Football slaughter

Hunter's fan club

There he is, my favorite number 79- I had to grab this picture because there he stands at 6'3, 188 pounds freshman football- and look at that little pip squeek #34! That kid's gonna get creamed someday! Much like Hunter's poor team got creamed at their first football game Saturday. Is there a slaughter rule in football? If not, Hunter's team invented it! The A squad kicked butt and won 26-0 but then the B squad got killed- 36-0. I had to come home & get Gavin and me down for a nap because I worked the night before and I was back to work that night, so I didn't even see the whole game, but I know it wasn't good. I couldn't wait to wake up and see Hunter to tell him how proud I was of him but when I woke up I learned that Todd took the kids swimming at his mom's to provide a quiet house for me to sleep in so I never got to see Hunter that day. My heart was broke because I missed him so much. I called at bedtime to tell him I was so proud and he said, "mom. . . we lost but I did the best I could out there". He was so cute. I assured him "you sure did buddy and we are all so proud of you!!!!" . . . and I mean ALL- in addition to our immediate family, Julie and her whole family came, Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt B came, and grandma Knill came. It was so hot and the game lasted so long- only to see Hunter's team lose. But Hunter himself played so good. He is such a good boy! When I came home Sunday morning I couldn't wait to hug him and I could tell that he couldn't wait to hug me too- I have to savor times like that because they're sure to be gone soon. (he'll hug me as much as I want as long as his friends aren't around :0) He's my big teddy bear!! My "gentle giant". I love my buddy Hunter so much!! and the others of course- I'm just so proud of Hunter and you should be too! He's working so hard going to school from 7-2:30, then ball from 3-5:30- on game nights he'll be out of the house at 6:30 and won't get home again until after 9pm!! That's a long day for a 14 year old! Then he can take a little break this winter before track starts in the spring!

Make that "The Knill Family Inn"

. . . because, in reference to the previous post, none of those children ever left that night! I knew the boys were sleeping over but then the girls came to me bouncing in the little girl way that little girls do, "please please please can they sleep over?" Hunter has had friends sleep over all summer long, while Lauren went on sleepovers all summer long so I obliged to their request simply because they were all being sooooooooo good. The boys stayed down in the family room playing PS3 (Hunter gets online and meets up with friends and they can be on the same team in this game - our PS3 has 4 remotes so the 3 boys plus Hunter's friends online can be on a team- it's pretty cool) and the girls went into Lauren's room. I had told the girls "lights out at 10:00- well I got on the phone with a VERY LONG TIME friend and we talked n' talked n' talked about life's little problems. When I went to check on the girls at 10:45 they were sitting on Lauren's floor with all my ribbon, glue dots, & other crafty stuff making scrap book pages! Isabelle made a rather decorative "do not enter" sign for her bedroom door. Amanda of course made a horse page and Lauren made a page dedicated to how much she loves drawing. They were being so good & so cute I didn't have the heart to be mad, but I did say then "lights out at 11:00- and they were. . . followed of course by little giggles for an undisclosed amount of time. I think they finally did fall asleep that night though I can't be certain of what time. In the morning, we made a mass production of pancakes, blueberry muffins and juice- then kicked everyone out to get to my sister's for brunch at 10:00. She made her famous spinach & egg souffle, pancakes, homemade cinnamon coffee cake, her special recipe scrambled eggs, fruit, bacon. . . I'm sure there was even more. For those of you who don't know, my sister is the best cook in town! She whips up the most amazing meals so it always a treat to go over there to eat :0) (unlike my turkey disaster at Thanksgiving! We won't go into that. Let's just say, my turkey was very happy to see my sister!!! HA HA HA (she knows what I'm talking about- that's why I couldn't be trusted to prepare mom & dad's 50th anniversary meal!) We had a fun little Labor Day until I went to work and met the women who put the "labor" in Labor Day!!

Knill Family Theater

After playing outside together all day Lauren and her 2 friends were disappointed that the sun started going down and that meant, everybody in. Hunter was excited toward the end of the day because to him that meant, his 2 favorite people, his cousins, were coming to sleep over. So there I was pondering. . . how could I make all these kids happy? Well we seperated the sectional to make "movie seats" and downloaded a movie on our Playstation 3-so long Blockbuster! We just order up a movie through the video game system!

What's a movie theater without concessions? After all, it was the dinner hour so Todd and I teamed up, took orders and made pbj's, doritoes and grapes. Served with their choice of Gatorade.
What's concession's without cookie ice cream sandwiches? Of course, they were a big hit!
So at the end of the night, we were able to not only please everyone from 2-14 years old, but we had a ton of fun! The kids thought it was cool to make "rows" and everyone was asked to follow the rules of any other movie theater. They all behaved very well and enjoyed the show and Todd & I enjoyed having the kids over!

Sink or Swim

Ya'll know that saying "sink or swim". . . Well I was faced with that dilema last night at work and it makes me wonder, is there such a thing as "just bob around for awhile until someone finally comes along and saves your a**"? because that's exactly what happened to me at work last night~ welcome to nights. The reason I orientated to labor and delivery during the day is because that's when all the doc's are around, the scheduled c-sections, the inductions, it's a more controlled environment hence more opportunity to learn- right? Let me tell you, last night was my first night back and the you know what was hittin' the fan! So much so that the nurse I was "orientating" with had to leave to go "check" a newly admitted patient- who turned out to be 9cm!! So I came out of our active labor patient's room after checking my own patient who was complete and ready to push (with mec and a maternal temp = not a good thing) and I knew I needed to call the doctor. So I'm immediately scanning the crowd for my preceptor's face when all of a sudden she come's pushing a screaming woman, one cheekin' it in the wheelchair (ya'll know what that means) and when we make eye contact she says "You're on your own Mel". Now that is not a good thing and I stood there thinking "WHAT? Someone has to be responsible for me- I can't be trusted!" Then a brick hit me in the head with a message attached "you're responsible for yourself damn it- call Dr. Olson now" So I called one of the most intimidating md's on staff, first and foremost told him about the patient's condition and "oh, by the way, it's just me tonight" (he know's I'm new to all this). So THANK GOD he was there in a jiffy and it was just him and me! I joked with the dad that he and I were going to be delivering this baby- but you know how they say under every joke is an underlying truth!! Now I know cab drivers have delivered babies, and I know women deliver babies out in fields, etc. however, a woman sedated under epidural anesthesia with pitocin with meconium stained fluid with a maternal temp makes for a much riskier situation. I caught myself standing there literally thinking "sink or swim" and what motivated me most is that if I sank, I wasn't going down alone. This lovely little family was coming too and I couldn't let that happen. She gave birth to a beautiful little girl and requested my picture with their family because they know how hard I worked and what a contribution I made to her delivery. And even though I doggy paddled around for a little bit, that's what makes this job worth every bit!

Back to school!!!

There's Hunter off to HIGHSCHOOL! The highschool's about 1 mile west of our house. From the upstairs bedrooms you can see it and you can hear the band- so it's pretty close. Lauren's school is just across from that lake- just to the right outside of the picture above.

My little lovebug off to 4th grade. Her classroom faces right down the street to our neighborhood. Without the trees from the farm on the corner, she'd be able to see the house. I can look out my office window and see the window to her classroom- that's an awesome feeling!

Here's my adorable little Lauren off to 4th grade! It seems like just yesterday Hunter was going to 4th grade~ only HE at least let me walk him to the bus. Lauren was afraid she'd look like a baby if I walked her :0( I was outside though and did hear the bus driver call each child by name! It's the same sweet lady as last year- I'm so excited! A nice normal bus driver!
Not the best picture of Hunter but hey, how many freshman would even let you take their picture on the first day of school? He was so excited this morning! He has to leave the house at 6:30!!! Then with football after school he won't get home until 6:00- and on game night even later. That's a long day!

The alien ship!

When we got home from Hunter's pep rally last Friday night, the sky had these really cool blue stripes- like the sun's rays only blue not yellow. So I grabbed a photo since we love animals, nature, yadda yadda. When we were looking at the pictures later, we saw it- the alien space ship!! It wasn't there when I shot the photo! Everyone thinks it's a shooting star but Lauren and I know the "truth is out there"- it's an alien ship coming to recapture their offspring- my children! They will then return the beautiful angelic children I gave birth to, and take home these demon monster children. (they're being really bad today) I can't wait till tomorrow- school starts -or- the extraterrestials claim what is rightfully theirs- whatever comes first!

My new favorite number!!!

That's my boy!!!

Hunter's across from number 56

79

Hunter's football number this year!! He tried for "43"- a Knill family number. It was Todd's football number and is Van's racing number- but apparently 43 is special to someone else too so Hunter just took what they threw at him and has his own special number!! And I of course am the mom in the stands SO PROUD as any mom is, of her boy!!! They had their scrimmage game and pep rally last Friday. It was so fun!!! I love the band and the pom pom's- sorry but the cheerleaders get so annoying!! Lauren has no desire to cheer and I am so grateful!!!! Games are Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. Hunter's already got a fan club of all of our neighbors and friends. Go Wolves- wahooie!!!!!!!