But. Micah's coaches were determined to get him a goal before the end of the season (as all the other boys had already scored at least one goal). I think they wanted it more than he did, lol. So, in the third quarter (having unsuccessfully encouraged him aplenty during the first half), they positioned him about five feet in front of the goal and specifically instructed the other two boys to simply get the ball to Micah.

It was hilarious! They'd kick the ball up there and Micah (being his literal self and having been told to stay right there) would kick the ball but then would not move from that spot. Numerous times the ball came and didn't make it into the goal. Everyone on the sidelines (even the referees) knew Micah's name by that point and were encouraging him. One coach was standing right behind the goal and the other was directing the ball to him. 

And, finally, the ball made it into the goal:

 And life was good:

They did this twice for Micah before resuming the more normal flow of the game and the kid couldn't possibly be happier. :) It was awesome. 

(Unfortunately, both Noah and Asher lost their games yesterday and still haven't scored. Asher was immediately happy for Micah and didn't really let it bother him. Noah took a little longer to come around, lol. Both Noah and Asher, though, got their trophies and had cupcakes yesterday for the season's end, so that helped. Here's hoping the six games at the tournament next weekend provide opportunities for them both, eh?)

Yup, that was one big pile of leaves. And it was one of only two spots along our entire walk where the leaves weren't all crumpled and dry and ugly. :) So there, Mother Nature. Ha. ;)

Off now to our last soccer games of the season (not counting next weekend's tournament, which will be six more games in two days...fun times)...Happy weekend to you all!

- I get a kick out of how he's been math-crazy lately...totally just asks us math questions all the time and then congratulates us as if he actually knew the answer. Surprisingly, he often does know the answer...which freaks me out a bit. Why, for instance, can he quickly figure out how many more birthdays I have until I'm 100? He's been on this thing about people reaching 100 years old and can tell you how many more birthdays he needs and how many more you need, too. 

- On a related note, not long ago he got it in his head to just start counting. Completely random. To that point, I'd not heard him successfully get to 20 without getting mixed up in the teens. But that day, he made it to 359. I kid you not. 

- He's becoming a huge football fan. He often comes to me now and asks if there're any football games on that we can watch. I think he's figured out that if he watches football he ends up with some extra time with me. (The other two aren't interested.) Sweet boy. (And don't worry, I clearly inform all my boys that, yes, those football players get hurt...it's a fun game to watch, but not to play, lol.)

- Did I tell you about the day he realized his leg was longer than his arm and then proceeded to try to check if this was true for everyone? Funny stuff. :) 

Yup, done again. :) I actually did some scrapbooking last night and was very productive. Can't share it yet, though. Will try to do some more that I can share soon, okay? Okay. ;)

- How when we call, "Micah?" he has seemingly always responded, "whatah?"

- How, though the first two were crazy about all things trains, Micah was never really interested. So. We sold the train table and put away the pieces we couldn't bring ourselves to part with (a great many pieces in actuality...heck, that was a lot of time invested in gathering it all, lol!). They've been sitting in the basement in boxes. But. Yesterday, I found this in the basement:

Yup, they were fully engaged in elaborate train play. :) Makes me all warm and fuzzy to see them playing with it all again. 

- In contrast, today they were also found drawing "death chambers" on the white board, with Micah asking me at one point how to spell "nuclear bombs." When I asked the obvious question of why he was drawing a "death chamber," Micah replied "to torture the daddy and the baby." This, of course, led to discussions with the other two as to why they'd started this and then to a bit of instruction about using their imaginations for better purposes. In response, they quickly pointed out that they knew this and showed us the "love chambers" they'd also drawn...complete with all things good, like ice cream and legos and laptops and money-making machines. Gotta just shake my head at the whole thing.

- How Micah was so delighted today to receive his very first soccer trophy! His giant grin almost makes the whole season worth it. ;)

- How during Micah's soccer party this afternoon, one of the moms gave the boys suckers wrapped in tissue to make a little ghost (you know what I'm talking about, right? totally simple) and now my three have been grabbing tissue and making ghosts out of everything. Gee. You'd think I never do crafts with them. ;)

- How Micah is adorably scared of all things Halloween...totally freaks out when he nears Halloween decoration displays in stores, particularly any that have the standing skeleton type figures and any that make noise. It doesn't help that his big brothers are totally keyed into this and deliberately try to trick him into walking down those aisles. (Course, it backfired on Noah the other day, as he didn't know that the scary old butler guy was going to talk when he walked in front of him, lol.) We've even had to revise the treat bag that he carries on Halloween for the last couple years, as he adamantly refuses to carry anything with a "scary face." (Note, the ghosts he's been making today are apparently exempted from this whole "dislike of things Halloween" thing because candy outweighs it all, right? LOL!)

- How all three boys are completely and totally obsessed of late with creating a car company of their own when they grow up. They have detailed plans, names, and job titles all ready. Personally, I think the three of them would work well together in one place, as they each have different strengths.

- How Asher has been diligently making his Christmas list and counts the Lego catalog among his reading to himself time each week.

- How Micah, when playing hide and seek, always says "wherever you're not, here I come" (instead of "ready or not, here I come"). At least he's finally getting to the point where he doesn't automatically announce where he's hiding any more. :)

Okay, that's enough for now. I'm likely forgetting all sorts of things, but at least I got these down. :) Oh, and because someone asked me, let me ask you this...What would be in your "love chamber"? ;)

Anyhow. I need to pick up pictures today (I've volunteered four of the five seasons so far to take team and individual photos for the boys' teams...I make up an 8x10 sheet like those that you can buy (that are ugly) with the team and individual pic on them for each boy (yay for digital scrapbooking!) and also end up printing off a handful of candids of each boy from throughout the season...just can't seem to stop myself). We have Micah's team party tomorrow (so I'll be finishing up cupcake toppers today), then both other boys' parties after their games on Saturday (so will be picking up more cupcakes then). And stuff like that. 

In the meantime (while I get giddy thinking about the end of soccer season, lol), I happen to be the "featured" designer both on the Prism blog and the Good Grief Blog today. Check it out, okay? Here's a sneak of the Prism layout:

 
(Really happy with how this one came out, btw!) 

Okay, that's it for now. :)

And now Noah would sincerely like to know why we still "classify" by where families lived generations ago. For instance, my dad's grandparents on both sides came to the US from (then) Yugoslavia. So, they were Yugoslavian. My dad's parents were both born in the US, as was my dad. So, Noah wants to know, why aren't they just American? Why do we still say they're Yugoslavian? At what point do we get to just have Americans, he says? (like when the Russians became Russians instead of Vikings and Slovenians) He can see that maybe my dad's parents could still be Yugoslavian since *their* parents were born and raised in Yugoslavia. But my dad was born and raised in the US...by parents who were born and raised in the US. 

To this end, at least my parents' families are fairly straightforward, having been first and second generation immigrants to the US. But, says Noah, what about Nathan's family history? His ancestors have lived in the US for generations upon generations. Why do we still get into the whole "what country" do they hail from thing when 1) they've all lived here for ages and 2) most people just say Caucasian or white anyhow? 

Added on top of this, of course, is the fact that I'm Korean...and was born in Korea. But was raised in America by American parents. Shouldn't this make me American instead of Korean, he wants to know?

Ah the inner workings of this boy's head...definitely food for thought, folks. And, for the record, he's declared himself simply American. So there. ;)

Sorry. I've not been good about posting pictures. But. As of about 1:00 am this morning, I'm mostly caught up (finally) on my photo editing and figured I'd celebrate by sharing. So, let's start with Sunday, September 27. We headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park again, but this time with some friends. The boys had a blast as we picnicked near a stream and then meandered around Bear Lake. Here's Nathan looking out on Bear Lake:

After completing our circuit at Bear Lake, our friends had to head to a previous appointment but we continued on to Nymph Lake and then Dream Lake:

Yes, it was gorgeous (and cold!). Made me sad that I didn't have my "real" camera with me. These were taken with my little purse camera, as I wasn't feeling like lugging my camera bag on the hike. :)

(insert normal, busy week here)

The following weekend found me in Seattle visiting with my mom and sisters. I was kind enough to bring Colorado's plentiful sunshine with me to the overcast Pacific NW, lol! Sunday (10/4) we got pedicures and walked through Pike's Place Market. Here's Cassy (my youngest sister) clicking her heels as we walked from the pedicures to the market:

This, btw, was one of the times when pigeons were *not* attacking her, LOL! It was hilarious. At least twice that day pigeons literally swooped out of the sky and flew directly at her...resulting in much screaming like a girl. LOL! Wish I'd been quicker with the camera...hee hee. Anyhow. Here's a picture of all four of us at the market:

Yeah, I didn't realize that "organic fruit" sign was so big and obvious, lol. I'm thinking I'll photoshop the words out and put something else there but haven't decided what just yet. ;) That evening, Bekah (standing next to me) had to head home since she had work the next morning (she lives about 3.5 hours away but drove up to see me). Mom, Cassy and I, though, hit the Bob Dylan concert there in Seattle the next night (which was the motivation behind my trip). 

We went in remembrance of my dad, who was a life-long, die-hard Dylan fan. It was my mom's tenth Dylan concert and she's not really even a fan. (That, she says, shows true love, LOL!) Despite the "no cameras" dictate, here's my picture of Dylan:

(He's wearing the hat there in the center-ish.) Can I just say that Dylan concerts are excellent people-watching places? Seriously. The diversity of Dylan fans is crazy. Oh, and we ran into my uncle and cousins while we were there. What are the odds? ;) (And, no, I don't feel guilty about using my camera. I was so not the only one doing it and my phone camera would have yielded pretty much the same thing, and those weren't banned. ;) I can see that they'd not have wanted my "real" camera but my little point and shoot (which is the only camera I had with me in Seattle) doesn't really take great indoor shots regardless.)

So. That was my time in Seattle. I have plenty of other pictures but will save those for another day or a layout or both. ;)  

Came home to a clean house and healthy boys (can't ask for much better than that, right?) and then proceeded to try to catch up from the weekend. Thursday, we had our first snow. Yes, on October 8. It didn't stick, though, so the next day we kept our plans to visit a local farm with our homeschool group. The boys picked pumpkins: 

And then we ventured out into the massive corn maze:

 
It was amazing, really. Check out the aerial view here. Seriously. We only made it through the smallest of the three mazes (1.8 miles if you just do the maze and don't backtrack and get lost...the largest portion of the maze was 4+ miles). In all fairness, they do provide a map and all. But, lacking a tall enough focal point, it was tricky to maintain your orientation. I'd thought Noah would be able to lead us, and he did for parts, but it quickly became apparent why the sign indicated that all children under 11 should be accompanied by an adult, lol. He says next time we'll have to bring a compass. :) (To our credit, we did complete the maze, getting to all six checkpoints in order. Yay, us!)

In any case, it was a fun day and the sunshine was welcome.

The very next day, however, was not sunny. Here are my boys on Saturday...

 
This is Asher, after having soaked his snowball in the puddle in the street to create an ice pellet. Lovely. I'd have felt sorry for Nathan, but he was the one who started it, lol! Next is Micah:  

He was so happy to have inherited Asher's yellow coat from a year or two ago and loves that snowball maker. :) Mittens made it difficult to really grasp the snowballs, but it didn't dampen his spirits in the least. Finally, here's Noah:

Can you just see the mischief in his eyes? Notice, too, if you will, how very green that tree behind him still is. Poor trees are so confused around here. Most hadn't even started changing colors yet and now are bereft of leaves that fell with the snow. 

Needless to say, Saturday's soccer games were canceled. :) Sunday was spent staying indoors and keeping warm, watching football, editing photos, and just chilling. Whew. 

So, now I find myself almost at mid-October, having been through what feels like all the seasons in the past two weeks. Wonder what the rest of the month will bring... ;)

Then. I convinced all three boys today that they want to be something different for Halloween. Something totally free and without effort. Something utterly appropriate. 

Yes, they are all going as SOCCER PLAYERS for Halloween! How genius am I?! ;)

Thank you very much. :)