October

 Camping at Mormon Lake, taking an ice cream break.

 Rain Gutter Regatta Ice Cream

Oh my gosh! Is time time flying by? Or what! Sniff. Sniff. So a little catch up for October.

We started out the month with camping up Flagstaff. We wanted to go somewhere where it would actually feel like fall. It was so fun. We went to Mormon Lake and had ice cream, said hello to the buffalo's, hiked, had a campfire and even roasted smores! It was freezing at night. We skipped fall and experienced winter. It was a little odd being cold after being soooo hot for so long. We relished the feeling and bundled and cuddled up!

Hayden had his first rain gutter regatta in cub scouts. All the boys made boats similar to the pine wood derby and then they race them in actual rain gutters by blowing on the sails. Its always a fun event. The boys favorite part of the evening it when they empty the rain gutters and we fill them back up with ice cream and toppings! and let the boys and siblings go crazy. We also made a trip to the Fire Station with our scout den and friends from another troop.

Both of the boys started flag football in September. We have practice or a game every day except Friday and Sunday. Its so fun. We love being at the park and hanging out. Its been a great season so far. Ethan and Hayden are both on good teams and have been winning every game!

School and A Birthday

Back to school shopping and lunch at our favorite place.

Waffles, whip cream and blueberries!

Cupcakes and ice cream. Everyone is focused on dessert.

Oh man it has been a busy end of summer. I can not believe how fast summer vacation flew by. Blah. I hate that. The last few weeks of summer were spent swimming, hanging with cousin Xander, and Lovey and Grandpa Darryl. It was a great finale for a fun summer.

Monday Ethan started 7th grade, at a new school. He changes class every period, and has a locker! Big stuff. He already really likes it. Hayden started 3rd grade. He really likes his teacher, but I think he misses having his brother at school. And Libby started preschool. My babies are all growing up. (Sob, sob!)

Tuesday was Hayden's 8th Birthday! He brought treats to school to share with his friends, and we had Grandma, Poppa, and Noah over for his special dinner. Hayden was very excited about getting a new bike, a football and even some cash. We are having a "Glow in the Dark" birthday party next week with his friends. And he will get baptized in September. Eight is a big year! I love you Hayden. Happy Birthday!

Another Project Completed

 Ethan has been at scout camp all week! I am so happy he will be back tomorrow. This picture is of him getting ready to leave Monday morning at 4:45. He was so excited. I was so sad! But I didn't cry!

This last weekend Shawn came home from work with the materials to build another built in bookcase, as well as frame out a niche. Our home has tons of these weird little niches. I wasn't really sure what to do with them because they really limit what I can hang on the wall. So I figured we would put some moulding around them to make them more pretty. It is a little more work then slapping up some moulding though. To be honest I wasn't really looking forward to it when Shawn announced his plan for doing it. But how could I discourage him from completing something off the "Honey do list". That would be blasphemy! Our deal is that he installs and I sand and finish. Pretty good deal. I am very happy with the project. It makes the niche look more finished, and I love the white against the dark blue. Three down, only two more to go! You can see the last two to be completed in the bottom picture of Ethan. Although it might be awhile. And I am okay with that! These took me three nap times!

Lemons, Hide and Seek and Life Vests

Yesterday Hayden, Ethan and Libby played hide and seek. It was so sweet the way they were including Libby. Libby was in heaven, she loved it. She even came up with a few hiding places too, but mostly she liked looking for them. After playing for awhile she put the boys hamper on her head, and said "where is Libby?" It was so funny. She couldn't see anyone, so of course no one could see her, right?!

Libby finally held still long enough for me to do a quick little braid. It was sloppy, but I was elated. She has so much hair I've been wanting to play with it and do some cute hair dos, but she apparently doesn't share my enthusiasm for hair styling. I have also recently started using regular shampoo on her hair, I know your thinking who cares, but it feels like a huge milestone to me, because that means she does not have baby hair anymore, she has little girl hair!! And its so EXCITING!! (oh I love having a girl!)

 We haven't been able to talk hayden into trying the wakeboard yet, he will do the knee board sometimes, but mostly he likes to play in the water and throw the football around with Dad. In this picture hayden is holding onto the handle and shawn is pulling him to the swim step.

Another milestone: Since Ethan is 12 he leagally doesn't have to wear a life vest on the boat, and he can "legally" hold the flag! He is so happy, and a little smug when all the other littles are putting on their life vests....Sometimes its the little things folks!

Saturday Ethan's flag football team played in the play offs. It was so hot. They had to play five short games. They didnt win, but they made a touchdown on the best team in our Anthem league, which kicked the other team out of the play offs. Oppse! Ethan has had a BLAST playing this season. And we already have him signed up for the fall season. This is huge for Ethan becasue we usally have to talk him into playing sports. Yay Ethan!

We are anxiusly waiting for lemons to ripen and check on the tree regularly. Its so exciting. We love all things lemon. Fruit trees are illegal in Anthem, so I can niether confirm nor deny that this tree is actually in our yard. We wouldnt do something like that!

The kids have only been out of school for a week and a half but I am already certain this is going to be the best summer ever. It might have something to do with the fact that I am not working this summer, yup that definelty has something to do with it. My goal for the summer is to relax (aka be lazy), but use our time effectively. I have come up with a schedule that gives the kids downtime to do what they want, but they also have responsibilites each day, some of which they can on their own time, some they have to do a certain time. Every summer I set goals for each child that we need to work on. One goal that I have this summer for the boys is to work on their typing skills. Ethan is really good but sometimes he uses the peck method because he thinks its faster. So during their computer time they will work on improving their typing skills for 20 minutes. Another goal that I have is I want to teach my boys some life skills, such as how to cook easy meals (and maybe desserts, becasue thats way more fun) and clean. They are great at helping around the house, but I have yet to relenquish some of my deep cleaning jobs because I want it done right! But I know they are capable, I just need to give them the opportuinity to learn. So we'll see how it goes, I'll keep you posted on our summer endevors!

Happy SUmmer!

Graduation

Ethan surrounded by girls, and was so embarrassed when I asked him about them.

Ethan is attacking his cake.

Ethan had his graduation for sixth grade last night. Can you believe my baby is going to middle school now? Crazy. I think I might hold him hostage and not let him go. I am just not willing to let him grow up. Nope, not gonna happen. I know I've said this before but I just adore that kid. He is the sweetest 12 year old I know. At the end of the ceremony they had the kindergarten class, all wearing black sunglasses, sing "Hit the road Jack, and don't you come back no more!" It was so funny. So I guess Ethan is moving on to bigger and better things. Good luck in middle school Ethan! And don't change. (does that sound like a year book post?)

After the ceremony we went to Red Robin and celebrated with bottomless fries and root beer. Ethan ordered off of the adult menu, which was a first for him. He was so excited about all the choices. Grandma and Papa came too. It was so fun, other then Libby pushing her high chair into the aisle way the whole time (never a dull moment with the Hancock's) the evening was awesome.

Spring Flag Football

This season has been a blast so far. The best season ever up to this point, I think. Both of the boys are playing hard, and they have great teams. It is fun to watch them get into the game and do their best. Hayden gets to be one of the quarterbacks for his team and he loves it. He is taking his position very seriously and is outside throwing the ball around every chance he gets! Although I am not sure how good of practice it is throwing the ball around with silly old Mom, but hey it is fun! Ethan is fast and has pulled lots of flags. And every time he does he does a little dance and he swings the flag over his head. Yes, we are working on being modest, but admittedly it is pretty funny to watch and inwardly I am doing a little dance with him! Shhhhh don't tell!

On a different note Shawn is getting ready to do a job for clowns. No seriously two real clowns! He came home with a bag full of balloon swords, poodles, ladybugs and hats. It has entertained all three of them all day long!! Who knew a balloon sword could be so entertaining?

Twelve Years Old

Can you believe my Ethan is TWELVE? I can't, how the heck did this happen? But he is definitely a tweener. He is all about hanging out with his friends, texting, gaming, (being obnoxious!). I absolutely adore him, and couldn't be more proud of the young man he is becoming.

On his big day Ethan requested the Bagel Shop for lunch, and laser tag with his friends. We piled 9 boys in the car and drove down to Laser Quest for pizza and a few games. It was a blast, Ethan was beaming the whole night. I am usually all about the homemade parties, but this was so easy, all we had to do was show up!! We would definitely do it again.

Happy Birthday Ethan! I love you!

J Avis Town

This last week was so busy. And I just wanted to share one of my favorite parts which was Ethan's field trip. Ethan's class has been working really hard in preparing for this field trip. All of the students learned some really important life skills; such as writing checks, balancing a check book, job interviews, etc. J Avis is set up to look like an indoor mall with stores like Papa John's, Wells Fargo, City Hall, Best Buy, Cox, just to name a few. Each student was given a job. Ethan was the CFO at Wells Fargo. Each student was responsible for watching the clock and going on breaks on time. They received a pay check and had to deposit it in the bank on their break, then they were able to go shopping and spend their money. I was really impressed with how well organized J Avis was, and thought it was such a great learning experience for the kids. Anyway it was a really fun day and I am so glad I was able to hang out with my Ethan.

Winter Band Performance

Here are a few pictures of Ethan's school winter band performance. He was really excited to perform with his friends for his family. And he did great, he wasn't even nervous at all! I thought they did an awesome job decorating the stage, aren't those huge snowflakes so pretty.