Weekend Update: part one

Instead of doing one incredibly long post of our weekend, I am doing it in two parts.  We have a lot going on this weekend, which is fun!, and I am taking a boat load of pictures, so the weekend update is getting split in half. 

Friday:

I was asked to sub at the preschool on Friday...in Cal's class! I had so much fun in there and let me tell you: there is a HUGE difference between the preK class and the 2s class! Oh my word! I am dead exhausted at the end of a day with my 2 year olds-- I was barely tired at the end of the day with the prek-ers!

The day started early... this was my view when I put my feet on the floor... of course Andy is in his sleeping bag on the floor.  I am starting to think he just likes to sleep by Hank- ha!

Cal had his picture day the day before and Andy had his on Friday-- I thought he looked so sweet riding to school.

After school he showed me how he smiled...(he also picked his nose, but I am not posting that pic here...that will be in a carriedaway post- ha!)

We came home Friday and then  pretty much headed right back out again for a birthday party.  This was for Cal's buddy, Reeve, and it was at a pumpkin patch.  I was able to bring Andy along and we picked up Sally and Brad on the way.  Costumes were encouraged...our boys were happy to comply!

Right away the boys found the big ol' slide.  Andy, of course, said he was too scared to go down it...but then decided it wasn't too bad and went down it a bunch-- smiling the whole time!

The big boys had a great time climbing on all the hay.

After meeting up with the birthday party, it was off to pick out pumpkins! I thought it was really cute to see costumed kids trampling through the pumpkin patch...

Jack was there too! Apparently he didn't want to wear his costume though.... he had a power ranger one ready if he changed his mind. 

Cal was happy with his pick:

Sall and I felt so safe with these guys there to protect us!

We left the party and ran home where I flew inside and changed clothes (boys had other clothes under costumes) and we went to the club for kids club.  We had a great dinner with great friends and had so much fun! The kids had a great time too-- it's a win/win (I feel like I say that every single week, but it's true!)

Saturday:

We had a soccer game Saturday morning and we were SO excited about this game (okay, well, Cal was really excited about this game!).  His buddy Jack plays on this team and Cal couldn't wait to play against them.  I saw their team warming up for a game one week and the drills those kids were running were amazing-- they take rainbow soccer to a whoooole new level! The kids had a great game (and by kids, I mean Cal...Andy just kind of did a lot of screaming and finger sucking.  It was really fun.).

We came home and Andy wasn't quite behaving...at all... and we decided it was a great time to paint his fingers with the bad tasting stuff- to get him to stop sucking his fingers... the fit that followed was nothing short of incredible.  It was like a wild beast in our house.  When he finally calmed down (he and Eddie had a slight come to Jesus meeting...it was awesome), we had a pleasant afternoon! He didn't even try to suck his fingers one time! Praise! I think we probably need to reapply that junk every day (unfortunately...I can't handle that beast melting down every morning), but hopefully we are on the path to stopping that habit.  Maybe.  We will see.

We had plans to have family pictures taken Saturday at 4:45. I got showered and dressed, we showered the boys and got them all set and while Eddie was getting ready, I took the dogs out.  I looked up and thought "hm, the sky looks dark...might be interesting taking pictures!" And then I got a text from our photog saying "have you seen the sky? ummmm..." I walked in to talk to Eddie about it and then the next text I got from the photog was, "it is pouring..." I looked out and sure enough, it was full on pouring down rain.  So, we bagged pictures and instead spent the afternoon watching some amazing football games-- kinda perfect, if you ask me!

We did have to take one picture since we were clean and ready to go.  I couldn't just take off all of those clothes and not document that we were all ready!

(and, now that I am seeing both boys in white shirts, I am not loving it...glad I took a picture! ha! Maybe the while will look better outside....hmmmmm....)

Eddie's sister's husband, Tommy-- I just call him my brother-in-law...that's what he is, right? ANYWAY, he flew in Saturday night....I will update more about that later, but Eddie got him from the airport while I got Andy to bed and then watched the end of a game with Cal. 

We have big plans for Sunday for the BIG pumpkin patch! We went last year too and had so much fun! This year it will be so fun to have Tommy there with us...whether he wants to or not! hahaha!

Part two coming soon......


 

#carriedaway: week 36

Week 36:

 Day 266: felt like fall today at soccer practice

 Day 267: 3.....2......1.... let 'er rip!

 Day 268: we still adore  our sweet Hank

 Day 269: someone got sent to timeout at school today for being too rough on the playground.  When I asked him about it he replied, "Mom. It was just a little tackle. Come on." He's lucky he's cute.

 Day 270: thankful for a 5 year old who still wants to snuggle his momma.  Soaking him up.

 Day 271: bright and early breakfast at Denny's with these two wild ones.

 Day 272: he sleeps.  He doesn't sleep for long....but for right now, he sleeps.  See you shortly, buddy.






 

Andy Man

Just a little post about Andy and some big steps lately. 

Andy is still a wild one.  Both boys are, really.  But Andy can be....difficult...at best.  God love him, he just marches to his own little drummer!

He can be so so sweet and so so kind...when he wants to be.  

And that's what I have learned about Andy lately-- he will do whatever it is that he needs to do/you want him to do when HE is ready to do it.  There is no pushing this kid.  There is no encouraging this kid to try something new.  It has to be HIS idea and he has to decide to do it in HIS time.  

This can be extremely frustrating for his momma.  Like for example this summer when he decided he no longer knew how to swim.  He had been swimming just fine months before in Mexico, but all of a sudden he forgot how...?

He soooo wanted to play soccer this year.  Begged to play.  The first day of practice, he sobbed that he didn't want to go. SOBBED. I forced him to do it and he was pretty miserable (or I should say WE were all miserable watching him) the whole practice. 

Fast forward to now and he has decided he actually loves soccer-- and can't wait to play it.  He loves practices and plays in the games-- and actually does stuff like score and pass the ball to team mates! He is so fun to watch play because he really enjoys it and is out there smiling the whole time.  It just had to be HIS choice to want to play. 

Cal has tennis lessons every Thursday afternoon.  Andy usually watches and/or plays in the dirt while Cal plays.  He has had zero interest in wanting to play tennis so I, of course, wasn't going to even ask him if he wanted to play. This past week he told me while we were watching Cal that he really wanted to play tennis.  If I have learned anything about Andy, it's to act quickly while the willingness is there-- don't give him too much time to think about what he's doing.  I asked the instructor if they had room for one more, even though he was only 3 (the age requirement is 4...), and they agreed to let him give it a shot, just to see if he would be able to follow directions and do what they asked of him. 

 Well, he loved it! He has really good hand eye coordination and loved whacking the tar out of the ball! He and Cal shared a racquet for this lesson, but I have already gotten one for Andy because he asks every single day if he can play tennis. He LOVES it! He plays in the driveway everyday after school and wants to go to clinic every afternoon.  HE decided he wanted to try it and now he loves it!

This past weekend, Andy had a FIT when it was time to go into the UNC game.  He did not want to go! He thinks games are scary and loud and blah blah blah.  He was terrified and shaking.  When we finally talked him into going in...you guessed it: he loved it!

He had the best time sitting with his Gramma and eating all the fun treats in the Blue Zone.  Look at that smile... hard to believe he was screaming hysterically about 4 minutes prior.

This kid is going to cause me to go grey early, but I kinda like that he beats to his own drummer.  He is going to keep us on our toes, that's for sure, but he has more personality than he knows what to do with...and that's a great characteristic if you ask me.  

We were at Cal's swim practice this week and Andy looked up at me and said, "I am ready to take swim lessons, mommy." And that was that. I literally begged and pleaded with this brat little boy to learn to swim this summer (since he suddenly forgot....) and he refused.  Flat out refused.  Then on a random Sunday afternoon he decided he was ready.  In true Andy fashion, it has to be HIS idea on HIS time.  When will I learn that? So, just like with the tennis, I acted quickly, before he could change his mind, and talked to a woman about lessons.  We will see how those go...

One more bit about Andy... I have learned I can NOT compare brothers.  It isn't fair to either kid.  Just because Cal was doing _____ at this age doesn't mean that Andy will be too.  They are totally different in their personalities and that is something we have to remember daily.  Cal had his alphabet memorized (able to identify letters) at age two.  Andy has about half of the alphabet memorized now and doesn't care a thing about learning the rest.  Not a thing! But that is just part of what makes these two so different. And what makes life so fun. And frustrating at times...but fun most of the time!

And, just because I have to keep a sense of humor, this cracked me up... if you are on instagram, this is my favorite account:

 

Weekend Update

I have SO much to catch up on on this blog...life has been crazy lately and when I have a spare second, I am too tired to blog! But this week I am going to work on that....

Here is a look at our weekend!

Friday after school, my dad came and picked up the boys to take them for ice cream.  He is starting a tradition of taking each kid on their birthday for a special ice cream treat! Of course, he couldn't take Cal without taking Andy... it would have been ugly! They were so excited when he pulled up.

He bought a UNC jersey for each one and gave it to them on the back of the truck.  haha

After ice cream, the boys were tired and snuggled up on my bed while I was getting ready.  We were heading to the country club for kids club!

They had a really neat putt putt course set up and the boys had a blast..but were exhausted when we came home.  Both wanted me to carry them and both cried when I said I couldn't carry both at the same time.  I have started taking pictures when they are crying over ridiculous stuff....makes them stop crying immediately! ha!

Saturday morning, we were up early! We were going to Carolina's football game, but had to stop at soccer first! Cal LOVES soccer, just like he always has, and now Andy is starting to love it too.  They both get really into it! Both boys scored multiple goals- I think Andy had three (but if you ask him, it was 10) and I think Cal had around 8...? Either way- they had a great time and were loving playing! Makes me happy to see them happy!

We left the game and went to meet my parents; we were riding with them to the stadium because they have a great parking spot.  We changed the boys out of their soccer gear and into their football gear (#boymom) and we were off to the tailgate!

Chris and his fam walked by so we got pics with all the grandkids... this might be my parents' Christmas card! (actually, mine is blurry because I had something on my lens, but there is a good one floating around)

We all had fun playing before the game started

Andy was not too excited about going into the game.  He worries about fireworks and noise and being scared.  He panicked when we went in, but ended up being totally fine and loving it.  Of course.

Cal spotted Owen in the Blue Zone and had a great time watching the game with him!

Andy parked it at one of the high tables and watched the game and ate everything in sight.  

 Cal sat with Owen for a little bit using the ear phones to listen to it all... (Cal just ate a spiderman Popsicle and his lips are proof!)

Andy and Grandma had a great time at the game! Love their smiles!

Chris got his kids in the blue zone too and these two sat next to each other talking nonstop! They love each other so much!

Jackson and Cal sat with Grandpa...I think they were all pretty happy to watch the game from those seats.  Jackson and Cal went inside after this and tackled each other over and over again.  I am sure everyone inside was thrilled to have two boys playing tackle football in there....

After the game, we all went over to mom's house to have a fire and play in the side yard.  Bruce had been in his crate all morning so he was excited to run free! He had a chew toy and laid in the sun so happy.  We set up the bounce house for the kids and they all took off their socks and shoes and had a blast jumping away!

 Bruce was enjoying some non-leash time.  He was running around, but was being so good- we were keeping a close eye on him.  I saw him snatch a few socks from the kids, but I grabbed them from him each time.  One of the times I went to get the sock from him, I grabbed his collar and he turned his head and swallowed it.  I literally watched the sock go down.  I didn't think it would be that big of a deal- I have a friend whose dog eats (and passes) socks every single day.  We called the vet and they said it was a very big deal because his little intestines aren't developed enough to pass the sock and the chance of obstruction was really high.  So Eddie headed to the doggie ER while I put the boys to bed.  Of course I was a worried hot mess.  They gave him stuff to make him throw up...and told us if he didn't throw up, we could plan on surgery.  Well, THANKFULLY, he threw up one sock, which was great...and then he walked into the room and threw up again...and THREE more socks came out.  Four socks total.  Seriously, Bruce???

SO SO thankfully he threw them all up! SO scary! He had medicine to make him sleepy so he came home and went straight to bed.

We woke up on Sunday morning and I went to the grocery store for the week-- it was great to go kidless and get everything I needed for the week! They had these amazing dog beds on sale at Harris Teeter-- they were only $16... which is soooo much cheaper than I could buy in a pet store! So I got a new little bed for Bruce to have in the kitchen.  He LOVES it.

He was groggy for a lot of Sunday-- and he was perfectly content to hang out on his new bed. 

While Bruce rested, I cleaned and got out my Halloween decorations.  I am such a dork.  I decorate for fall in September, add Halloween to it in October and then add Thanksgiving stuff in November.  See? Total dork. 

More resting....

Sunday afternoon, Cal had swim practice.  I asked him last week if he was ready to stop tennis after this session and he said he really liked it and didn't want to stop.  I asked him if he wanted to stop swimming after this session and he said he really liked it and didn't want to stop.  He likes to be busy!

Andy was very into watching this practice-- he and I sit on the side during practices-- and even said at the end that he is ready for swim lessons-- which is HUGE! He hasn't been wanting lessons EVER so the fact that he wants to now is a big deal.  It just has to be his idea....!!!! I bathed the boys at the gym where the practice is and we headed home!

The kids went to bed and I went to clean up the playroom, but decided to lay on the floor instead.  Momma was tired!

Here's to another busy and action-packed week!