Halloween Countdown Begins!

Yesterday morning Ethan had a soccer game in Orlando. It was a fair match between the teams, but Ethan's team came out victorious with a 4-2 win! Since we were already in Orlando, we went to IKEA and the mall. The boys were excited to have lunch at Johnny Rockets. I think the adults were hoping for The Cheesecake Factory!

When we came home, we began the first of our Halloween preparations. The boys and I love to bake so you can guess that our first preparation would be holiday cupcakes!

Noah

Paige
Ethan
Emma
Sophia

Will

Today we made our first craft. We went for the simple drawing to break into the holiday craft bonanza. So, here are our Halloween drawings! Can you see any similarities?

More Soccer, More Fun

So Will and Noah won their third game of the season. The team they played unfortunately didn't stand a chance; does anyone really? Here are Will and Noah right as the game was starting. They look relaxed, one might even say bored, but they are about to bring the thunder!

Deer in headlights?

Usually soccer games are calculated based on a number of statistics, including possession time for each team. When Will plays, he has so much possession time, there is no need for statisticians. You just know.

"Hmm, where is everyone else?"

Like a seasoned veteran, Noah works the ball toward the corner.

The little man can dribble, and fast at that.

Looks like the other team brought a knife Size 2 ball to a gun Size 3 fight game. Noah is "untouchable" here.

Will and Noah Win Game 2!

Tonight was Will and Noah's second soccer game of the season and they didn't disappoint. Noah promised me 999 goals before the game started and he was only off by 998. That's right, another big goal from my little man! With some of his constant pressure, he even caused an own goal. I think the boys figured out that this should count as half a goal. So maybe he was off by 997.5? And Will promised me a more realistic five goals and he was only off by one. If math isn't your thing, he scored four goals. I believe the final score was 7-1.

Here is Will right after his first goal. Sorry that it isn't a picture of him actually scoring the goal, but I have to watch the game too!


I told Noah at bedtime tonight that he was born to play soccer - he has been dribbling since he was a baby. I know that this has probably been said to a million kids over the years. It was a first for Noah though, so he thought it was funny.

Is this a young Brad Friedel?

And perhaps a young Jens Lehman?

When the sun goes down...

Yesterday we spent the morning at the fields. Will and Noah had their first soccer game. Will and Noah each scored a goal! Will said he'd get 10,000 goals this season so he now only had 9,999 to go! In the end, they tied the other team 3-3. The afternoon was spent at the grocery store and finishing my 3rd Stephenie Meyer book. I'm going to go through serious withdraw when I finish the 4th book. I started that one yesterday. I'm going to have to force myself to read this one nice and slow.

We went to the dog beach in the evening. The boys had tons of fun collecting shells with the girls. Hanzie and Abby enjoyed stalking all the birds!
Look...he is a ray of sunshine!
I'm thinking that this must be Will's thug look.
Abby trying to figure out how she can take off to the inlet rocks to play!

BFFs. The kids have planned a Valentine's Day wedding for them. They wanted Abby to be one before she married Finley.


Chris has gobs of soccer pictures. I have been trying to convince him to convert them and post some of them. No luck so far!

The Strikers Win

Ethan's team won today! They not only won, they crushed the other team. Let's hope that their first game was like the first batch of pancakes and the rest will all come out perfect! His games run every weekend through November 22nd. I can't wait until the November games when I can sit and watch without sweating! I feel bad for those kids.

Melissa and I decided to ride our bikes to the game. Neither one of us has biked much since we got the puppies and we were sadly out of shape! In the first leg of the trip, my bike tire got caught between the sidewalk and grass in a ditch and down I went! Not at all graceful. Then, Melissa had to stop to potty. When we stopped it started pouring on us and a STRONG head wind came up and then we were freezing. We were only in the rain for a mile or so and then the sun was back to beating down on us! I seriously need to bike more. Of course we were ten minutes late to Ethan's game because it took us far longer than we thought it would. At least we made it! It has been my goal for quite some time to work in a bike ride every night between dog walks. I wish I could bike with Abby but I'm too afraid!

Thursday Fun

MONKEY IN THE MIDDLE!!!!!
No monkeys were hurt in the making.

Ask, and Ye Shall Receive

The masses have spoken, and they want action pictures of Ethan's soccer game that he had on Saturday. Okay, it was really only one person, but I digress.

Anyway, this is the first season that we have Ethan playing competitive soccer. I think it is really paying off, as the kids in this league are far better than most he has played with before. With better players and a great coach, Ethan stands to learn a lot more this year than all of his other years combined. Unfortunately, the other teams are also better at this level and Ethan's team, the SVSC Strikers, lost their first game. It was a pretty even match though, so they have nothing to be ashamed of.

It's The Malache Crunch!

Ethan taking a well-deserved respite.

Going for goal! Ethan is solely playing defense this year, so he probably really isn't going for goal in this picture. It just sounds like a better headline than, "Going for Ball!"

A throw-in for my #1 SVSC Striker!

Meet Ally. She is likely the best player on the field at any given time. She's got great ball control and has all the speed and stamina in the world. Here she really is going for goal.

Who else were you expecting? It's Ethan again. Really, I do take pictures of all the kids, but I don't figure anyone reading this blog wants to see pictures of some kids they don't know.

Yard Work Chaos!

Since I hadn't been very productive all day, the boys and I went out to do some yard work while Chris was at soccer. Naturally, Hanzie and Abby came out with us to chill in the grass while "we" worked. Chris has Abby's tie-out on a stake. So, she was tied out and off to work I went. My neighbor across the street came back from walking her dog and Abby decided that she wanted to go play with Princess. She pulled the tie-out stake straight out of the ground and off she went! Luckily Princess tolerated Abby's over loving greeting. She just jumps and licks whatever dog she greets.
After that display, I got smart and put Abby's tie-out around the sturdy palm in the front yard and all was well...for a bit. Next, our next door neighbors arrived home from picking their friend up from the airport. Of course, Abby's greeting trigger went off and she tore across the lawn to say hi to them. Well, ha, this time she surely couldn't get that obnoxious greeting she desires...or could she??? She tore across the lawn and snapped her collar in half! Off she went to greet the neighbors. Jumping and kissing all over them. If not for the jumping bit, it wouldn't have been much of an issue. She has gotten over her jumping when people come into the house, but not so much when she meets people outside. At this point, she was returned the indoors for the duration.

Abby also has an enemy in the front yard. That palm behind them in this picture is it! She tears gigantic chunks off the bottom like she is in some sort of battle with the tree. She seems happy when she tears off a big chunk and happily taunts Hanzie with her prize!
Noah decided to water the plants out front with a tiny water gun. I tried to convince him that using his watering can would be much easier, but obviously it would not be nearly as fun so he continued watering his way.

Hanzie looks confused by all the chaos. He was just trying to relax.
Uh, yeah, the trouble maker herself!
Noah came to lay down with me this afternoon for a bit and ended up sleeping for two hours! When he woke up he was on fire. I didn't take his temperature so I can't say for sure what it was. I gave him some Motrin and at bedtime it was down to 99.2. Ethan's was 99.5. I'm thinking Ethan needs to go back to the doctor. His ear is still not 100% and it has been over a week. I have also been sick for a week so we are all pretty much exhausted and beat. Hopefully by the end of this week we'll all be better. Last week was rough!

Scenes from the Beach

We went to the beach for a couple hours this morning. It has been very hot and sunny here for the last few days. It was pretty hot at the beach so we spent most of the time in the water. Poor Ethan still can't get his ear wet. He played soccer with Chris and then took a walk down the beach.

There were plenty of waves to keep the kids busy today!
Surf face!

Here are some birds that Ethan encountered on his walk.

Ethan did not win his first game. The final score was 5-3. Hopefully Chris will post some pictures later when he gets home from soccer.

TGIF

My grandmother's memorial services were last weekend. I went to Maryland and stayed at Lori's house. The memorial service at the church was very nice.

Aidan's antics were as funny as usual. He is a big boy now and is in preschool. I think preschool is kicking his butt. He came home completely exhausted and went straight for a nap! He only goes three days a week so he has a day between school to recoup.
Alina woke me each morning with a nice song and dance routine. She is in kindergarten this year.
I was able to go to the Schrader's for dinner on Saturday night. It meant a lot that Mom and Dad came to the memorial services. Dale also made us lots of delicious dinners.

I got sick while I was in Maryland and came home a bit rundown. Of course it was right back into the swing of things at school and I have had no time to rest. Tonight we have no plans so I get to relax! Tomorrow Ethan has his first soccer game. I think he is nervous because he is on a competitive traveling team and there is much more pressure to perform now. I hope they win so he can relax a bit before the next game! Of course his game is at noon when it is super hot! I'm dreading being out there and all I have to do is sit in a chair!

My Mic Sound Nice, Check One!

So we got a new toy to go with our Sony PS3. It's called a PlayStation Eye and is similar to a web cam. I turned it on so the boys could try it out and MC Noah took over. Video editing is by Master C. This is a huge hit at our house and is in a constant "loop" up in here. Check it out, yo!

After Twilight Update

Chris took Ethan to the Twilight Pediatrician today and he has a severe swimmer's ear infection. My confidence in our current pediatrician is about nil now!

Ethan = Earache

Well, poor Ethan is still feeling awful. He went to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon and there were no signs of an ear infection. Still, days later, his ear is killing him and he still has a low fever. I'm not saying that he has an ear infection and I don't claim to have a MD at the end of my name, however, something is causing the fever and pain. We have decided to take him up to Twilight Pediatrics tonight and see what they have to say. He has barely eaten a thing in a week! He is pale, tired, and has a severe earache. The Motrin lasts for a couple hours and then he is completely miserable again.

The boys had their first In the Zone Pep Rally today at school. They all loved it, even though the AC broke in the cafeteria today! Will and Noah have not adjusted to having real homework. Last year their homework took less than 2 minutes to do. This year it takes about 10 to 15 minutes and they are not digging it. I'm talking tears and frustration. It is not too hard for them, they just don't want to focus and get it done. Sadly, at the end of 10 minutes, I'm near tears as well. Having two boys with the look of hate in their eyes because I'm making them do their homework gets a little taxing after the 10 minute mark. Thankfully, tonight is the last night of the week for homework!

Hanna was kind to us and moved further out to sea. Not that anyone in SC or NC wants to hear this, but we have had lovely weather because of the storm. It has been breezy and nice out! Now Ike is barrelling across the ocean. I'm hoping that if it does choose to make Florida a target, I'll be home from my trip. Right now it looks like a Tuesday to Wednesday window if it comes our direction and my flight is supposed to come in on Tuesday at 5:30. Hopefully all turns out okay and if it does come it is after I am home. Predictions that far in advance are always way off and there is still a good chance that it will curve back out to sea.

Manic Monday

Today Ethan has been feeling increasingly worse. He spent the entire day asleep on the couch or asleep in his bed. He did venture out twice as you will read about below.

After dinner we went to Ritter's. Tonight is not only Kid's Night, but also Dog Night. They give dogs free ice cream dishes with a bone on top. Kids get discounted ice cream and free face painting. Will was the only boy to get his face painted. Noah didn't want to and Ethan didn't feel good. Will got a Ninja Turtle. Hanzie and Abby didn't get their faces painted either, but they happily ate their ice cream cups!
I'm not sure if we ever introduced Rover. The boys got Rover just before school let out last year. He is named after a space rover, not a dog!
Ethan on the couch!
The other outing for Ethan was to Chick-Fil-A. If you wore a jersey from your favorite sports team into the restaurant they gave you free chicken strips. So, here are all the boys in their DC United jerseys.
Here is what Mutha Nature has in store for the good ol' USofA! Here is Hanna. There is great uncertainty as where she will make landfall. On the current NHC official track, it will be around the GA/SC border. AS you can see, all the models don't agree and even the NHC says they really don't know! I'm sure we'll have a better idea by tomorrow night. I told Chris that a storm would hit the day I was boarding a plane. Looks like I was right! Even if the storm stays off shore, the local weather stations are calling for 70+ mph winds Thursday night into Friday.

Then there is Ike. Ike is supposed to threaten the US sometime on Monday or Tuesday. Wait, that is right, that is when I am supposed to board a plane to come home!
And this is Josephine, or will be Josephine sometime tonight or tomorrow. Looks like we have some time before this one arrives. Maybe even a day or two to catch our breath!
In all seriousness, we have a very safe home and are not in a flood area. I'm just hoping this doesn't alter flight plans for my Grandmother's funeral. There are actually three of us trying to make our way from Orlando to Baltimore.

It only took a week!

On Friday afternoon, Ethan went around campus searching for me. He had a headache, fever, and said his throat hurt. Luckily it was the end of the day and just about time to go home. I gave him some Motrin while we were still at school and by Friday evening he was feeling a bit better. Saturday he still had the headache and a low fever. Yesterday he was congested, but not really complaining about anything and his fever was gone. Last night, he could not fall asleep because his ear was hurting. Now, today, he is in tons of pain from his earache and nothing is open. Twilight Pediatrics and his regular pediatrician's office are closed. The poor guy will have to wait until tomorrow to get an antibiotic. I'm still amazed that it only took one day and one week of school to get germs! It never fails. They are healthy all summer and then bang!