Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Soccer!

Last week as I mentioned was pretty insane. We started soccer and school. It was just one of those 'switches' in energy. Like someone had flipped the power switch to "ON".

And I think I'm still adjusting! Last night I had a mini melt down of exhaustion. Add in work stress, upcoming work travel, a broken car, a broken watch, a broken toilet and two cranky children, and it was a nice meltdown on my part.

What is it about this age that I find bone sucking exhausting!? I hate that I feel that way! I want to ENJOY what time I have with my children when they are children. Inidividually they are complete joys. Put them together at dinner time or during bath and wow, we have seen some major meltdowns the last two weeks. Maybe they are adjusting too.

ANYWAY, we started soccer on September 8th and we had her first soccer game three days later. It is HYSTERICAL!

Seren is a complete trip. Typical of her personality, she follows guidance to a 't'. If they say 'keep the ball between your two feet', she does. They didn't tell her to run while dribbling. So she didn't. Then we coached her later one night and said, 'You can also try to run'. oh! I didn't realize that!

She also runs right past the goal post. The girls on the team are equally hysterical. Everyone going in different directions. Some running. Some watching butterflies (our daughter). But she has a BLAST at it. The first 'game', they were warming up and I could hear her peals of laughter coming from the field. She absolutely loves sprinting around in a group like that. So it has been fun.

My father and mother in law visited for the first game and second practice and good some good video footage. Can't wait to see it! Here are some shots that my father in law took of our soccer player. I'm proud of her for trying something new with enthusiasm!







"THIS way Seren, THIS way"- Coach Kelley


Meanwhile, WYETH seems VERY good on the field. He has his own soccer ball and just dribbles like he was BORN to play soccer. Amazing! Off he goes. He is REALLY into soccer and wanted to hold the soccer ball to his chest during nap this weekend.

(This isn't a picture of him playing soccer but I like the Daddy kiss!)



So, I have two soccer players. Sam and I are good cheerleaders. Now we just need a minivan.

Friday, September 17, 2010

"That's pretty much all he's got"

Wyeth, unbelievably, is approaching 2 years old. It is nutty! I just made his 2 year old 'well' appointment for December!

The boy loves to JUMP! And dance! And move! So much that I have begun calling him "Mr. Molecule"

Words are still slow to come by. I stopped worrying about this 8 weeks ago when we got a spurt of words. Today I'm back to worrying about it.

Here is what we got:
What does a cow say "Moo"
What does a snake say "Sss"
What does a sheep say "Baa"
What does an owl say "Owl" (he always just says owl)

We also have
Olive
Ball
Trash
Ouch
Car
Bye Bye
Momma
Dadda
Cracker
Boon! (for balloon)
Up
NO
Baby

I think that is it! Seren will quiz him and one night when we were with my parents she got to the end of this list prompting with "Wyeth, can you say XXX" and announced. "That's pretty much all he can say!"

And she was right. He can point to his body parts. (where is your belly, nose, mouth, lips, etc) He can give kisses. Blow kisses. Clap, etc. He can do many, many physical things. But talking about anything other than trash and cars? Just not that into it.

Mabye we'll have another spurt. Maybe too now that Seren (aka motormouth) is back in school, we can focus a bit on talking to Wyeth more. But it is good for me to record what he has mastered.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Last Day of Daddy Camp

Preschool for Seren starts Monday! Sam, Seren and Wyeth made it! 13 weeks of no child care and no school! I'm proud of Sam.

We all had a blast!! We really did. We had a wonderful, wonderful summer. Cape Cod, a trip to NYC, days at the park, days at the pool, chalk, sand tables, hikes, walks, time with friends, time with family, picnics, concerts at the park, Habitat. We did everything I wanted to do on my summer list! Including Sesame!

oh! And paddle boating! We did that too!






We are so blessed by this summer!

Not this week but last week of Daddy camp brought the theme of 'journeys'. They read a lot of stories about people taking journeys, etc. And we got these wonderful 'Little House on the Prairie' stories from a friend. We love them! The stories are so simple. So classic.

So I present to you "Little House on The Prairie" meets Levittown. Sam really outdid himself.

(In case you can't tell, this is the covered wagon! Complete with pots and pans like they used to have hanging out of the wagon. And a horse.)

:)







A new year begins on Monday! We are all excited!!

Take My Face to Sesame Place

Last weekend, on Labor Day, my parents treated our family to a wonderful evening at Sesame Place!

Talk about a nutty Sesame themed day! That night, after everyone was asleep/passed out, I could still hear the songs in my head.

We had a blast!

We got there at 3pm for the "cheaper" 'twilight' tickets. And the kids just had a blast in the water and on the rides. Well, some of the rides. I pushed my little guys hard early on to just get the 'big rides' over with. They didn't like that. It was too scary. But the rest of the day was FUN!

Highlights included
Elmo's World 'show'- Seren TOUCHED the real Elmo
The Parade- dancing and seeing the characters up close was amazing!
Going down water slides with my family!

Here are some pictures!
















Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Take One Daily

Every morning at breakfast each of the four of us has two of these:



It is a highlight of our day. (insert sad sarcasm)

Last week I took Seren to Staples to buy a new planner. She and I poked around. (What is it about new school supplies that makes me giddy?) Anyway, she went into one aisle and got really excited when she saw these:



"MOM!!! They have vitamins, LOTS of vitamins here at Staples!"

Friday, September 3, 2010

Habitat Build Day!

Last weekend 12 of my work colleagues drywalled the second floor of a Habitat for Humanity home in Trenton NJ. But my Habitat story doesn't really start there. Or end there.

Back in 1997, I was in between colleges. I was transferring from one college and moving to another. I wanted to do Habitat for Humanity during the summer. And I really wanted to work in Arizona or Utah. The problem was that the staff there didn't have a position. But Oakland did!

So in the summer of 1997, I packed my bags and moved for 8 weeks to the Bay Area. (How my parents encouraged me to do that I will never know! But they did! And I'm still thankful!) I lived in a house that was owned by one of our wealthy board members. They were trying to sell the home. The three Habitat interns (who were paid 300 a month) could live there for free if we took care of it and made sure it was ready for viewings during the weekend.

That summer was the start of many good things in my life. Not the least of which was living out there. And meeting good friends that I'm still in touch with. And being able to move back in 1999. And meeting my husband in 2000.

So, ya know. It was important.

But that summer at Habitat was amazing! I continued to volunteer- mostly in the office and with the faith community for the 5 years I lived in California. The people of the affiliate and the mission of Habitat continues to inspire me. But then grad school happened. And then kid number one happened. And then kid number two.

And suddenly 4 years went by and I hadn't had my Habitat fix. Until this past weekend.

As a corporate group, we needed to come up with $2500 in order to build on site. I needed to write a short proposal and speak to the President of our 700 person company about my interest in leading a group of volunteer staff. They gave me the green light in April and I booked our August build day. That itself was a feat. They don't approve every proposal because we don't have unlimited funds so I was really happy and proud that they were able to support me and Habitat this way.

It was a great day! I love that individuals that have never touched a power tool feel encouraged and empowered to do so. Everyone was very nervous starting off and I felt personally responsible that everyone have a great build. With the money donated and everyone's Saturday time on the line, I felt a bit nervous. But then I was my typical energetic self and made people laugh. Our tough 'professionalism' facades gave way to serious giggling and sweating as the 12 of us heaved HEAVY dry wall into the ceilings of a new home that would house a family with young children.

What a great day!

It was an important day for me for several reasons. 1) I got to do something again which I'm passionate about. 2) I got to do something that didn't invovle my self as a mother or myself as a worker but as someone who cares deeply about her community and about BUILDING community- both in a low income neighborhood and in my group of collegues and 3) I was able to show my colleagues a different side of myself. One that they don't get to see because I'm so junior. My LEADERSHIP side.

So in some ways, 8 hours on site working on ONE house for ONE family for ONE day is nothing but a drop in the bucket. But for me, it was huge.





Thanks to my company and my colleagues for coming out! Anyone can do Habitat! Volunteer where you are! You won't be disappointed!