Soccer Mom

Today was the kids last soccer game of the season... yes, finally blogging.  I have soooo much to blog....

Our ski trip to Colorado

Jadon lost another tooth

Cody sick with Mono?

and so much more....

But, while this is fresh on my mind... I thought I'd blog.  Cody was on one team and the triplets were on another team.  Practice was Saturday afternoons for 45 minutes followed by a game.  Cody was 1st and then the triplets.  So every Saturday afternoon we were on the field from about 1:45 to 4:15.  IT WAS GREAT!!!  Most of the season the weather was perfect!!  Today is was really hot.

I think Cody is just a natural athlete.  Once he got the concept of the game, he dug in and did really well.  I would venture to say he was one of the all-stars on his team.

The triplets, well they started the season as a handicap to their team.  It was honestly painful to watch their games.  Playing in the dirt, spinning, daydreaming.... dancing.... however, the entire team was a bit lackluster and never won a game.

Well, they gradually improved and today Addison worked her hiney off in the brutal heat and finally scored her 1st goal.  They lost the game (they lost every game), but she was the hero!!  Jadon was doing so much better as was Kaylee.  It was truly a proud day!!!  Everyone went home with medals.

I am hoping they will want to sign up again this Fall because I truly loved watching soccer!!  Way to go guys!!!!!

8 Years Ago.... "I did"

8 Years ago tonight, I truly married my best friend and I look forward to the many years we have ahead of us.

Thankful:

Night before last we had a rough evening which began with blood curdling cries from the backyard.  The kids were out back playing with their Dad while I was making dinner.  You can tell from the cry the severity of an injury and I could tell this wasn't good.

I ran to the back door to find Jadon laying in his Dad's arms with blood EVERYWHERE and the 1st thought is OMG.... where is this coming from????  I was relieved to find it was coming from his nose, but the blow to his nose was massive.  He has been playing on the teeter totter in the back yard and it sounds like he got thrown in the air and landed on his nose.  Fortunately, the nose is not broken but only bruised and very swollen.  Jerry took him to the shower, but fear of pain he would not get in.... after much soothing and consoling he was in the shower and calming down.

In the meantime, I had one on the sofa watching TV and two in the art room and I returned to making dinner.  Enter Cody: "I need a wag, we spiwwed da' gwitter".... WHAT GLITTER!!!!!!  I am very tolerant with art and craft supplies and have an entire room of the house dedicated to art and creative projects, but put my foot down at glitter.  I mean have you ever tried to clean up glitter?  It sticks to everything, can't be vacuumed, can't be wiped.... it's impossible to rid a home of glitter... it takes months... maybe years.   I had some glitter on a high shelf put back for whenever I might need it for one of their many school projects.  Kaylee, climbed a chair and got in down and yes, they had spilled the glitter..... PLUS there was glitter all over the table from their projects.  There was glitter all over the children and a path of glitter from the art room, to the bathroom, to the kitchen.....

Once dinner was on the table...  I cleaned up the glitter to the best of my ability but I was furious and ready to get away.  Fortunately, I had plans with my Mom.

My Mom came over later and we went up to the Church... when we returned, the kids were in bed and I expected them to be asleep, but Jerry greeted us at the door....  "HURRY, HURRY come here"!!!!!   We ran upstairs to the boys room and there was Jadon with his swollen, runny, bruised nose... and......

a missing tooth (his 1st one).  He was overwhelmed with excitement and waited up for me to come home so he could show me.

He lost his 1st tooth and had it under his pillow ready for the tooth fairy.  All the drama and frustration was wiped away and I went to bed counting my blessings and thankful that God has blessed me with the opportunity to wipe away tears and clean up glitter.

GREEN and MISERABLE

This past weekend we took the kids to the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade and met up with friends. We had gone a couple years ago and had a great time, but this year was not all we had hoped...

Jadon had been suffering from terrible allergies with swollen eyes that he rubbed raw, so when we applied sunscreen, it burned and he was crying and emotional the whole day.  Then, they changed the road adding a median, so 1/2 of the parade was on one side of the street and 1/2 was on the other side and they were staggered.  So you'd see 2 or 3 "floats" then you'd have to wait for the other side of the street to see 2 or 3.  As a result, the goodies thrown from the floats (mostly marde gras necklaces) were cut in half.  They also seemed VERY stingy with the goodies this year, so I constantly had a child crying or unhappy about not getting goodies...

It was rough... so I doubt we do it again.  There was a nice guy there with his son and he had green hair paint and offered to paint all the kids hair green.

Yes, I'm behind....

Pretty sad it's February and I'm just now posting Christmas stuff...  Just want to make sure I get these images on the blog for the annual blog book.  I had two angel and a shepherd at the Triplets School's Annual Pageant.  Cody played on the Ipad through the whole performance.  I think he was underwhelmed, but I was moved to tears...

Stuff

Addison is so full of personality and is fearless... she is the social butterfly at school and most easily distracted.  It's been recommended that she might do better next year in a class by herself so I think we may go that route.

I am super excited that Cody will join the triplets next year... all the kids in the same school on the same schedule!!!!  Woo Hoo!!

Ginormous Lollipop

So much going on... I needed to take on a project like this, but I found this idea online and just had to do it. My Mom helped (thanks MOM) and tonight we put together about 80 photo valentines (4 kids/20 per class). I photographed the kids holding a piece of PVC then cut a hole in the photo and stuck a lolipop through it. It looks like they are holding a giant lollipop. Now, I just have to finish the craft for the parties (I'm room Mom)....

http://spoonful.com/crafts/ginormous-lollipop

Photo Shoot

I took the kids over to the studio the other morning to photograph them.  It was the end of the shoot when they were tired and just didn’t want to sit for me anymore (they had probably been at it a whole two minutes)…  but I think the photos have kind of a Calvin Klein feel.   The 1st image was an original shot, the second is a composite of the 1st image and another image  (see the 1st two kids look the same on both the 1st and 2nd shot).  I just love the sad body language from Cody on the second shot but both Addison and Jadon were not at their best.  When shooting kids… head swapping is often involved or in this case entire body swapping.

Here they are at the beginning of the shoot (approximately two minutes earlier before I EXHAUSTED them by making them sit still and smile)…  This image is hanging up large in the playroom.

Kaylee calls this her "Princess Pose"

Discipline Award

Here is an email I received from Kaylee's teacher this afternoon:

Tracy,

Kaylee was chosen by the Merit patrol to receive the award for "self discipline".  Each month 2 students are assigned the task of watching and eventually choosing 1 student who displays the character trait of the month.  We discuss the trait at the beginning of the month so they know what to look for.  Jadon was one of the merit patrol and it fell upon him to choose the winner with me since his partner was absent.  He chose Kaylee and he gave me viable reasons why he chose her!  She had her picture taken and it will be displayed on the elementary bulletin board by the elementary office.  She also receives a pin and certificate that I am sending home in a folder.  Also her sweater was found and returned to our room!

Christy

I am so proud of Kaylee because she is very well behaved and disciplined at school and I'm very proud of Jadon for choosing his sister.

Reminder

Remember to Enjoy Life and Dance Like Nobody is Watching

Naughty or Nice

Naughty or Nice? I love this time of year… the kids are working hard to be extra nice since Santa may be watching.

Deck the Halls and Walls

Given the kids were under the weather but not out of commission over the weekend and Grandma Barb comes in town tomorrow for Thanksgiving, we decorated the house for Christmas and had a great time.  Just a little stress when Jerry climbs up on the roof to put up lights... ugh.  I love the house at Christmas... so warm and cozy.

The tree went up... so Tattle our Elf on a Shelf showed up as well.  He's a bit of a bad elf, always getting into things.  The kids LOVE finding him each morning... I wonder how much longer this will last?  I hope a couple more years...

Costumes and Roller Skates

We survived the weekend of illness and everyone seems to be doing better... so here is a little catch up...

At the end of October, the triplets turned 6 years old and we had their 1st birthday party with friends from school.  They have had parties in the past with our friends children and neighbors, but this was the 1st were they got to invite friends from school.  I'm not a huge fan of big parties for children and all the school friends... I swear we get an invite every week and we attend as many as we can so I held off having one, but the kids are getting old enough to know what they really want and this is what they wanted.

We had it at a skating rink and it was a BLAST!!  The rink has PVC "walkers" on wheels that the kids can use to keep them up... they are awesome!!!  This was the triplets 2nd time skating and Kaylee gave up her walker and was skating on her own.  I had no idea a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds could have so much fun on wheels!!

A few days later, we suited up for Trick or Treating....  In tow we had a Stealth Ninja, Captain American (or Aquamarine... Cody kept calling himself Aquamarine??), Minnie Mouse, and an Indian Princess.  Along with Trick or Treating we attended a Halloween Event by the Houston Symphony during the week, I decorated 3 cakes, and I am room Mom at the Triplets school and ran the party and craft event for 18 kids...

Yep, pretty pooped when it was all over... but it was worth every minute!!!

The cakes (Addison OU, Jadon UT, and Kaylee "Hello Kitty")