Anna's team is struggling this year. They're playing on a huge field and having to run themselves ragged. They keep getting beat, but Anna is so much fun to watch. She is so fast and surprisingly aggressive. She's totally fearless out there and can catch up to anyone and unabashedly throws her foot out to stop the ball and her opponent and then streaks off in a blond blur. Most of the players are significantly bigger than her; it's just so funny to watch this little blond curly haired pixie be such a spirited player. She came so close to scoring four different times, but couldn't quite get it in. We love Anna.
Abby scored a goal on Saturday! She is enjoying soccer but isn't super competitive, she enjoys it and will kick the ball every now and then, but is just out there having fun which is great. She was standing in the group in front of the other team's goal and one of the opposing team members attempted to kick the ball out of their goal area but it bounced off of Abby and right into the goal net!!! We'll take it. Abby was so happy, she said, "Mom, I scored a goal and I didn't even mean too!" I told her she can take full credit for being in the right place at the right time. We love Abby.
Nate had his first dentist appointment this week and he proudly keeps telling people that he's "in the dentist now, and preschool and soccer." I just told Nate to go potty before going to bed, he said, "Mom, I just went to the bathroom a few whiles ago." We love Nate.
Ben is taking himself more seriously than ever. He's cracking me up. The other day he sat on the couch re-positioning himself and covering and re-covering himself up with a blanket for like 20 minutes. For some reason it's so funny to watch someone so ridiculously cute and inexperienced trying to pretend he's just your average guy kicking it on the couch. We love Benjamin.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Brennan
Brennan thinks every night is open-mic night. A few nights ago the YM/YW in our ward had a talent show. Brennan works/plays with the oldest group of young men (16-18 yr olds). It was my birthday so he and I went out early so he could be back to cheer his young men on for their musical number. He slipped into the talent show a little late, but in time to watch his group. He sat by another young men's leader who had a microphone because he was a judge.
Evidently, during the downtime between numbers Brennan started taking the mic and doing everything from Neil Diamond impressions to Led Zeplin to High School Musical songs. At one point one of the bishopric members unplugged the mic (I'm hoping as a joke).
One of the performances was a duet sung by a really musical girl in our ward and a girl who is such a ham who also has down-syndrome. She was loving every minute. Brennan was really touched and started getting a little teary until one of his young men busted him and said, "You cry, you're out of here!" Apparently they don't appreciate his tender side.
Anyway, I've heard from several different people how entertaining my husband is. This is not news to me. We love Brennan.
Evidently, during the downtime between numbers Brennan started taking the mic and doing everything from Neil Diamond impressions to Led Zeplin to High School Musical songs. At one point one of the bishopric members unplugged the mic (I'm hoping as a joke).
One of the performances was a duet sung by a really musical girl in our ward and a girl who is such a ham who also has down-syndrome. She was loving every minute. Brennan was really touched and started getting a little teary until one of his young men busted him and said, "You cry, you're out of here!" Apparently they don't appreciate his tender side.
Anyway, I've heard from several different people how entertaining my husband is. This is not news to me. We love Brennan.
Happy Birthday To Me
It was my birthday a few days ago and here are some of my favorite presents:
This is a sculpture from Nate which Anna made for him to give to me. He was sad not to have anything to give so she kindly helped him out. I know you can't see it very well, but it's a woman sitting in a chair.
(forgive my lack of photography skills)
This is a sculpture from Nate which Anna made for him to give to me. He was sad not to have anything to give so she kindly helped him out. I know you can't see it very well, but it's a woman sitting in a chair.
This is Abby's gift to me which came wrapped in paper towels sealed together with duct tape with a sweet birthday message written in crayon which unfortunately got thrown away before I could capture it on camera.
This is from Anna. I know you can't tell from the photo, but it's a paper airplane decorated with a face which slides out of a homemade envelope.
I remember thinking when I was little that my Mom was flat out lying when she used to tell us that nothing made her happier than a card or some homemade offering. I get it now, she wasn't lying. What more could a girl want?
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Odds and Ends.
Here are a couple of things the kids have said over the last few weeks that I keep meaning to write down, so here you go:
I turned Oprah on a couple of weeks ago and they had a wedding gown designer on and models displaying her gowns. Anna wandered through the room and watched for a few minutes before observing, "Uh, those are pretty and everything, but they're showing WAY too much skin! I mean at least wear a white t-shirt underneath!" That cracked me up, I can just picture the next issue of "Modern Bride" with one of many Mormon-based brands "modest" t-shirt underneath their Vera Wang gown. It's so funny to me too, I have emphasized modesty with my girls, but I've never said anything like, "that's showing too much skin."
Nate has a boy named Cole in his class and he keeps talking about this boy named, "Cold" in his class. He also has a teacher named Miss Bev, who he refers to as "Miss Bib." We had my cousins son over whose name is Dane, but Nate called "Dang."
I was getting Ben out of his car seat the other day as I was talking to Nate. In response to something Nate said I replied, "Sheesh!" and immediately thereafter we heard a high-pitched little "Sheesh!" from Benny. He also says, "Owwy" which means "sorry". He hears that word a lot, my kids are all super penitent for about 2 seconds in between offences. His repertoire of words are: shoe, uh-oh, Hi!, Bye.
Abby listened as Anna perfectly mimicked a voice from one of our favorite CD's. She very seriously said, "Mom, Anna can do that so good, that's one of her talents. Pretty much my only talent is talking a lot!" She really is a great communicator
I turned Oprah on a couple of weeks ago and they had a wedding gown designer on and models displaying her gowns. Anna wandered through the room and watched for a few minutes before observing, "Uh, those are pretty and everything, but they're showing WAY too much skin! I mean at least wear a white t-shirt underneath!" That cracked me up, I can just picture the next issue of "Modern Bride" with one of many Mormon-based brands "modest" t-shirt underneath their Vera Wang gown. It's so funny to me too, I have emphasized modesty with my girls, but I've never said anything like, "that's showing too much skin."
Nate has a boy named Cole in his class and he keeps talking about this boy named, "Cold" in his class. He also has a teacher named Miss Bev, who he refers to as "Miss Bib." We had my cousins son over whose name is Dane, but Nate called "Dang."
I was getting Ben out of his car seat the other day as I was talking to Nate. In response to something Nate said I replied, "Sheesh!" and immediately thereafter we heard a high-pitched little "Sheesh!" from Benny. He also says, "Owwy" which means "sorry". He hears that word a lot, my kids are all super penitent for about 2 seconds in between offences. His repertoire of words are: shoe, uh-oh, Hi!, Bye.
Abby listened as Anna perfectly mimicked a voice from one of our favorite CD's. She very seriously said, "Mom, Anna can do that so good, that's one of her talents. Pretty much my only talent is talking a lot!" She really is a great communicator
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Preschool
Here's little Nate right after preschool today. This was his third time, and the third time I dropped him off crying having to have his little fingers pried off of my legs and physically restrained by his teacher. You can imagine what that does to a Mom and only wonder what it does to the boy. It is, however, also the third time I picked up a very happy boy with teachers assuring me that he stopped crying 2 seconds after I left.
It's only preschool so why am I torturing both of us, you ask? With both Anna and Abby gone all day and most of Nate's friends in Kindergarten this year and a brother who naps a lot, I felt he would be bored without some social interaction. Plus, with his nervous tendency I figured that preschool would be a good way to prepare him slowly and safely to be an independent little Kindergartner next year. It's times like these I just have to pretend I know what I'm doing and pray like crazy. He's had to face a lot lately, we love Nate.
Oh and here's something I learned today, never dead-head your flowers in front of your 1 yr. old.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Ah Those Summer Days
Remember how I was all excited for Fall? Wednesday morning we woke up to Benjamin throwing up. He did throughout that day. Now we change a diaper a minute. Nate and Anna joined in last night throwing up all night last night. I feel like I haven't slept for days...that might be because I haven't slept for days. If this is Fall/Winter, I want Summer back!!!!!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
1 going on 12
Benjamin is 17 months old, but no one has told him that. He constantly cracks me up with his independent little approach to life. In some ways he's my most self sufficient child. He walks around this place and every place like he owns it and every human that he comes in contact with is there for him in his mind. Generally, he doesn't abuse this position either, he's friendly and happy and just looking to be involved. At the store he yells in his high pitched very loud way "HI!!" and will keep doing so until the random passer-by replies.
Yesterday he brought me Anna's shin guards which he found on his travels. He insistently shoved them in my face until I put them on him. He walked around with giant shin guards on for the next 30 mins. or so. Here's a photo of him proudly displaying his protected shins:
Last night while trying to get through our hectic family home evening, Ben insisted on being part of everything. Abby was teaching our lesson (which included a story she made up about two little Mexican boys who returned home hungry rather than stealing some bread they found which had fallen off a delivery truck) and had positioned a little chair front and center in the room. Ben kept shoving her off the chair and then sitting there with his arms folded saying things in his very best prayer voice. He would then climb onto the arm of the couch and grin while waiting for Brennan to grab him before he fell. He alternated between this reverent spiritual participation and his reckless, impish behavior for the duration of FHE.
The last few days he's had runny nose and each time I wipe his nose I ask him to blow. He very obediently blows air out of his mouth every time. We love Benny!
Yesterday he brought me Anna's shin guards which he found on his travels. He insistently shoved them in my face until I put them on him. He walked around with giant shin guards on for the next 30 mins. or so. Here's a photo of him proudly displaying his protected shins:
Last night while trying to get through our hectic family home evening, Ben insisted on being part of everything. Abby was teaching our lesson (which included a story she made up about two little Mexican boys who returned home hungry rather than stealing some bread they found which had fallen off a delivery truck) and had positioned a little chair front and center in the room. Ben kept shoving her off the chair and then sitting there with his arms folded saying things in his very best prayer voice. He would then climb onto the arm of the couch and grin while waiting for Brennan to grab him before he fell. He alternated between this reverent spiritual participation and his reckless, impish behavior for the duration of FHE.
The last few days he's had runny nose and each time I wipe his nose I ask him to blow. He very obediently blows air out of his mouth every time. We love Benny!
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Psycho Soccer Saturday
The title is a term my aunt coined, they have five boys who all played soccer. Our soccer Saturdays aren't really that psycho, but it was a little bit of a challenge to juggle three games this morning. Abby and Nate are playing for the first time ever so we were sad that their games were at the same time at different locations. We had to divide and conquer. I also had to miss Anna's so Benny could take a much needed nap. Here they are in their uniforms:
Anna is really fast and did very well, although her team lost. Abby had a great time, she was kind of unsure at first and stuck to the pack. Eventually she relaxed a little bit and had a couple of great kicks. She had fun and was thrilled that her team won. It was not lost on her that her team won and Anna's lost. Nate, my dear little Natey, started out great. They had a little practice before the game and he got right out there and was loving it. When game time rolled around the coach asked for two volunteers to sit out and he was one of them. When his time to sit out was done, he refused to go play and sat the whole game out. It's so sad because he's been so excited all week and has been wearing his new uniform constantly. If he had no desire or even a moderate desire to play we would not push it, but knowing he's dying to play we'll just keep helping him through his nerves. Today we celebrated the fact that he practiced so great.
On the way to her game, Abby said, "This is my first soccer game, yet!" It cracked me up. Also, last night we were running to a million stores trying to find cleats for Nate and we drove by a donut store that gives a free one to patrons. The girls begged me to stop, but I was hesitant because it was getting late and we still needed to eat dinner. I told them the only way I would stop is if they could hold that donut all the way home, eat dinner, get ready for bed and then eat it. Abby said, "Mom I'm up for the challenge!"
On the way to her game, Abby said, "This is my first soccer game, yet!" It cracked me up. Also, last night we were running to a million stores trying to find cleats for Nate and we drove by a donut store that gives a free one to patrons. The girls begged me to stop, but I was hesitant because it was getting late and we still needed to eat dinner. I told them the only way I would stop is if they could hold that donut all the way home, eat dinner, get ready for bed and then eat it. Abby said, "Mom I'm up for the challenge!"
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Benny's greeting
This is Benny's favorite new game and favorite word. It makes me so happy so I thought I'd share it.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
"Start Spreading the News!"
Brennan and I just got back from a perfect trip to NYC!!! It was so much fun. We dropped Anna and Abby off for their first day of school Wednesday morning and drove to the airport. We spent the day on airplanes and in airports and finally arrived at my brother Davis's apartment late that night. He lives in a great apartment on the upper west side. The next morning Brennan and I rode the subway to the south end of Manhattan and saw the Statue of Liberty and then walked up through the financial district on Wall Street.
From there we walked up to the Trinity Church (the one from the movie National Treasure) and then walked over to St. Paul's Cathedral and what used to be the World Trade Center. That was quite a thing. I was sort of caught off guard by my emotions there. St. Paul's Cathedral is a church directly across the street from the WTC and miraculously, in spite of endless debris, didn't lose one pane of glass or sustain any other damage. It became a refuge for rescue workers who would come in and rest on cots or just try and make some sense of the horror they were experiencing across the street. The cathedral has a large alter with pictures of all the victims and lots of quotes from the church staff and rescue workers which brought it all home to me. It was powerfully moving and then to cross the street and see the huge expanse of construction with a big fence and signs with names of victims that seemed to go on forever was pretty sobering.
Our next stop was China town which is always fun. We bought a few souvenirs for the kids and then walked through a little bit of Little Italy. Davis's roommate had told us that the Yankees and Red Sox had a day game that day so we decided to ride up to Yankee Stadium to see if we could get tickets for the game. After a long subway ride up to Yankee Stadium we walked around trying to find tickets. It was sold out and everyone was walking around looking for anybody selling. We sadly gave up on getting in and consoled ourselves with the fact that at least we got to see and stand right outside Yankee Stadium. We crossed the street to peruse the shops full of everything Yankee and when we turned the corner a couple of big guys walked by and whispered, "How many tickets you need?" as they kept walking. A little confused and unsure of what to do Brennan turned around and said, "Two." One of the guys casually turned around and without looking at us told us to go into the nearby store. Once inside he offered us two tickets for $100. Brennan kept looking at me and I kept telling him this was his call. There were signs all over saying "Beware of scalpers selling counterfeit tickets." The guys were pushing Brennan to buy and he came super close, but finally declined and we walked out. Two seconds later another guy approached and when Brennan told him he wanted two tickets for $50 he told Brennan to follow him. I wanted no part of this and stepped into a deli wondering if I'd ever see my husband again. The guy led Brennan around the corner and then kept going. Brennan told the guy he had to get back to his wife, but the guy ignored him and kept going. Shortly thereafter, another guy pulled up in a Mercedes SUV and rolled down his window. He held out two tickets which the first guy handed to Brennan and Brennan handed him $50. I gratefully saw him walking back towards the deli and he told me what had transpired. I thought he was joking at first but he wasn't. I suggested we go home and shower. We nervously went to the gate at Yankee Stadium and much to our relief were let in and found our seats and of course, had a hot dog. It was a fun game and quite an experience!
We rode the subway back to Davis's where we freshened up and met up with Davis and his girlfriend, Melissa. The four of us rode the subway up to Flushing Meadows to Arthur Ashe stadium for the Tennis US Open. We watched Maria Sharapova breeze through two sets against Casey Delacqua (sp?) and then James Blake vs. Fabrice Santoro. Wow, what a match! Santoro is ranked 45th and Blake is ranked 6th, but Santoro chased every ball down and almost always returned it even if it meant lobbing one up to buy himself some time. He was old school and totally a showman. Blake was not amused but we and the rest of the audience were and most of us ended up cheering for the Frenchman over our own Blake. It went down to the wire in 5 sets and Blake finally managed to eek out a victory. It ended around 12:30 and we got home around 1:30. What a night. We sat by some really fun people and all of us laughed hard and cheered even harder. It was picture perfect weather and we'll remember it forever.
Friday morning we slept in a little and then walked up to Central Park. We walked around for awhile marveling at this enormous peaceful oasis in the middle of the busiest craziest city we've ever seen. We then found a subway station and went to Rockefeller Plaza. We walked around there, went to the American Girl store for some gifts for the girls, and bought a lemonade at "Hello Deli" from Rupert (the guy that's always on Letterman.) After that we cruised the subway down to Soho where we walked around and ate at Cafe Habana. They have this Mexican grilled corn which is to die for! Yummy. We walked around some more and then rode up to Museum of Natural History and explored in there for awhile. It was amazing, but it would take 4 days to see everything there!
We went back to Davis's, changed our clothes and then met Davis and Melissa at Carmine's for a great dinner. After we ate Davis and Melissa put us in a cab and Brennan and I got to go see "Wicked." I have heard countless people rave about this show and wasn't sure if it could live up to all the hype. Yep, it did. It was honestly amazing. We both thoroughly enjoyed every second of the show. The story is so much fun and completely unpredictable and the music is just...wow. Loved it! We met up with Davis and Melissa again after the show and we walked around Time Square and got to see Davis's office. Then we went to Cafe Lalo (the cafe in "You've Got Mail) for dessert. We went to sleep, woke up, said goodbye and headed to the airport for another full day of travel.
Eliza and Josh (my sister and brother-in-law) stayed with our kids along with their own little Abe who is 7 weeks younger than Ben. Somehow she managed to keep everything running smoothly at home until Friday evening when my parents picked them up and kept them healthy and happy until Saturday evening when we got home. The kids had so much fun with Josh, Lize, Abe and Grandpa and Grandma. I was worried about Benny, but he had a blast and didn't seem to miss us nor did he punish us when we got home. We had so much fun together, Brennan and I. We also loved hanging with Davis and Melissa. We got to see and do so much in a short amount of time, but mostly it was fun just to be together and remember why we fell in love 10 years ago. Good times.
From there we walked up to the Trinity Church (the one from the movie National Treasure) and then walked over to St. Paul's Cathedral and what used to be the World Trade Center. That was quite a thing. I was sort of caught off guard by my emotions there. St. Paul's Cathedral is a church directly across the street from the WTC and miraculously, in spite of endless debris, didn't lose one pane of glass or sustain any other damage. It became a refuge for rescue workers who would come in and rest on cots or just try and make some sense of the horror they were experiencing across the street. The cathedral has a large alter with pictures of all the victims and lots of quotes from the church staff and rescue workers which brought it all home to me. It was powerfully moving and then to cross the street and see the huge expanse of construction with a big fence and signs with names of victims that seemed to go on forever was pretty sobering.
Our next stop was China town which is always fun. We bought a few souvenirs for the kids and then walked through a little bit of Little Italy. Davis's roommate had told us that the Yankees and Red Sox had a day game that day so we decided to ride up to Yankee Stadium to see if we could get tickets for the game. After a long subway ride up to Yankee Stadium we walked around trying to find tickets. It was sold out and everyone was walking around looking for anybody selling. We sadly gave up on getting in and consoled ourselves with the fact that at least we got to see and stand right outside Yankee Stadium. We crossed the street to peruse the shops full of everything Yankee and when we turned the corner a couple of big guys walked by and whispered, "How many tickets you need?" as they kept walking. A little confused and unsure of what to do Brennan turned around and said, "Two." One of the guys casually turned around and without looking at us told us to go into the nearby store. Once inside he offered us two tickets for $100. Brennan kept looking at me and I kept telling him this was his call. There were signs all over saying "Beware of scalpers selling counterfeit tickets." The guys were pushing Brennan to buy and he came super close, but finally declined and we walked out. Two seconds later another guy approached and when Brennan told him he wanted two tickets for $50 he told Brennan to follow him. I wanted no part of this and stepped into a deli wondering if I'd ever see my husband again. The guy led Brennan around the corner and then kept going. Brennan told the guy he had to get back to his wife, but the guy ignored him and kept going. Shortly thereafter, another guy pulled up in a Mercedes SUV and rolled down his window. He held out two tickets which the first guy handed to Brennan and Brennan handed him $50. I gratefully saw him walking back towards the deli and he told me what had transpired. I thought he was joking at first but he wasn't. I suggested we go home and shower. We nervously went to the gate at Yankee Stadium and much to our relief were let in and found our seats and of course, had a hot dog. It was a fun game and quite an experience!
We rode the subway back to Davis's where we freshened up and met up with Davis and his girlfriend, Melissa. The four of us rode the subway up to Flushing Meadows to Arthur Ashe stadium for the Tennis US Open. We watched Maria Sharapova breeze through two sets against Casey Delacqua (sp?) and then James Blake vs. Fabrice Santoro. Wow, what a match! Santoro is ranked 45th and Blake is ranked 6th, but Santoro chased every ball down and almost always returned it even if it meant lobbing one up to buy himself some time. He was old school and totally a showman. Blake was not amused but we and the rest of the audience were and most of us ended up cheering for the Frenchman over our own Blake. It went down to the wire in 5 sets and Blake finally managed to eek out a victory. It ended around 12:30 and we got home around 1:30. What a night. We sat by some really fun people and all of us laughed hard and cheered even harder. It was picture perfect weather and we'll remember it forever.
Friday morning we slept in a little and then walked up to Central Park. We walked around for awhile marveling at this enormous peaceful oasis in the middle of the busiest craziest city we've ever seen. We then found a subway station and went to Rockefeller Plaza. We walked around there, went to the American Girl store for some gifts for the girls, and bought a lemonade at "Hello Deli" from Rupert (the guy that's always on Letterman.) After that we cruised the subway down to Soho where we walked around and ate at Cafe Habana. They have this Mexican grilled corn which is to die for! Yummy. We walked around some more and then rode up to Museum of Natural History and explored in there for awhile. It was amazing, but it would take 4 days to see everything there!
We went back to Davis's, changed our clothes and then met Davis and Melissa at Carmine's for a great dinner. After we ate Davis and Melissa put us in a cab and Brennan and I got to go see "Wicked." I have heard countless people rave about this show and wasn't sure if it could live up to all the hype. Yep, it did. It was honestly amazing. We both thoroughly enjoyed every second of the show. The story is so much fun and completely unpredictable and the music is just...wow. Loved it! We met up with Davis and Melissa again after the show and we walked around Time Square and got to see Davis's office. Then we went to Cafe Lalo (the cafe in "You've Got Mail) for dessert. We went to sleep, woke up, said goodbye and headed to the airport for another full day of travel.
Eliza and Josh (my sister and brother-in-law) stayed with our kids along with their own little Abe who is 7 weeks younger than Ben. Somehow she managed to keep everything running smoothly at home until Friday evening when my parents picked them up and kept them healthy and happy until Saturday evening when we got home. The kids had so much fun with Josh, Lize, Abe and Grandpa and Grandma. I was worried about Benny, but he had a blast and didn't seem to miss us nor did he punish us when we got home. We had so much fun together, Brennan and I. We also loved hanging with Davis and Melissa. We got to see and do so much in a short amount of time, but mostly it was fun just to be together and remember why we fell in love 10 years ago. Good times.
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