End of Fall Soccer

Tonight was our last game for fall soccer league. It wasn't the boys' best game, but we were still very proud of them. We finally had both of them well at the same time, and they just couldn't get a break. IV is a scrappy little player and spends as much time rolling around the field as he does running-- he is fun to watch. Spencer is all business-- he is serious and gets flustered when he makes a mistake. He accidently punted the ball into the face of his own teammate tonight and it really embarrassed him--poor kid!
The cutest thing happened on the sideline after the game. The guy from the YMCA wasn't there to give the team awards and I told the kids that they will have to get their awards later. One little boy piped up and pointed to his leg (clearly misunderstanding me) and volunteered, "I already got my warts taken off at the doctor's office last week!!" I was going to explain AWARDS not WARTS, but I was laughing too hard!
We took the boys for pizza after the game to celebrate their fine season and to congratulate them for being great team players. They want to play indoor soccer over the winter and then regular soccer will pick back up this Spring.

Spooky Decor!

Spencer made a Halloween wall hanging-- check out his stormy night and skeleton. I know it is supposed to be ULTRA SPOOKY-- but it cracked me up! He is so funny!

Pumpkin Carving 2007

Tonight was our annual Pumpkin Craving party! This is the first year Spencer wanted to CARVE a pumpkin-- he is usually content with stickers, paint, etc. This year--he was set on a cat...gee big surprise! I helped him top his pumpkin and Jimmy helped him gut it. Spencer pricked the template into the pumpkin skin all on his own and we carved it together. I was impressed with how well he did!
Jimmy made chicken fajitas and Melissa made her Witches brew and we all had a wonderful dinner together! Our pumpkins looked great lit up on the porch!

Another First

Spencer and IV played their first board game alone together. It was so cute. They set up the SpongeBob Life board. Spencer helped IV with reading the cards, counting the money and they were being so sweet taking turns and enjoying the game. About 5 minutes after I took this picture...all hell broke loose. They started accusing each other of cheating and whining to me. They got about 3/4 through the game--I guess that is a record!

Psst-- hey Jax girls....

I triple dog dare you to try this!

Walking WIth Dinosaurs

We went to see Walking with Dinosaurs...and it was awesome! It was very "discovery channel"-ish and taught you all about the dinos with H-U-G-E animal-tronic dinos that acted out everything as they taught you. It was so cool! The dinos hatched, ate, walked, fought, even pooped on stage! We bought tickets mainly for Spencer and IV, but ALL OF US enjoyed the entire show!!! Nana and Boppa bought Spencer and IV T-shirts-- Spencer's shirt has a big Dinosaur eye on the front staring right at you. He loves it! Spencer also got a show program and a stuffed torosaurus. The program had color copies of the story and some of the dialogue/history. Spencer used his seat light and looked at the program all the way home!

Spencer Checked up on Nana

Mom has been hacking ever since we got home from Seabrook-- the humidity was killer. Well she finally called the doctor today and said, enough is enough--and sure enough-- it is pneumonia. Respiratory infections are rampant around here-- if you follow my blog, both Spencer and IV have been sick lately. IV is finally better and now Nana is sick. When Spencer came home from school today, I told him Nana has pneumonia but they are not keeping her at the hospital, she will have yucky medicines and will come home and rest for a few days-- it was NOTHING I could do to stop him from going to her. Since she wasn't feverish/not contagious, I let him go to her house. He HAD to see her. We had dinner with her and poor Nana could barely eat because Spencer was loving all over her the entire time. But she never complained, of course :-)

The Office

I am still laughing over last week's episode. I LOVE this show! I was talking about it with some friends tonight and we knew more quotes from the past two episodes.... It's going to be a fun season!

Spencer rocks!

Spencer had the most awesome soccer game of his life tonight! Of course, none of Mommy's pictures turned out (it was really hazy here tonight and I was doing more cheering than photography!) but let me tell you- Little man was on fire. He played two quarters at goalie-- total shut-out. He had diving saves, fast stops, deep punts and quick reflexes that made his coach (Auntie) scream with joy! At one point,(Spencer's big diving double roll stop) Melissa even did a goofy little on field dance! She was SO proud of him! Spencer ended up with a scraped up knee, but it didn't bother him once the other kids started saying-- "Wow! Cool save! You're even Bleeding!"
He sat out 3rd quarter to rest up, then played sweeper 4th quarter. His offense was as aggressive and sharp as his defense. He was fast, tonight!
After the game he was congratulated by many parents, teammates, even some of the parents from the opposing team and the team official. Auntie was so proud, that she is going to buy him special goalie gloves for the next game. I took him for his favorite pizza and we talked about the game for the next hour or so! He was proud of himself and it was so cute to hear his half-embarrassed/half-proud retelling of his game!

The only bad part about the evening was missing little IV. He is home in bed with walking pneumonia. Poor little guy is really sick!

Ending the Summer

We had our last pool party today and celebrated October birthdays for Jimmy, Brenda M, Laura and Will. The pool water was 85 degrees and we had a beautiful day! Everyone came over around 2 and we munched on the appetizers (we had enough for a small army!) all afternoon and hung out by the pool. We fired up the grill later on this evening and had burgers, dogs and brats.

The birthday folks all got nice gifts. Laura was loaded down in Bratz dolls; Will got trains, trucks and toys; Jimmy received lots of iTunes gift cards and Brenda M got mostly craft supplies! The birthday cake had INTENSE blue icing and the rest of the evening was devoted to stupid smurf jokes since everyone's lips, tongues, teeth and fingers were stained blue!

We always have a huge crowd over and today was no different. But don't worry, just because we are closing the pool for the season, doesn't mean we are ending the parties! The kids have too much fun, and all of us really enjoy the relaxation of just sitting around and chatting. Besides, the holidays are right around the corner....

Starring Spencer and IV

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!
Check out the little Hula-gans!

Dixie Classic Fair 2007

My brother has the camera so it might be a bit before I can get pictures from tonight on the blog, but we all went to the FAIR tonight! We had a blast! We got there early enough so the boys got the "all you can ride" arm bands and they sure got their $$ worth! They were tall enough this year to ride many of the "big boy" rides and they smiled from ear to ear as the slid, soared, twirled, spun, zoomed, raced, bumped, dropped etc. through the park! Once they got a taste of the big rides, there was no going back to the "kiddie" side of the fair! Their favorite ride this year was the Drop Zone--where they are launched straight up and then dropped down quickly. They couldn't wait to race back to get in line and ride it again! I was a little worried it would be too scary but I guess not....

Fair food is as much a tradition as going to the fair itself. Roasted corn, Funnel cakes, fried snickers bar, candy apples, fresh squeezed lemonades, etc. At any given time *one* of us was standing in line at a food vendor (usually my Dad)...

One of the highlights from tonight was watching Spencer on the Bungee Jumper. It is $7 for 3 minutes and he has always enjoyed doing it every year at the Fair. This year, he was AMAZING. He was getting EXTREME air and cutting flips like a pro. When we walked up, no one was in line. The timer went off on Spencer's jump and the guy let Spencer jump for free for another round because he had drawn such a crowd to watch his antics. Watching a small six year old springing so high in the air and cutting flips frontwards and backwards in succession was pretty cool! After Spencer finished--a pretty good sized crowd had gathered to watch-clapped for him and there was a line about 20 people long to jump! He was great for business! One lady asked me if he was enrolled in gymnastics--hahah! Nope--just a goofball with $7 at a Fair!

My favorite part of the evening was at the petting zoo. Of course all the animals are tagged. Spencer surveys the lot of pygmy goats and asks, "Mommy, Are they for sale?" I tell him no. Then he innocently asks, "Well then why do they all have price tags on their ears?"

As their bed time approached, we left the fair. We knew the boys would fall asleep on the drive home so we were prepared to let them ride home in pajamas and fall on to sleep. What we weren't prepared for was IV's exiting swansong.. a three minute vomit in the middle of the fair walkway. He always vomits when he is tired. As soon as we crawled in the van, IV fell asleep. Spencer defiantly refused to fall asleep until we stopped and got him a happy meal. He was STARVED. (Did I mention I am still pumping him full of steroids???) He ate his little burger and fell on to sleep.. and I know he is dreaming about all the rides because he was just giggling in his sleep!

Update on Norm

My Norm was very sick this past April, then he got better. Then he got sick again in July and now he is finally putting some weight back on and seems better. I just thought I would post a picture and give a BIG THANKS to my vet friend Brenda in Montana for all the FREE advice for my fur baby! At least I know the right things to discuss with my vet and what is normal and what isn't for a psychotic 15.5 year old kitty! He is still old and frail, but at least I feel like I am doing the right things!