Kickin' it

The soccer season is definitely underway. The kids are starting to get used to the routine and they're actually playing like a team. Well, at least as much as you can expect 3 and 4 year olds to understand the "team" concept! Kate has completely pulled herself away from it all - she doesn't even want to go on the field for the drills and practice, so Todd and I decided that we just aren't going to push her anymore this season. If she decides she wants to play next year, then we'll go from there, but right now, she's done. Dealing with her is taking away all of my attention on watching Brettt enjoy the game. He definitely loves the game!

All smiles!

Coach tells them to space themselves out, so they put their arms out like airplanes

Don't let the pink shorts and frilly bow fool you - this girl has some serious speed!

Waiting on throw-in instructions from coach

Picture day - luckily there was a professional photographer there too because my camera batteries died after this less-than-stellar picture!

Meet Quackers

Meet Quackers - he is the mascot for Kate's class, The Mighty Ducks. When each child is the "Mighty Duck" she gets to bring in snack, bring an item for the share bag (like show and tell), and gets to bring Quackers home for the night. In the eyes of a 3 year old this is a BIG deal. Kate was so excited when it was her turn to bring Quackers to our house. Since there are only 17 kids and they go 5 days a week, we'll be seeing a lot of Quackers this year!

Talkative twosome

Our kids love to talk. A lot. About anything. To anyone. Case in point...

Me: (on day #4 in a row with no nap by Kate) "Kate, why do you talk so much?"
Kate: (sweetly smiling): "I like to talk. I want to talk about lots of things AND I want you to listen to me all the time, not Brett."

Last night at bedtime:
Brett: "Mom, why do dinosaurs go extinct?"
Me: "Because they all died a very long time ago."
Brett: "Mom, why did they all die? Did they get sick? Why didn't they go to a doctor? When I get sick, I go to the doctor and get medicine at Target and then I get all better."
Me: "I think they ran out of food and eventually, after a very long time, they all died."
Brett: "Mom, how did their bones fall out of their bodies?"
Me: "Huh?"
Brett: "You know, we see their bones at the museum. How did they get the bones out of the dinosaurs' bodies?"
Me: "The skin and muscles and stuff eventually disappeared and left just the skeletons or fossils."
Brett: "Mom, what is a skeleton? Tell me about that."
Me: "Your skeleton is made up of all of your bones."
Brett: "I think I need to see a picture. Tell me about it some more."
Me: "I'll show you a picture in the morning and we can talk about it more then."
Brett: very quiet and still and contemplating everything...
Me: "Are you all out of questions for tonight?"
Brett: "Um, I think I don't have anymore questions right now, but I still want to know about skeletons."
Me: "Ok, Brett."

What a funny, inquisitive little boy we have!!

Happy birthday, Poppy!

Last Saturday after work, we headed over to Memere and Poppy's house to celebrate Dad's birthday. The kids love birthdays. They love anyone's birthday, and they especially love when they get to "help" (i.e., be the center of attention). I think they were definitely at least trying to be the center of attention this night... see for yourself!

Kate threw her feet in the air just as Aunt Erin snapped the picture!

Birthday hugs for Poppy!

Sweet boy

His love for gadgets started at a young age

Mini me

Kate and Memere

Apparently Memere is the train...

Tickle monster

It's either 58 or 121... you decide :)

Kate had to help Poppy blow out his candles

Poppy taught her the finer points of licking the icing off the candles

Sweetness

School update

Well, the first day of school went off beautifully. Better than I could've ever imagined. Seriously. The second day went exactly how I expected the first day to go. Brett still went in confident and happy. Kate screamed. No, she screamed bloody murder like someone was trying to tear her limbs off of her body. I could hear her in the next building over. Thankfully, it was short-lived and her teachers assured me at pick-up that she did have a good day overall. I feel terrible when she is that upset. I feel terrible for her that she is so sad and feels abandoned or scared or whatever emotion is triggering this behavior. I feel terrible for the teachers that they have 17 kids and this one child (mine) is pulling away everyone's attention.

Thankfully, Wednesday was Todd's turn to attempt drop-off since I had to work at 8:30. It went better... whether it was just going to go better or whether it went better because she's more afraid of Todd than she is of me, I have no idea. Healthy fear is a good thing. I wish she had more of a healthy fear of me.

Thursday was a little bit better, still some tears initially, but I tricked her. She was clearly upset and then said she had to go potty, which is fine. I took her potty and talked it up... talked about her new friend, Hannah, and her old friend, Matthew, and how they both were soooo excited to play with their friend, Kate. I talked about Ms. Mary Grace and how much she LOVES to get hugs from her friends. We quickly washed hands and bolted down the hallway ready to give hugs and "jump on the letters with our friends!" It worked WONDERFULLY! Phew... a small, happy, perfect victory for mama!

Friday went just about as well - no hugs for Ms. Mary Grace because she was busy, but Kate galloped right on in, after her obligatory trip to the potty, of course.

On another note, both kids have already met a couple new friends which makes me SOOOO happy. I feel like I'm doing something right. More importantly, I feel like our family is at the right place, in the right environment, and that our kids are thriving because of it. God is good.

Labor Day Laziness

We took advantage of a very low key, unplanned, BEAUTIFUL weather weekend and just vegged. Well, I worked 9 hours on Friday night, and again during the day on Saturday, but the rest of the weekend was re.lax.ing. And it was awesome.

Sunday, we did the usual church thing, followed by Panera, and a trip to the Teeter for our usual - lunch meat, chicken for the grill, lots of fruit, 4 gallons of milk, and a few delicious cookies. After naps, we all headed outside to grill, run, and play. We ended the night breaking in the new firepit with some of our fabulous neighbors!

Kate learning how to play T-ball... notice the shiny, silver, sparkle "princess shoes"

Brett found his space ship and was shooting it through the basketball goal

Ready to learn all about roasting marshmallows... turns out that our kids do not like roasted marshmallows. I think I need to call Rex and explain that we've discovered a mix-up, 4 years later because they clearly are NOT my kids. I think I ate, like, 10 roasted marshmallows - some with chocolate and some without :)

I love this smiling face!

The kiddos were so excited to be hanging out with their daddy!