Colts Soccer- the Miracle Season

Soccer is officially over for the season. The kids are beyond bummed, John-Robert keeps asking if he has practice. Emma-Rae's team was undefeated this year. Go Colts! Both kids had the privilege of having excellent coaches. Thank you Coach Mike, Coach Gigi, & Coach Laura! John-Robert played micro-soccer, 3 on 3. Along with his buddy Emma they were the only 4 yr. olds playing, everyone else was a big kid- kindergarten is the big time according to the Pre-K set. John-Robert is a natural dribbler even if he didn't really want to play the whole game. Coach Laura always had to ask him if he was ready to give someone a break and he would hold up a finger and say, just ONE more time. At one point he even asked if Mama could go in for him, I politely declined. Emma-Rae had a great season. A few of the really nice things Coach Mike said about her at the post-season soccer party are as follows... Emma-Rae is the kind of player you want to have on your team. She always smiled, always cooperated, she is an excellent defender with a "big foot," and scored the last goal of the season in the 4th quarter. Go Emma-Rae & John-Robert!!! We are so proud of you both!

Uncle Fudd's Farm

Last week we went on John-Robert's first field trip to Uncle Fudd's farm. What an experience! On the way out of town we stopped by Walgreens to pick up a few "lunchables" we just happened to be completely out of bread that morning & the requisite mustard & turkey sandwich was therefore unavailable. He didn't seem to mind as I let him pick out some gum for himself & Sister.

The farm is about 30 minutes from school, during which he spent the whole time worrying if I was going to leave him at school after the field trip or take him to work with me when we were done. We happened to pass Miss Cynthia's street a few minutes before we reached the farm and my smart boy remembered it was her street, pretty good seeing as how we don't normally drive past her street and he's only been there twice.

When we arrived at the farm we had to park in a muddy corn field, not good. My Honda Civic sits approximately two whole inches off of the ground and I immediately began to pray that some Dads would be around when we left in case we got stuck.

The kids had the best time playing tug of war, petting & feeding the animals- according to John-Robert he's never seen an "animal" before. All of our pets & the dogs & cats at the clinic don't count, they aren't REAL animals you see. John-Robert's favorite activity was the hayride to the pumpkin patch. During the hayride the children were told to look out for a variety of "clues" that would let them know when we were getting close. John-Robert's favorite clue was a naughty bunny who riding a tricycle. When we arrived at the pumpkin patch I immediately noticed several deer tracks, we had a good time following them until they disappeared. John-Robert picked out a pitiful greenish pumpkin, it's only saving grace was the pretty blossom attached to the stem. After a train ride, quick lunch, and some playground time our adventure was over. John-Robert did get to go to work with me, he was quite relieved whereas Emma-Rae was quite peeved. It wasn't fair that John-Robert got to go on a field trip and to my work, I'm sure I'll make it up to her if I already haven't.

Halloween Is Over

Halloween is over and it was great! Our Halloween celebrations began a few weeks ago with a bonfire party and pumpkin carving marathon with our friends across the street. Emma-Rae & John-Robert's best friends Kaitlyn & Zachary were on a Disney Cruise over Halloween so we decided to get the party started early. The kids had a blast making s'mores,
well ...the girls made s'mores, the boys just enjoyed setting their marshmallows on fire and seeing "how big their fire could get," the boys are only 4 yrs. old after all, what did we expect? Their pumpkins turned out great thanks to the ridiculously complicated templates Miss Angela provided and the cool battery operated color changing lights I picked up at Garden Ridge, no more smoking pumpkins or melted candle wax!

We spent Halloween with Aunt Staci and her crew. We met at Aunt Staci & Uncle Dave's new house to eat some BBQ before heading over to Miss Wendy's neighborhood to trick or treat. Us grown ups had the privilege of escorting Mulan(Emma-Rae), a cheerleader(Taryn), two ninjas (Jimmy & Ryan), a skeleton(James David), & Robin(John-Robert) on a candy gathering frenzy. Every single kid wiped out at least once because I swear they thought it was a race to see who could get the candy first, they had a hard time remembering what it means when the porch lights are out & to say thank you, and were complaining about their feet near the end, but all & all they did really well.

There was a cool "haunted house" set up, John-Robert was really nervous and kept chanting "Robin is not scared" over & over until we got to the scary monster passing out the candy with bony fingers, "Robin" decided he didn't want anything those bony fingers touched and passed on the candy. I was so proud he made it, I don't want him to be scared of the Haunted Mansion when we go to DisneyWorld in a few weeks because it's one of my favorite rides. I told him he was so brave, the Haunted Mansion was going to be great, I think he almost believed me until John jumped out and scared him to death on his way out, bad Daddy! Oh well, he'll be the one waiting outside of the Haunted Mansion with a scared kiddo, not me!


Now I'm in the mode of constantly reminding the kids to throw the paper from their candy away, scraping Laffy Taffy off the dining room table, sitting on top of John-Robert so I can wipe his sticky hands, and snatching suckers out of Gigi's mouth before they get stuck in her hair. Isn't Halloween the best?