Funny Boy

I always say Josh is so funny but I can never think of specifics.  Here's some dandies from yesterday.

We were driving around looking at Christmas lights and Grandma told him he was sometimes funny.  He said:  No, I'm funny all day long.

He was making up Christmas songs.  The first was A Cowboy Christmas.  It went something like this:  I"m dreaming of a cowboy Christmas.  The one with no aliens in their house.  They don't suck their thumbs but they like to fight Aliens.  It's out of tune but oh so funny!

Happily Ever After?

Mikayla has had  a special friend since kindergarten.  Problem is:  She doesn't call him a friend-she calls him a boyfriend, and maybe he is.  I keep telling her to call him her friend boy so she doesn't get caught up in the lingo.

I'd say they are inseperable but they really haven't seen each other much outside of school.  But, at school, from what I have heard (and boy have I heard it!), they are very inseperable.  So, I have been very challenged, do I keep them apart (which I can only do outside of school hours) or do I let them see each other outside of school hours so they aren't as focused on each other during school time?  They weren't even in each other's class last year, but they still kept close at recesses and stuff.

It was even bought up at parent-teacher conferences last week.  The teacher said she has never seen two kids so in-sync with each other.  She says she often separates them because they distract her from teaching.

We have had two play dates in the last few weeks.  We had not had any up to this point, although M had gone to D's birthday party last year.  I took them to the pumpkin farm and they held each others hands the entire time.  They looked at each other with googly eyes and were whispering the entire time.  If I didn't know any better, I would have guessed that they were 15, not 7.

So, I don't know, could you actually find the love of your life at the age of 5?  OR, is this going to end badly?

I've been duped!

This morning M and I were in a little argument about taking 'her iphone' to school.  I said we don't allow it and she argued that she knew first graders that bought ipods to school.  I said that doesn't matter, by bringing it to school she was just asking for trouble and she only had a ten minute bus ride and their was no need.

Well, we continued to get ready for school.  She was actually helpful and packed her own bag this morning.  I guess I should have taken that as a big hint.

A short time after she left, I realized the iphone was gone.  Argh!  She snuck it out.  Well, I guess she is going to be grounded for a while. :)

Uncle Rich and Aunt Kari Got Married!

Getting Ready

All Dressed Up

Sitting Pretty

Here come the personalities

Ringbearer and grandparents

Soloist and Flower Girl

Grandma/Grandpa/grandkids

Cutting the Cake

The Headtable

Soccer Update

Josh seemed to turn a corner this week.  Although he had his moments of inattention, he really started to show some hustle.  I think I saw three times where he took the ball and dribbled down the field the whole way-yay!

But, there are other moments.  He was goalie and his back was turned to the field so he could watch the girls (Abbey and Hannah) on the other field.

And, then there was the moment when he and another teammate were hugging, and this wasn't a little hug.  They wouldn't let go of each other.

It is all pretty entertaining.

Josh Turns 4

I can't believe he is this old.  When I look at my tall little boy, I am amazed.

He is so curious about letters and making words.  He can spell his name.  Just yesterday, I saw him write his name for the first time.  I don't think anyone else would know that's what he wrote but as I saw each letter sprawled out, it was each of the letters in his name.

He has so much energy and just wants to go, go, go. Against my better judgment, he loves guns.  He doesn't have them, but everything is a gun:  sticks, forks, plates.  I am hoping this is just a phase.

He also loves his magnatiles and will spend hours with these.  He builds towers, houses, and more recently spaceships

I love this little guy!

Just a Little Birthday Party

J was so excited to have a birthday party! Since his sister's party two months ago, he has been obsessed with his party.  I didn't know what exactly to do for his party.  The two things he wanted was for it to be at his house and to be a Batman party.

I didn't want to invite too many kids but wasn't sure who to invite.  We could invite some form church, some from the neighborhood, and some from school.  But, Josh can never remember his friends' names from school and I didn't want to invite the whole class, so that ruled out them.  And, with the neighborhood kids, there were a few that Josh likes a lot.  But, as we haven't had too many playdates this summer with them, they aren't real fresh on his mind.  (of course, in the last week we have-but I didn't really want to invite 6 more people at the last minute) So, that left the church group and I figured that would be a good manageable group.

The one thing I did that probably was a mistake was to invite all the 3/4 year olds but also added to the invitation that the older kids could stay too if they wanted.  Well, they all stayed.  So, instead of the three  kids that I thought we were going to have the day before, we ended up with 13.  Oh well, the more the merrier and it ended up being a great time.

The Gang

Happy Birthday Boy!

Uncle Doug's Horses

The kids had fun riding horses at Uncle Doug's.

Soccer?

Although soccer didn't go that well on Saturday, it was interesting to see how practice would go today.  She seemed to struggle but a the end, she said she had a good time.  I think it's tough for her because the league is 7-10 year olds.  So, it's a bunch of 9 and 10 year old boys and Mikayla.  They all are about twice her size and have probably taken soccer for years.  I think Mikayla gives it her all but at the same time she does not have the stamina and skill as the rest of them.  I think the problem she has is she doesn't know how to act when she is not the star.  Everytime she starts an activity and he isn't as accomplished as everyone, she just wants to give up.  Although she has already said she doesn't want to continue after this session, I was hoping she would find her groove.  I don't think that will happen but I hope she hangs in there.

Worries

Sometimes I really worry about my kids (now, what mom doesn't)

Both love to be around older kids.  OK.  But, usually the older kids M is hanging around are boys.  Maybe that is Ok now, but I'm worried what happens when she is 11 and they are 15.  Last night she was hanging around the park with a bunch of 4th and 5th grade boys.  Yes, one 2nd grade girl and a bunch of older boys.  When we talked about it later, she told me they were nice to her, why should that be wrong?  Well, yes, but we talked about how some people that are nice sometimes aren't as nice as you think.  We also talked about how she shouldn't hang out  with a bunch of strange people by herself.  I don't think she really gets it, but I'm hoping it makes her a little more cautious.

Then, the other one... Well, J started at the park playing with the 7th grade neighbor, because that's who he knew.  Other kids joined in but they were all ages.  Then, towards the end, he was playing with older boys who were playing chase but there was a lot of wrestling involve.  I actually saw Josh kick a kid and pulled him out of the area for a time out.  One of the older boys (I think a 4th grader), told me J was just defending himself.  The other kid had been beating on him.  OYYYY!

I did try to bring the kids to play with other kids closer to their age, but at this point in the night they were both involved with their groups and didn't want to change what they were doing.

I do pray that I lead them to be nice to others and not get into trouble, but I'm not sure how to better encourage them on days like this.

Soccer

M has wanted to play soccer for a year.  We finally signed her up for Y soccer, along with J.  I think she has changed her mind now.

Their first games were today and I'm not sure it went that well.  They play on fields right next to each other at the exact same time.  So, I have to go back and forth between the two fields to split their time.

First of all, M hit the ball with her head, just like a good soccer player would.  But, this stunned her and she cried for about 5 minutes (it might have actually been 10)  Finally, I got her back in the game and she was running around like crazy.  The only problem was that she spent a good portion of the time talking to the boy next to her.  Imagine that!

Then, on J's field:  He has all the energy and can actually kick pretty well.  But, as with most 3/4 year olds, he doesn't quite have the attention span.  Another kid was told to be the goalie.  Well, J decided this kid would be his new bff.  So, he didn't want to leave the other kid's side.  The coach told him to come out and play.  J told him no so he pulled him.  I think the coach actually felt pretty bad for this because as soon as he did, J started crying.  So, I held him for a while until he was calm enough to go back in the game.  Then, he had a blast.

I guess, as the saying goes, there IS crying in soccer.

First Day of School

J started in the 4 year old preschool on Monday.  He did real well.  His teach seemed real nice and he was happy a lot of friends are still in his class.  Of course, when I ask what his friends' names are, he just says he doesn't know.

M started 2nd grade on Tuesday.  On Monday, we went to meet her teacher.  She was so excited she was bouncing off the walls.  She saw 'Bruno's locker was next to her and jumped up and down.  I wasn't sure if she was happy or freaked out.  She also was extremely happy to have Dominick in her classroom--she has said he has been her boyfriend for the last two years.  I hope she doesn't harrass him too much.

I haven't heard much else from school other than little snippets. She seems happy to go and happy when she gets home so I guess that's good.

As for me, I'm glad that we are into a new routine.  The last few weeks we lost a lot of our routine.  I think because of this, there was a lot more fighting.  Hopefully, with time away from each other, things will be more peaceful (and maybe I might figure out how to clean the house again)

There is love!

Posing

Choir

I am so excited that my girls was chosen for the Children's Choir in our town.  I wasn't aware of the tryouts until they were over.  But, we were told we could come to the camp and be put on the waitlist.  On the second day of camp, I go the call that she was now in the choir.  I thought that meant she would be on the waitlist, but no, she went straight  to being in the choir.   I feel she is so honored to be picked and I am so proud.

But, best of all, I wasn't sure what we were going to be doing for singing lessons.  I didn't want to give them up but knew we needed a change.  So, now she is going to have singing practice once a week.  What a wonderful solution!

Dancing

M had her end of session parent's show today.  It was sort of funny because the dad sitting next to me kept talking about how cute she was and so full of energy.  Then, at the break, she came up to me and gave me a hug.  He didn't really say anything after that.  I guess he didn't realize whose kid she was.  It was sort of funny-at least the comments were good.

In other news, she has been moved up to the next level.  I shouldn't be surprised but I am so proud.

New Start

Let's see how we do!  I'd like to document our family and the memorable times!

M: 7 years old going on 16.  She's a diva and the teenage years are going to be interesting

J: Almost 3.  He is such a love, until he's not!  He's a little troublemaker but loves to love.

Me:  Part time student, part time teacher.  Full time mom and volunteer

D:  Full time CFO, part time musician, photographer

Simon: The dog, hanging in there and putting up with everyone else