A Season Ends

Before we get to football, look:

HOW CUTE IS SHE?????? And quite the spiker, too!

And then...
Wow...
Our boys went to Kennewick last night and faced undefeated Southridge.
They were amazing.

Last week, we went to play Moses Lake. Creamed them. It was AWESOME. Because, next to Richland, we hate Moses Lake the most.

Zach has moved up into a starting role, starting several weeks ago when we played Richland. He's stayed right there, playing almost every single defensive down. He's loving it. He was interviewed for the radio by Scott Reardon, who played basketball with Dave in high school. It was an awesome interview. Who knew? The kid is quite articulate! No mumbles, no "uuuhs" or "uuummms." Very cool moment. Here is the interview, along with some random pics from the season:

Kenny has been losing his voice every week, cheering everyone on. He's been so excited by how well WaHi has done. This is the first time in 4 years we've been in the playoffs.

And last night. We barely lost. 14-16. The kids played their hearts out. I hugged a lot of sweaty, teary guys after the game. I was really proud of them. A tough moment, but what awesome kids they are. And we have probably 80% of our starters coming back next year. LOOK OUT!

Onto basketball. I'm in a bit of mourning. Zach's decided not to play this year, despite the coach tracking him down and putting the registration form right in his hand. I'll miss it. But I guess it's not about me, eh? Kate will be playing and that will be fun. Those girls are a lot of fun to watch. And we'll be traveling a lot, which will be easier with only one team to follow. And Kenny will be skiing this winter. So we'll still have lots of fun things to do.

The seasons are changing again.
The air is brisk and sometimes cold enough that you can see your breath.
The sky is deep black most nights, with stars that sparkle like ice.
Sometimes the sky is white at night, white with fog.
The leaves all fell in one day, whirling down from the sky, filling the streets.
In the evening, warm light glows from the windows on our street.
People snuggle in.
We made cocoa instead of milkshakes the other night.
In the morning, my iced coffee hurts my hand.
And our lovely grass in the back is slowly turning into mud.

These shifts in time,
shifts in perspective...
they are sweet.
My children grow and change,
every day brings something new.
Each day I see something new.

Which also makes these shifts
bitter.
One more moment in time.
One more step away from where we were in 2005.
Each photo is a memory,
frozen, preserved.

And each of those moments is a reminder.
One more thing he missed,
one more thing he couldn't be a part of.

And although I held two sobbing boys and
whispered in their ears that their Dad loves them
is proud of them,
it's still wrong.


Here are a few moments. More later.