FROG Soccer

We have found a gem in our city called FROG Soccer.  It's a FREE soccer camp/practice/lessons for kids ages 4 through 7.  Free! 

FROG stands for FRiends Of Gary. Gary and his Friends run the practice in a local park once a week during the spring. I guess it's been going on for years, but we just discovered it last month.

Each week, both boys get to practice, rotating through several drills & games that teach soccer skills (along with listening & following directions even though you are so-excited-you-can-hardly-stand-it-skills).

Then there is a scrimmage at the end of each session.  They even keep the age groups separate so I don't have a monster 7 year old mowing down my AJ.

Side note: AJ’s buddy, Noah, is in his group. We’re not sure if it’s good thing for those boys to be together or not when the atmosphere is structured.  We are praying for their preschool teacher this fall, already.

Back to FROG Soccer: It's pretty well organized and parents take turns bringing in snacks and drinks for the kiddos at the end of the session.  Today is my turn... I'm totally bringing in the Fruit Roll-ups and Capri Sun, I scored from Meijer not too long ago.

Thank you Gary and Friends, for giving me a free excuse to be outside in the evenings and good outlet for my boy’s energy.

Long Overdue Family Picture

Happy Mother's Day

I got some sweet gifts this Mother's Day (even though we celebrated early since we were going to be out of town.).

I got the card to the left from Andrew. He made it at school, along with the basket of flowers. And each flower is a little something he wrote for me.

I will cleen up.

I will giv you a hug.

I will trie to made you a cake.

I will kleen up

Then he insisted on making me a cake all by himself.  Fortunately, we had a single 9-in round cake already baked in the freezer, so all he had to do was frost it.   I set out all the ingredients, premeasuring some, but letting him measure others.  I gave him access to my beloved Kitchen-Aid and let him loose.

My cake complete with dolphin, elephant, lion, and gorilla sprinkles. It was a crunchy cake.

These are the gifts from Marc. I needed to new headphones for running and I've been wanting a new spreader.  I'm so glad God gave me the privilege to be the mom in this family!

Who do you call when BumblyBurg's in Trouble?

LARRY BOY!

Four!

This post is SO long overdue: I'm sorry, AJ!

Can you believe my little man turned FOUR this month? My baby... my puffin-munkin... my cubbie... is four! I can hardly wrap my head around how fast the last four years have gone, but then again, and it's really hard to imagine the time when we wasn't a part of our lives. He's that perfect little puzzle piece. One of four four perfect puzzle pieces in this here family.

AJ, I think you are starting to grow out of it a bit, but overall, you are still my little homebody... happiest at home in jammies. If you have a day at home, playing with Noah during the day and with Andrew outside in evening, you are a happy little man.

Want another way to make a little AJ man happy?? Give you pizza. Seriously, you ask for pizza for e.v.e.r.y meal. We already have pizza once a week for sure and occasionally twice, if we pick a cheap one for lunch or something. But every meal, you ask... and then your follow-up question is (not kidding), "When's Friday"? Friday is our pizza night.

Your other favorite foods are the stand-bys: peanut butter, cashews and dried cranberries (you love them together), and Raspberry Yogurt.

At four, you are, thankfully, still very much a snuggler. Way more than your brother ever was. Early in the morning, before bed, after naps.... really anytime is good for you. We still have to kick you out of our bed nightly because you sneak in.

In just the past two weeks you have learned to make the "L" sound!!! We were starting to get just slightly concerned and then, almost on your fourth birthday to the day... the L's started coming. You still have a few other sounds that need work, but we are very excited to be hearing "Dandelion" instead of "Dandewion" (even though the latter is so terribly adorable still).

And I'm so thankful at how well you play with your brother, Andrew. I know there are time when you bicker and fight; but most of the time, you two get along beautifully. I pray you continue your great friendship your entire lives.

You are learning 4 year old humor and it's cracking us up. You pick up on what makes mom or dad laugh and then repeating it over and over.

AJ, we are so thankful for you and what you bring to our family. You are a true joy and you surprise us each day with how much you are learning so quickly. We love you, kiddo!

Bugs!

I recently found out, or just tuned into at least, that our local public museum gives city residents free admission on Mondays.  And last week, I surprisingly found myself not babysitting and not going into the office on Monday.  So that afternoon, I packed up the kids and we hit the musuem.  Seeing as we had never been there before, it was interesting, but I confess, not something I would want to do over and over, like the Gardens.  However, they did have a special exhibit there that was pretty cool.  It was BUGS!

Book Report: Angels and Demons

During my long l.o.n.g. drive to and from Iowa, I made the sure the boys were properly outfitted with their headphones and Loony Tunes before popping in my recently borrowing book on CD, Angels & Demons by Dan Brown.  It's funny since the DaVinci Code by Dan Brown is what I listened to last year during the same drive.

I don't think I liked it much as Davinci Code and there were some parts that were just a little too much. I'll also admit that the very ending, like the last few paragraphs, were as cheesy and corny as ever and almost seemed like they were written by someone else entirely.  However, overall I enjoyed this book and was fascinated by all the works of art referenced and the history behind them. 

I would love some feedback: I am now interested in watching the movie, but considering how graphic and gruesome some of the story is, I'm not sure I can handle watching it "on film" unless they handle it well.... ie: not show too much gore.   Have you seen this movie?  What do you think?

Season Premier: Snow Cone Maker

It's finally warm enough to break out the snow cone maker.  This little contraption by Pampered Chef has been so worth the money. 

It's funny.  My mom bought me this snow cone maker years and years ago... like when I was in high school, I think.  And it sat around forever, never getting used.  I even considered selling it on eBay at one time or another.

However, last year, we rediscovered it and snow cones became our daily, yes daily, afternoon treat.  The boys were so excited when I told them we would pull out the snow cone maker.  I even stayed up late the night before making the syrups.

I take cleaned out 8oz Wishbone salad dressing containers.  They are the perfect size and have a squeeze top that is just right.  Then for each flavor, I boil 1 cup of sugar and 6T of water until clear.  Add 1/2 packet (1/2 tsp) Kool-Aid.  

It's a perfect, and cheap, way to spoil the kiddos on a hot afternoon.

The story continues...

If you are visiting from Big Binder, please stop back and give her some bloggy love.  Drop her a sweet comment telling her how much you love being in loop on all the cool things going on around town.

Here is my baked oatmeal recipe and why we are eating it today for breakfast. 

Thanks, Jen!

How Does it End: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

We are back from our Spring Break vacation and jumped right into a busy week.  While I have so much to post about and hopefully will get around to it, I'll just jump right into to what we did today.

Our local theaters have a series of family friendly films running where children's tickets are free and adults are only $3.50.  A couple weeks ago, by strategic planning on the wives part, Marc and his buddy took all the kids to see Astro Boy.  I looked it up on a Christian website and without seeing myself, deemed it ok.   And according to Marc is was okay, even though it got a little scary and Andrew struggled with "scary thoughts" about the movie for a while.

Well, after hearing great reviews about Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, I decided to take the boys today after work/school.  We grabbed a quick lunch and settled in the theater.  A mere hour later we were walking out.  Too scary.  I had one boy even in tears he was so upset and begging to leave.  

Good thing the movie was so cheap.   And I'll just have to figure out a time to watch the ending myself.