Soccer Season

Soccer was a big part of my life as a child. I played on our community youth league, the travel team, the Junior Olympic team, and my high school team. I have left my playing days behind me and moved on to coach. I will be coaching Izzy's team!

Along with my co-coach


I just got my team roster over the weekend, as well as our jerseys. My team has 8 players on it: 5 girls and 3 boys. Izzy and 3 of her best friends (Alexandra, Riley, Delaney) make up 4 of the girls. The 5th girl is the daughter of that most fantastic doctor who gets us preferential treatment at the ER :) Every serious team needs a team doctor and I am thankful to have Dr. J as ours.

How stinkin cute are a bunch of girls running around in pink shin guards/cleats going to look? ...I must find pink shorts!


Here is Izzy practicing her soccer skills. I think she is a natural just like her momma!




And a couple player/coach shots.




And a cute shot of Drew - and because it shows the "stitches" side of his lip 48 hours post fall.


I am super excited to coach these little kids. I think we will have SO much fun! I am already planning out our first practice.

Now I must go and see if I can order all the girls some pink/black/silver hairbows :) I am sure I can submit it as part of the "uniform expenses" to the league, right?

Izzy's First Major Purchase

I can't believe that I forgot to blog about this! If you recall, last Thursday the kids and I went to the mall and I bought Izzy her first lip gloss. You may also remember she wouldn't eat her cookie for fear of losing her shimmer. Ring any bells? Okay, so onto Friday morning...

Izzy woke up and told me she wanted a compact of lip gloss that we had seen the day before. I explained that I was not going to just buy it for her, but if she wanted to "work towards it" then we could do that. I used the example of 10 days of me brushing/flossing her teeth at night without any whining/complaints (we had been to the dentist the day before and we need to floss her back couple teeth). Well, Izzy didn't like this idea because she wanted the compact TODAY! I told her that I understood, but that if she wanted it immediately then she would need to pay for it. Izzy agreed to use her own money. THIS SHOCKED ME! Izzy NEVER parts with her money, and certainly not the dollar bills. The only time she spends her own money (you know, the money that comes from who knows where that you hand the kids to put in their piggy banks) is if she gets a card with a dollar or two in it specifically for the dollar store.

Izzy handed me $6 (just a random amount I picked since I had no idea how much it was) and off we went to the mall. Oh, this was also the morning after Drew got his Buzz costume. This is how we went to the mall.

Who says white spandex doesn't look good on anyone? Izzy originally had on a beautiful princess costume but decided it was too itchy to wear - so she went in pj's :)

The goods...and the super giddy girl!

Drew's First Trip to the ED

Drew took at spill at the pool this afternoon. It resulted in a 4 stitches.

Pre-stitches (Drew fell asleep due to excessive crying - then a darn nurse walked in and woke him!)


We were having a lovely lazy afternoon at the pool. The only folks there were Izzy, Drew, Rylie, Stephanie and a grandfather and granddaughter. It was so relaxed and laid back that the lifeguard was watching the kids from a lounge chair and chatting with us adults. The girls were jumping off the side, and Drew was just running around. Yup, running at the pool. He was told a few times to stop running...but he probably didn't. I can't say for certain because I did not see him fall. Last I saw of Drew he was playing in the shower. The girls got out and were playing with him...then I heard him cry out. It was one of those cries that I knew something was wrong. As I saw him lift his head off the concrete I saw the blood. Oh did I see blood! I have never witnessed a "gush" of blood until today. It literally poured from him mouth - all over him, me, a towel, and the ground.

The lifeguards broke out rubber gloves and after a quick discussion among all of us we felt it best to take him to an urgent care for stitches. THANKFULLY I was able to just leave Izzy and my things and head out with Drew. Thanks Stephanie, you rock! Drew and I made a quick pit stop home for my purse, and some snacks for Drew (never know how long you might be gone for) and then went to the urgent care.

So......we get to the urgent care and Drew is crying, bleeding, ...I am filling out paperwork. As I am holding this crying, bleeding boy, I overhear a comment which makes me think they may not be able to do the stitches (I asked when we arrived if they did stitches and was told yes). Sure enough, I fill out ALL the paperwork, finally get Drew settled down (they gave him a Spiderman picture to color and three used crayons) and get called back. As we are taken back to our room the doctor stops to look at Drew's mouth and tells me that they can't treat him. He will need to possibly be sedated, restrained, smaller stitches and a plastic surgeon. Great. They couldn't have looked at him when I flippin ARRIVED????? BEFORE I fumbled my way through filling out paperwork while holding a crying bleeding child? THE KICKER...as we were leaving they ASKED for the crayons back. ARE YOU F'IN KIDDING? It was the ONE THING that settled the kid down; you are now telling me you can't help me, and you want your flippin three used crayons back???? I was told, "Ma'am they belong to the facility." You are an urgent care. I was thinking I will bring "the facility" a new box tomorrow just let me leave with these. Jerks.

So, now we are way on to the hospital. The same ED where Pete was admitted in January for internal bleeding, the same place Izzy went when she broke her leg in February...and now Drew. As luck would have it, I had Izzy's class roster in my car from taking her to a playdate this morning. I had the number for Dr. J! He was the good doctor that helped make our ED visit with Izzy go so quickly and smoothly. I called him, and although he wasn't working that day he did call ahead and let the ED know that I would be arriving and to give us the royal treatment. Thank you AGAIN Dr. J!

Here we are killing time before Drew gets his stitches. I had to break out some of my best tricks for this kid. Let me just say that two "hand balloons" provide some major entertainment!


Once it was finally determined that Drew would need stitches, things moved pretty quickly. I was not in the room while they stitched him. Dr. J had suggested that I leave for both my sake as well as Drew's and althought it was heart wrentching I feel it was the right decision for me. I wanted to be the one to go in a "save" him from the bad needle people. I could hear him sobbing through the door and it was truly heart breaking. I could hear him asking for me and telling them that it hurt. Oh, it still pains me to think about it. When I went back in the room a nurse told me that at one point she said, "Drew, you are being such a good boy." and he said, "I know." Ironically one of the nurses was with me when I took both Pete and Izzy there as well! She told me she is getting worried about me.

All done!


Once we left we had a script to fill, popsicles and wine to buy, and Izzy to pick up. Wouldn't you know that at 7:30 (we hadn't left the ER yet) I got a call about a house showing. Yup, when it rains, it pours. I am happy to report that at 8:45 our potential buyers showed up and seemed to really like our house. They will be coming back Sunday for second showing :)

...sidenote...Erica was going to babysit for the kids tonight so that I could go to a coach's meeting for Izzy's soccer team, and then out for a MNO pool party. I was really looking forward to hanging out with a great group of girls - a bit anxious to use a new babysitter (we NEVER use one) but excited cause the kids were excited. Erica is a lifeguard at the pool and I feel very comfortable with her credentials. First and foremost my kids like her! Second, she was a EC major. From what I understand, Izzy was not happy once she realized that Erica would not be watching them this evening.

Two kids, two ER visits...one needed a cast, and the other stitches. Why do I feel like this is only the beginning...

The Theatre

Is it theater or theatre? I think theatre is the fancy was to write theater :) Who knows?

Whatever.

Izzy and I went to see a production of Annie today. Annie was one of my favorite plays and I still remember the first time I saw it performed at our local children's theater. I was so excited to share this memory with Izzy and hoped that she would enjoy it just as much. We were so fortunate to be able to get tickets as two of the four performances were completely bought out. It was in a very small theater. The play was performed by children all under 12! It was fantastic and Izzy had a wonderful time. She is already talking about seeing it again, as well as any other play performed by children. I love that she seems to have an interest in "the arts".

On our way to the show...in matching outfits, of course!


Since Izzy and I were wearing our Sunday best, we wanted Drew in a picture with us - uhhh, I mean Buzz ;)

I think this is day 4 of the outfit.

Here she is anxiously awaiting the performance


I quickly snapped a picture at the end of the show for Izzy. She keeps zooming in on characters and remembering specifics. I am still smiling thinking about how much she enjoyed herself.

Way Fun Birthday Party

We went to a very fun "old school" birthday party. By old school I simply mean it was at the house of the birthday girl, and not some over the top rented facility :) However, there was a big bounce house in the backyard!



This owners of this backyard could charge money to let kids play. They had a swingset, old fashion tree swing, zipline, and a trampoline. Wanna see how much fun we had?













I think both kids thoroughly enjoyed the zipline. The first time each one rode it I held onto their arm in case they dropped.







Almost more fun then zipping down was running back up to make the handoff to the next rider.


Here is a quick video of the kids doing the zipline - watch Drew's feet.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Buzz Lightyear

Remember when this was how Drew dressed up as Buzz.




Now we have moved onto a full fledge Buzz costume!


This is the first year that I let the kids pick their own costumes for Halloween. It came as no surprise when Drew picked this (this will also be the theme for his 3rd birthday) action hero. I have no idea what condition this costume might be in by the end of October, and chances are we will be on our second Buzz outfit. Since I showed this to Drew last night he has yet to take it off - well, only to sleep and eat a popsicle.





His favorite thing is to activate his laser by pushing this button on his arm. There is no actual button - he gets this from the Buzz figure he has which does have a laser activating button.


It is at this point that Drew realized I added the jet pack to his costume. I think he is checking out his wingspan.


Off and running - and running, and running, and running, and running!

A Girl and Her Gloss

Yesterday we took a trip to the mall. Before we left, Izzy asked if she could get lipstick. Really, lipstick? Izzy? Recently she has started acting more girlie: carrying a purse, brushing her hair due to her own choosing, wearing dress up clothes, etc. So, when she asked for a lipstick my response was "and you could really use a new purse too!" In my defense she is carrying around a small black velvet purse she got a Gymboree when we was not even 2!

So where does a 4 year old go for lipstick? Claire's of course! The only lipstick we found that would "make her lips a different color" was a hideous neon pink. My girlfriend has taste cause even she knew it just wasn't right for her skin tone :) Instead she chose a very pale (ie: clear) pink with shimmer. I kid you not when I say that lipgloss has been applied and reapplied no less then 36 times.

In fact, one of the highlights of our mall visits is getting a cookie. When I handed Izzy her cookie she asked "will my lipstick come off?" She was upset when I explained that yes it would, but then you simply "reapply". Her response, "I just won't eat the cookie." Huh?

Pete came home last night (a day early!) and once Izzy greeted him she promptly disappeared. Can you guess where she went? You got it...to apply! Thankfully I told Pete what she was doing so he was able to "ooohhh and aaahhhh" over her shimmery lips. *on a sidenote she also had a dentist appointment so she was sporting a fantastic smile!

Can you see the shimmer? Can you? Look hard!


We may be creating a diva in the making, but for now we are just highly entertained by our 4 year old who can't seem to part with her latest treasure. Her lipstick even went to bed with her!

Tie Dye

With our flu finally gone it was time to get back into the swing of things. So, we accepted an invitation (or perhaps I invited us) to go on a tie dye outing with Delaney and her family.



Ready to dye...




Drew's turn (pictures compliments of Izzy)






Izzy's turn...




A cute picture of the kids watching Jen work on her shirt.


And our finished products


Tricked you!

Here they are :)