The Keene Family

Our kids are allowed to pick one sport per season. We all know what Haley's sport is... for all the seasons. :) She's a team girl! JT is playing flag football again this fall. He enjoys playing quarterback, wide receiver, and safety.

We had lots of things going on for New Year's this year. It started with all of the neighbor kids getting together to video record a play they had written. There were scripts and photocopies and everything. JT used our old Flip camera to take the footage. Apparently there will be a video showing after it's produced... we'll see. Then we went to my brother's house for my nephew's birthday party. We didn't get any photos of the birthday boy (?) but we did get photos of me and my nieces wearing ridiculously large stick-on nose gems to emulate a potential future piercing. We transitioned to our housed for New Year's Eve and hosted a group of people playing basketball and ping-pong, enjoying a bon fire, and eating snacks. That's right: a ping-pong table. Jim went and bought a new outdoor table to keep in the shop. It's so much fun! On New Year's Day, we hosted my family and our friends the Bonnell family for the Alabama game. They won a...

We finished a great season of flag football last weekend. Jim was so thrilled to be able to be the assistant coach, and JT grew a lot as a player. We learned that he is fast . At least, compared to most of the other kids. He learned how to take an angle and run down another player, which was really fun to watch. We even saw in one game how the other team avoided his side of the field! He also learned how to run with the ball, something he did really well. Another mom on the team got some photos of him and sent them to me. They are awesome! Father & son

We knew it had to happen eventually. Suddenly the beautiful weather turned cold and rainy. Fortunately Jim and I have these new matching jackets. ;) Jim's Grandma Hall came up to watch one of JT's football games and his Uncle Steve and Aunt Susan came too. It was so fun to have Oregon family here to watch him! The next weekend, it poured . Fortunately the screen tent that we bought for summer repurposes as a rain shelter. I am thrilled that it worked. It was so nice to have a dry spot to hang out and watch the game without being miserable. We might have to use it for baseball season too. Ha!

This weekend JT had an awesome game. Actually, his whole team had an awesome game! JT ran almost the entire width of the field (they play side to side) for a touchdown, and that was just the start. He also made a flying leap to catch his opponent ball carrier right before the goal line. That play happened right in front of the family cheering section, so it was extra exciting! I don't have pictures of these moments because I was busy enjoying the moment. :)

Flag football is in full swing. JT has been having practice twice a week and his jamboree was this past weekend. Here is the big man on his way to his first unofficial game. Their jerseys this year are fluorescent yellow. Like, squint-worthy. JT had an awesome play at the game. He played defender all game, and he was headed to pull a flag from a receiver on the other team. The receiver ended up head butting JT in the nose instead of catching the ball. The ball went between them, and JT caught it! Then he ran all the way down the field and got snagged at the one yard line. It was very exciting. Another mom on the team happened to get the run part on video! Poor JT got hit pretty hard and we are so proud of him for making the play after his impact injury. He came out after that (they were on offense, after all) and sat on the sidelines with an ice pack on his nose until defense went back in. And then he pulled a flag on the opponent's running back with 14 seconds l...