The White Knights -- Game 1

Josh's first soccer game was on Saturday. We had a great time!

He's in the "Under 8" division and our team is The White Knights.

The games in this division are played 6 on 6 -- with 1 goalie and 5 other players. There is more of a focus on playing "properly" in this division -- a bit less of a free for all than in the "Under 6" and "Under 5" divisions! Everyone still gets to play and they rotate through the different positions.

Josh was lucky because he got to play Offense, Defense and Goalie this time. Although next time, he may not get a turn in the goal.

Josh and his best friend Sean.

Warming up.

Being the Goalie.

I have a whole series of Josh "Playing" in the goal. He told me goalie was only fun when there was something to do. And Defense was really boring! I think that's mostly because when Josh was playing defense, his team was up scoring goals!

Josh made 2 really good saves as goalie, and did not let any in. This is just after he saved the 2nd one!

Playing Offense.

"I wanna play too!"

It was very hard to keep Sam off the pitch! He wanted to play football with the big kids too!

Josh and Sean (and Marco in the background) taking a rest and having a snack.

I did not "keep score" of the game so I don't know who won. But I think it may have been Josh's team. They were really all over the pitch and had some great plays. One of Josh's friends that was on the other team said it was a 5-5 draw, but I don't think the other team scored 5 goals!

So, my prerogative as mom is to say Josh's team won!

On Sunday, Josh declaired it was "Mommy and Joshie Day." And he wanted to Go Golfing!

We had a great time and decided next time we should make it Family Day and have Daddy and Sam come too!

And we got ice cream afterwards!

Water, Water Everywhere!

Sam didn't have a nap today.

I took a page out of the Crazedparent Book of Child Entertainment today. I was desperate.

I let the kids paint the driveway.

We also played "melt the ice cube." Josh loves to take ice cubes and see which one melts fastest.

They had a great time!

Sam was soaking wet, but he didn't care. Neither did I as long as they kept the water away from me!

Blowing bubbles.

By the end, Sam was just throwing water all over the place! They were emptying the water out of the buckets faster than I could fill them!

I hardly got my "30 minutes" to read my book. But that's okay, the kids were entertained.

I think I'll add this to our list of outside activities!

Thanks Crazedparent!

Weekend Update and Then Some....

Yes, I know I need a haircut... I have to wait about a week so it's just right for our vacation!

So, it's time for the weekend update! This weekend was the Big Shanty Festival, complete with a parade, bouncy castles, arts & craft stalls and junk food!

When we were talking to Josh about going to the parade on Saturday, his first response was, "No, I don't want to go... (then he thought for a minute)... Will they be throwing Candy? Well, then okay!"

The boys had a great time at the parade. There were bands from the local high school, the local Harley Davidson Club (which Sam liked the most). Some of Josh's friends from school were in the parade representing Jump Rope For Heart, (see #29) and Kennesaw Futbol Club.

Look Mommy!

CANDY!!!!!

YAY!

More Candy!

We visited the festival and the stalls on Sunday afternoon. The boys had a great time, the biggest hit was Jeff Gordon's number 24 Nascar that the Kennesaw Police had on display. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of Sam and the smile on his face when he ran circles around the car. The Kennesaw Police Dept. had it on display to raise money for the Torch Run to benefit the Special Olympics.

With a $5 donation, Josh picked out a hat and t-shirt. Here he is sporting it! We think it's big enough for the whole family!

Monkey See, Monkey Do....

Sam's new favorite thing is Curious George. He loves watching the TV show and the Movie! The other day, he yelled over to me, "Mommy! Look what I did!" I went into the bathroom and he had unrolled an ENTIRE roll of toilet paper!

I said, "Sam! What did you do?"

Sam: "Look Mom! Just like Curious George!"

I wish I had a photo!

Later that day, I was running the boys bath and Sam said, "I
want to get in now."

I was putting clothes into the dryer: "Okay Sam, just a minute!"

Sam: "I got in all by myself!"

I went into the bathroom and he'd taken his undies off, but climbed in with his shirt on! Silly boy! (again, no picture! I really need to keep my camera handier!)

Elizabeth Thinks I ROCK!

Lastly, I wanted to just make the wold a little smaller. One of my favorite blogs is written by a lady named Elizabeth. She lives in East Lansing, Michigan and after reading her bio, I realized we had a few more things in common. Turns out, we graduated High School the same year and we both waited a year to start college. She was accepted to the school I ended up attending and went to an equally small school in Michigan. And her husband used to work for EDS. Small World!

You should go check her out. She's got a good sense of humor! This weekend she had a huge project at her house. She was trying to de-clutter her house with 3 kids! She posted photos and updates as she went. Looks like she did a pretty good job! And since I was there cheering her on she sent me an "Elizabeth Thinks I Rock" Award! Which I am proudly displaying on my blog! Elizabeth, I think you rock too!

Additional Pictures

Josh and Sam at an Easter Egg hunt a few weeks ago.

On the way home from the playground.

Love Thursday

I've been putting off my Love Thursday post. I was just not feeling the love and needed some time to think.

It's been a difficult week. Sam's had a bit of a cold that he was oh so kind enough to share with everyone else in the house! That coupled with a few "Book Club" issues have had me not sleeping much.

Sam had school today and I had some errands to run. It is so heavenly to be able to run errands without a toddler! Not that Sam's bad, but when we go to Cost Plus World Market, he wants to touch everything. I'm afraid something will break! So, I enjoyed my morning running errands.

When I got to Costco, I took my time looking through the books. Something I love doing but usually Sam doesn't want to. Or rather, he just wants me to give him all the books, get a muffin, get some pizza, buy toys, get-this-get-that. It was nice to be able to browse!

When I was growing up, my mom (ever the teacher) gave us little bits of homework to do. Not every day, but on occasion. And not much, just a few math problems here, write a small story there, and always, we had books to read. I have to say, I didn't like it much, but it was a very good idea. I've been milling the idea over myself. The Costco books section was full of all sorts of "skills" books like "Get Ready for the First Grade" and "100 Words Your First Grader should know..." and that type of thing. I looked them over and thought about getting them, but honestly, I just thought that my little genius Josh would be bored. They did not look very interesting or challenging. I moved on to other kids books.

Josh has been doing really well on his Accelerated Reading (AR) books and tests. But he's been a bit reluctant to read a Chapter Book. He says there are too many words! I found the first four books of the Magic Treehouse series and thought that Josh may like to read them over the summer at Grandmother and Grampa's. My motivation for getting the books was to give him some "work" over the summer, but not make it seem like work. A book that is a bit more challenging than, "The Life Cycle of a Frog."

Hey, wait, this is a Love Thursday post! When is she getting to the Love! Show me the LOVE!

When I buy something for my kids, I'm just like a kid myself. I can't wait to give it to them! So, instead of waiting until July when we go to Grandmother & Grampa's, I gave Josh his books today. I was just too excited!

I am here to tell you, that boy LOVES them! As soon as I gave him them he opened one up and just started reading! He has started with Book #2 because the first one is "too boring" for him to read by himself! So, I'm reading Book #1 to him for his bedtime stories and he's reading Book #2 all by himself!

He brought the book to the playground and read at the playground instead of playing with his friends; he read it before dinner instead of watching TV; and (here's the real proof...) he read it before bed instead of playing PlayStation2!

So, my Love Thursday is about Josh! When I saw how happy and excited he was about getting these books ("Thank you Mommy! You sure do know how to pick out good books for me!") and how well he read them, my heart just swelled with love and joy!

I love reading and I'm so glad to see that my kids do too!

Josh reading his book on the way to the playground!

Hannah

Isn't she beautiful!

My new niece. Born Friday April 13th. 6 lbs 2 oz. She looks just like my sister.

Mother and baby are doing great!

My mom and dad are with my sisters other three girls and will be bringing all them to meet their new baby sister today. I am sure there will be plenty of pictures! If I'm sent any, I'll be sure to post.

Mimi does a Meme... Three Things Meme

I'm fairly new to this whole blogging thing. The main purpose of it is for my parents and in-laws to stay up to date on what we're doing. However, I have received comments from other "bloggers" and I can see from my stats that people are reading this... And not just my cool cyber-friends at Maya's Mom (if you haven't discovered it yet, you should check it out). I've actually been left comments by Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise! How cool is that?!

And part of this blogging has led me to read other blogs. One that I have discovered, through a comment left on mine, is "Life As I Know It." I like Chrisanne's blog because she too has 2 boys, similar in ages to mine. And I like her writing style (her oldest also has a life long ambition to be a Jedi Knight...)

She did this Meme and tagged her readers that have not yet done it... That's me.

Three Things That Scare Me:
1. Losing my husband and kids (I know, this scares everyone...)
2. Scary Movies
3. Seeing myself naked in the mirror with the light on.

Three People Who Make Me Laugh:
1. My kids
2. My husband
3. My sister

Three Things I Love:
1. Massages (although I never get to have them)
2. Manicures and Pedicures (ditto above)
3. Cafe Latte -- I treat myself about once or twice a week!

Three Things I Hate:
1. Mean people (I mean Why?)
2. Spiders, cockroaches and bugs in general
3. Snakes

Three Things I Don't Understand:
1. Math
2. Science
3. Boys (What is their obsession with fighting?)

Three Things On My Desk:
(I don't have a desk... I'm sitting on the couch with the laptop in my lap!)

Three Things I'm Doing Right Now:
1. Watching TV (Flip That House)
2. Relaxing (Sam's napping)
3. Thinking about having lunch

Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. Visit all 50 states
2. See my Grandkids
3. Go to South America so I can complete my tour of (populated) continents.

Three Things I Can Do:
1. Cook -- healthy meals as well as junky ones!
2. Go to the bathroom while holding a child
3. Work the TiVo

Three Things I Can't Do:
1. Sing (although I like to pretend otherwise)
2. Do Math (not even a little bit)
3. Draw or do anything Artsy... but I would love to be able to!

Three Things I Think You Should Listen To:
1. Your Mother (that's for you Mom)
2. Your Father (that's for you Dad)
3. Your conscience

Three Things You Should Never Listen To:
1. Hurtful things said by hurtful people
2. Anyone who says, "Let me give you some advice...."
3. Conspiracy Theorists

Three Things I'd Like To Learn:
1. How to keep my house clean
2. Play the Guitar or Piano
3. How to talk "Boy"

Three Favorite Foods:
1. Hot Food
2. Cold Food
3. Good Food

Three Shows I Watched as a Kid:
1. Happy Days & LaVerne and Shirley
2. Love Boat
3. Fantasy Island

Three Things I Regret:
Well, I don't really believe in regrets... I believe everything I've done has lead me to where I am today and who I am. Or, according to my sister, I'm just boring.... But, I guess if I had to pick something it would be:
1. Eating 1/2 a cake for lunch about 2 weeks ago!
2. Not exercising regularly (I'm just too tired! and where do I get the time!)
3. Okay, I can't think of anything else.

Now I am tagging my friends at Maya's Mom (who want to do this...)

Now I Know My ABC's

Sam and I were playing and I drew an A and said, "Sammy, do you know what this is?"

He said, "That's a triangle."

Me: "Well it looks like a triangle but it's the letter A."

Sam: "No Mommy, that's a triangle."

Me (moving on): "Sammy, A is for....."

Sam: "No, A is not 4, A is 5."

Who knew?

Spring Break Activities for a Rainy Morning

I found some StarWars Easter Egg decorating kits this year. And since Josh's new ambition is to be a Jedi Knight when he grows up, I thought the kids would have fun with this.

It was also relatively simple! Bonus!

Josh decorating a dyed egg with stickers.

"Luke, I am your father!"

Cheese!

C3PO, R2D2 and Darth Vader

Cheese Mommy!

The eggs -- AKA: Breakfast

"Mom, can we have scrambled Easter Eggs for breakfast tomorrow?"

Admiring his artwork

Happy Easter! And may the Force be with you!

Further Proof that Josh is a Genius...

Only kidding of course, however, the following conversation took place at the playground this afternoon. I know I'm bragging, but it's my right as a mother.

The Players:

Josh: Kindergartner, just turned 6.

Daniel: 2nd Grader, 8 1/2

Scene: Playground swing set

Daniel: I'm smarter than you.

Josh: Really? I'm pretty smart.

Daniel: I'm in 2nd grade and you're only in Kindergarten.

Josh: Well, I know how much 1 billion is plus 1 billion is, do you?

Daniel: Josh, I'm only in 2nd grade! We don't learn that until 3rd grade, so ask me then okay?

Josh: It's 2 billion. I'm good at math. I even know how much 10 + 9 is! It's 19!

Daniel: Really? Cool. But do you know how much 9 + 10 is?

Josh (laughing): Yes, it's 19! And, I know how much 99 + 9 is too!

Daniel: No you don't!

Josh: Yes I do. It's 108.

Daniel: No, it's 109!

Mom's voice from afar: No Daniel, Josh is right, it's 108!

Daniel: REALLY?

Cut scene: Girl rides by on bicycle

Boys (in unison): Girl Alert, Girl Alert!

Honestly, this was the conversation!

Life With a Constipated Toddler

So, the car rides to and from Chattanooga today were interesting. As was lunch.

As you know, Sam has been potty training and been doing GREAT! Except for #2. The poor kid hasn't had a bowel movement since last Wednesday. Needless to say, he's been a bit cranky.

On the way, to the Aquarium, he wanted to watch Finding Nemo to "get in the mood." Most of the way up he was fine. Until we got about 20 minutes away, then he wanted to watch Baby Einsteins. With our DVD player, I can't change the DVD while driving. It's impossible to do. So, I told him he'd just have to suffer. This was sort of okay for him, but he wasn't happy.

He did wonderfully at the Aquarium and 80% of lunch. Then it began.

"I have to go pee pee." So we went. And I'm by myself with the boys so this means abandoning our table, grabbing my purse, but leaving sippy cups and toys so the wait staff does not think we've done a runner, going to the restrooms, and doing our business.

The first time, all was good.

The second time, no luck for Sam. Just sat and nothing. We got back to the table and immediately, "I have to go pee pee."

"Tough kid." We ordered dessert.

I asked for the check and some water for Josh (he's obsessed about drinking water after he eats so as not to get a cavity... that's another story....).

Sam is quickly approaching melt down mode because he has to go potty. The waiter is no where to be seen with our check! I gather up our stuff, trudge off to the potty, thankfully he goes, we trudge back and the waiter is complaining to the hostess that we're not there anymore. He thinks we've done a runner! I hand him my credit card and apologize and explain our "emergency."

But really, he was taking an awful long time -- I mean, we ate our dessert, waited before getting us all packed up, got to the loo, did our business (which is NOT quick) and the waiter was just getting to our table with the check as we were returning! Apparently, he has no kids and is not used to waiting on families with them!

We get to the car, Sam says he wants Thomas, but sees Nemo as I'm pulling it out and insists on Nemo. "Are you sure Sam?" "Yes, Nemo."

10 minutes down the road, "I want Thomas! I don't want Nemo!" "Sorry Sam, I can't change it now. I'll change when we stop." "I want Baby Einsteins!" "Sorry Sam" This continued off and on for I don't know how long.

Finally we stop because Mommy needs a break and a coke to keep me going. Sam asks for Thomas, I put Tomas in, that lasts for 15 minutes before he wants Baby Einsteins! There is no helping a tired, constipated 2 year old!

We finally get home and he continues his, "I have to pee pee" routine every 5 minutes. But, I know he really has to go, he just can't. This has been our bed time routine for the last 5 days as well.

"Okay, boys, dinner is on the table."

Sam, "I have to go pee pee."

Me, frustrated and tired, "Okay Sam, just go."

Sam, "Okay!" Goes over to the royal potty and I hear "Ta-da-da-da" twice! Finally, he has gotten the rocks that were clogging his bum!

HALLELUJAH!

***I am sorry if this post is a bit boring and if you are all bored to tears with me talking about Sam's potty training. I swear, I am most probably done! Thank you for putting up with me!

More Aquarium Pictures

We went to the Tennessee Aquarium again today. We are members there so we like to go when we have a chance.

It's a good day out with the boys!

Here are some pictures. I hope you enjoy them!

Josh and Sam waiting patiently while I got our tickets.

Josh in the tube, Sam just looking at Nemo!

Sam had mustered up enough courage to get inside to look at Nemo and Dory!

This fish follows your fingers.

Cheesy cheese!

Sam wouldn't get in the picture and Josh was being 6 trying to be cool.

Josh touching the Sturgeon (for the first time)

About this point Sam decided he wouldn't go near the big tanks.

Alligator Snapping Turtle -- Josh was looking at the Alligators and ignoring the turtle.

We Survived!

Okay, this has to have been the worst weekend I can remember. I'm sure it could have been worse, no one died, we just all felt like we wanted to die!

As you may recall, Sam came down with a stomach bug on my birthday. That wasn't so bad in the end, because Rich and I were going to go out to dinner to celebrate my birthday on Saturday. Oh, I was looking forward to moule marinieres, and steak (we haven't had it in ages), and maybe some creme brulee for dessert... Yum!

But, when Sam started throwing up at 2:30 AM -- so much that he needed a bath in the middle of the nigh! Rich changed his sheets, I gave him a bath and we got him back to bed. But we decided that we had to cancel that evening...

... and it's a good thing we did because when we woke up the next morning, Rich was sick. It seems he'd caught Sam's bug! So, Rich was sick in bed all day. I was stuck in the house with the boys -- except for a 2 hour window when Josh and I went out to a birthday party. It was awful. The boys didn't understand why Daddy couldn't play. And since Sam was sick we were stuck inside.

Saturday, which was supposed to be a nice relaxing day, turned into a stressful, sick filled day. I was never so happy as I was when I put the boys to bed, ate my pizza I had ordered for dinner and drank a glass of wine! I was so exhausted... I went to bed at 8:30.

And I woke up again at 2:30 because I was now sick. Pizza and wine is great going down, not so great coming back up. So I stayed in bed most of Sunday while Rich, who still wasn't well, looked after the boys. And it was raining so they were stuck inside...

So, today, the first day of Spring Break for the boys, it was drizzly outside this morning, we've done our chores and Sam is sleeping. Hopefully when he wakes up the drizzle will have cleared up and we can get out of the house!

Here's to hoping the week turns out better and that Josh gets through un-bugged!