My soccer star

This year Ethan played Soccer for the first time. It wasn't your regular soccer league or anything, just a training type. The kids had a few practices and then scrimmaged other teams from the same rec center. Because of the rain they played on the hardtop for most games, which obviously isn't the best place to play soccer.

The first scrimmage he played he had never even been to practice, so he had really no idea what to do and he kinda just stood way back from everyone else. Fast forward a few games and add in a bit of confidence, he was playing goalie and would not let the ball be very far from him at any given time. he turned into a great little player pretty quick. The last game they played he even scored his first goal!!!

But sadly since I was poorly informed about paying for the end of the season shindig and trophies Ethan didn't get a trophy=( I felt so bad, so my husband is going to go up to the corner where they sell and make sports trophies

and where they probably made the ones for our rec center since they are the only right around the corner and been in this city for many years. So hopefully my little soccer star gets a trophy soon.

Wordless Wednesday

6 more days

The count is down to 6 more days of school...yikes...I have no time left...it is here...Summer break. My break is over!

I feel so sad and happy at the same time that my baby boy is going to be done with Kindergarten.

Kids sound so young and little when you tell people "My son is in Kindergarten" But when you have to say 1st grade, that just doesn't sound so little and young anymore=( They sound so grown up.

Like I've mentioned, our school doesn't do a graduation or anything, but for his accomplishment, I want to treat him to something special. I am hoping to get his friend to be able to sleep over next Friday night and a treat and welcome to Summer vacation (Im going to do this for Merci too)...but I also have something else for my little Kindergartner!!

I have on of THESE to give to him after his last day of school!! I'm excited to give this to him, and hopefully he will share one of the surprises with his sister! Not only am I excited to give him this but I am also excited to be able to educated my kids on traditions of other countries! Can't wait to see what he thinks! Im sure he will want to keep the cool cone and fill it up with some of his toys or more likely since he is a boy, use it as a sword;)

This cool gift is a KinderCone, a big cone shaped box filled with little goodies for my boy! In Germany and Austria they call them Schultute's, They are given on the childrens first day of school in 1st grade!

I peeked!! Inside the Kindercone is a plush toy Karli, the main character in the journal that is also inside, to keep track of all the memories of 1st grade! There are also some pencils and temporary tattoos! I'm also going to add a few little things of my own!

What do you do to celebrate the end of the school year with your kids??

"I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of KinderCone and received KinderCone samples to facilitate my review. Mom Central also sent me gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate."

Ethan Eye update

My son has had to wear glasses since he was 1. We go back to the doctor every 3-4 months.

On our last visit a few weeks ago, they decided to see if he could read letters instead of pictures.
He is a big boy now and knows all his letters...and has, but they have always had him look at pictures. I was so happy that he'd be able to make this step up in the world, and new he would feel proud too.

The tech turned on the screen got him at the right height in his chair and asked him to "read" the letters...I immediately saw the wheels turning in my little Kindergartners head...the poor kids was trying to sound out the series of letters instead of say one at a time...SO CUTE. After I realized he was trying to sound them out I explained to him that we only read one letter at a time. After that mix up he did very well.

Ethan's eye are very close to being the same strength, his bad eye is only about 2 lines difference that his good eye...AND he can see 3D which is GREAT...kids with amblyopia usually cannot see 3D!! So yeah for my little guy.

Our plan is to keep patching, but BE MORE CONSISTENT...and we HAVE to do 2 hours...we usually get into a bad rut of 1 hour or forgetting all together, so we need to step up our game a bit...and if we do, he gets a Summer vacation from the patch...and maybe forever!

Since his appointment 3 weeks ago, we have only missed 2 times, so we are doing well!!

It seems like forever in a blink of an eye

Josh likes to go through pictures and pick random ones to use as our screen saver on the desktop computer in the office. Today he chose this adorable one of Ethan like 3 years ago, when he was oh so little and baby looking=)
It seems like Ethan has been in our lives forever
(in both good and bad ways...haha...that 2nd kid is HARD).
When we talk to him about before he was here he has a hard time comprehending an din reality so do I.
It seems like hundreds of years ago we were sending out the baby announcements letting everyone know our little guy was here. But it was merely 5 years ago.

5 years has moved so slowly and so quickly at the same time.
I cannot believe how quickly time has gone and how those few years seem like our whole life in the same instant.

Ethan skated in his first show (this is the first production of any kind he has been part of).
He was so brave out there marching along the ice ever so carefully, with a confidence so new to me.

Looking at that picture and then looking at him perform in the same evening was emotional.

Oh my baby boy, take it slowly...PLEASE.

Have to remember

*The radio was on, rare in this house (wanting to change that).
*Merci was dancing to fulfill her daily 15 minutes of Move it Time for this program the school is doing. Me saying yes to her throwing herself around the living room is rare too (I know, I am a bit uptight...working on that).
*Ethan came in the room and was going to dance with Merci, but it was here time for the shower...late, so she had to hurry. She told him to dance with me, at that moment I didn't have anything to attend to so I said sure.
*I got down on my knees and danced with my boy (felt good to actually have to stoop down to someone else's level for once!!).
*We danced, he kept trying to kiss me...lol...he is a passionate one...he loves to show affection...we talked...it was precious.
*I told him how much I loved him and couldn't believe he was the little baby that was one in my tummy.
*He told me he loved the cats more than me. I wasn't black and white and furry and have a tail
*I assured him I could grow one ;) Then I showed him all the fur on my arms:)
*We cuddled in my bed, he cuddled with daddy too...we all prayed in our bed together and the kids went to bed.
*I grabbed my laptop and got into my bed, where I am now waiting for hubby to be out of the shower.
*Next: We cuddle, and talk, and go to sleep early!

First Day of School 2009

Well here are the obligatory first day of school photos.

Ethan on his first day of Kindergarten!

Merci on her first day of 4th grade.

Amazing how time flies!
This was last Thursday Aug 20th.
Today was their 3rd day.

New season

Tomorrow, Aug 20th. I will be starting a brand new season of life.

Both of my kids will be is school all day long. 8:30-3:30.
I am excited and horribly sad at the same time. My Ethan, my little boy will be in Kindergarten. I had to give up Merci years ago (I did cry), and cried some more because I had a horrible, fussy, difficult baby at home. That horrible, fussy, difficult baby is still all of those to this day, yet so kind, tender and loving at the same time. My son who is so perfect for his teachers (pre-school and sunday school) but not for his momma. A boy that kisses and hugs me more than anyone in this house. A boy that thinks I'm going to talk to the cats and play games (XBOX) all day long since I won't have him. A boy so brave and so shy. A boy who has learned to swim across the pool underwater this year. A boy who has had 7 dry nights (never before has) just to prove to his momma that he is ready to be a big boy. A boy who (again, so opposite, so extreme) loves sugar & veggies equally and nothing in between. A boy who will drink a gallon of liquids, only juice mind you a day. A boy who went white water rafting with his family and was so scared and overcame it and enjoyed himself-and would go again! A boy who drives me crazy but can make me smile like no one else can. A boy who did all he could to get the butterfly bandaid open so his mommy's arm would stop bleeding. A boy who you can find with a sword shoved down his shirt or pants at any given time. A boy who has loved the color orange since he could say the word. A boy I am going to miss so very much.

I'm loosing my baby (we don't plan to have anymore) and gaining freedom Ive longed for since he was born, and now I want to go back, to stop time, to be a better mommy, do so mnay things different. Yet I will be proud of him and his every accomplishment. And I am sure I will be ready to send him back every Monday=)

I can do this. It has been 9 years, do I know how? To be me.

My son woke up a comedian

My little Ethan. What a character. He made me laugh this morning. 2 times. Not to mention Josh's mooing cow alarm. Ethan loves to smother the cats, rub his face in their fur and make these funny singsong noises to them. So I embraced him and did the same. His response was "Meow"....LOL.
Then it was time to get dressed, so he could got o church early to do lights with daddy. Ethan is very, and I mean very particular with the clothing he wears. I asked him to pick a shirt from the hangers (the nicer shirts he has), he came back with a long sleeve thermal shirt, and a pair of camo shorts...daddy said no way. I've learned if it matches don't fight. So we got him to wear a different shirt. As he looked glaringly at all the shirts hanging, he said I don't like those shirts with those things. I tried to comfort him to the fact his shirt did not have a collar so it was OK. His response "dogs wear collars, people don't"...LOL.

He woke up a comedian or I just woke up in a very good mood for once.

I LOVE that kids and cannot believe I will be celebrating my baby's 5th birthday next week!

Wordless Wednesday ::At the River::

Wordless Wednesday ::A day at the Fountain::

Ethan's Kindergarten assesment results

Ethan got to meet his teacher and see his classroom for next year (a few months really).
Merci informed me he got the mean one. Oh well, I guess we are staying with the same results, Merci's K teacher was NOT the nicest. I am sure this one is better though.

Ethan scored 54 points out of 70.
Which makes makes him average.
56 point would be above average.

Personal Info: Able to verbally give
1. First name 2. Last name 3. Age 4. Birthdate (month and day)
5. Street and city (He so totally knows this)

Prints Full Name:
1. Prints first name 2. Prints last name (need to work on this I guess)

Shape recognition:
1. Circle 2. Square 3. Triangle 4. Rectangle 5. Diamond
(maybe he mixed them up? But he does fine for me)

Visual Motor Skills: correctly copies
1. Horizontal line 2. Circle 3. Cross 4. Square 5. triangle

Color Recognition:
Blue Red Yellow Orange Green Black Brown Purple Pink White

Picture Vocab: Identifies and names
Dog Cat Tree House Boat Airplane Crayons Lion
Firefighter (not sure why he missed this one??) Butterfly

Body parts: points to or touches
nose ear chin shoulders elbow knee thumbs eyes heel wrist(kinda a tricky one)

Gross Motor Skills
Hops 2 hops on R foot, Hops 2 hops on L foot, stands on R foot for 5 sec, stands on L foot for 5 seconds, skips forward 4 steps (he gets really confused about skipping...we are working on this in parking lots all over the city!)

He did not perform well in speech, speech sound production.
He doesn't pronunciation very well, and still says some sounds babyish, so we do correct him and will continue to do so.

I am proud of my little man!

Memories never to forget

Today was my little mans first Tball game!
(We got rained out last week)


Those of you who have been through it know....
It is the funnest most entertaining thing to experience.

Our league doesn't keep, score, not outs, and every kid gets to bat.
Perfect for our 4 and 5 year olds.



I decided I just had to document these memories because E was so incredibly cute today!

They put Ethan in the outfield to start with (picture above).
He was pretty bored.

He first walked off the field to come talk to me through the fence.
E: Mommy
Me: Ethan get back on the field right now, we don't leave the field we HAVE to pay attention
E: Um, mommy, after I'm done (this is like 3 minutes after the start of the game)
can I have a slushy??
Me and all other moms nearby: LOL

His next little charade was that I have to tell.

I guess he got bored in the outfield, so next thing I know, he runs to the front of the field and starts running after every single ball hit.
I am of course cracking up, thinking he is way too cute.
Not sure anyone else noticed.
Picture below shows the face of my sweet little guy after retrieving a ball!

What a fun little boy!
This promises to be a Summer filled with fun bright and early Saturday mornings!




I am looking forward to picture day so I can get some cute pics and some sports gifts for all his loved ones!

Wordless Wednesday ::Funny Faces 2 years ago::

Wordless Wednesday ::Potatoe Peeler::

Ethan's Room complete

Before: Purple Room

During: Thinking it may be too bright

After: We love it!
He isn;t spoiled or anything is he??

We need to do something with the armoire, but for now it will do.
Even the purple carpet doesn't look too bad right now.
It will stay.

My Lil Guy

Saturday morning my little rooster was up bright and early and we tried to get him back to sleep, but I am sure you know the out come of that....

E: I just laid in my bed with my eyes open

Then the girl was up, and we had no chance of a quiet morning.
We did however lay around for about and hour, they'd go play for 10 minutes and then be back crawling all over us. We like to lay in bed and fool around with the kids when we have nothing else to do. Josh was playing keep away from E with the beloved sword (I will post about this soon...hopefully), and E just couldn't get it, but was a good sport and cracking up as he tried.
What came out of his mouth was one of the most hilarious things I have heard from him yet...

E: This is the hard level....ROFL.

E loves to play/watch video games with daddy and often refers to himself as Zelda while carting around beloved sword all day long in his shirt...so this was just stinking adorable...this is the hard level, I love it!

3 ngihts

We have had a deal with Ethan for quite sometime, that if he had 3 dry nights
(yep, still in diapers at night), that we would take him to Chuck E Cheese.

He finally did it, so Fri night we had some fun!
And Friday night he wet his diaper ::sigh::

Next 3 dry nights in a row=ice cream...yummy...mommy can't wait.

I love his face here!
It was a roller coaster simulation.

I cannot BELIEVE it

I seriously cannot believe I registered my son for Kindergarten today.
Tomorrow is the deadline for a guaranteed spot in the charter school my kids are going to.
I wanted to cry, I almost did.

The secretary was even in unbelief that he is actually old enough.
But yep, my little baby boy will be 5 on Aug 10.

I am empty nesting.
What will I do??
(oh forget it, I will have PLENTY to do)




Where does time go?

Q is for...

Yesterday I was cleaning of the front of the refrigerator..simplifying, removing old pictures, old magnets giving a good wipe down. I saw that all the letters from the Leap Frog Word Whammer were dirty, so I wanted to clean them.

I turned it into a game with E.
He found the letters put them into the whammer to hear what sound they made and then I would clean them...and line them up nicely and in order, since I am anal like that.

He did very well.
We went over all the sounds letters make and he even gave examples of words that started like that.
I was very excited to see how much he knows, since I do not practice with him as much as I should.

Anyway...here are some of his example:

Q says Qu...like Quala (Koala)...LOL
I says i (short sound)...like egg...

Why does the English language have to be so hard...becasue he was kind right...sound wise.