Bring on the Packers!

Pictures from Logan's Birthday Party

Who would have thought?

And of course Sara had a .10 cent coupon.

Christmas in Arizona

Video: kindergarten holiday songs

Kindergarten Parent Involvement Day

Weekend update

No pictures. Quick update from our house. Since returning from our 15th anniversary trip last weekend we have been busy with the following:

-Logan's basketball team continues to do great. They are 4-1. Amazing to watch 3rd graders scoring between 40-60 points per game
-Carter has been busy with hockey. He loves his team and continues to improve
-It is finally white here and feels more like Christmas
-Friday we had Carter's "parent involvement day."  Will post some pictures/videos shortly.
-We are busy planning for Logan's 9th birthday
-Tis the season for holiday parties. Friday night we had our HOA holiday party/gingerbread house making at the lodge. Last night we had a caroling party/pot luck with our old neighborhood
-Shawn is getting into his busy season for work and will be traveling lots the next several weeks. This week he is in Atlanta, Charlotte, and Phoenix. Then leaves for San Francisco on Sunday night again.

Hope your holiday season is full of blessings!

Pictures from Kauai

Pictures of our hotel and some of the beach.

Waimea Canyon

This AM we hiked about 4.5 miles along the canyon. We only saw one other person on the trail. The trail is at about 5100 ft and was cool in the 50s. Beautiful views as the trail dropped off about 4000 ft. Felt good to get back to the beach and 80 degrees.

Pictures from our hike

Kalalau Trail & Hanakapiai Falls

We arrived in Kauai last night about 6pm local time. Smooth flights and connections - even got upgraded to LAX. Woke up about 5am local time due to the 4 hr time difference. Figured since we were up we should drive to the Na Pali coast and accomplish the hike which brought us to Kauai.

The Kalalau Trail starts on the north coast of Kauai when the road stops due to the cliffs. You begin with a 2 mile hike to an isolated beach. Swimming is not encouraged due to the waves and current as the sign below illustrates - yikes! Most active people can do the trail as it is 4 miles RT. We wanted to see the falls so took the trail inward another 2 very remote miles into the rainforest. You climb up and down boulders, cross a river that gets waist deep in the rainy season and finally come to one of the wonders of the world. Right when we arrived after 3 hours of strenuous hiking the skies oped and it poured like it only does in a rainforest. We took shelter and were rewarded with a quick break in the skies. We only saw about 10 people on the entire 4 mile trail. It took a total of 5 hours to get to the beach and falls but was well worth it. Enjoy the video below. We are going out for dinner and a cold beer!

Video: decorating the tree

Christmas Trees

It takes an expert eye to tell which tree in our house is the adult's tree and which one is the kid's tree. The boys loved decorating their own tree in the loft outside of their bedrooms. Video to follow.

Not sure there is any more room on the boy's tree for any more ornaments. They plastered it pretty good.

Christmas Has Arrived at the Mayfield Adobe

We even took advantage of the record 70 degree heat on Saturday and put up the outdoor lights. In the true spirit of the season Mother Nature blessed us this AM with a dusting of snow.

Friday Night With the Wolves

Sometimes bribery is a good thing...

Only 2 months ago the nightly routine in our house with Logan consisted of screaming, crying and putting up an absolute fit over his reading and guitar work. Logan has always struggled with reading and last year participated in a before school reading group to get up to average for his age. In a moment of desperation, we bribed him with a reward program that if he read for five out of seven days a week; and played his guitar for five out of seven days we would get him a iPAD after 6 weeks. Little secret - we were going to get him one anyway :-)  IT WORKED INSTANTLY! Immediately he started finding spare time in everyday to meet his goals and 2 weeks ago he got his iPAD - now loaded with a bunch of fun apps (games); as well as apps on reading and math.
Now his reward program requires him to read and play guitar to use the iPAD - and it is still working! Last month he read almost 600 minutes! The school goal is 300 for "meets expectations" and 400 for "exceeds expectations." Today he woke up and read an entire book in just over an hour! He is turning into a reading machine and wants to go to the library to get the next book in various series. It is only November 2 and he has already read 110 minutes. And the best thing - no crying, tantrums, etc. Also need to mention his fall state-wide test scores for reading now came in just over average....progress!

At first I felt like we were being bad parents with bribery...but then a good friend had an excellent point: "adults work for bonuses and stock options at work - why shouldn't kids have incentives as well!" AMEN!

Carter's School Picture - Very Cute!



It took two tries, but Carter's Kindergarden picture turned out very cute!

Costumes for our Association Halloween party.

Carving pumpkins.

Fun w/friends at Wisconsin Dells

Final Soccer Game - Carter

As the pictures illustrate, it was a little cold for our last game.

Trick or treating at Wisconsin Dells

Carter's School Program

Carter is in the top row on the left.

Video of Carter's Nursery Rhyme

Carter's Kindergarten Nursery Rhyme Program

Carter is in the top left.

Golfing Buddies

Shawn Mayfield

3rd Grade Football Championship

Between 200-300 people showed up for the game. Logan's team finished the season winning 5 straight games after losing the first 2 to make it into the championship. The other team was undefeated. We had a 13-0 lead in the 4th quarter but the other team scored on the last play of the game to win. Lots of controversy with the clock. The boys were crying and so upset as they felt cheated. Good lesson for them on sportsmanship. It was really hot and they lost one of their best players with heat exhaustion at the half.

Carter's Soccer Team

I just noticed almost all of them are blond. Must be the water in Lakeville.

Football - Best Friends

Logan's football team (Oakland Raiders) played his best friend Avery's team yesterday (Colts). His team is on a roll and won their 3rd game in a row - after starting the season 0-2. The highlight was when Avery was the running back and Logan tackled him.

Last Saturday Logan got to play quarterback and had a 70+ yard run down the sidelines before being tacked at the 5-yard line. Two plays later he ran around the outside and scored - he was in Heaven! It was great to see his team all slapping him on the helmet and cheering for him - some days he gets upset because he says he is always picked towards the end during recess for football. It was good "positive reinforcement" for him to see that he can play just as good as the other kids and he shouldn't worry about when he is picked....just play your hardest regardless.

Pictures from the 1st day of school -

Our bus stop. (13) kids on the first day of school and that is only one of three stops in our neighborhood. The good news is that the bus route is about 10 minutes shorter on both the way to school and the way home this year due to the growth in our Association. Hopefully Carter won't fall asleep on the way home!

The Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup was in Lakeville as part of the LA Kings tour to bring the cup to the hometown of all their players, coaches, etc. I guess one of the LA Kings scouts grew up in Lakeville.

Mayfield Ice Cream

We never knew our family was in the ice cream business!
We just returned from vacation in Myrtle Beach and saw this in the grocery store.

Tackle Football - Logan