Went to Quizno's after 6:30 last night, so it was dark. We saw about 10 deer over at the Baptist church, so we pulled into the parking lot to take a closer look at them. They cooperated by running, but not too far, so the kids got a good look. I was suprised at how many there were so close to our house. I guess that explains what happened to all our roses last spring...
Mikey asked, in the car, "do you think Santa is nocturnal?" We discussed the difference btn a species being nocturnal and a person having a night job! Do he and the elves make toys during the day or at night, hmm?
Caroline had something to say on the way home and so called out "excuse me, may I have everyone's intentions?" So we gave her our full intentions.
Dinner and then quite a few games of Tetris with Mikey. Last year, he couldn't play hardly at all, but he's really starting to get it. I almost threw the controller at Papa when he started "helping" me by telling me where pieces should go. When I think of all the hours, days, weeks I've played that game...whew. I tried to explain to Mikey what it was like Back in the Day when we didn't have the choices of endless games on endless websites and we just had one or two games to choose from. Not sure he can even comprehend such a dark and dismal world, lol.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Too Quiet
It is now officially too quiet. I'd expected us to be busy enough, with ballet and gymnastics for C and gymnastics, TKD and the drama class for Mikey. Unfortunately, the drama class got canceled and gymnastics is a no-go for now. The Youth Center didn't call me when the class started back up--just like they didn't tell me the class was canceled--and now it's full. Plus, the classes are Tuesday or Thursday. We couldn't make it on Thurs. at all and Tues. would have to be from 4:30-5:30 and then TKD at 6pm or not at all. Mikey's certainly got enough energy to do 2 classes in one evening, but it would be a pain.
I didn't sign the kids up for Kindermusik because of the time and money we were planning on spending on the jewelry making class, drama class and gymnastics. Grrr.
So now I will look into the gymnastics place in town, Cub Scouts, Kindermusik for January, etc. Maybe the creek waters have gone down and we can go to the playground on the creek again without fear the kids will get washed away if they fall in! (yeh, it's not very deep but when you see white water it's hard to let the kids-who-don't-swim play near the edge). And we can try the playgrounds on base and see if Evan plays or just runs for the street constantly.
I've been avoiding the library lately because I got tired of Evan running and yelling the whole time. Plus, I'm still not used to the small-town-everyone-knows-your-name thang. The librarians know us by name which I can't consider a good thing when the kids are always noisy and our DVDs are always late! We can try the county library, but the kids section is NOT in a separate room which means I'll be shushing like crazy. Maybe I'll take Mikey after TKD today...
Mikey is super excited about the Secret Santa at TKD. He just asked again if it's today. No, one month to go, we still have to get a name, try to find out what that person wants, get a gift, etc. He very sweetly checked with Miss R (the teacher) to make sure she was putting her own name in!
Oh, and he finally, FINALLY got to spar. He joined TKD at the end of July and this is the first time he got to do it!!!!! And I missed half of it while doing the Thursday Main St. Shuffle (back and forth on Main St. to drop off C, pick up C and drop off M, take C home and go back to pick up M--not too bad, except for the day the Homecoming parade was on Main St). Still, it was a good thing. Miss R noted that they don't have enough pads for everyone and people are welcome to buy their own, on sale now for $100. Eh, maybe not. Hmm, maybe just the gloves for him to use against me when we spar...those little knuckles can hurt!
I didn't sign the kids up for Kindermusik because of the time and money we were planning on spending on the jewelry making class, drama class and gymnastics. Grrr.
So now I will look into the gymnastics place in town, Cub Scouts, Kindermusik for January, etc. Maybe the creek waters have gone down and we can go to the playground on the creek again without fear the kids will get washed away if they fall in! (yeh, it's not very deep but when you see white water it's hard to let the kids-who-don't-swim play near the edge). And we can try the playgrounds on base and see if Evan plays or just runs for the street constantly.
I've been avoiding the library lately because I got tired of Evan running and yelling the whole time. Plus, I'm still not used to the small-town-everyone-knows-your-name thang. The librarians know us by name which I can't consider a good thing when the kids are always noisy and our DVDs are always late! We can try the county library, but the kids section is NOT in a separate room which means I'll be shushing like crazy. Maybe I'll take Mikey after TKD today...
Mikey is super excited about the Secret Santa at TKD. He just asked again if it's today. No, one month to go, we still have to get a name, try to find out what that person wants, get a gift, etc. He very sweetly checked with Miss R (the teacher) to make sure she was putting her own name in!
Oh, and he finally, FINALLY got to spar. He joined TKD at the end of July and this is the first time he got to do it!!!!! And I missed half of it while doing the Thursday Main St. Shuffle (back and forth on Main St. to drop off C, pick up C and drop off M, take C home and go back to pick up M--not too bad, except for the day the Homecoming parade was on Main St). Still, it was a good thing. Miss R noted that they don't have enough pads for everyone and people are welcome to buy their own, on sale now for $100. Eh, maybe not. Hmm, maybe just the gloves for him to use against me when we spar...those little knuckles can hurt!
Friday, November 09, 2007
Changing Seasons
It's November and it feels like it. I'm seeing numbers like "59" on the thermometer. Of course, that's at night and it goes up to 75 or even 84 today!
The days are shorter and the kids are older. Evan says "let's nuggle, Mommy" and (s)nuggle we do. Mikey is very pleasant to be around. He's doing great at Tae Kwon Do and not bouncing around the room talking during class. He's happily reading chapters of The Lion, the Witch and the Waredrobe with Papa at night. Last night, I got very grumpy and instead of Mikey trying to make it worse, he got super nice and sweet and took care of stuff and tried to help with Even. Suprised me right out of my grumpiness!
Caroline is slowly coming out of the post-illness grumps. It's hard when that lasts for 2-3 weeks. Really hard. I'm finding little ways to connect with her. She got her costume for the Christmas show yesterday: red leotard, red tights and a big Santa hat. She and I oohed and ahhed over EVERYTHING in the Hanna Andersson catalog. We trying to read books together, but Evan jumps in almost every time with his favorite Thomas books.
There shall not be kids other than Evan in Mommy's lap!! Unless Evan specifically gives permission because he has more important things to do...like jumping on the trampoline. Until last week he only ran on it but now the jumping has begun! Changing from a toddler to a kid right before my eyes.
The days are shorter and the kids are older. Evan says "let's nuggle, Mommy" and (s)nuggle we do. Mikey is very pleasant to be around. He's doing great at Tae Kwon Do and not bouncing around the room talking during class. He's happily reading chapters of The Lion, the Witch and the Waredrobe with Papa at night. Last night, I got very grumpy and instead of Mikey trying to make it worse, he got super nice and sweet and took care of stuff and tried to help with Even. Suprised me right out of my grumpiness!
Caroline is slowly coming out of the post-illness grumps. It's hard when that lasts for 2-3 weeks. Really hard. I'm finding little ways to connect with her. She got her costume for the Christmas show yesterday: red leotard, red tights and a big Santa hat. She and I oohed and ahhed over EVERYTHING in the Hanna Andersson catalog. We trying to read books together, but Evan jumps in almost every time with his favorite Thomas books.
There shall not be kids other than Evan in Mommy's lap!! Unless Evan specifically gives permission because he has more important things to do...like jumping on the trampoline. Until last week he only ran on it but now the jumping has begun! Changing from a toddler to a kid right before my eyes.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Soccer Wrap Up
Today was the last game of the season for the mighty Thunder. They played a great game against a team that had easily beaten them earlier in the season. The game was scoreless until near the end, when the Geo team scored three unanswered points.
Caroline and I took Mikey for the start of the game and Papa brought along Evan during half time. Mikey was on the field ready for the game to start when he noticed everyone was there. He got a laugh from the parents when he yelled "My whole family is here!!"
Evan was in shorts, which was fine at first, but it suddenly got windy and Evan got very snuggly! Right as the game ended, it started to rain. And then it started pouring. Caroline and I were making a tunnel with the other parents and when we finished that I turned back to Papa and Evan to find the little guy holding tight to Caroline's chair and crying his little eyes out because the rain was scaring him! Everyone was heading to the concession stand because it was covered, so I yelled for Caroline to follow number 8 (that would be Mikey) and I scooped up Evan.
At first I tried to get E to let go of the chair, but he was hanging on for dear life, so I was running along laughing at the absurdity of it all. We finanlly made it to the concession stand. Some of the kids, including C, had cut across a field that had a game still going on, but the ball was fortunately out of bounds at the time. When I tried to put Evan down, I found out he was not only clutching the chair, but still holding half a hot dog! No downpour is going to get between that boy and his lunch.
Got to the covered area just in time for the rain to let up. Evan was shivering like crazy, so Papa took him on home while C and I stayed for The Official Post Game Ceremony: kids got medals on ribbons, Coach got a plaque. Then we had pizza. Except for that one kid in the bunch who doesn't like pizza.
I got him a hot dog.
Mikey didn't play much of the game, but was a forward when he was in. He's definitely improved a ton since the beginning of the season. He still looks like he's trying to play the part of a soccer player more than he's really going for the ball. It's tough for a lot of the kids this age to be aggressive. The few kids that are aggressive really control the game.
I enjoyed the soccer season. Lots of 10:30 games, so it wasn't horribly hot and we didn't have to be dressed and out the door at 8:20. I won't miss driving down to the border for the games, though. That road through the industrial park is bumpier than many dirt roads. The bull poking his nose through the fence at the first practice was pretty charming, though.
Now Mikey can get back to Tai Kwon Do 3 days a week and take his yellow belt test in a couple weeks. I still feel bad that I didn't let him take the test in October, but I had this silly idea that he actually had to be able to do all of form 1, like they said. They passed everyone who took the test, even the kids who couldn't make it to step 8 (out of 20) without 3 mistakes. Stupid grade inflation. I've read that TKD is more about making money ($30 per belt test) than the art. Maybe, but I think they just really believe in praising and encouraging the kids. For real accomplishment or just showing up. Not something I like, but overall, the class is really good for him
All the parents know him as the kid who asks questions or interrupts to ask to get water. They all think he's soooo cute. We keep talking about not interrupting and he's getting better. He did 2 full classes on Thursday because he wants make sure he knows all of form 1. Can I just say I love that he want to do it right even though he knows he doesn't have to? Awesome.
Caroline and I took Mikey for the start of the game and Papa brought along Evan during half time. Mikey was on the field ready for the game to start when he noticed everyone was there. He got a laugh from the parents when he yelled "My whole family is here!!"
Evan was in shorts, which was fine at first, but it suddenly got windy and Evan got very snuggly! Right as the game ended, it started to rain. And then it started pouring. Caroline and I were making a tunnel with the other parents and when we finished that I turned back to Papa and Evan to find the little guy holding tight to Caroline's chair and crying his little eyes out because the rain was scaring him! Everyone was heading to the concession stand because it was covered, so I yelled for Caroline to follow number 8 (that would be Mikey) and I scooped up Evan.
At first I tried to get E to let go of the chair, but he was hanging on for dear life, so I was running along laughing at the absurdity of it all. We finanlly made it to the concession stand. Some of the kids, including C, had cut across a field that had a game still going on, but the ball was fortunately out of bounds at the time. When I tried to put Evan down, I found out he was not only clutching the chair, but still holding half a hot dog! No downpour is going to get between that boy and his lunch.
Got to the covered area just in time for the rain to let up. Evan was shivering like crazy, so Papa took him on home while C and I stayed for The Official Post Game Ceremony: kids got medals on ribbons, Coach got a plaque. Then we had pizza. Except for that one kid in the bunch who doesn't like pizza.
I got him a hot dog.
Mikey didn't play much of the game, but was a forward when he was in. He's definitely improved a ton since the beginning of the season. He still looks like he's trying to play the part of a soccer player more than he's really going for the ball. It's tough for a lot of the kids this age to be aggressive. The few kids that are aggressive really control the game.
I enjoyed the soccer season. Lots of 10:30 games, so it wasn't horribly hot and we didn't have to be dressed and out the door at 8:20. I won't miss driving down to the border for the games, though. That road through the industrial park is bumpier than many dirt roads. The bull poking his nose through the fence at the first practice was pretty charming, though.
Now Mikey can get back to Tai Kwon Do 3 days a week and take his yellow belt test in a couple weeks. I still feel bad that I didn't let him take the test in October, but I had this silly idea that he actually had to be able to do all of form 1, like they said. They passed everyone who took the test, even the kids who couldn't make it to step 8 (out of 20) without 3 mistakes. Stupid grade inflation. I've read that TKD is more about making money ($30 per belt test) than the art. Maybe, but I think they just really believe in praising and encouraging the kids. For real accomplishment or just showing up. Not something I like, but overall, the class is really good for him
All the parents know him as the kid who asks questions or interrupts to ask to get water. They all think he's soooo cute. We keep talking about not interrupting and he's getting better. He did 2 full classes on Thursday because he wants make sure he knows all of form 1. Can I just say I love that he want to do it right even though he knows he doesn't have to? Awesome.
Halloween
What a fun evening we had! I was not looking forward to it. It was so overwhelming last year, plus most of us had a cold that had kept us from going to 2 or 3 different Halloween parties.
Evan didn't want to wear either his Pablo the Penguin costume or Mikey's old Thomas costume, so I put him in the double stroller and put Thomas next to him. Off we went, down the street. Mikey and Caroline were both (still) afraid of the decorations at B's (friend from soccer) house, so his mom was kind enought to walk down the driveway to give them the goodies.
It was still light out, so we started off by going to every house, since no one had their lights on! One older woman let the kids take a handful of candy from a bowl and Caroline burst out "I LOVE you!!"
The kids didn't want to stay out long, so we headed home and set up camp in the driveway to hand out candy. Sure was hot this summer, but you just have to love sitting under the palm trees watching the sun go down while it's 70 degrees out. Rough life, doncha know?
The annoying things happened again this year: bumper to bumper cars as people drive along while their kids walk. (Why on earth do that instead of parking and walking around??? Esp. when there's one parent walking with the younger kids and one driving the car.) The kids (pre-teen and teen) with no costumes. Adults taking candy 1) in costume, 2)not in costume and with a tiny baby and 3)sometimes just an adult or two not in costume. Oh, and since Mikey, Car and I were all handing out candy, some kids tried to take some from all of us. At first M and C handed to them, but I said they didn't have to! Just because someone asks for something, doesn't mean they need to get it. So Mikey started saying "You already got some."
Caroline was Snow White and Mikey was Spiderman. We saw lots of those costumes on other people, including a family with one of each! We told 'em they obviously had good taste. The woman was wearing BDU's but hers were much, much shorter than Papa's. (Actually, they were indecent and the glare off her white cheeks was harsh. Children's holiday. CHILDREN. Ah well.)
We had more than 4 GROCERY bags full of candy and it all went by 8:30.
The kids are most of the way through their candy since they didn't get much.
Thursday Caroline and I got a scarecrow for the front yard. It's really cute, but I keep thinking someone's out there. It's lurking, I tell you!
Evan didn't want to wear either his Pablo the Penguin costume or Mikey's old Thomas costume, so I put him in the double stroller and put Thomas next to him. Off we went, down the street. Mikey and Caroline were both (still) afraid of the decorations at B's (friend from soccer) house, so his mom was kind enought to walk down the driveway to give them the goodies.
It was still light out, so we started off by going to every house, since no one had their lights on! One older woman let the kids take a handful of candy from a bowl and Caroline burst out "I LOVE you!!"
The kids didn't want to stay out long, so we headed home and set up camp in the driveway to hand out candy. Sure was hot this summer, but you just have to love sitting under the palm trees watching the sun go down while it's 70 degrees out. Rough life, doncha know?
The annoying things happened again this year: bumper to bumper cars as people drive along while their kids walk. (Why on earth do that instead of parking and walking around??? Esp. when there's one parent walking with the younger kids and one driving the car.) The kids (pre-teen and teen) with no costumes. Adults taking candy 1) in costume, 2)not in costume and with a tiny baby and 3)sometimes just an adult or two not in costume. Oh, and since Mikey, Car and I were all handing out candy, some kids tried to take some from all of us. At first M and C handed to them, but I said they didn't have to! Just because someone asks for something, doesn't mean they need to get it. So Mikey started saying "You already got some."
Caroline was Snow White and Mikey was Spiderman. We saw lots of those costumes on other people, including a family with one of each! We told 'em they obviously had good taste. The woman was wearing BDU's but hers were much, much shorter than Papa's. (Actually, they were indecent and the glare off her white cheeks was harsh. Children's holiday. CHILDREN. Ah well.)
We had more than 4 GROCERY bags full of candy and it all went by 8:30.
The kids are most of the way through their candy since they didn't get much.
Thursday Caroline and I got a scarecrow for the front yard. It's really cute, but I keep thinking someone's out there. It's lurking, I tell you!
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