On the banks of the Red Cedar...

On the banks of the Red Cedar, there's a school that's known to all;
Its specialty is winning, and those Spartans play good ball;
Spartan teams are never beaten, all through the game they fight;
Fight for the only colors: GREEN and WHITE.
Go right through for MSU, watch the points keep growing,
Spartan teams are bound to win, they're fighting with a vim!
Rah! Rah! Rah!
See their team is WEAKening,
We're going to win this game,
Fight! Fight! Rah! Team, Fight!
VICTORY for MSU!!!

This past weekend was MSU's Homecoming weekend.  We played Wisconsin and after being told by just about everyone that we had no chance... we WON with a Hail Mary pass at the end and an instant replay call!!!!  Yeah!!  Go SPARTANS!!!  :)

We decided to tailgate for the game on Saturday, even though we did not end up buying tickets.  Earlier in the season, we had planned to... but then they announced the game would be at 8:00 and that was just too late of a game for Carson.  So we just went to tailgate and see some fellow Spartans that we hadn't seen in awhile.  This was actually our first time setting up our own tailgate.  Generally we just go and wander around campus, visiting everyone we know.  So this was a totally different type of experience for us.  It was a lot of fun, though!  And it's something we'll do every year now. 

It was kind of nice having the night game in terms of tailgating.  It was nice to be able to sleep in and take it easy in the morning since the tailgating rules don't allow you to start tailgating till 1:00.  So we headed to East Lansing in the afternoon.  We met up with the Spadas and our friends Denny and Kristi from Atlanta when we got into town and we all caravaned onto campus.  Of course, campus is super congested every football Saturday, and is especially so for Homecoming.  The lots we were hoping to get into were full by 1:05.  We were the next car to get in at two of the lots when they closed them down.  So we ended up across from the Breslin and it actually ended up being quite perfect! 

We set up our spot and got to business eating, drinking, and socializing.  We played some ladder golf and threw the football around, too.  We all pitched in on the food and we ended up having so much!  Yet most of it actually ended up getting eaten.  Of course, we did have 7 hours to graze.  :) 

About half-way through the tailgate, Denny and I took off to find some fellow Phikes that we knew were on campus... and to find the Phi Chi Theta tailgate over by the tennis courts (student area).  The tennis courts were busy and crazy, as usual... though there did seem to be a huge damper on a lot of activities with the huge police presence.  And there was an obvious absense of many activities that used to be allowed when we went to school at State.  We finally found the Phi Chi tailgate, introduced ourselves to the current actives and pledges that were there, and met up with a few Phi Chi alum.  It was great to catch up with some old friends and meet the new generation of Phikes... though we did all agree that they're kinda lame compared to our generation... definitely no A-listers.  ;-P 

It was a great day of tailgating and awesome to be energized with Spartan Spirit!  And it was wonderful to catch up with old friends!  We look forward to tailgating more next year... and are actually very tempted to go again this year if we didn't already have crazy busy weekends on the remaining home football weekends.  So I think we'll be putting it off till next year for now. 

GO GREEN!!  GO WHITE!!

FALLing for you...

Today was a perfect fall day, so we took full advantage and spent the entire day outdoors.  After all the wind we've had, many of the leaves on some of our trees had blown off, so we had a lot of leaves to clean up.  We raked some into a pile for Carson to play in.  He has been looking forward to playing in the leaves since the first leaf fell.  Seriously.  He loves it.  :) 

Carson and I made some ghosts, so we finally had the chance to hang some in the tree in front.  Carson loves ghosts this year.  He gets a kick out of them and came up with this project all on his own. 

After awhile, Carson's friend and our neighbor, Jace, saw us out and came over to play for a few hours.  Carson and Jace have a lot of fun together.  Jace is about 9 months older than Carson, but they get along and play really well together.  Today, they had fun playing in the leaves, riding Jace's Jeep around the yard, playing on the swingset and in the playhouse, and just romping around the yard.  We went back and picked the ripe raspberries, which is one of Carson's favorite things to do these days.  He and Jace ate every single berry we picked, though!  :)  It was a super fun day! 

Jonah's Toy Story Birthday

Last Sunday, we went over to Uncle Jason's and Aunt Julie's house for a birthday party for Jonah, who turned 2 years old!  Jonah loves Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story, so of course he had a Toy Story themed party.  Aunt Julie made him the cutest shirt to go along with the theme and just about every gift he received tied into it, as well.  Jonah seemed like a very happy little boy!  :) 

Our Week in Review

We've had a busy, but fun week.  We came home from Tennessee late Monday/early Tuesday.  We spent Tuesday getting back into the swing of things - Carson had preschool, Sara ran some errands, we all worked outside, and we got caught up on laundry.  We were back to work on Wednesday. 

Auntie Jaime, Uncle Jeff, Grant, and Jack also flew into Flint on Wednesday afternoon.  So we took a drive over to Jaime's mom Bev's house to visit on Wednesday night so we could meet Grant Thomas.  What an adorably sweet little baby boy!  We love him so much!  Carson has been enamored with him ever since, he just loves him.  Carson really thought he was hot stuff holding baby Grant... until Grant decided to fill his diaper while sitting on Carson's lap - haha!  Carson thinks it's hilarious that happened, though.  :) 

It was so good to see Jaime and Jeff and meet Grant!  We really wish they lived closer - it's hard to believe Grant is already two months old and this was the first time we were meeting him.  And we're not sure when we'll see the Stempihars again... that is the hardest part.  Sara misses her best friend!  But even with living so far apart and not seeing each other often, we have the kind of friendship that doesn't skip a beat and we just pick right up immediately.  It's awesome.  We both hope our boys will grow to be good buddies over the years, too.  And we'll have to figure something out to see each other again... maybe we'll meet up for a weekend getaway if we can find some good deals.   

Sara took the day off on Friday since Carson had school pictures in the morning.  After pictures, we met up with Sara's friend, Melissa, and her three girls, Adalin, Kira, and Ava, at Spicer's Orchard.  We are having some amazing weather right now - it's been in the low 80's for a few days, which has been awesome.  And it made for a perfect day at the orchard!  We spent some time playing and then took a hayride out to pick some apples.  It was a lot of fun!  The kids all enjoyed eating a fresh apple off the tree (you're allowed one while you're picking).  Then we spent some more time playing in the play area before having a picnic lunch and treating ourselves to some cider and donuts for dessert.  It was a super fun afternoon! 

Saturday morning, we headed to Joel's football game.  It was a beautiful morning for a football game!  Joel is playing flag football with Upward (a Christian sports program) in our area.  He made some great plays and even scored a touchdown!  It was a lot of fun watching him play.  Anna, Jonah, and Carson all had fun playing together and sitting in their chairs watching the game. 

After the football game, we came home and worked outside.  All three of us.  Carson is a great helper and loves working outside.  We were cutting down and trimming trees on this day.  We cut down 6 trees in the backyard and trimmed some others.  And we started the fall clean up of the outdoor toys - Carson's playhouse, swingset, sandbox, etc.  We all worked hard.  Carson climbed up on the swing after a few hours and completely passed out.  He was going strong and then just hit his wall and went to sleep almost immediately.  :) 

On Saturday evening, we headed back over to Jaime's mom's house for a get together with some friends.  Life sure has changed in just a few short years, with all the little ones running around!  It is so fun!

Grant, Carson, Emelia, and Kipton

The baby mamas... Mary with a picture of her son Carter, Kori and Kipton, Sara and Carson, Jaime and Grant, Amber with her baby belly due in January, Corinne with Emelia.

  It's been a fun-filled week!  We've got another one ahead of us this week, too!