a fishing license. I prefer to sit in my cozy leopard camp chair with my knitting or a magazine.

I love watching the water. I want to live on a river someday.

The shore, with the sand, rocks, and fallen leaves was so pretty to me.

The breeze was strong and the water was calm: the result was leaves floating through the air and landing on the water.

The boys caught one fish, a sheephead. Apparently they do not taste good, so we put him back.

My Wisconsin boys.

We stopped at the Indianford dam and watched some guys catching walleye. The sunset was pretty.

Happy Autumn.

Ben's 6th Birthday Party!

Today we had a party to celebrate Ben's 6th birthday. We had a Halloween theme again this year, and asked all the kids to wear costumes. It was 85F today, a stark contrast to the 40F temps from last year. We had the whole party outside! Ben wore his brand new soldier costume and looked just like his daddy.

I made yummy cupcakes and loved decorating them with Halloween themed sprinkles.

My mom paid for the boys to rent this bouncy house for 4 hours. This was the greatest thing ever- not a single dull moment the whole party!

Theo actually got inside the bouncy house to kill a bee, and all the kids jumped on him.
Here is Ben with a few of his buddies.

I made these party hats from some basic metallic looking hats, boas, garlands, glitter pom poms and hot glue.

Hunter rocked his Scooby Doo costume!

Here is Hunter swinging at the pinata.

Here are all the adorable kiddos.

Happy Autumn.

More Pumpkins on a Field Trip

As a stay-at-home mom I have been lucky enough to drive on several preschool field trips over the last few years. It should come as no surprise that one my very favorite places to tag along is the pumpkin patch. I have been to this particular one before, and I love their selection and animals.
Hunter could not be cuter in this newest hat- knit my me with wool and alpaca yarn. So in love with this yarn and his hat!!!

New this year, a wagon ride.

View of the Hermanson homestead from the wagon ride.

Love these guys!

Sheep!

Piggy tails.

Tons of different pumpkins!

And Hans the St. Bernard.

Mr. Attitude.

Saucy little smile, right?

And my favorite part of the day? The cross-eyed kitten.

Someday I will have my own farm. Mark my words.

Happy Fall, y'all!