A couple of weekends ago, Lance took Sam to an airshow with a friend and his son. They were excited about going but I don’t think the little boys enjoyed it as much as the big boys.
I think both daddies were disappointed in the enthusiasm of the little ones.
Apparently the boys enjoyed playing in the dirt more than watching the airplanes zooming by.
Some of my (and the kids) favorite things to look back over on this blog are videos. They will watch the videos over and over.
Reese has really been enjoying cheerleading. Her coach was a high school cheerleader and tumbler. She recently made a connection with a new cheer gym and they let the girls come for a free lesson. Reese loved it! Here she is learning how to do a back handspring.
When I was in kindergarten, one of the things we had to learn how to do was dribble a basketball (my how things have changed…ha). Anyways, I could NOT figure out how to dribble. I remember coming home and my dad trying to practice with me in the driveway. Four year old Leah comes out, grabs the basketball and starts dribbling circles around me. I am pretty sure she was dribbling it between her legs at this point too. When we moved in to this house there was a basketball goal on the driveway so I bought Lance a basketball. We have gotten a lot of use out of that goal and Sam is a dribbling machine. I am so impressed…and a little embarrassed that at five I could not dribble the way my three year old can. Ha!
Hayes is such a boy! He thinks that poots are funny. If he poots, he laughs. If he hears something that sounds like a poot, he makes the noise with his mouth and laughs. One night at dinner he pooted and this was me asking him if he did that.
The kids had a fall break this past week. It was really a great few days. We stayed busy and enjoyed our time together. Leading up to the days off I had the kids clean up their rooms and help clean up around the house so that when the break came we could all enjoy it. By the first day we were ready for our adventure.
We met a bunch of friends for a hike our first day out. The kids were all such troopers. The weather was beautiful and the perfect day to be hiking outside.
Once we made it to the top of the mountain the kids took a break. They all played so well together. On the way down the mountain, I think my two were the only ones to take a spill running down. They both came home with scratched up knees but it didn’t slow them down any.
During the climb up the mountain, I told Reese and Sam that if they would not complain about being tired, etc that I would let them take a bubble bath in my tub. They think that is the best reward ever and it worked. No complaints at all.
The next day we decided to go have lunch with Lance. Reese also wrote her first letter to our Compassion child. I am the one who usually writes to her (and I wrote my own note this time too) but Reese wrote her very own letter. It was so sweet to see her get to do that. The child that we sponsor is only a week older than Reese. We chose her for this reason and hope that one day she and Reese can correspond with out the help of me.
Over the weekend we went to a local family owned farm that just started having fall activities. They have barrel slides, zip lines, a 23 minute hay ride and all kinds of fun kid activities.
They will also have a corn maze next year but due to all the rain this summer it flooded their crop. While on the hay ride the guide told us that at one point during the summer there was eight feet of water where their crop was planted and that they hadn’t had that kind of rain in 99 years. I think it was a fun little place to go and know that as the years go by they will continue to grow. It was great because it wasn’t too crowded while we were there because it is so new. The only problem we had was how hot it was…definitely not fall weather.
After leaving the farm we decided to head to Harry’s Farmers Market. All summer Lance has been trying to boil peanuts but every time we go to Harry’s they don’t have any green peanuts! We tried again to find some and a lady working there said that the batch that came in was so bad they couldn’t sell them. Apparently all the rain is hurting the peanut crops too. We did buy some pumpkins there for a great price!! The kids want to carve them now but we said we would wait for a little while so they didn’t go bad!
On the next day of fall break Reese had planned a craft day at home for us. So first thing in the morning we headed to Target to buy craft items. And they spent almost all day doing crafts!
The next day we had plans to go to the zoo. We had been planning this zoo day for a week and we were all so excited to go. We woke up that morning and Sam was being so whiny. I kept pushing us along though and getting everyone ready. At one point I stopped him and asked why he was so whiny and he said he didn’t know. Finally we were about to walk out of the door, I sent the kids upstairs to get socks on, and Reese comes back saying Sam is crying that his tummy hurts and he is going potty. He went potty and then was acting like a new kids. Not whining or anything. So we got in the car to head to the zoo. About three miles down the road he starts crying and bending over saying his stomach hurt so bad. It started making me nervous and I told the kids we couldn’t go to the zoo. I saw the disappointment in Reese’s eyes in the rearview mirror and I quickly called a friend we were supposed to meet. I knew she wasn’t too far away and I asked her if Reese could go with them to the zoo. She said absolutely and we made plans to meet her in the parking lot of a nearby restaurant. When I parked I opened Sam’s door to go talk to him and check him out because he was still crying so hard. Luckily he had unbuckled because the second I got to him I saw that look on his face. I yanked him out of the car and he threw up. I got Reese set up with my sweet friend and off they went. They had a wonderful day at the zoo with all of our friends (I think there were six mommies and twice as many kids). I feel so blessed to have friends who took care of Reese that day and let her tag along with them. I pray Reese is as blessed with sweet girlfriends all her life! Another friend brought Reese back home and Reese was on cloud nine. She was so pleasant that afternoon and I think her love tank was overflowing. About 11:00 Sam was totally fine and asking if we could go to the zoo. I promised him we would go another day. I don’t know what was making him feel that way but we were both bummed to miss the zoo.
When it was finally time to go back to school, we all had a hard time getting up that morning. Now I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break when we have a whole week together! I think a make-up zoo day will be in the plans.
Hayes! You are eleven months old today! I remember this day last year thinking it was finally baby month but just knowing you were going to wait until November to make your appearance.
This little guy is all BOY! He loves being outside. If we open the door for any reason, he gets so mad if he doesn’t get to go out. If Reese and Sam are playing outside, he watches them through the window and squeals and giggles.
He is still not walking…which I am surprised by. He is so close though. He loves to stand and push things around the house. I find kitchen chairs in the most random places. Right now there is one in the laundry room.
He is mischievous! In the fifteen seconds it took me to wash and dry my hands, he had crawled in to the bathroom and unrolled all of the toilet paper. And I didn’t even know he was doing it.
He is brave! He climbs on everything. He has a radar that knows when the gate at the bottom of the stairs isn’t closed. The second he is on the ground he is racing towards the stairs. His favorite place to climb up on is the fireplace. He sits up on the hearth so proud of himself. I don’t even worry about him up there anymore because he is great at getting himself back down. He has even been trying to climb up on the couch lately.
He is stubborn! He hates having his diaper changed. He screams and cries and thrashes around the whole time. Lance and I have resorted to tag teaming him after baths just to get him ready for bed. Some days I put him in his bed to get him dressed. He wants out so bad that he will stand and cry. This makes it easier for me to get his clothes on him.
He just cut his seventh tooth and is working on number eight.
Today he weighed 21 lbs, 15 oz.
He is a sweet little lovey!
Friday, the boys and I went “hiking” with some friends. One of my friends let me borrow her backpack carrier for Hayes. He enjoyed it the first half of the hike but the second half he was done.
Saturday morning Sam had soccer. It rained the whole time. When we got in the car we were both dripping wet. The kids still had fun playing soccer in the rain!
Saturday afternoon, Reese got to go to her first bridal shower. She thought she was such a big girl.
This is what happens when I am cooking dinner…
by the way…that horrible loud dishwasher is officially gone. we replaced it last week and we love our new one so much!
Our busy fall has officially begun. Sam is finally getting a chance to try out soccer for himself. He was pretty excited leading up to the game.
He is playing for the Y just like Reese has done in the past (and will hopefully do again in the spring). This season, however, the Y got sneaky. They called a meet and greet for the teams last Sunday. When we arrived to meet our team, one of the men in charge at the Y came around to each team and said that one of the parents had to volunteer to be the coach.
That parent turned out to be me after everyone just kind of starred at the man like he was crazy. Anyways! How hard can it be to coach U4 micro soccer, right!?! I have years of experience watching my sisters play in soccer games. Ha! And I played a few years of recreation soccer. All they need to know is not to touch the ball with their hands…which we are working on…and which goal to kick the ball in…again, working on that.
It actually turned out to be so much fun! It was funny and entertaining. The kids seemed to really enjoy it! At each kick off I would ask the kids which goal we were going to. There was always one kid that pointed to the wrong goal. It cracked me up every time.
Sam scored one goal!!!
Our biggest challenge for the next six weeks is timing. Sam’s games are at 9:00 each week and Reese’s are at 10:00. Lance and I had originally planned to take turns taking each kid to their games but now that I have to be at Sam’s games it is a little trickier.
It will be a fun fall for sure though! Reese and Lance plan on skipping one of her games so that they can watch Sam play at least once. And Sam and I will always be able to make it to Reese’s games by half time.
I am excited about all this fun. However, it makes me a little nervous once all three kids are old enough to be in activities. We will have to make sure that we always have friends on the same teams so that we can help each other out with bussing kids around.
As I looked at pictures on AJC today, they seemed like another place and another time. One picture in particular got me. There is a picture that almost looks black and white but the people and everything around them are covered in dust from the fallen buildings. I can’t even begin to imagine what was going through their minds. I am sure they felt like they were dreaming. I can’t believe it has already been twelve years…
For a couple of years Reese has been asking to be a cheerleader. I had been putting it off because there was no where near us that was not competitive. I didn’t think Reese needed to be in any sort of competitive cheering at this age so we waited. Once we moved we found a church that has Upwards cheerleading. They cheer for a flag football team. It is easy, sweet, and not any competition what so ever.
They learn bible verses at practice and pray before games.
And Reese loved it!
Tonight when I asked her what her favorite activity is that she has ever done, she answered cheerleading. The only thing I am disappointed about is that there are no little girls on her squad that she goes to school with. I was really hoping that she would meet some new girls through this. If she really enjoys it we might have to switch over to the association team next year just so she can meet other girls from school.
It seems like I just wrote out a post about Hayes being nine months old a few days ago. Where does the time go? How has one month gone by so fast?
Hayes keeps growing and learning more every day. He has such a mix of Reese and Sam’s personalities. The two of them are so different and he takes parts of each of them.
Hayes is super mobile. He climbs on everything. His favorite place to be is on the couch. He loves to throw himself around on there and dive from one side to the other. It makes me a nervous wreck though. He also loves to climb in and out of his chair all day. Climbing up on the fireplace is something new he has been testing out. I try to tell him no when I see him even thinking about it. So far he is pretty good at listening…ha!
He is a rough and tumble true little boy. I know the second he figures out how to walk he is going to tackle Sam. He loves to watch Sam and Daddy sword fight, wrestle, and play together.
He is a big fan of Daddy. He gets so excited to see him and will dive in to his arms. Neither of the other two did this so I think it makes Lance feel special.
He will use anything and everything to help himself walk. There are constantly chairs being moved around the kitchen and laundry baskets sliding across the floor.
He is doing a great job sleeping. I am so happy that he sleeps about 11 hours each night. Some nights he will wake up around 5:30, I will nurse him and he will go back to sleep. He usually takes two naps a day at about an hour each. His afternoon nap is sometimes longer.
He still only has six teeth. He is trying to cut the other two teeth on the bottom. I know because he is constantly biting me. Ugh!
I can’t believe we are so close to him being one year old!!
