Life Lately

Holy Smokes, life lately is...BUSY! I ask myself (often) if we need to cut back on some things, and maybe we do.  But at this point in time, we have fallen into somewhat of a routine.  And it's working...for now.  Today is Sunday and I am planning the week ahead.

So I can look back in several years and remember what this time was like (when life was so much easier....ha!), here is a look at a typical week...

Every day during the week, both boys have school.  Andy is out at 1:00. We usually head home to walk the dogs and then around 3, we park the car in a nearby neighborhood and he rides his bike (I have learned to drop Cal's bike off close to school!) and then both boys ride bikes back to the car.  Waiting in the carpool line did not work for us. 

Mondays:
Cal soccer 5-6

Tuesdays: (CRAZY DAYS)
Carrie teach preschool
Andy tennis, while Andy is at tennis, I have been walking with Sally to Cal's school to pick him up and he rides his bike back to the club for his tennis clinic, which starts at 4 (Andy's ends at 4).  Andy rides his bike while Cal plays tennis and then gets ready for soccer.
Andy soccer 5-6
Carrie teach popup 7-8 (every other Tuesday).  

Wednesdays:
Cal soccer 5-6

Thurdays:
Carrie teach preschool
Both boys swim practice 3:45-4:30
Andy soccer 5-6

Fridays:
Cal tennis match

Saturday:
Soccer games

Sundays:
Sunday school
(I wanted Cal to do choir, but I think that was the last straw... so we are holding off this year!)


It sounds crazy, I guess, but I think it is good to be busy! It often feels like we are rushing from one activity to the next, but it's working for us for now!

I am going out of town this Thursday so this upcoming week will be a bit crazy getting ready for that.  Hopefully I will get a few blog posts up in there too...!

Make it a great week!



 

LAST weekend update

I am SO behind in the blogging world! Last weekend was a big one, so I wanted to make sure to write about it!

Friday, Cal had a tennis match at the club.  He is doing a tournament for the next few weeks called the Davis Cup.  He loves it! He didn't win, but it was a really close match.  They play first to 13 wins, and I think he lost 12-13.  

The soccer league he is playing in now offers skills training on Fridays fro 5-6 included in his registration fee.  We decided to try it out and it was IMPRESSIVE! I was blown away with the skills they were teaching.  Cal had a blast and I am so glad he was able to go.  We will definitely be back again. 

Eddie was at the airport picking up CB with Andy-- Cal and I were meeting them for dinner and while we waited, he climbed on top of my car.  This is not daddy-approved...!

Saturday morning, Andy had his soccer game! The ducks were out and ready to play-- check out how many blondies they have... and this isn't even all of them! This picture is missing at least 3 or 4 other blonde boys.  

The other team didn't really show up....and by that, I mean they only had 4 players to go against our 15.  It was ugly, but Andy had fun and even scored a goal or 2.  

Andy's game was at 9 and Cal's was at 11.  In the new league, each kid takes a turn playing goalie.  

 I am just here to tell you, I am not made to be a soccer goalie's mom.  It is WAY too stressful! Cal, on the other hand, loved every minute of it. He looooves diving for the ball, rolling in the grass, and falling over.  He loved the gloves he got to wear ("they look like wide receiver gloves!") and he loved stopping the ball.  But, his momma was stressed.  And I shouldn't have been.  But I didn't like it. One bit.

After his time at goalie was up, he gave me a thumbs up.  He then spent time on offense and defense.  I think he learned a lot about soccer in this game.  We are really impressed with the new league and all that he has learned. 

My dad rode his bike to the game and Andy insisted on riding home with him.  I had Andy's bike in the back of my car (of course I did) so he hopped on and rode with dad.  I got this picture as we pulled up behind them.  It makes my heart happy to see them together.  

 We headed home and Andy was back on his bike (because, duh), but I had to take a game day picture to send to the family for Poppy's game...

I asked for a picture of them looking tough... 

Cal's birthday party was Sunday, so I spent some time Saturday making cupcakes and making this cake... it's a football.  I am not a cake decorator.  At all.  I won't quit my day job.  

Oh! I wore my new necklace on Saturday and I got SO many compliments on it!!!! Love it! You can find one here.  My friend Elizabeth owns that shop and there are sooo many adorable pieces! She just added some more and I am obsessed.  I want more.  I may have a problem. 

We scored some tickets to the blue zone for the Carolina game, so we donned our Carolina Blue and headed to campus!

It downpoured on us as we walked up to the tailgate.  We got soaked! I looked like a drown rat, but Cal thought it was hilarious and so much fun.  

Once we were inside and drying off, I swear, my hair was growing like Monica on that episode of Friends.  Oh well! It was such a fun game.  

 Cal spent most of the game sitting with grandma and grandpa in their seats.  He loves watching games with them!

Andy doesn't love the noise that comes with a football game.  He prefers to sit inside and watch out the window.  He is quite content to watch from behind the glass.  

Carrie was here all weekend and I did not take one picture with her...!! What the what??

Sunday morning, we took the boys to Sunday School.  I want to try HARD to get them there each week.  Of course, this won't always happen, but we are going to try hard.  They looked so handsome going this past weekend.  

While they were at Sunday school, CB and I ran to the store to get some balloons for the party and then we went back to get them.

We rushed home and changed clothes and then it was time for Cal's 6th birthday party!!! (post coming soon).

After Cal's party, the boys were invited to Brooks's birthday party, which was in the club house. Andy wasn't supposed to go, but one of the other boys got sick, so Andy got included.  He was thrilled!

 I took this picture of the group at the second bday doing the nay nay dance.  As I was taking this, it dawned on me that Cal wasn't in pic....whoops, he was in the bathroom and I totally forgot he went in there.  Mom fail. 

Lee was there and Andy was STOKED to spend even more time with him!

It was a fun and busy weekend.... life is crazy right now and I think I love it!


 

#carriedaway:week 35

Week 35:

 Day 240: 2+ hours of tennis later, I'll take the sportsmanship award any day of the week. Proud of this kid for losing every single match happily and with a hand shake. #winnerinmybook

 Day 241: every girl should be so lucky...

 Day 242: field of dreams

 Day 243: nug rode his bike (and I carried Cal's) to school pick up today. Loved watching them ride away together, chatting about their days.

 Day 244: so thankful for another year with these guys and their dad and their pups. All these boys in my life make me so stinkin' happy.

 Day 245: hooray for friends who keep the celebrating going! (sorry we didn't take this before others left!)

 Day 246: favorite part of Andy's day: riding his bike to pick up big brother (when did he learn to stand up pedal?)


 

#carriedaway: week 34

Week 34:

 Day 233: Soccer game fun- Go Heels!

 Day 234: CalBoy and Nugget

 Day 235: that's what I love about Sunday's......

 Day 236: thanks to Meredith for taking Nug for today, I got to take this kid on a lunch date. His teacher is a lucky lady to get to have lunch with him every day.  He's funny....and pretty cute too.

 Day 237: a dog pile during the dog days of summer...and a dog photo bomb

 Day 238: cal telling Andy to "go long".... into the street

 Day 239: and he's of! Kindergarten, be good to him.



 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CALBOY!!!

Happy birthday to my amazing, wonderful, hilarious, stubborn, sweet, loving first born son!

CalBoy, I love you to the Lord and back down, times 22.  You make me smile every single day.  Your hugs make my heart ache and I adore the way you hold my hand.  I realize you won't always want to hold it, so I am holding on, literally, as much as I can.  There is no better noise than that of you laughing.  I love when you find something funny because you let out a really good belly laugh.  You are ALL BOY.  You are rough. You play hard.  You love a good tackle.  Constantly.  Cal, you are starting to read and I LOVE listening to you every night.  You are getting better and better each night.  You might be my boyfriend, but you are daddy's little buddy.  The two of you are not only twins, but you really love spending time together.  I LOVE listening to the radio with you.  You sing along to just about every song.  "Our" song is still "I love your love the most" and it makes me want to bawl every time you sing it. 

You make our family SO happy-- you are an excellent big brother to Andy; you adore the pups-- and they adore you right back.  You are the messiest eater ever and it cracks me up.  It drives daddy crazy, but I think it's awesome you enjoy your food! haha

I love you, sweet CalBoy!

 

 

Labor Day Weekend

We were beach bound for Labor Day weekend! While we normally scoot out of town early for weekends, now that Cal is in school, I had to wait until he was out to head east.  Eddie left Friday morning with Andy.  I worked at school Friday and then went home to pack and clean house and load the pups in the car. 

Hank was so excited at Cal's school pickup... he was watching out the window trying to find his boy...

He was super excited to have a seat to himself.

Cal and I left and FIVE HOURS LATER, we arrived at the beach.  I hit crazy traffic and a massive storm. I thought we got hit by lightning.  It was a looong ride.  The dogs and Cal did amazing in the car.

Saturday morning, the boys were up and at 'em early and, shockingly, they wanted to ride bikes! The ground was super wet from the storm the night before so they were in heaven riding through puddles and soaking the backs of their shirts.  

 His face cracks me up...

We hung out on the porch for a while and then decided to head out in the boat for a little cruise.  

Andy was SO happy all day Saturday-- he was a smiling, happy kid all day!

These two are twins.  I mean, it's like Eddie and mini-Eddie.  

He took a seat up on the bow of the boat and was smiling as we motored along. 

Cal was on the hunt for some fish. #onetrackmind

 I asked Andy to hold my beer whie I took above picture of Cal... classy momma!

Tricia and Tommy came down Saturday morning and we are SO glad they did! 

Dance party!!!

We found a little spot to try to catch some fish. 

Love this picture of the boys standing up there fishing.  

I am lucky I have a SIL who I love-- and who is so much fun!

Andy got tired from all that smiling and wanted to rest on momma... he won't fit here for much longer...!

Sunday morning, the boys hopped up and got on their bikes.  The weather was a little iffy so we were getting outside time as much as we could.  

Eddie and my dad and Tommy took the boys tubing (by boys, I mean Cal).  They didn't last long, so they came back to the dock and played on the tube.  

Then we did some fishing on the dock.  Eddie got a new cast net to catch bait fish.  Cal was in heaven playing with it.  

Andy was excited to hold one of the bait fish.  He looks like he is going to squish the thing...

And Cal wanted a picture with one too-- hahaha

Throw that net, buddy!

It looked fun to me so I grabbed the net and wanted to catch some bait fish too!

Next thing I knew, I caught a mullet fish...! I was fully expecting a bait fish, much like the one the boys were holding above.  I screamed like a crazy person when I caught this one.  Eddie must have said 80 times, "you have got to be kidding me...." hahahhaha

The boys were in shock-- and maybe a little nervous that they swim in that water where we just caught that....!

We threw back the big guy and I caught some more little bait-- and we needed to document that one too.

It rained off and on for most of Sunday, but we did not care in the least bit. We had a blast sitting on the porch drinking and hanging out.  So much fun!

Monday morning, we were cleaning everything up. Dad dumped the ice out of the cooler and Bruce went to it and plopped himself right on top and laid down.  

 He stayed in this spot until the ice fully melted.  That's a happy pup!

We drove home and started the prep for the week.  I was switching laundry and turned around to see Bruce helping Andy go to sleep.... now that makes a momma happy!

It was a fun weekend and we are all worn out from it!

Andy starts school this week-- FINALLY-- which means I go back to teaching too.  I am about to be REAL tired!!!

AND, THE WINNER OF THE NECKLACE IS..... REBEKAH FARRIS!!!!! Holla!!!!!!!!!