Hello from the other side...

Hello, its me.

I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet
To go over everything...

I sound just like Adele when I sing those opening lines of her song!

Well, I actually write just like Adele when I type those opening lines of her song!

I feel her pain, her heartache, her need to reconnect. I do. She must be a blogger! One who got caught up in life, love, and living on a farm. It's the chickens I tell ya - the gals take up much more time than they let on when they are cute, fluffy little chicks.

But I'm ready now. Ready to try this again. Of course I'm not officially going to announce anything for a few more weeks yet, just to be on the safe side. Mark will be my first and only reader for a while and he'll let me know in no uncertain terms if I'm up to snuff or not.

My first post is just going to start with the most recent pictures on my camera and I figure we can build from there!

Fall equals football season in Owen's life. Football and Hunting actually but I'm going to narrow this post down to just the football. He was on the Gold 5th and 6th grade team this year (as a 5th grader) and somehow this guy, who was the smallest on the team, was the starting center on the offensive line and the starting middle line-backer on the defense. He pretty much played all the time. Awesome for him. Not so awesome for my nerves.

His team ended up going 9-0 and so they were able to play in the Requa Bowl, which is like the Superbowl for the 5th and 6th graders. They got to play in the Round-Up grounds, under the lights, with announcers, and they even got to use the big score board vs. the little one that you have to wheel out to the field. Plus, Owen was convinced the concession stand would even be open. That means the big time for sure!

In previous games, Owen would put a black line under his eyes to intimidate the other teams. Then some of his own teammates began to copy him so he had to up his game. He began to paint circles around his eyes (a rather raccoonish affect but he dug it) but for this final event he wanted the big guns. He asked me to paint his face like someone called Latimer that his coach told him about. I googled this Latimer and was not impressed but Owen sure was. Since I am not the artistic one in the family, I told Owen he needed his dad for this mission.

Mark, of course, did a great job. Very methodical, very organized, very artistic. And very scary!

Caleb and I watched the drama unfold and I offered pointers from time to time that Mark ignored (Was less skull like too much to ask?)

Final product - one scary kid!

At least it was easy for me to pick him out of a crowd. 

Until they all put their helmets on that is. Then I just had to look for the smallest body out there - the one hiking the ball each play for our team. Can you spot him? White, dirty helmet? Holding the ball? His head is the lowest as he is trying to look between his legs to spot his quarterback. 

While this game was going on, Caleb had ditched Mark and I. During the season he had kept score, done the chains, kept track of the downs, and now for this final one - he wiped down our football every time we were on defense. He ended up getting soaked himself and coming back up to the stands to try and steal my blanket. Fat chance kid! But I did let him at least have a corner to cuddle with - being the loving mother that I am. 

Back to the game! There's Owen getting ready to tackle someone! Or it could be Owen getting ready to be ran past by someone. That happened from time to time too. 

Here's Owen ... doing something. I think he's trying to make sure he covers all the areas the ball could possibly be going to but I'm never really sure. I just cheer loudly and hoot and holler when Owen does pretty much anything. 

I like to make sure he knows I'm there. 

When all was said and done, Owen's team won. 26 - 0. It was a great game, the kids ended up really muddy, the had an undefeated season, and they had so many pictures taken of them after the game that they declared themselves "Facebook Famous". 

Great football season! 

And now, it's time for wrestling.