A Few of My Favorite Things: Trees Bowl and Book Orders!

The months continue to fly by, and football season is here again.  I won't be making it to every home game this year, and the ones I will be attending will probably not be very fun, let's be honest.  Saturday's game could have been better and it could have been worse.  The only way bringing the kids is tolerable is because we have family members there also.  I could never do it alone.  The weather was really warm and absent of blasting winds, which was good.  The prime game and tailgating hours are during afternoon naptime, those hours in the routine that usually give a much needed break but also make life feel like a prison on certain days, which was bad.

There was no question that Tessa looked very cut in her new NDSU dress and headband. 

 

Ben's cousins came to their first game.  He loves them and they love him so it was fun.  

 

They ended up sitting up in the high seats with me for the game and they don't know much about football so they asked me a lot of questions.  I tried to explain football, which I have a hard time doing since I recently started understanding it these last few years so now they probably know even less about football.  Sorry guys!

 

I tried to get Tessa to nap by pushing her around with ear protection on to muffle the commotion of the tailgating lot.  It didn't work very well as you can see. 

 

She eventually drifted off but I woke her up once we were in the game.  Then she spent the entire first half trying to climb the railing in front of us.  That was fun.  The second half Ben sat up with me and the cousins and spent a lot of time trying to eat peanut shells off the floor. 

 

I didn't even realize it, but the game was my favorite of the year...the Trees Bowl!  The North Dakota Forest Service gives an award to a community that has done great things in advancing the planting of trees around the state (a few years ago my hometown won!) and at the end of the game they give away little saplings.  Every year I plant my baby trees in a pot, with varying degrees of success.  Since our houses never seem to have the space for a tree I always intend to plant them at my parents' farm but it so far has never happened although a few have survived in pots for quite awhile.  Here is a picture of my trees from 2009.  This is the first day Allan lived with us and he treated them like cat toys. 

 

 

He made himself at home in no time!  In about a month it will be his six year anniversary with us! 

 

This year my mom took all of our trees home with her and, much to my surprise, planted them right away in a box so they can be transplanted in a few weeks after our old farmhouse is demolished. 

 

 

They sure are cute!   I hope some of them make it.  There are no oak trees at the farm so it would be fun to enjoy them.  Well, maybe the kids will enjoy them in their lifetime. 

After an eventful weekend Ben headed back to school this morning and I was surprised and excited to find that he had his first Scholastic book order!  More experienced parents warn me I won't always be excited to see these, but I remember how fun they were when I was a child and I was still ordering from them in middle school. 

 

I, of course, never paid attention to what the books cost when I was the one picking them out as a child but after a quick scan it appears that they are quite a bargain.  I hope the cousins are excited to get books for Christmas this year!  Hehe.