It's official....

I am a soccer Mom. Connor had his first soccer practice last night. One of the boys from school invited him to join the team. So, yesterday we headed out to the soccer shop to buy soccer shoes & soccer socks & shin guards and of course a new ball. I of course forgot my camera. Though I am going to bring the video camera next time. And in a few short weeks we should be $10,000 richer. That is after we win America's funniest home videos. Is that show still on? OK, I am going to tell you a story and you have to promise not to tell Connor until he is at least 16 or so. Here goes... he got off to a great start. We got there early and he ran back and forth with the ball between the goals. He understood what a goal was. The other kids started to show up and he ran up to them. No problems yet. Then each got a turn kicking the ball into the net, they practiced passing, no problems. Then came the 3 on 3 scrimmage. PROBLEM! Well, Connor has never played against anyone. We usually just kick the ball back & forth. Every time the ball got away from him or he wasn't the one in front he started to cry. No, actually he started to wail! His nose ran, he screamed and Brandon and I were at a loss. He is our usually tough as nails kid crying in the middle of the field. The best part was that he never stopped running. He kept right on running after the ball, crying the whole way. If I had captured this on tape I assure you we would be buying a pool courtesy of Connor.

Here are some shots of him after we got home.

I think an airplane flew over when I took this shot. Let's hope that doesn't happen in a game!

Our week.. the fast version

I have been a blog slacker this week. Nothing all that exciting happened. But I know if i don't write something I will get a message from my aunt with an unhappy face. So here is our week in review:

Monday: Hudson had a check up. Did great as usual. 75-90% for everything. Got 2 shots and cried for a total of 10 seconds.

Tuesday: Connor cried when it was time to go to school. He said he didn't feel good. I let him stay home and then made him run boring errands until he cried and begged to go to school. Turns out some kid in class pushed him the other day and he was scared that it would get him in trouble. I assured him it would not & I talked to the teacher as well. That afternoon I took the boys for their flu shots. Both were pretty brave.

Wednesday: I got my hair done. I am pretty blond again.

Thursday: Dropped Connor off at school and he cried. Brandon went & picked him up at the end of the day and took him to use his allowance money for a new race track with 2 loop de loops. Brandon made a presence in class & with the teacher I'm sure.

Friday: We went to the park and met up with 2 kids from Connor's class. When we first got there all of the ducks from the pond surrounded the car & wouldn't let me out. It was scary. I finally had to move the car. When it was time to feed the ducks they swarmed and all the kids ran screaming. Connor had a great time with his 2 new buddies. I liked the Mom's. That is always a plus!

Allowance: Connor is now getting an allowance. For his $2 per week he must: Put his dish and cup in the sink after meals, put away his laundry, bring in the garbage can and clean up his toys every night. He loves having chores and he is understanding money and what it does. We are teaching him about saving.

Tonight we are headed out for dinner with Paul & Marci at one of the best places in town. Then tomorrow we have Ryan's birthday party. Hudson is already walking around saying "cake, cake".

Will the fun ever end?

I'm tired. We had a fun, but very busy weekend. On Friday I took the kids to McDonald's & we took our food to the park. We ate at the park & then played. It was nice, but not free of the usual challenges. First, I really didn't want to eat McDonald's. So, I made myself a sandwich. Second, I try to never let the kids have soda. I packed drinks for all of us. So, they split some chicken nuggets, fries & apple slices. I could have cut apples at home, but then they wouldn't be McDonald's apples & would somehow loose their specialness. So, the boys at their nuggets, about 10 fries each and all the apples. (yeah) I had a yogurt. A special McDonald's yogurt. I have to admit I also had about 10 fries, but it is way better than what could have been. Of course half way through lunch Connor had to pee. He got to pee on a tree & that is always cool!

Saturday we went to Ella's birthday party & all had a great time. After naps we headed over to Brandon's parents so he could clean out their gutters. After that we had dinner & went swimming. Today we headed out to church & the to Morgan's birthday party. The boys had

another great time. Hudson has a had cake 3 times this week and is loving it. He will be in frosting rehab by next week. Luckily we don't have any more parties for 2 weeks.

Brandon & I just got done with the last of this weekends chores. Except grocery shopping that is. Now, the big question.... do I take them with me?

Oh yeah, my camera never left the house. I am going to have to glue that thing to my hand! So, here is a cute pic I took of Hudson I took this past week & one of Connor that Katina sent me.

We like to call this one "Bounce House Hair"

Brandon's birthday

Today was Brandon's birthday. The kids & I went & got him a cookie cake. Connor insisted we write Happy Birthday Brandon on it. He is so intrigued that we have names other than Mom & Dad. Brandon had to stand up in church on Sunday and Connor said "look, there's Brandon". We made his favorite dinner..... all appetizers. The kids seemed to like it too. Who doesn't like appetizers. After all, appetizers are what you eat to make you more hungry. (let's see who gets that obscure reference)

After dinner we had cake & gave Brandon his gifts. The boys got him a toy airplane & helicopter set. They were so excited to pick out their own gift. Brandon took them outside & they all had a blast playing with it. I got him a small IPOD for the gym. He had no idea he was getting it & he really loved it.

Ragweed.... who knew?

I had my second round of allergy tests yesterday. Once she stuck me with the ragweed I knew something was up. It was itchy to say the least. At least I had the other 47 needles to keep my mind off of the itchiness. Then the ragweed spot started to grow... and grow. It was about 2 inches round when I left the office. She had to hold off on round three and she said it would be dangerous now that she saw my ragweed reaction. I get to go back in 2 weeks for 9 more needles.

Once I got home the spot got bigger. By dinner this is what it looked like:

By 9pm it had taken over the upper part of my arm. I will spare you the pictures. Brandon ran out to the pharmacy to see if there was anything I could take on top of the antihistamine the Dr. gave me. Nope. The pharmacist asked if we had an epi pen in case I had trouble breathing through the night. We have one, but needless to say I didn't sleep well. This morning it isn't quite as red & bumpy, but it did wrap around my arm. So, I will be staying away from ragweed.

I was also found to be allergic to molds & yeast. The nurse said that they would put me on a 3 month diet restriction of no yeast (bread & alcohol) and no mold (cheese). I asked her if she could just stick me with 49 more needles please. NO BREAD..... who can live like that? NO CHEESE? Shoot me now!

Keeping them busy

It has rained the past 2 evenings. Poor Brandon, it is driving him crazy. Two nights ago we sat in the garage & watched the rain, then Brandon made an obstacle course through the family room, dining room & living room. I would just like to say that I won with a time of 25 seconds!. Last night we played with play dough. Notice the cool design achieved by mixing the colors!

I like to think of this picture as Connor's personal protest against preschool rules.

Hudson spends the entire time with the dough demanding "balls". Then he stacks them & squishes them. Sometimes he eats them. I can't wait to see his poop today!
I just watched the weather forecast & they said it was going to rain again tonight. HELP!! What am I going to do with them for another night in the house? The kids will be OK, but I really need something for Brandon to do. It's his birthday so we can kill some time with cake, but after that I am at a loss. Any ideas?

Big brother's rock!

Our kids are not used to sleeping in a bed other than their own. In fact, Hudson has never slept anywhere besides the hospital & his own bed. He has never been a fan of the pack & play. We do not allow our kids to sleep in our bed. This has worked for us so far. We don't really want to travel with them yet so it isn't an issue. Except for holiday's. We would love to be able to put them down at Brandon's parents house. So far, it hasn't worked. This past Sunday we all headed over there for dinner. Brandon's parents bought Connor a sleeping bag that is attached to an air mattress. It has Lightning McQueen on it. We figured this was as good a time as any to try out sleeping in a new place. Connor insisted that he had to sleep in the room with Hudson. We put Hudson in the pack & play and Connor in the sleeping bag. We closed the door. Hudson was screaming. We listened at the door and this is what we heard:

Connor: Don't worry Hudson

Hudson: Scream

Connor: It's OK Hudson, Mom & Dad are coming back, it's just nap time

Hudson: Silence

Connor talked Hudson into going to sleep. This was great. One problem was all of the adults had to whisper for the next hour. They were great about it. Had we been with my family the boys would have slept about five minutes. The other problem was when Connor woke up he was disorientated and he didn't know where the bathroom was. He ended up peeing in his pants. Poor little guy has only done that twice ever.

So, the sleeping experiment went well. But we still aren't ready for travel. I really just don't think it is worth the hassle. Even if we took them on a vacation, how much will they remember? For the 4 hours of fun they will have then we have to have the hassle of feeding them & getting them to sleep somewhere unfamiliar. So, we will probably wait a couple of more years before we take any trips. We may head to NY next year as my family hasn't met Hudson yet. But I really don't see us going on any camping trip any time soon. But, really who sees me going camping ever?

Fun in the Sun

Last night Brandon & I went to the Ale House for dinner & then some shopping. When we got home Connor was still awake in his bed. Brandon went in to say Hi and Connor said "Dad, I can not believe it!". He loves it when we get home early enough to say goodnight to him. We came home pretty early as we were supposed to get up this morning and take the kids to Daytona Beach for the day. Freddy, Katina, Brett, Erin & the kids are all staying at a resort & we were going to meet them there to play. Hudson woke up with a green nose so off to the pediatrician it was. Turns out his ears were clear, but he has a head cold. So we brought him home, had breakfast and down for a nap. When he got up we took them swimming at the club. We had promised Connor a fun day of swimming so we had to do something. He did great. Swam across the pool twice and did a bunch a cannon balls. Hudson just played on the stairs as we didn't want him to over do it. He did run across the pool deck & fell. You will notice a nice scratch on his chin. But, being the tough as nails kid that he is he was done crying by the time I got ice to him. Believe it or not I remembered my camera at the pool. I even took video!

Brandon was messing with Hudson the other night while he slept. You can tell by the look on his face that the flash is bothering him, but the little rock never woke up!

Our week

Tuesday Pops came with me to pick up Connor at school. He wanted to meet the teachers as he likes to pick Connor up a couple of times a month. Then he took us all out for ice cream. And then he did the best thing of all... he told me to go do whatever I wanted to. I love that man! I went and ran a couple of errands. It is so much easier without the kids. I am amazed how much faster I am able to do things when I am alone. No strapping in and out of car seats. No stopping at the toy department to "just look". No stopping to see if they are giving away cookie samples.

Wednesday I was do for my next round of allergy testing, but Pops had a scheduling conflict so I rescheduled until next week. But he had already told the boys he would see them so he came over for a little while. While he was here I was so productive. I hemmed the curtains for the master bath, made a new curtain for another window and hemmed the curtain for the boys bathroom. I am so domestic!

Yesterday Connor had school again. He & Orion (a kid in his class) got into "a little trouble". That's Connor's story. So, I immediately made a play date with Orion for next Friday. I figure if this is the kid he is getting in trouble with he must be fun to play with.

Today my friend Beth came over with her 2 kids, Kyle (1) and Kelsey (almost3) They are each 4 months younger than our boys. Brandon & I worked with her and her husband Josh in the McDonald's days. I haven't seen them in 3 years but we ran into each other at Monkey Joe's. We had a great play date. We had planned to go to the park but it started to drizzle. So we stayed here, played outside, had lunch & played some more. The kids played great together! They had so much fun. Our parenting styles are similar. I wish I had taken a picture of Connor & Kelsey. They even hugged & kissed goodbye. Very cute. She cracked me up. Kelsey likes to be naked. So, she spent an hour of the play date with her shirt off. We convinced her to leave her pants on. I promised her that I would tell her about it when she is 16.

Labor day weekend

This is the first time in a while that I can remember Brandon having 3 days off in a row. This is exciting, but also scary. Brandon has a hard time just relaxing. In fact he can not relax for more than 20 minutes. He must be doing something. So, the thought of entertaining him for 3 days is worse than the thought of entertaining the kids! Usually I would just come up with a project. But, I wasn't prepared this time. Labor day just snuck up on me. If I would have remembered, I would have certainly had a permit pulled for a major construction job.

On Saturday Brandon & Connor went to Home Depot to pick up some paint brushes for me & while they were there HD was putting on a workshop for kids. Connor got to make a football coat rack. He got a free project apron and he was very excited that he got to use a hammer. The day was filled with errands. We have 3 birthday parties this month so we went and bought all of the gifts. We took the kids out to dinner and then I was brave enough to take all three of them grocery shopping. They spent the entire trip stealing & hiding my grocery cart from me. It would be easier to leave Brandon home next time.

On Sunday Brandon took Connor to church. Hudson & I stayed home as I had a hard time sleeping the night before. Hudson & I went back to the grocery store to complete my list that I had given up on the night before. Brandon parents came over to enjoy some BBQ and family time. I made a low fat / low calorie strawberry shortcake dessert and it turned out great! Brandon's Mom works for weight watchers so i am always very mindful of what I serve. We were all set to take them to the club to watch the kids swim. We got our bathing suits on, the kids suits on, their sun screen on, towels & toys packed and went outside to get in the truck and bam.....thunder, then lightning. No swimming! The worst part was that it never even rained! It just thundered for 2 hours.

Monday was a full day! We woke up and I made us my famous egg sandwiches. Well, they probably aren't famous, but they are Brandon's favorite breakfast and he only gets them a few times a year. We headed to the pool early. Then , of course we stopped by the stables to see Kobe. We inquired about pricing and figured out that we could either board a horse or buy a BMW. We will have to make that decision later. Next we came home for lunch and then headed right back out to Monkey Joe's for some bounce house fun. Then back home for naps, dinner and back out to a local park to feed ducks & play. I only remembered my camera at the park. He are some cute picks from the park.