I'm a Soccer Mom!

All of my life I have dreamed of the moment my children hit the field of dreams...a soccer field was not really what I expected. I have to say though, that soccer has been so much fun this year! Molly Kate is having a blast and has actually gotten pretty good if a mom can say so herself! I am relieved to see some promise of athletic ability pouring forth even if she does require PINK cleats and pink soccer balls! We are part of Trussville United Soccer Club and her team, dubbed Red Thunder by MK herself, has done really well! They enjoy the games themselves, but the "snack mom" and the "tunnel," made by all of the fans holding their hands in the air for the teams to run through after the game is over, seem to be the most fun. Here are a few pics for you to enjoy while I catch up on the next chapter of Soccer for Dummies.

She's TWO!

Anna turned 2 on March 28th and we had a Sesame Street "Cake Party!" As much as I wanted to get a Cookie Monster cookie cake to go with the theme, Anna kept talking about her "Cake Party" so I gave in and ordered a cake instead. Eric, Molly Kate and I had fun coloring Sesame Street pictures for decorations and the Sesame Street signs that I made were a big hit! The family came over to our backyard for the bash and Anna had a ball! She loved every minute of it and was a very gracious (hence the meaning of her name) little birthday girl. I think she made us all feel loved and I know that she knows we all love her dearly as well.

18 Months Old

It is so hard for me to believe that Anna is 18 months old today! Time really does fly by when there are two little girls to chase! I was so sad that Anna was not home with me on her big day. Since she has croup and Molly Kate came down with some crazy fever virus thing, we had to separate them. Anna and Eric went to stay with Mawmaw and Pawpaw and Nana and I kept MK here at home. I cannot stand seeing my girls so sick and hated that we had to separate them, but the doctor said it was best since Anna is on steroids and is thus so prone to infection. Eric took plenty of pictures of her for me though and I had a post my favorite so you can see how big she has gotten.

She is really starting to talk a lot now and gets so excited when you know what she says! She also loves to look at books (finally! Note that I said "look at" them not "read" them - she has no patience). She also does the wooden knob puzzles and is generally, just BUSY - getting into something constantly, strowing toys everywhere (not really playing with them just dragging them out and tossing them!) and climbing on everything! You can't turn your back on her for even a minute. The other morning was the perfect example, while the girls were eating breakfast, I went to dry my hair. Not more than 5 minutes later (since it was almost dry already from not drying it before they woke up - big mistake), I returned to the kitchen to catch Anna in the act of throwing waffle all over the kitchen. Yep, I caught her launching a piece to the remote corner of the kitchen before she saw me coming...busted! It was everywhere and I will have to say that she did help me "clean up, clean up." A couple of minutes later she was in the den with MK watching a show while I fixed their lunches for school. I walked in this time to catch her pulling every tissue out of the Puffs Plus box! I put them all back neatly and made her come in the kitchen with me. She emptied the utensil drawer of all of my ladles, serving spoons, etc while I wrapped up lunches and could move on to getting her dresssed and ready. Needless to say, the girls looked cute for school but I looked like a wreck - I was so embarassed to even walk Anna in the the building and see her teachers! Oh well, life with a 18 month old...I wouldn't trade it for anything!

School Days

The girls both started "school" on August 17th. Molly Kate is in 4-K with Ms. Rhonda and Ms. Fay 5 days a week and she is so excited! At Orientation, I learned that all of her friends from her small 3-K class of 6 last year were in the other class for 4-K. I was worried that Molly Kate would be upset. She might have been a little confused at that, but has bounced back and loves the fact that she is getting to meet new friends, but still see her old ones on the playground! She was so excited about finally taking the tags off her Tinkerbell lunchbox (I was afraid she would change her mind and want a different one with her name or something, so I made her wait until the last minute). She was so proud walking in the first day and putting it on the bench and hanging her backpack in a cubby like a big girl! I think this will be a GREAT year for her - she will start learning sight words very soon!

Anna is in Mother's Day Out on Monday and Wednesday with Ms. Vicki and Ms. Karen. I was a little worried about taking her and how she would react being away from me for the first time, but she just walked in and started playing with the toys and ignored the fact that I was walking away for 4 hours! It was worse on me than on her - who would have thought! She has her own hook in the class for her backpack and lunchbox and as long as her diapers are labeled with her name, she has a full lunch, and can ride in the bye-bye buggy at the end of the say, she is in good shape! This will be a fun year for her.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Eric! We all love you so very much and think you are the best Daddy ever! The Lord definitely chose little girls for Eric because he is such a great loving, encouraging and FUN Daddy - just what every little girls needs!

More new posts below...

Date Night in Empire

The last Friday night in June, Eric had planned for us to have a date night. When he asked me what I wanted to do, I told him that I would love to go to my Grandmother and Grandaddy's to visit and pick their blueberries. My grandparents are a big part of my heart and I never get to go and just visit anymore. You know what I mean, just sit around and talk like adults, play cards, or walk around in the yard without having to do little girl stuff and keep the two of them out of trouble. This time, I knew the blueberries had been ripe for a while and it was killing me that I couldn't go up there and help them. Besides, my stash in the freezer had been depleted! You can't exactly pick this beautiful fruit in the heat of the day and when your 15 month old goes to sleep by 7:30 at the latest, it is just not gonna happen. I am not sure whether the pictures will do it justice or not, but the bushes were loaded down and beautiful! We picked for 4 hours with Grandmother helping and I think we pretty much had the ripe ones picked, but after another week or so, there will be plenty more to harvest. I hope you can tell on the center picture that my Grandaddy has this contraption rigged up out there with two plastic bags flying in the wind, draping over the bushes. It also has two coke cans on the bottom that circle around making a banging noise with each revolution - all of this to keep the birds out of out loot! We want them all and can smell the cobblers already!
The picture of Grandaddy on his tractor was when he was plowing up the rows of potatoes he'd planted. We also dug those while we were there and were very thankful that he shared those as well. They are new potatoes - I have always called them "Pa Pa taters" from when my great-grandfather used to grow them. They are so yummy cooked with thickened soup!
Thanks Eric for being a great husband and going out there with me - I know you enjoyed it too, even it was really hot!

Summer in the South

Why does it have to be so HOT outside? We just want to be able to go outside and play.