Soccer!

We recently enrolled Holden for a season of soccer. We were told about this great organization that doesn't eat up all of your time. So the kids have soccer practice just 30 minutes before their Saturday morning games.  It's perfect for us! It's just about an hour per week for Holden to have fun and play a sport. When Jeremy signed Holden up online he checked a box that he would be willing to assist in coaching if there was a need. Well, guess what? Daddy is now one of the coaches. I guess that when you check the box that you are willing, you're probably going to be asked. It should be a fun season for Holden and Jeremy. Yesterday was their first practice and scrimage. It was fun to watch the cute little 3 and 4 year olds run all over the soccer field. I think our team scored 2 or 3 goals, which completely impressed me. Must have been the stellar coaching. ;)  And honestly, I don't know which team even won. I don't necessarily care. My little boy had fun running all over the field. Not necessarily paying attention to the soccer ball or the game. But he loved the running.  Holden is pretty coordinated. He always has been. And during the warm-up practice drills, he looked so good dribbling the soccer ball. But during the game, he just wanted to run with the other teammates. I don't think he ever kicked the soccer ball after the practice drills were over. We'll have to work on the other stuff this week. But at least he had fun!  A few pictures from our first Saturday of soccer. More to come...

the boy who ate everything

Pax is a great eater. He's not too picky. There are only a few things that he really dislikes to eat.  Tomatoes and....well, maybe there's just one thing. I honestly can't think of much of anything else that he refuses.  So I don't know why tonight surprised me. He had eaten his turkey burger and was working on some raw veggies and sweet potato fries. He noticed some large fresh spinach leaves on my plate and he said "I want some sah-wed" as if I was holding out on him by originally not offering it. Well, I'm not one to deprive my kids of extra veggies! I took 2 large leaves and tore them smaller and set them on his plate. No dressing, no dip, yet he immediately started chowing down. I have a feeling this isn't very common for 3 year olds. My little fellow veggie lover! It sure makes my heart happy!

More summer fun

I haven't been very good to blog each and every event, like I used to. So I'm just posting some pictues and a second and final summer recap of 2012.

We took a short weekend trip to Kansas City to visit some friends. It was kind of a cool city, though we didn't have a whole lot of time to see much of it.

The boys got to have their first Lego Land experience while we were there.

Pax's birthmother and family came for a visit a couple of weeks before his birthday. He wracked up on the gifts, once again. :)

Our days with friends at the water park came to an end. The kiddos all enjoyed Dippin' Dots on our last day!  By the way, I had NEVER ever tasted Dippin' Dots until this very day. Isn't that weird!?

Pax had his first professional haircut. Can you tell he's excited? His was a much different reaction than what Holden had at his first haircut with a stranger. Since that time, when Holden completely freaked out, Jeremy has done all haircuts at home.

 

The Myers came to our house and spent part of Labor Day weekend with us. It was so so so much fun. The boys love sweet Camryn and Reid. It's fun to watch their relationships blossom, especially with a family that is so special to us. I didn't take many pictures but here are a few of the kids playing outside in the water and on the new slip and slide.

 

 

 

Summer is officially over for us. Though I'm pretty sure it's gone into the triple digits more than once this week. I'm hoping those hot days will soon be behind us. I washed some of the boys fall clothes today, hoping I could wish the new season upon us. The boys and I are starting to get settled into a new routine these days. Bible Study on Wednesday mornings, their school day on Thursdays and other preschool things at home on the other days, with me as the teacher. We are definitely experimenting and trying some things out right now. Routine is good. I welcome it.



First Day of School!

This past Thursday, the boys headed back to their Mother's Day Out program. Surprisingly to me, Holden was feeling a little anxious and Pax was indifferent to the whole event. Not indifferent, I guess. He was happy to be there. In fact, he walked right into his classroom, began playing and never looked back at the door for me. I like drop offs like those. On the otherhand, Holden just made this face with gritted teeth and furrowed brows as we stood outside his classroom. He was letting me know he was not so sure about this first day. But he walked in by himself, saw some kids playing with trains and immediately sat down, grabbed a train and joined the playtime. :) I've learned over time that my oldest has a little struggle with changes in his routine. But once the change is made, he tends to adapt quickly to it. He's just not always excited about the actual change. The boys are in the same church program as last year, which Holden quickly fell in love with. But this year, it's new teachers for him and several new faces in his classroom. There were also a few familiar faces in both of the boys classrooms, which made me happy. One quick picture before we left home for their first day.

After picking them both up, they had both decided that it was a very fun day. I'm grateful to have just one day a week of quiet and grocery shopping (alone) and other errands (alone) and a little selfish time. My introverted self really appreciates Thursdays. That one day a week makes a big difference for me. And it's a huge bonus that my boys tend to love their day at school just as much as I do.

Stats & Interview

On Wednesday, Pax went to Dr. D to for his 3 year check up. He had to get one little vaccination. When the nurse left to get it prepared I explained that he was getting one shot and it would just feel like a little pinch. He didn't seem to interested in what I was saying, but Holden was very interested. He was asking me if Pax was going to cry and all sorts of other questions. Pax piped up and said he wasn't going to cry and he was going to be very brave. And that he was! He made a little wince when the needle went in. I knew it was uncomfortable to him. But not a single tear. And I made such a big hoopla about the fact that he didn't cry that he was smiling and cheering for himself right after the needle was removed. Don't all kids cry with shots!? Maybe not. But I was so so so so proud of Pax and how he handled that moment of pain. At 3 years, he weighed in at 34lbs (74%) and 38.5inches (76%).
On Wednesday after Pax's nap, Holden was still sleeping. So I took a moment to have a littel one-on-one interview with him. He's never in a very serious mode at times like these when I want him to be. But here is what we came up with.

M: What is your name?
P: Pax

M: How old are you?
P: Three

M: What is your favorite toy?
P:  Lightening McQueen and ToMater

M: Who is your best friend?
P: Rex the Dinosaur (Toy Story, people. And this was his little silly side coming out.)

M: Who do you like to sleep with?
P: E. Eat (not sure if I've mentioned this E. Eat character. But it's a Cabbage Patch Doll that I had as a little girl. My mom gave him to Pax at one point and he completely attached himself to that doll. And Pax named him E. Eat. This all happened well over a year ago.)

M: What is your favorite book?
P: Toy Story

M: What is your favorite cartoon to watch on TV?
P: Tom and Jerry

M: What is your favorite food?
P: waffle

M: What is your favorite color?
P: green

M: What is your favorite thing to do with daddy?
P: spin around

M: What is your favorite thing to do with mommy?
P: ride in the car

M: What is your favorite thing to do with Holden?
P: play Hungry Hungry Hippos (the game he received from us for his birthday. The boys LOVE it!)

M: What is your favorite song?
P: Jesus Loves Me

M: What is your favorite animal?
P: giraffe

M: Do you like school?
P: yes

M: What is your favorite thing to do at school?
P: play with the tractor

M: What is mommy's job?
P:  you stay with us

M: What is daddy's job?
P: works on a big bridge (Funny because it's not true.)

And because of Sunday's incident, we made up for those wasted hours today. Jeremy was off from work so we had a great family day. I live for family days! We took the boys bowling this morning. We gave Pax several options and without hesitation, that is what he wanted to do. He loved every minute of it!

Pax's birthday

Pax's actual birthday was on Sunday. It was a little more eventful than I had anticipated. We had a typical morning of a quick breakfast and then a little rush to get us all out the door at 9am for church. We did spare a few minutes to sing happy birthday to Pax around the breakfast table.  The original plan was to go home for lunch and eat whatever was in the fridge. ;) Then we'd put the boys down for naps. After naps, we would let Pax choose an activity, such as putt-putt, skating or bowling. So we would go do his chosen activity after their naps and then take him somewhere special for dinner.  In the car Jeremy threw out the option to take him to Texas Roadhouse for lunch, then do naps then do the activity and dinner at home. Sounded fine to me. Later I regretted that change of plans. Which sounds ridiculous because I'm sure what happened was inevitable, if I really believe God's soveriegn control over all things.
So we took him to Texas Roadhouse for lunch. Specifically because Jeremy thought it would be fun for him to ride the saddle. I thought he might cry or be shy when they placed him on the saddle and did their little Texas Roadhouse birthday chant. (Which Jeremy still knows word for word after 10 years of being gone from the place.) But instead he loved it. Pax waved his napkin above his head and was quite the champ for it.

 Enjoying the famous rolls!

 Mommy and the birthday boy!

 I love this picture of these 2! I'm seriously surrounded by handome boys in my house. Those blue-green eyes make my heart go pitter patter. Ha.

 Look at this cowboy! He was so into it! Jeremy videoed the song.

On our drive home we were involved in a hit and run accident. Jeremy followed the guy while I was on the phone with 911. Obviously it wasn't a big deal, in that no none was hurt. When we were getting close to our neighborhood the guy I was talking to at the police department told me we needed to quit following him and pull over somewhere for a police report. We had the tag number and even though I didn't want Jeremy to stop the chase, we did. And then we sat for 2 hours! Waiting on our beloved police department! We were 2 minutes from our house and it was driving me crazy that we couldn't leave. So Sunday, his special day, was a little bit ruined by my standards. But Pax was completely unbothered by how the day went. Of course, he is only 3! But I love that about this kid. He goes with the flow. And if he's with his family, he's just pretty happy about whatever life throws.
Once we got home, we let Pax open his gifts from us.

 

 

Then the boys rode their bikes (with Jeremy and I on foot) to the new frozen yogurt place right outside our neighborhood. In all the craziness, we completely skipped dinner that night and had fro-yo instead. We ended the night with Pax working on his golf swing. He absolutely loves this game. I think Jeremy will have a little golfing side kick in a few short years.

 

The entire day did not go as originally planned. But we were able to celebrate 3 years of this special, little boy. And that is more than enough to be thankful for.

He likes golf.

By the 3rd party, little boys and girls usually have some sort of opinion about what kind of party they want. Pax chose GOLF! He loves golf. I think that I've mentioned it here before, but he has been known to putt his blueberries across the table with his fork. He's clever and knows how to make a mundane breakfast extra fun. ;) So we discussed all other interests and possibilities, which really consisted of Super Man and baseball. And at one point he was pushing for Super Man/Golf, but I was mean and made him choose between the two. The golf themed party was fun and I was happy for his choice. I figured that with his August birthday it would probably be too hot to do much outside. I was wrong. It wasn't too hot, but it was rainy and wet.  So we ate some golf-like snacks, played pin the golf ball in the hole and then Pax opened his presents and we ended by celebrating with cupcakes. I think he loved every moment of his party. And it was fun to watch him take it all in. A few pictures from our fun.

The golf like snacks - irons and woods (the pretzle rods), the greens (green fruit), birdies (the Target brand of goldfish, called chicakdess) and hole in one (donut holes). I was half embarrassed by the time I was done with this part. Pax had no clue of the significance of those fun snacks. So who did I really do that for? :)

 The birthday boy showing us that he's finally 3!!

 And one picture of all of us.

Watching him grow.  Pax as a newborn and 1 year.

Pax at age (almost) 2 and (almost) 3

 A few of his friends enjoying their snacks.

 Pax playing the game.

 Camryn actually pinning in right on the hole!

And Max being silly. :)

 He loved opening presents. What kid doesn't!

I loved watching his sweet smile as we sang to him. Man, I love that little boy!

 

The chaos in the kitchen and a handful of some of the special friends that helped celebrate our boy.

Happy birthday buddy! I hope your day felt as special to you as you are to us!