Playing with Fire, School Dance and First Game of Soccer Season

Well it has been an eventful 24 hours at our house (of course when isn't it?) We all actually ate together on Friday night, the first in a while due to weird flight schedules for Jaesen and soccer practices that usually cause us to eat really early. If you have ever had the pleasure (or fear) of eating at our house you know that 99% of the time Jack is still at the table long into the evening, due mostly to his procrastination to eat. He would rather chat, daydream or fall asleep. We were in the process of cleaning up when Jaesen walked back into the dining room to see Jack with a flaming napkin. In shock he dropped it on the carpet. Jaesen rapidly stomped it out and then the fun started. Jaesen went on the we could lose everything we own, toys, house, dogs, cars, pictures, whereas I went for the you could burn yourself and have to have a million surgeries, be scarred for life, not be able to move right and be scrubbed with a metal brush approach. I think we scared the crap out of him. Then we were on to part 2 of our night. I got voted designated parent of our brood to take our two boys to their first school dance. The big favorite of the night was the Chicken Dance, followed by YMCA and then the hokey pokey. It was really loud and kids were running all over the place, eating nachos and candy. Jack was promptly chased down by a girl in his class and she didn't let up the whole time. It was pretty cute. Tristan got bored, he wanted to try breakdancing but didn't want to be embarrased by his lack of "breakdancing talent". I just told him to talk to Jaesen, heck if that guy can breakdance, anyone can. When we came home from that totally awesome fun, we had company over picking up a fishing rod from Jaesen (his very first money from his new company by the way!!!!). So our kids played with his kids until at 9:30 Jack ran into a doorknob and (I know you are thinking wow that sure happens a lot to that kid----I know!) really swelled up his eye and nose. At that point I basically kicked out our company (sorry if I was way too rude), dropped Savannah off in her bed, made Tristan go to bed and iced the head of Jack down. So flash forward to Saturday morning. I almost dreaded soccer after last years doses of Jack's temper tantrums on and off the field, and the bad attitude. Fortunately this year Jaesen is home to help combat the "attitude". Tristan was up first and he scored two or three goals, none of us is really sure, and he played well but not as great as I have seen him play. He made a great play when he ran 3/4 the length of the field though and saved a goal, that was probably his best play of the day. And then came time for Jack's game. We took over as coaches of his team when the previous coach's son came down with a brain tumor and they were going to disband the team. So in addition to the rest of our lives we are coaching U-6 boys soccer. Anyway, Jack takes the field (and oddly enough we were playing the same team he played on last year) and proceeds to score 5 goals! That's right you read it right, no tantrums, no yucky faces, just 5 goals. And he put power behind them, he wasn't kidding around. Another one of our players scored 6 and almost everyone scored a goal. I bet they wished they had chosen Jack to play for them again this year, although I can't really blame them for not wanting to after last year. He had a great time and it was honestly a joy to watch him having fun and being proud of himself and his team. So now the boys are all off fishing and it's just me and Bean at home. She by the way did really well for being out during her whole entire nap, and only screamed for about 15 minutes of the whole entire day. I just kept feeding her (yes I know she doesn't really need it, but sometimes that's all I can do!) and giving her ice cubes and life was pretty good. Go Strikers and Green Lightning!

Grapes Beware!

Well I have tried and tried and Savannah is finally starting to eat some actual fruit that is whole and not pureed. But tonight we suffered a setback.....I was so excited when she asked for some of the grapes we were all eating. I handed her quite a few and watched her start to eat them. I got up to clean the table off and came back to grape carcasses. Yes, she just takes them, sucks out the insides and randomly throws away the skins. Poor Savannah, she is a grape sucker!!!!

Celebrating the Beach

Tropical Storm Fay

Well the storm has finally left us and we did most of our cleanup yesterday. We were without power for 39 hours! And all this for a minor tropical storm. Usually though they seem to move a lot quicker than Fay. The pond got high but never came up as high as our fence although the porch took on significant water, probably because it was raining sideways. Jaesen repaired two screens yesterday and we cleaned up the outside as good as possible. We were forced into buying a generator which was great for keeping the fridge cold and our food safe. We will have an electrician come over soon to install the hookup for our generator to run certain aspects of the fans, air conditioning, etc. The last night we couldn't see anything so I broke out the glow in the dark necklaces and we put them on everyone, including the dogs who seemed to love them. They worked great! Just when you thought it was all over though I found water in the wall of our bathroom this morning when I was drying my hair. It was hard to miss, a giant bubble in the wall. So we will see how bad it really is, but I am fearing the worst. We have already had some sunshine and we went walking in it this morning. And then we came home and sat in the wonderful air conditioning! Boy did I miss that for the last 2 days. The kids missed 3 days of school and I can't wait until they go back. I had my school cancelled and missed a final but it is rescheduled for Monday which happens to be the first day of the next term, there is some major reshuffling going on but I guess it will all work out in the end. I can't wait to put away the blankets from forts, flashlights, anything that is battery powered, and the mop. I yearn for the quiet of the car when I have finished dropping off the last kid at school...........I love my kids but being stuck in a house with them for 5 days and noone sleeping well, .........well that is a little much for even me!

The First Day of School

Ahhhh, the day we long for as the summer draws to a close. The kids constantly at each other's throats and whining about there is nothing to do anymore, when does school start. Well today was that day! Tristan moves into 2nd grade where they now have letter grades and spelling scores count towards their final grade. Jack started kindergarten and has the same teacher that Tristan had when we moved here from Japan. She has already commented to me that they are nothing alike. I just smile and say, nope they are night and day. He was excited because he got to play on the playground, paint and have brownie, chicken nuggets, salad and fries and a chocolate milk for lunch. He made new friends and generally had a great day. Savannah on the other hand just got pushed out the door of the car at her daycare (okay, not really-but it probably seemed that way to her, because it was Jack's day) and she was one pissed off kid. Well and not only that but she has an ear infection with a lot of drainage. When I picker her up I was informed that a kid came to school with lice. I went through her hair with a fine tooth comb (literally) and treated her, but still found nothing (thank goodness!). So now they are all in day #2, but day #3 may be cancelled as Tropical Storm Fay bears down on us. They may be opening schools for shelters for flood victims because it looks like we are going to get a lot of rain. We'll see-I have the water, finished 3 loads of laundry, have lots of grill items and batteries, so I am not worried. We can always hang out in the car, with a/c and watch movies on the DVD player!

In Honor of 10 Years Together!!!!!

No More Training Wheels

And another one is onto two wheels! Yesterday I told Jack that he really was getting to big for his little Japanese bike and he needed to practice on the "big" bike. He took it to heart and worked hard for the rest of the day and he can now ride on two wheels. Unfortunately for Jack though he is used to hand brakes and the red bike has pedal brakes. This causes him to have phenomenal crashes when he deems it appropriate to stop. So of course when I videotape him he proves me wrong and actually stops without a crash. Well that is one less scraped body part for the moment. Of course if he didn't have a show stopping crash I would think his career as a stunt man wouldn't have much of a future. At least I know he can crash without getting too hurt. On a happier note, school starts two weeks from today and the boys are very excited, but I don't think that they are happier than I am. They need to spend some quality time APART or they are going to drive the rest of us crazy!