R-E-A-L-L-Y??!! Already???!!!!

I'm having a hard time believing that today is our son's 10th birday!! That was a FAST 10 years!! It seems like just yesterday that I was lying in that hospital bed, looking out the window, and thinking that my son is always going to have a beautiful birthday. This week is always the best week for color in our valley, as the Autumn colors have crept down the mountainsides and into the "flatlands" where we live. The color is amazing.....everything is so vibrant, despite the often gloomy skies that we have at this time of year. The seasons are definitely changing!

I took these pictures, on my way into town yesterday, to pick up James' birthday cake.

This has always been Dusty's favorite tree in our area. It's just so perfect!


Crossing over the creek, I stopped to take this picture. Funny how things you see often, never get photographed!


James decided that he really didn't want a party this year.....that after this Mom was ready to have a group of kids at the park for a BBQ and lots of football play! He decided he'd rather just have his best buddy from school, Aden, spend the weekend with us. Boy, that was easy!! The two of them had a great time just hanging out together! They decorated the outside of our house for Halloween, rode their bikes at the local BMX track up at the park, spent a lot of time throwing the football, made tortillas and really enjoyed an evening campfire in our backyard! Then on Sunday we took them to play a game of miniature golf!

Decorating the house for Halloween.....


Making tortillas with Dad!


Mastering the tortilla maker....


Enjoying spooky stories around the campfire....


James and Aden have known each other for a long time, meeting in daycare before starting school. After 5 years of school, this is the first year they haven't been in the same class together. They are making the best of it, sharing time together in the school's Quest program and playing on the same football team with the rec department. They love tossing that football!! Dad and I are hopeful that James and Aden will always be friends!!


Then yesterday, I took cake and drinks to James' classroom so that they could all be a part of his birthday too!!

James is a big football and Broncos fan! Picking out a cake for him this year was easy!


The birthday boy with his cake!!


Here is his teacher, Mrs. Morris, singing (with the class!) "Happy Birthday" to James!


Mrs. Morris and her 4th graders!! I'm so glad James is in this class this year.....a great group of kids and a wonderful teacher!!


And so we now go barreling into James' 11th year! We are so proud of him and the person that he is becoming! What will the future hold for our guy? It's exciting to know that the sky is the limit for this young man! I can't wait to see what the next 10 years have in store for him!

It's Football Season!

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I am not a football fan!! Not at all!! It's at the top of my list of "most unfavorite" sports to watch! I enjoy watching baseball, basketball and I've grown to enjoy (if not only be accustomed to having it on all the time!) the NASCAR racing! But football remains to be elusive to me.....I don't really understand the games and it has always seemed unnecessarily rough to me. All of this being said, it would make sense that my son wholeheartedly wants to be a football player!!!

Part of his enthusiasm comes from the fact that James idolizes his big brother, Joe!! Joe now is a grown man, with a family of his own. James loves his brother and Joe treats James very well. We are all blessed by the relationships that James has with his big brother and sister!!

Joe started playing football in 2nd grade (according to his Dad....I wasn't in the picture back then!) and played straight through high school, some in college and then played a couple of years of semi-pro, until about 6-7 years ago! James has always thought that is way-cool!!

This is the first year that James is (finally!) old enough to play football through our local activities department. I think he was one of the first ones to sign up for the season. They start them in 4th grade here, and it's "flag football", something I can be alittle bit more comfortable about....at least for the time being. Next year, he'll move on to tackle football and I'll brace myself for that! I've never thought of myself as an overprotective Mom, but football just hits a chord with me.....one that I don't like. Maybe, as time goes by, I'll get over that, get more used to it all!

What I DO like is the huge smile that's on James' face as he comes running off the field, that fact that he has to work as part of the team, the physical activity of it all and how much he LOVES playing!! I can see both sides of it and so this Mom is trying very hard to be enthusiastic for HIM. He knows that I'm not a fan and thanks me for taking him to practices and for rooting his team on at games. We've both come to terms with each others thoughts on the subject.

And so, for now, I try my best to push aside my own discomfort and be there for James. We have a few more weeks to go and the season will be over for the year. Here are some of the pictures I took the other day at one of his games.......

Before the game, smiling with the mouth guard. Silly kid!


I love this picture! None of the boys can seem to figure out exactly what to do with their mouth guards!!


James, playing "center".


"Run, James, Run!!"


"Watch out....don't mess with me!!"