Soccer, parties, and camping... who needs sleep?

This weekend, like many others, was packed full of fun activities. Friday night, we didn't do much - mainly recovering from the family-wide-Kate-induced lack of sleep the night before. After a few doses of Sudafed and Benadryl, she was her happy little self again. I'm sure someone at the FDA will come get me for giving Sudafed to my 2 year old since it's no longer indicated for that age group. Oh well :)

Saturday morning, I got to sleep in and Todd fed the kids breakfast. I woke up to them playing softball in the foyer - awesome. Brett and Todd took their softball/t-ball game outside and Kate and I went for a long walk with the intention of detouring by the preschool playground and then making it to Brett's soccer game (it's only a couple miles). The walk was fine. We made it up to the playground, only to find that it was locked! They never locked it last year. I was annoyed. Kate was annoyed. Kate showed her annoyance. Loudly. We'll leave it at that. Luckily, we didn't have much time to kill before Brett's game.

Brett still loves playing soccer. I'm sure it helps that Todd is on the field coaching, but I'm pretty sure that Brett would like it no matter what. This week, though, I think he was the only one that really wanted to be there. They were missing their 2 older boys (read: bigger, faster, stronger) and they were playing a pretty good team. Todd was missing his assistant coach. The game was not pretty to say the least!

This picture pretty much sums it up - by the end of the hour, half of the kids were more interested in watching the cars on the road behind the field!

Post-game wrap up

After the game, we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch, rushed home, cleaned the kids, and got them down for naps. They NEEDED naps to get through the rest of their busy social schedules! Kate had a birthday party for a little boy in her class. I didn't take many pictures, but check this out - Kate used to be scared to death of this climbing wall thing, but look at her go! Yay, Kate!

Of course, she still loves the slides :)

Brett and Todd went camping with our friend, Brad, and his oldest daughter, Ally. They went to Jordan Lake, which is about 30-45 minutes from our house. We used to go camping there with Brad and his wife, Sarah, and two other couples every year about this time - you know, before we all started popping out babies. When we first started going, about 6 years ago, we had no kids - now there are 10 kids!

They went fishing with Ally's fishing pole. She caught a fish. Brett "caught his worm" and was very proud of it.

It looks so relaxing... and to think I was at a birthday party with 2 and 3 year olds. I think I drew the short straw!

Sitting by the fire to stay warm - it got down to about 50 degrees that night.

Picking out the pumpkins...

On Sunday, after naps and after football, we took the kids to the pumpkin patch up the street to pick out their big pumpkins. Now, looking at the pictures, you can tell that it was pretty warm that day - not really "fall weather." The day before, it was about 15 degrees cooler and definitely fall weather, but also very very rainy! We decided that we needed to take advantage of a weekend day when we were all home together, even if it didn't feel like fall! The kids had fun trying to pick up the pumpkins. Some how, Brett convinced me that I can carve Lightning McQueen in one of the pumpkins. We'll see how that goes!!

Meet Milo

Nope, we didn't get a pet, but we did get to spend two fun days with Milo the Monkey. For those who don't know Milo, he is the class pet for Brett's Tues/Thurs 3s, The Monkeys! Brett LOVED having Milo here for 2 days, and to be honest, I did too. As soon as he got home from school on Tuesday, he walked Milo around the house, showing him where things were, most importantly the toy room and the car bucket! They read stories together, took naps together, played Play-Doh together, and Milo even sat beside Brett at the table. We had to explain that Milo couldn't go to school on Wednesday because Milo is a Monkey, and not a Shining Star (his Mon/Wed 3s class). That class also has a class pet which will be with us for FIVE days next month. I haven't told Brett yet... it's all I would hear about for the next few weeks!

Brett noticed that Milo had a stitch undone on his mouth, so Brett climbed up on the kitchen desk and got about 3 feet of tape to "fix it."

I finally convinced him that he only needed a little piece of tape.

Brett and Milo eating a banana for breakfast - silly monkeys!

Brett loved walking around the house and giving Milo hugs!

Memere's birthday

Whew, it's been a long time since I posted anything... some weeks just go like that! We've had a busy couple weeks here! Sandy & Vivian (aka Grandma & Grandpa) were here for about a week, mostly to visit the kids and see Brett's soccer game. They also made a quick trip through Banner Elk to visit Renee on their way down. Like the slackers we are, we forgot to copy Sandy's SD card before they left, so we don't have ANY pictures of their trip! (I almost never take any while they're here so that the kids don't get bombarded with cameras!)

The kids have been busy with preschool and soccer. Todd has had his own soccer games and some Marquette Alumni functions, and I've been busy at work, gearing up for the start of the flu shots and picking up an extra shift here or there. I think those extra shifts may be over for awhile. I'm not feeling nearly as generous after the chaos of yesterday!

In between all of that, we celebrated my mom's birthday. As you can see, the kids were, once again, very eager helpers! Brett thought that every present was a car of some sort, and showed his disappointment when it was "just clothes," as he put it.

Waiting for Memere to read the card so they can tear open her present

You can't really tell from this picture, but Brett opened the present all up, very anxious to see some new cars, and then said "It's just clothes!" and crossed his arms as he pouted. We all laughed.

He still held them up so that Poppy could get a quick picture

Kate wanted to model one of Memere's shirts... or is it a dress? Where's a belt to cinch the waist?

Brett never wants to open his own cards, but he was more than happy to rip into Memere's!

This was before Kate tried to strangle herself with the curling ribbon. It got taken away after that.

Dad gave Mom a new watch. Inside of the watch box was this little box. Brett thought there should've been a car in the little box. Todd tricked him into thinking that it really came with the little car inside. Once he realized it was all a hoax, Brett put the box in the trash.

We were getting ready to put the kids to bed when Brett remembered that we hadn't done cake and candles yet. He insisted that Memere get Lightning McQueen candles on her brownies (her request - brownies and ice cream, no cake). Brett helped to blow out the candles, ate a small brownie, and then went to bed happily.

"Poppy, show me my picture!"

Take me out to the ball game...

Sorry, I'm a little behind on posts this week! This is the last post from last weekend! On Sunday, we headed out to the Durham Bulls game. We hadn't been to an entire game all season, but Todd and I got to go twice last week. (We went on Tuesday night with our friend, Kursad, and his extra two tickets.) Anyway, my dad had all of these tickets that they hadn't used this season, so he got to trade them in and invite lots of family. Several aunts and uncles and a couple cousins went too. The kids had a great time. They did ask multiple times about fireworks - I think they're scarred for life now after the UNC game!

Family "CHEESE!"

Brett was the photographer here - not too bad for a 3 year old!

Kate thought Megan was her new buddy

And no Bulls game is complete without Wool E. Bull racing around the warning track

Carolina on my mind

Saturday afternoon, we loaded the kids up and headed to Chapel Hill for the UNC vs Citadel football game. Everytime I think of UNC, I think of the south quad, a beautiful spring day, and Carolina blue skies. It was about 20 degrees warmer than any of us would've liked, but other than that, it was perfect! We went with our friends, Tammy & Jim, and their son, Drew. The kids had a blast running around the quad before the game. They didn't do as well at the game itself, but that was mostly due to the proximity of the fireworks and the 24-0 score at halftime. They were definitely "all done" as Kate put it, so we headed out at halftime. The final score was 40-6, so we would've heard the fireworks many more times than the kids would've liked!

Happy birthday, Poppy!

On Friday night, we celebrated my dad's (aka Poppy's) birthday. He bought himself a really nice new camera for his birthday, so most of his presents revolved around new stuff for the new camera. He's usually the family photographer, but he was too busy celebrating with his "helpers," so Erin and I got to play with his new toy instead. I have some serious camera jealousy now! I need a new one, the same way that I need the new fridge/freezer I saw at Best Buy this morning ;)

Kate "helped" Poppy open his presents

So Brett thought he needed to help too!

Kate & Aunt Dithy laughing about Aunt Erin's nostril comment, I think

She rocked so hard, and kept flinging her feet up in the air... we all thought she was going to flip backwards (she's done it before, trust me!)

A serious look of concentration - the tongue's out and everything!

You can't have a birthday party without cupcakes!

Especially Pirate Purple!

Kater-potater with Aunt Dithy's headband around her belly and Aunt Erin's flip flops