Christmas Time

Today we went to the annual Christmas parade with our dear friend Polly and her children, Trey and Lillian. The kids have literally all grown up together and even though we sadly don't see them as much as we used to, the kids fall back into each other just like no time has passed. The parade itself was pretty weak though....there we about five thousand cars with no decorations or anything! It snowed last night and was chilly this morning, but by the afternoon, it's been fine. The kids are currently outside playing "SEC championship" with Carter being his favorite team Alabama and JM just being anyone but them....where they get this junk, I have no clue!

Halloween

The past few days have been eventful! We had a team party for soccer at Chuck E Cheese - which all the parents thought was hateful of me for making them go there, but to the kids, was Heaven! Carter's team received medals and the younger team got trophies. They were all very excited!
On Friday, we had class parties at school. I made mummies (hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls) for the 3rd graders and brought grapes for the kindergarten class. The older kids did not dress up but JM's class dressed as scarecrows and made cookies that day in class. They were super cute and sweet. We also carved pumpkins that afternoon and have saved the seeds to roast, but first I have to pick the junk out of them.
Then last night, Davis and I went to the Havoc hockey game with some of his co-workers and then on to a club where we watched a drag show. It was a blast! I don't know if I have ever danced that much!
Today, we went to get Carter a new costume since he disliked his first choice so much. I know I should have been the meanie and forced him to wear it since he picked it out, but I'm a softie at times and let him get a new ghoul one. Then we went to a couple of trunk or treats and racked up in the candy and prizes from the games. Then on to McDonald's for dinner. Finally, we went trick or treating. The big "want" this year was Dots and they got a ton of them! JM was so funny, and I have yet to discover what he was talking about, but he left one house and said he got his dream. It was pretty cute. Laurel also wanted to go up to every house and refused to stay in the wagon. The tooth fairy should not have eaten so many suckers! Davis is disappointed there were not enough Nerds and I didn't see enough Twizzlers. The boys are VERY tired and knocked off about 7:30. Now we are winding down from a great day....and trying to keep our all black cat from going outside.
Happy Halloween!

Daddy Stay Home Day

Sunday is referred to as "daddy stay home day" at our house, although yesterday was also somewhat of a daddy home day. We got up and went to our school's fall festival. They had the usual moonbounces and kiddie games, which of course the boys love, but they also had a costume contest. Laurel came in first as the tooth fairy! We were very excited because that came with a cash prize, which she in turn shared so thoughtfully and gave to her brothers to buy tickets for the games. John Michael is a card dealer and Carter had a screwdriver in his head and wanted to look like a dead guy. However, he had a total meltdown before walking into school because he was afraid everyone was going to laugh at him....which, if he had just let one person see him, I know they would have thought he looked awesome. Totally scary! So that started our day off wrong. Then Sue took them to see Astro Boy at the theater and he acted up there as well....it was just a bad day for Carter! He went to bed about 7:00 and got up this morning a little after 8:00, so he is much better! In fact, we had a great day today!
I had to wake Laurel up at 9:00 so Davis and I "slept in" until then...I say it like that since we were awake as soon as the boys were, but actually just let them run around us on the bed and play/watch TV while we stayed in the bed. Then we headed to Target to buy our prizes we had promised (actually bribed) them! Carter was for meeting his accelerated reading path and JM was for staying on green the whole 9 weeks. After that, we hit the church parking lot to buy some pumpkins. Then the afternoon was spent researching a dead snake Sue had given Carter. We measured and took pictures and wrote down our observations. JM helped us stack firewood and Laurel just ran around and seemed to step in every poop pile!
Now I am washing tennis shoes and we are winding our day down. Tomorrow at school is parenting day so I will be eating lunch up there with the boys and Davis has a big work week ahead of him! Then Carter's last soccer game is tomorrow night and our team parties are at Chuck E Cheese on Tuesday. I am invited to a pumpkin carving party on Thursday and then Halloween on Saturday! Whew!

this past week

Once again, here I am apologizing for not being so consistent with blogging. Between soccer, gymnastics and now that it is getting dark outside early, I am just pooped! Davis says I am a bear and have to hibernate in the winter. I just don't want to even be out of the house anymore past dark when it is chilly like this! Although I think about the gray, dreary days that mark winter here in Alabama....I think I have SAD. You know, seasonal affection disorder. I need a special lamp. Soccer ends this week- finally! Although it has been a great season...between you and me, John Michael is a superstar! The younger team has really improved and you can see a marked difference in them, but Carter's team had a distinct disadvantage when we divided the teams - most of the kids had never played before - but they have greatly improved! We actually even won a game and have started to holding our own. Trophies and the team party are next week - Chuck E Cheese here we come! All the parents are dreading it but the kids are super excited of course.
With Halloween coming, the boys are changing their minds every half a minute on what they want to be....I thought I had talked Carter into being a mummy which would be super easy to make, but now he wants to be a skeleton. John Michael has gone from rock star to a burglar now.... who knows! And, since our field trip to the pumpkin patch was rained out, we have no pumpkins. Also need to get one of those still...or three. The boys are dead set on roasting the seeds, which is always fun to pick out of the pumpkin meat and strings.
What I find so funny about the boys right now are the way they are "into" their music. Their favorites are pop songs - especially Paparazzi by Lady GaGa. They even dance constantly. I love to listen to them sing in the backseat. It's so funny. Kidz Bop is definitely on my Christmas list for them!
Laurel is also really starting to talk. She says sentences now. The other day, she was going on and on saying "I want go." We had no clue and she was getting more and more upset until we discovered it was the whistle. She blew it and then said "go!" She has also pottied once on the potty, but mostly she just wants the jellybeans.....
Until I get a wild hair and post again....

What a weekend!

On Saturday, it was free day at all Smithsonian Museums, so we headed up and went to the Space and Rocket Center. Since we went late in the afternoon (timing that to the Alabama football game,) Davis got to join us! The boys loved it, and I even got to impress them with a little of my space knowledge from my working days there. (like the lunar module tires are made of piano wire.) Davis and I took turns going on the spaceshot as well. It has literally been over 10 years since either one of us went on a roller coaster type of thing! Makes me want to go to six flags. The boys were not tall enough, although I know John Michael would have hopped right on it if he could have. Carter is much more apprehensive than that though. That night, Sue and Jane also watched the boys and Davis and I went to dinner and played a little pool - it made me think of you Grandpa Don!
Today was an absolutely gorgeous day! Perfect weather! We took the kids to a playground with Davis's mother and aunt who is visiting from Florida. They all wanted to play football. Afterwards, we went to swim in the hotel pool. I thought it was going to be a lot colder, but it didn't seem that chilly - although I did not swim! I hadn't planned on Laurel swimming either, but she had other ideas! Davis and I did a little yard work and we ended the day with Mexican.
Now I am trying to catch up on some TV shows I had recorded to watch and Davis is sitting next to me trying to catch up on bills. Not as much fun for him!

more soccer pics

Look at that follow through!

The fair - part two

First, let me say that is was a banner week for Carter at school last week. He has finally discovered that he actually likes to read. I think it helps to have a teacher also understand that he prefers reference books and encourages him to choose those over others. He has made two paths so far in AR (a type of reading system based on points/level of the book.) And with that comes buddy lunch. During buddy lunch, the student gets to pick another student to eat with them at the special round table in the cafeteria. Unfortunately, during one of his buddy lunch times, they had to be quiet the whole time since it was the teacher's duty free lunch and a substitute was eating with them. Usually, and new this year to school, they have to be quiet for the first ten minutes of lunch... which I don't really agree with since lunch is only twenty minutes long anyway. I think they need this time to be able to socialize so they can sit still during lessons. Just my two cents~
So last night we went to the fair AGAIN. They were having a mud bog, which one of Davis's co-workers is in. We didn't stay the whole time to see him though. It lasted forever! We let the boys play two games each - darts and fishing and they both rode the bumper cars and ferris wheel. Carter drove himself on the bumper cars and said it was awesome. I am glad he tried them because he was hesitant to do so. JM, on the other hand, was all for it and wanted to ride all the rides. Laurel enjoyed the lights but clung to us during the mud bog since it was so loud. Eventually she relaxed and was saying mud bog, go!
We had an interesting conversation with one of the game operators who told us about how the business worked. Apparently there are several owners of the different games and rides and they hire out the workers who in turn pay them for food/lodging/travel expenses. He told us how long it takes to break down each ride (about 9 hours) and how he makes a commission off the games but is paid hourly for the set up and break down. What a hard life! It makes me really wonder what kind of life they left to go to that one. He was very young - I would say only 18 or 19 at most and very kind. I just can not imagine.
I also read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown this weekend. It was very interesting and basically boiled down to saying that God is within all of us. I enjoyed the fast paced setting of it. I know a lot of critics pan him for juvenile writing, but the enormous amount of research that went into this book astonishes me! It also makes me want to tour D.C. and learn more about the Freemasons.
I also lost my phone! I went to the mall on Friday to let Laurel play in the little play area they have there and can not find it now. I combed the whole mall and parking lot Friday afternoon to no luck. I guess I am going to have to get a new one today. Davis is using this as a good reason to now get a blackberry so he can access his work email from his phone. So yesterday we shopped around and today we will probably go get a new one. He seems so much more excited about it than me though!

Lincoln County Fair

As we do every year, we trek up to Fayetteville to the Lincoln County Fair on Wednesday night for the big demolition derby. The boys were very anxious and bouncing off the walls after school. That said though, they gave me no trouble at all over finishing homework! Davis came home early and we left around 4:00. It takes about 45 minutes to get there from here. When we got there, it was a special dinner at McDonald's then we were off! As soon as we arrived though, the skies let loose. I am talking downpour! We sat under the awning for about an hour until it cleared up. The midway stayed close, so we saw the animals and headed back to the derby area. Laurel loved the animals - especially the pigs. They kind of scared me though - the sounds they make are evil! I think about how that would sound if they attacked you and wanted to eat you. Davis always conveniently tells me that a pig will eat a whole person. Carter also discovered the difference between a pig and a hog. John Michael just thought they had a funny looking rear end! The derby didn't start until one hour later than the schedule planned, so we only got to see two heats. As usual, the boys loved it. We are going to go back on Saturday night to see one of Davis's co workers in the mud bog and let the boys ride a couple rides. They are determined to do the bumper cars and Ferris wheel.
Soccer is underway and Carter's team is not doing so hot this year! We have a bunch of newbies and while I see TONS of improvement in all of them, I hope they are not getting too discouraged by having a losing season thus far. JM's team, on the other hand, is dangerously good! Soccer for both of them tonight after gymnastics!
I got Carter's progress report yesterday and am happy that he is so far making all A's. I expect nothing less from him since right now, at least, he knows the material they are covering backward and forward. JM also had his kindergarten testing and is right where he needs to be.
Laurel is talking up a storm now! And she makes this face with her mouth wide open that is so funny. And I have to say, she is the sweetest baby with her kisses and hugs - that is, when she is not kicking me! I have gotten the potty out and we are working on just sitting on it right now clothed. She likes to put her baby in it though! Yuck!

My little team leader

Tonight was Carter's first soccer game of the season. He has moved up to a different age bracket from last year and it was a doozy! They lost but man oh man! My little boy hustled....and talked to his team and encouraged them the entire time. He charged that ball and kept telling his team where to be and go and "good job"ing them...It made me really proud!
John Michael had a blast too since all his friends were there and they played football behind the parents. Laurel was actually happy as well since she got to run around the entire time too!
We also had gymnastics today after school. It was busy busy, and I am beat!

It's been forever!

I have not blogged in forever! It just seems like we are totally scheduled and I can't seem to find any down time right now. Our days go exactly like this - wake up at 6:45, get ready for school, drop off by 8. Then Laurel and I come home and clean up the mess that everyone has left, make beds, etc. On Mondays we clean, Wednesdays and Fridays we spend in the classroom helping the teacher by letting the students read and do flashcards to us while she works with others. It really lets me get to know the kids in the classroom and feel like I am helping her a little as well. Laurel just runs around us in the room where we are and the other children think she is a hoot! John Michael is doing great at school! I was slightly apprehensive about him starting since he has such a late birthday and is younger than most of the others, but he is really picking up reading quickly - and seeming to want to do more and more - which is exciting! Maybe he'll be my reader? His best friend at school is Jon Michael who is the son of Carter's first grade teacher. I told her we better get used to one another since Carter has had a crush on her daughter Anna Katherine forever as well. Carter made me really proud the other day as well. He stopped a fight between two boys in PE and told them it wasn't worth getting in trouble Why can't he take that attitude at home! But it shows me what we are trying to teach him is slightly taking hold. This weekend was our 11 year anniversary. We went to see the movie the Hangover. It was pretty funny, although a little raunchy. It was nice to laugh! Today was mostly errands -store, weed eating, then getting the soccer goals ready for games. We also took the boys bowling but geez! I was SHOCKED at the cost! I guess I had grown accustomed to the $5 school bowling parties! As for our anniversary, I must say that I am still amazed at how long we have been together. I can't believe that we are married and have THREE children! Three! And they are cute and bright and funny. I know in my mind I had pictured growing up and raising a family, but the reality of it still blows my mind. This is the house we bought and our children and a whole life that we built together. Soccer games also start this week! We are looking forward to a great season. JM's team are the crazy frogs and we have the cutest socks with lime green frogs on them. Carter's team is red, but they have yet to pick a name. They are only three boys on the team, but we all know, girls rule at sports at this age. They are lightening fast too! Davis has been running around like a crazy person trying to co-ordinate everything and coach both teams. He's slighlty manic! Also, lately, we have been hanging out with a lot of co-workers from Davis's new office. It has been so much fun to be with others who just want to cut up and also have children our children's ages. I try and meet Davis for a light lunch once a week and they have been joining us there as well. We usually end up at another office that has a cafeteria and we can have the gigantic salad bar for $9 together! (And that comes with drinks!) No school tomorrow and since it's been raining, no pool on our last pool weekend. What a bummer~ I'll try and be better at posting. The pictures range from a play date at the mall's children area to bowling to just general ones from the house, like John Michael falling asleep after school~