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.