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!