Halloween Baby!!!!

As you can see it was Halloween time for the Ivanlams and all had fun. The girls trick or treated around the neighborhood with Tiffany while me and Gabe and Uncle Jamie and Cousin Brule and Grandma Marcia held the compound down....or should I say spooky graveyard....Our house was by far the biggest hit on the block. Credit goes to Tiffany who put the decorations up and to Jamie whose bright idea brought laughs. Jamie brought home some big 'casket' like shipping crates from work and put them in the yard, positioned near the candy. Gabe and Jamie climbed in the crates and scarred some unsuspecting kids and adults, some of which I caught on tape. I'll try and post some scenes, it was taken at night, so it may not work well, even though I was using the night vision feature on the camera. Elli went as a pumpkin, Abbi went as Kit Kitteridge, her American Girl doll, you can see they dressed alike. Elli also took her American Girl doll, dressed like a pumpkin as well.

Gabe's hand sticking out of a 'casket'.

Pete, Jamie and Brule, enjoying a drink following trick or treat time (just kidding).

Ivanic Finds Endzone!!!!!!!!!

If flag football games were covered by our local newspapers, the title to this post would be the main headline on the sport page. During the fourth quarter of her game today Elli took a snap and went around the right end for a long touchdown run. It was very exciting, I did capture the moment on tape, which is below. The game wasn't going very well, the other team had scored 3 touchdowns, we had none. Each kid on the team normally sits out half the game because the team has a lot of kids. Elli started the fourth quarter on the bench, but a kid got hurt and she got called into action, setting up the touchdown run. Elli also tried 2 passes, but both went incomplete, one was almost caught.


The 'El Belle' also had a long run in first quarter, notice who is watching at the end of the clip.



Gabe's freshman Central team lost another game this week, this one out at North Scott, they are now 1-7 and play West Tuesday to close the season. Gabe sat out the first half and then entered to play the whole second half. He was thrown to 4 times, making 3 catches, one was a big gainer up the middle, and another was a 2 point conversion. We didn't take the video camera, we were not expecting Gabe to play much (sorry boy!). It was great to see Cousin Brule and Uncle Jamie attend the game, Abbi decided to stay home.

Happy Birthday to David, who is now 30! Last night we had a big bash for him at their house, about 50 people attended. Next time you see him, ask him how the mud pie tasted the girls made for him (he actually took a bite of a flower). Hopefully he'll remember what you're talking about!!!!!!

Lovely Riley

My niece Riley Miller showed up for dinner this evening, I've been saying for the longest time I ought to get her on tape saying hi to me. She says my name so clear it's unbelievable that Riley is not yet 2 years old! I think it's a testament from all the time spent reading to Riley that she gets at home by parents David and Ally. Posted is a clip from today as Riley swings with Elli and Abbi outside on our swingset. You can hear Riley say 'smile' when she knows the camera is on her, followed by a 'Hi Peter" and then she says....'love you Peter' ..........just as cute as anybody ever had.

Rocktober Football Clips

Another football weekend has come and gone, time to post some more clips from Gabe and Elli. Below is 3 clips from Central's Freshman game with Bettendorf under the lights last Tuesday night at Brady Street Stadium. The Bulldogs got out to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter, but the Blue Devils showed some heart and clawed back into the game. If only they would have had a couple more minutes, the final score was 34-30, they are now 1-6, losing 6 straight. Gabe is #87, he is the tight end blocking on the first play. The second play he runs a pass pattern, the last clip is Gabe trotting off the field following a kickoff return. He played a lot on both sides of the ball in the first quarter, was thrown to once but he couldn't come up with the catch, after that play he didn't play much. Only 2 more games left, at North Scott this week and against West next week.



Elli had her second game this afternoon, it was a stark contrast to last week's 90 degree hot and sunny day, today was cool and rainy. Elli is #34, again was the only girl on the field, her pony tail is the easiest way to tell her apart when viewing the clips. Below Elli lines up at quarterback and takes the snap and sweeps around the corner for a short gain.




Elli is quarterback again in the clip below. It sure makes it easy to film her when she runs toward the camera. It's hard to tell why she stops running, if she step out of bounds or if she gets her flag pulled. Sometimes, I think on her first run in this clip, the refs blew the whistle thinking the ball carrier is down, when in fact the runner may not be. Her coach did a good job this week of having the kids a little bit more organized than their first game. He rotated quarterbacks after each play so more kids got to run with the ball.

They Call Her Ms. Football...................

Today was Elli's first flag football game in 90 degree heat at the Dad's Club soccer fields. Her team was out-muscled by the other team, but Elli flashed her Heisman like athletic prowess carrying the ball several times for her team. They didn't score, but Elli proved her worth. The video above is a segment caught in the 4th quarter. She was the only girl on the field, she is wearing the #6 jersey but her pony tail will stick out. The film is from our video camera, the frames per second don't want to match up with computer speed, that's why it grainy.




In the clip below, Elli is chasing a ball carrier from behind while playing defense. I think she gave the kid a little push at the end of the play.....just to let him know who the boss is!!!




In other football news.....Gabe's freshman team lost again, that's now 5 in a row, to fall to 1-5 for the year. PV beat them last Thursday at PV on a beautiful night for freshman football, 34-30. The Blue Devils were down 27-8 heading into the 4th quarter and stormed back to take the lead at 30-27, but a very bad coaching decision late in the game on a fake punt gave PV the ball at midfield, where they easily marched down the field and scored the go ahead TD with 15 seconds to play in the game. Both players and parents were utterly upset at the coaching decisions late in the game. My fear is the coaches may have lost more than the game, it will be interesting to see how the kids respond this week against Bettendorf. Gabe didn't play much in the game.

It was Homecoming weekend at St. Ambrose, Gabe escorted me to the football game where I did the public address announcing during the Bees 45-10 over William Penn, it was super hot, we were sweating bad. We got to see some guys I played football with at SAU before and after the game, then Tiffany and I went to Rookies to meet some friends, then wound up at Bleyarts Tap where some other friends were from both SAU and Garfield school. Then we proceeded to Creek Side Bar, the old McDonald's on Brady Street, to meet some other friends. We closed Creek Side down, headed home and were surprised a little after 2am, to find some couples pulling up to the house for more spirits outside at the Dover Court Pub. Bedtime came at 4am, nothing like Homecoming!!!!!!

And speaking of spirits....the greatest thing in the world happened 3 weeks ago. The New Belgium Brewery of Fort Collins, Colorado finally started shipping their products to the great state of Iowa. I can now have a Fat Tire at several local establishments, or I can purchase the 22 ounce bombers at the store. I am so happy. Uncle Josh...........don't worry about bringing a case of Fat Tire with you next time you visit D-port!!!!!