Soccer

We signed the boys up to play soccer awhile back and two Saturdays ago was their first soccer practice/game. It was so much fun. I didn't go to the very first one because JoDee was in town and we had limited time to play, so we did other things while the boys went to soccer, so this past Saturday was their second time playing and I went to watch with Tom. It was so amusing to watch a bunch of four and five year olds play soccer. They are so uncoordinated and hilarious. I wish I would have brought a video camera.

Talin actually did a really good job trying to keep up and follow the rules. Collin on the other hand is such a goon. When someone would try to kick his ball away from him, his solution was to lay on top of it in a fetal position and stay there in the middle of the field. I was embarrassed to claim him as my child after an hour of this. And he wore out a lot quicker than Talin, which was shocking, and would often just sit down on the field and quit.

Here is Collin all worn out and exhausted.
Talin is working hard, sorry for the blurry pic.

The boys being taught what to do.

They were having trouble holding the ball so I guess they were suppose to put their hand behind their back, this was at the first practice so I wasn't there for these pictures.

Typical scene right here. Playing their roles to perfection.

So Collin had a little trouble holding the ball as well as laying on it.

I'm thinking next year might be better, Collin was a little young to start off, he's still only three. I actually had to convince them to let him on the team with Talin, now I'm thinking that might have been a mistake. But at this age I figure they're just out there to have fun anyway.

Have to Vent.

I just need a few minutes to vent some thoughts.
First of all, after three days of trying to get a hold of this travel agent lady to figure out if our flight is paid for or not for our Cancun trip that we won, she finally decides to call me back today. Um yeah, the flight is not paid for. What in the samhill is the point in giving someone a free trip to Mexico if you don't pay for the airfare? I'm irritated, I can't even afford to buy a stick of gum right now, nonetheless pay for two round trip tickets to Cancun so that I might redeem my "free" trip. GRRRR!!!

And on another note, I've been thrown into such a depression since JoDee left. I mean yeah, she's my sister and I miss her, but this is ridiculous, have to get on with life. I think I just spent so much time anticipating this visit and then it was here and over so quickly that I'm a little shocked that it ever happened. Was I there? I'm sure I was, but it's blurry.

Then Collin is having trouble in school. I have had his teacher pull me aside twice this week to talk to me about his behavior, and he only attends four days a week, so he has managed to be disruptive enough half of this week for me to clearly hear about it.
I guess he's having trouble listening which isn't shocking, we struggle with the same things at home, and he interrupts and shouts out whatever comes into his head at any moment during the day, well yeah we have the same trouble with that as well at home. Then at lunchtime I guess he was being very unmannerly and kept blowing bubbles in his milk and things like that, we don't have a problem like that at home. I'm just wondering what to do with him?? How do I discipline him without breaking his little spirit. The yelling out loud and over exuberance is a part of his personality, he has a lot of it, and I somehow have to teach him how to temper that excitement while at school, and at home wouldn't be too bad either. Help! I'm just afraid in a year or so some teacher is going to try to get him diagnosed as ADHD or something like that. He's just a wild boy with a lot of personality, isn't that how most boys are?

So anyway, hopefully tomorrow is better and I'm a little happier about life.

Pregnancy

Well, it seems to have happened.

The belly has popped.

Talin informed me kindly yesterday that I'm starting to get quite big.

Thank you.

I'm not sure what's growing faster, my boobs or my belly or my butt, it's a tie right now. One things for certain, I'm almost embarrassed to tell people that I'm only fifteen weeks along.
I know it's my third and I'm suppose to be monstrous, I'm just terrified of another repeat of how I carried Talin. It was scary, people were worried, there were whispered comments behind my back at how large my stomach was for only being seven months along. Hopefully I can keep the belly under control for this pregnancy.

See below pic for example. Yes, I really am only seven months there.

Mandi, now I'm waiting for you to post a tummy picture for us, I don't believe you've popped until I've seen it!

Happy B-Day Jo & Last Weekend

Okay JoDee, I know you're going to not be pleased by this picture, but I seriously have NO pictures of you. My attempt to take pictures of us this weekend was met with hostility and threatenings of throwing the camera out the window. I love my camera so I let it go. But here you are in one of my favorite moments with you, the crazy silly side coming out, when anything goes and we usually get sore cheeks from laughing so much.
You're a great sister and we've always had so much fun together, it was a blast having you come and visit this past weekend. I appreciate more than anything all that you and your family have done for my family, we have always loved coming to visit and stay. I think that's one of the harder things about living so far away, I can't just take off and come for a visit whenever I like!
I hope you have a great Birthday and this year is a good one for you!
On another note, this weekend was a ton of fun having JoDee and Madalyn come to visit. We went to the Omaha Zoo on Friday and the kids had a blast. The Omaha Zoo is seriously one of the coolest zoos I've ever been too. I think they really enjoyed going and seeing all the animals. They have a ton of cool exhibits.

Here is Madalyn with Collin and Talin. They LOVED Madalyn and she was so sweet with them and helped out a lot with keeping an eye on them over the weekend.

I had to add in the seahorse. Madalyn took this picture, she was loving the seahorses, they had some really neat species of fish, but it was hard to get pictures of them in their tanks.

The cat exhibit was one of the neatest and the kids were really excited to see all the big cats. This tiger was gorgeous, as you can well see. She just had two baby cubs and they were on display with her that day. We were lucky to see them.

Here she is with one of her babies. So cute!

Um yeah, she only had three legs, that's a real mom for you. And she got really ticked at my flash and was growling at me, it made for a cool picture though!

So after the zoo we drove over to winter quarters and did the tour. It was a really neat experience. The only thing was that we had a difficult time getting into it and feeling the spirit because Talin and Collin kept farting during the Sister missionaries presentation. We were dying. I kept trying not to laugh, but I would glance over at JoDee and just looking at each other would almost send me into hysterics again.

Our little pioneers. The kids loved dressing up and looking like pioneers. They look adorable too.

Pulling a handcart is a lot harder than it looks, and this one was about empty! It really makes you appreciate the sacrifice and dedication the pioneers made to make it to Zion.

Well I'm bummed the weekend is over and they had to go home, but it was such a good time having visitors and spending time with my sister. Can't wait to see them again.

8 Random Things About Me

1. I'm really bummed out right now that JoDee and Madalyn have gone home, it was so much fun to have them visit this past weekend. I'll post on their visit later.

2. I won a three day/two night trip to Cancun, Mexico through Gold Canyon. But just now when I called to place the reservations I was told that airfare wasn't included. That could be wrong, but I have to get a hold of another lady to find out, because the letter says to call a separate agent for airfare. I would think it's provided, because what's the point of winning a trip if you have to pay for your airfare? So I'll keep you updated on that.

3. My obsession with food has calmed down considerably over the past little while, which I'm grateful for. So I'm trying to eat a little better with this pregnancy and keep working out, but already I have the flat tire around my midsection, where in the &*#$#* did that come from?? I'm not pleased.

4. I'm frustrated by blogging because it's in the back of my head that I should write a post, yet I don't want to sit down and write anything, and I can't think of anything to write, and I really just don't want to. And I'm kind of overwhelmed that I have to come up with four more random things! I really think it's that I'm losing my mind, like just this afternoon I asked Tom if Mexico had different money than us. He found that quite amusing and asked me if I'd ever heard of a pesos. Duh. I tell you, it's my mind, slipping away slowly.

5. If you couldn't tell already, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. I just don't feel on top of my game, I'm tired and grumpy and wish I could crawl back into bed, but it just won't happen.

6. I'm excited to watch TV tonight because the House premiere is on and The Biggest Loser. I love House, he's so evil and hilarious at the same time, and the Biggest Loser is just so inspirational, every time I watch it I want to sit in front of the TV and do leg raises or something because it gets me so energized.

7. I love this time of year, the fall is the gorgeous, especially here in Iowa. The leaves changing and the crisp coolness in the air is the best, and I love seeing all the Halloween decorations and planning with the kids what they want to dress up as. It's so much fun. My favorite is when they want to do a costume that I can create instead of buy for them.

8. I really want to throw a Halloween party, but I really don't want to do it by myself. I'm hoping to rope in my friend Betsy to get excited and want to do it as well. There are just so many fun foods and desserts you can make for Halloween.

Peanut People

Yesterday was one of those days. I was tired, irritable, and no longer interested in fulfilling my role of helpful, sweet mother. Talin had been harassing me ever since I picked him up from school that he wanted to do an activity with the family. I kept putting him off; after I clean the kitchen, after I vacuum, after I sweep, after I fix dinner, after dinner is in the oven, after we eat dinner, and on and on. What a patient child I have to listen to all my excuses. I know it sounds evil, but some days I really just don't have it in me by the afternoon.

So when Tom walked in the door I immediately informed him that I was done for the evening and no longer a mother. I informed my group of boys to please ignore me from that point on, that I didn't exist, I could not get drinks of water or answer questions, I was done. So they did, they ignored me.

Curiosity always gets the better of me. I went upstairs to see what they could be doing while ignoring me, and the three of them were laying on the floor drawing. They were drawing peanut people. (Although today I was informed by Talin that dad wanted to draw and color peanut people not him, and he wants to do a different activity tonight, because he didn't get to do the one he wanted last night. Lovely.) So here are the finished masterpieces of the peanut people.

This one is Tom's drawing. Isn't he good?

This one is Collin's but he's insisting he didn't draw it. Okay???

Here is Talin's. You can tell who the artist is, I think he's better than his dad!

Tom might have enjoyed this more than his boys. Here's another of his creations.

And here is Collin's, but he's quite upset about this drawing as well. Saying Talin colored a pink diaper on his peanut, and he hates diapers. I told him not to say hate, but he's pretty passionate about this. Once again, okay???

Confessions

I just have to come clean and confess. Maybe confessing about this will make me feel better, maybe not.

Here it is:

I'm obsessed with food lately.

Seriously obsessed, like a disease. I think about it constantly and I want the oddest things to eat. Things I would have cringed at a few months ago. Macaroni and cheese, bagels with cream cheese, corn dog nuggets, McDonald's snack wraps, deep fried chicken and fish from Long John Silvers, caramels, ice cream sundaes, and scrambled eggs, just to name a few.

And the things that have turned me off horribly and I've refused to eat, are your entire vegetable and fruit group.

Why am I confessing?

I don't know, I think I'm hoping I can start to eat better if I share my weakness.

Last week I made Collin and I an ice cream sundae with hot fudge and oreos, at 10:30 in the morning.

Shameful.

I blame this all on one little person. One little person that has taken over my existence and isn't even three inches long yet.

This one.

SPT: Childhood Memories

Believe it or not, this is the one picture I have of my first day of kindergarten. The back of my head. But I'm pretty sure I know what my mom was going for, my crowning glory, the long blond hair. Who knows, maybe my face was dirty? Which is a pity, cause kindergarten was my most attractive year.
School started off great. That first year of kindergarten was the best ever. I remember being popular, I joke that the only time I've ever been popular has been in kindergarten, but it's really true. The kids used to fight over who could sit next to me at lunch. It was great.
Things just got worse from there on.

First Grade.

I think this is where it started to go down hill. Kids are mean, I had no front teeth, and the ones that eventually came in to replace my unsightly gap were insanely large and stuck out to create an unsightly overbite. It was the bane of my existence. And to top it all off I had a horrible speech delay, I couldn't say my 'R's' and people often did not understand what I was saying.
So school was never great for me, except for high school when I got braces and a bit more confidence, then it got better.
But I have a terrible fear of school, and I fear for my children. How do you protect them from being bullied or terrorized? I guess you can't, but I hope to give them enough confidence and self-worth to not let the negative things affect them deeply.
On a more positive note, the one thing I do remember well about grade school is the fashion. I have three sisters, so there were a lot of curled banged and large cans of aerosol hairspray around the house. If your bangs were not stiff and high, they were not looking good. I also remember wearing jeans, but I would roll them over and then roll them up my calf, and take my socks and roll them down like a doughnut around my ankle. I thought this was cool. Maybe it was, I mean it was the eighties.

Another First Day

He was in my room at 6:45 this morning insisting it was time to go to school. I had thought Talin was excited for his first day of kindergarten, well Collin has been insane with impatience for his first day of preschool. Today it finally arrived. He was so thrilled to go. Most of the children in his class had mom and dad's drop them off and fuss over them and I saw a few cry as they walked back to their cars. I could hardly contain myself from skipping, I'm free all morning, with no babies!! I can do whatever I please without someone to drag along or complain at me. It's a nice feeling. And it's even better when both of your kids love going to school and really enjoy the socialization of being out of their own home. I could really get used to this.

Talin needed to get into the photography session I was having with Collin this morning. The best thing is that their classrooms are right next door to each other and I won't be surprised if they catch a glimpse of one another during the morning. It's just comforting to know they are both right there.

On a completely different note, I threw a baby shower on Saturday for my friend Betsy. She had a little girl while I was gone over the summer and two months later I finally got around to the shower. This is a picture of her (on the right) and her sister Katrina who was in town visiting from Arizona.

The shower was fun. I had a lot of stress and anxiety going into it, I don't like being in charge of things and I'm not super great at social events with a lot of people. But it turned out great and I'm glad I was able to do this for her.

Here is her little girl Hannah. I wish I would have gotten a better picture, she is the cutest thing ever.

Not a very good picture of the food, there were constantly people standing in front of it and as you can see, some people even just decided to camp out at the table entirely! But the food was really good, and I got a lot of help making it so I wasn't on my own. Overall a great time.

Randomness

I have a few things to mention right now and they're random, so I'll number them.

1. Collin is doing better, the rash looks the same if not worse, but has been diagnosed as poison oak. We are lotioning every two hours with calamine and hoping the redness and bumps and all around crustiness goes away by Monday for his first day of preschool.

2. Talin asked me loudly in WalMart when dad was going to put a baby in my tummy. I kind of groaned and started wishing that five year olds could talk in a voice that was anything but yelling with each statement. Is that smirks I see from fellow shoppers or my imagination? Tom would say it's my imagination, everything is when I ask him.

3. I had the best compliment in the world today. Someone thought I was eighteen years old. Isn't that fabulous? Eighteen! I'm going to hang onto that for awhile, especially the surprised face when I told her I was really twenty-seven. This is a treasured moment and I can't stop smiling when I think about it. Eighteen... :)

4. My cousin Rachel started a blog and I'm really excited about that. She has made it private, so email her if you want to read it. I hope she doesn't care that I'm announcing this, but I'm really thrilled to read about her everyday.

Any Idea??

Okay, this is how my little boy woke up this morning, looking like this. What??? Is it a rash, is it a fungus, is it some kind of weird skin disease??

I'm at a loss. Tom is at a loss. Help.

Obviously he can't go to the doctor until Tuesday, if it's even like this till then, which I would die if it is. But has anyone had their children come down with mysterious skin problems? Does it look like something obvious that I'm not seeing?

Help!

Check-Up

Why is it that every time you go to the doctor’s office you’re there for an insane amount of time? With two little boys, it’s even crazier. Reading books and drawing pictures can only entertain a child for so long.
And to add to the craziness, picture Talin, who is five years old, receiving just ONE shot. Not a big deal right? Wrong.
The child cowered in the corner and hid under a chair when the nurse came in with the shot. I had to threaten him to get him to sit on the bed so the shot could be administered. He screamed bloody murder. I was amazed at this reaction. Last year he got SIX shots and didn’t make a peep. What happened to my little man?
Then, after being in the office FOREVER, we head down to the pathology department to get blood drawn for Collin. Talin was thrilled when he learned that Collin was getting a shot as well.
Collin on the other hand was fine and dandy with it until me and another nurse had to secure his arms while they put the needle in and drew the blood. The child went ballistic before the needle was even in his arm.
Talin stood in awe, grateful to have just received a shot.
Two, well actually three, candy bars and two happy boys and one exhausted mother later we got to go home. Now I’m nursing a headache and waiting for bedtime to arrive SOON, PLEASE!
Oh, and I almost forgot to add in the little mishap once we arrived home. They go up the stairs to play in their room when I hear the beginning rumble of the two of them falling down the stairs in a heap of little boy arms and legs. It was the most horrifying thing to see.
Is this the major fall that puts one of them in the hospital or a cast??!!
All the panic comes, but thankfully both are fine. Once I realized that Collin is going to have a bruised back and Talin a bruised forehead, I breathe a sigh of relief and start screaming at them about playing on the stairs.

For heaven’s sake, does mothering get any easier!

Some days…..

Talin's First Day

I sent my baby off to full day kindergarten today. It was tough. I almost cried, but sucked it in, I don't know why I'm so nervous for him, I'm sure he's having a great day. He's been so excited. I kept asking him how he felt to be going to school, and he would smile and say how happy he was to finally be going to kindergarten. And then in the background was Collin's voice, "I not happy about it". Oh yes, when the attention is not on him, he's typically not. But his time will come, it's going to be hard for him to lose his best friend all day. I'll have to be gentle with him and the attitude that is sure to come.

Have you seen a happier boy? I have him in an apron because he's a notoriously messy eater and he was having waffles with syrup, so I didn't want him to be all crusty on his first day of school. Is he not adorable!

The Joys of being a Sunday school teacher

Five twelve year-olds and two toddlers later, this is what my kitchen table looked like this morning. And this picture does not do it justice, it was littered with sprinkles of every color.

It sounded like such a GREAT idea to have my little Sunday schoolers over for a weekday class get-together to make treats for our less active class members, but I should have read the signs that the day would not be great. And it wasn't even that bad, it's just that Collin ran a fever all the night before, and I woke up with a headache, which is never a good thing. And once the cookies were made we spent over an hour in the car delivering them. But I guess it was all worth it, because the kids had a really fabulous time together outside of the classroom. They are already begging for another get together to watch movies. Sounds like a personal hell. Don't get me wrong though, I have a fondness for this little Sunday school class of mine.

I'm just not thrilled about the sink full of frosting dishes that is still waiting on me to clean.

Countdown to School

I’m really excited for Talin to start kindergarten on Thursday, and so is he. Collin also starts preschool in September and we are exceptionally excited for that event as well. Here are a few reasons why I can’t wait for school to start this year.

1. Collin wandering around the house singing “somewhere over the rainbow” in a voice that sounds like a cross between Frank Sinatra and satan.

2. Talin and Collin insisting they fix my hair so that I can look more like a princess. I ended up wearing a crown, multiple pony tails in my hair, my hands covered in every ring I owned and a few necklaces to boot. Tom found it very amusing when he arrived home for lunch.

3. Hearing the boys narrate what me, the princess is doing throughout the day. We have thin walls, and the other day I overheard Collin, “the princess is upstairs, going potty!” followed by giggling. Is there no privacy?

4. Lego’s everywhere, they get cleaned up, yet they still litter the house. I don’t understand this. I finally confiscated them, yet I still find Talin with the occasional Lego that has not been put away. They are the tiny ones, and are making my life miserable. How can one little toy destroy your happiness like this?

5. The bucket on my back porch full of about ten dead caterpillars. How am I going to explain to them that their best friend’s who they are expecting to turn into butterflies, have died? And why did they die? They had plenty of foliage in there to eat, and branches to cocoon onto. I don’t understand, and neither will my boys.

Just a few reasons why school is going to be a welcome break from the little things in life that are starting to ware me out. Plus the fall is going to be gorgeous. Love the fall in Iowa.