A fun, long Memorial Day weekend

I love long weekends. It all started with Maddi having her first sleepover birthday party Friday night. Notice she is wearing sweats, it was really cold here Friday. Luckily the rest of the weekend was quite nice. She had a blast at the sleepover. They went on a scavenger hunt and Maddi thought it was so cool. They stayed up past midnight and she says she was the last one to wake up around 7:30. There were 2 girls who barely slept the whole night.
I picked her up around 9:00 Saturday morning and we were off to a dance competition until 8:00 that night. She wasn't grumpy at all from a short night of sleep and they did really well at the competition. It was the last one until Nationals in Myrtle Beach at the end of June. Brett and Cade came to the competition for a few hours and then they left and stopped by Dick's sporting goods before coming home. I realized that every time Brett and Cade leave the dance competition they stop by Dick's. Brett and I talked about this and we were laughing that he must subconsiously feel like he needs to do something "manly" after hanging around dance all day. They came home and enjoyed practicing baseball and enjoying the nice sunny day.
Sunday morning Brett got up and had a 5:30 a.m. tee time with some neighbors. Crazy boys. After he got home we worked in the yard (my favorite) putting soil and mulch in the flower beds, around trees, etc. It was a lot of work, but it needed to be done and it looks nice. I skipped out on the end of the yard work to take the kids to the pool.

The last 15 minutes of every hour at the pool are adult swim. We got there right as they blew the whistle for adult swim. This duck decided to take a swim while nobody was in the pool. The lifeguards jumped in after her a few times to scare her away but she'd come right back in. Once all the kids got back in the pool it didn't look so appealing anymore so she finally left.

The kids enjoyed the spray park during adult swim. The pool is heated, but the water for the spray park is not. They were pretty cold, but they were just very excited that the pool was open and summer is beginning.

Maddi was doing cartwheels all over the spray park. She was just starting one here. We didn't get to stay very long because we had to go back to the dance competition for the company production number at 7:00.

While I was getting Maddi's hair and makeup done for dance Cade was checking the holes in his eyelids while watching tv.

We woke him and put him in the car to go to the dance competition and he crashed right back out. He finally woke up when we got there because he had to walk because I can hardly carry him anymore and Brett's back was sore from playing golf and doing yard work. It was a good thing he had a nap because he was very patient as we waited for Maddi to dance. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings after they danced with another family and we ended up staying until after 10:00. Maddi had a MAJOR melt down when we got in the car and insisted she wasn't tired. When we got home and she saw the clock said 10, she was surprised because she thought it was 8:00 and at that point she realized it was late and it was okay to admit she was tired. And tired she was, she slept in until 10:15 Monday morning!

Monday when Maddi finallly decided to wake up we went to the pool and stayed for about an hour and a half. Then we ate lunch and Brett and Cade were watching a movie and we found Cade asleep AGAIN. Maddi put the bow in his hair and wanted to take his picture to put on the blog. Brett was sleeping too but as we went to take his picture (no bow in his hair) he opened his eyes and said he was just "resting" and heard us taking pictures so he wouldn't let us take his picture. Maddi, Brett and I decided to get outside or all of us were going to end up sleeping the day away. We ended up waking Cade up after a while and the kids played in the sprinkler, rode bikes, etc. with neighbors. Then we went over to another neighbors while we had an impromptu Memorial Day gathering of neighbors enjoying dinner and drinks. The kids and parents were all beat from a long day in the sun and we called it a day. Happy Memorial Day!

Five for Friday

1. PLAY BALL! Cade started baseball last night. It's coach pitch because he played t-ball last year. Let's just say that it was apparent that Cade hadn't thrown, caught, or hit a ball since t-ball last year. He had fun as you can see from the first picture he was catching up with an old teammate from last year instead of paying attention to the coaches. Their team is the Cubs. I know I'm biased, but even though he might not have the best skills as of yet, he's the cutest in his baseball uniform!

2. WINTER, WINTER, GO AWAY....I only got a few shots from practice last night because I only stayed for about 15 minutes. It was so stinking cold and today it's cold and tomorrow should be better. It hardly feels like Memorial Day weekend when it's in the 50s with a cold chill in the air and windy. Sunday and Monday should be in the 80s. Yahoo! I know you people in Texas have been in the 90s so send some (not all) of your heat this way!

3. POOL TIME. Our neighborhood pool opens this wekeend, but you can't pay me to get in the water. They say it's heated but they just filled the pool up a week or two ago so it can't be that warm yet, especially when it was near freezing last night. It has to be 70 degrees for the pool to open each day. It should be 70 this weekend, so the kids are dying to go. Isn't that crazy? 70 degrees to go swimming.

4. TOOTH FAIRY TIME. Maddi lost a tooth this morning before school. She has a sleepover birthday party tonight and we aren't sure if she is going to take her tooth to the sleepover or leave it under her pillow at home even though she won't be here. I'm sure the tooth fairy will find her tooth no matter where she decides to leave it, but I think it would be best to leave it at home. Maddi is concerned the tooth fairy won't come if she isn't here. This is her 8th tooth to loose, so all four top and bottom front teeth are gone. What a big girl!

5. KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS. Since Cade only goes to kinder half a day (2 1/2 hours actually, not half a day. ugh) he ends up running errands with mom quite frequently. Most days he endures it pretty well, others not so much. His new thing when he's had enough of the errands, he tells me "focus mom, focus". Like when I say we're going in the store for butter, milk, and eggs and then start looking at cereal he'll say "focus mom, focus. That's not on your list." Did Brett teach him this? I never say that to Cade. How does he know that I need help with staying focused? Gotta love the kid.

When Maddi woke up yesterday morning she said, "You know how I've had Kit (her American Girl doll) for a while and then I just got my Bitty Baby. Now I don't really want to play with Kit very much, just my Bitty Baby. Is that how you feel about me and Cade? You've had me longer, do you want to spend more time with Cade because he's newer?" What kind of kid thinks of these things? I assured her that I love her and Cade the same and in different ways since she is older and a girl and Cade is younger and a boy but I certainly don't want to spend more time with one of them than the other. Deep thought for such a young kid.

Advice

As the school year comes to a close, please learn a lesson from me that I've learned myself this year. DO NOT volunteer to be a pencil sharpener for your child's class. At the beginning of the year you are all excited and want to be helpful and on meet the teacher night you sign up for all kinds of ways that you would like to help the classroom. As the year goes on and you are asked to do things, you begin to think, why are they asking me to do this? Then you remember that fog of excitement you were in and volunteered your life away to your child's class.

I have been a pencil sharpener for Maddi's class this year. It is the WORST job out there! I should have bought an electric pencil sharpener but I am too stubborn/stupid. Every month Maddi brings home a bag of pencils that need sharpening. The first month they were all brand new never been sharpened and it was grueling to hand sharpen each pencil. I put it off and put it off until I realized the bag of pencils was due back at school the next day. It was late at night and sure I could have gone to 24 hour Walmart to get an electric sharpener, but no...I didn't want to change out of my pjs to go to Walmart when I really just wanted to go to bed. I sucked it up and got them all sharp.

So forget the pain for my hands of sharpening by hand. The WORST part of ALL are the creepy kid germs all over the pencils. Think of first graders....they pick their nose, sneeze on their hands, probably don't wash hands after using the bathroom or eating...you get the point. Then those precious little hands are all over the pencils. Not to mention the pencil eating kids. My hands are now touching the pencils these little angels were EATING! At least the first bag was brand new, germ free. This last bag had a whole years worth of first grade funk.

For the life of me I can't figure out why this teacher lets kids share pencils. These kids are missing out on life. Don't you remember when you were a kid and we had those pencil sharpeners attached to the walls that you could crank over and over and over. If you were bored and wanted out of your seat you could just go hang out at the pencil sharpener for a while. If a whole bunch of kids wanted to sharpen their pencils you could have social hour waiting your turn to sharpen instead of doing your work. (Am I the only one who has fond memories of the old school pencil sharpener? Maybe that's why I volunteered for this job.) If my friend was sharpening their pencil then all of a sudden, OOPS my lead would break and I would have to sharpen my pencil and talk to my friend while she sharpened hers.

This photo shows the fruits of my efforts tonight. I know it doesn't look so bad, but there were A LOT of pencils. I am 3 days late returning the bag that was sent home to me over a week ago! Please oh, please let these pencils last for the remaining two weeks of school. I think I might cry if I have to do it again. Anyway, just take my advice when school starts again in the fall.....DO NOT VOLUNTEER TO BE A PENCIL SHARPENER!

Soccer, football, and parties...OH MY!

Oh, what a fun and busy weekend, as usual. Started out Saturday morning with Cade's last soccer game. He scored 2 goals and got a metal after the game. I had to drop Maddi off at dance before going to the game and Brett called me to tell me to make sure and get a warm coat. It was nice and sunny, but insanely windy and pretty cool. I actually wore my down winter coat and it was MAY 17th! I am so tired of wearing coats....please tell me it will get warm and stay warm!

After soccer Cade had a friend come over and play and Brett did yard work. Later that afternoon they went to pick up his football equipment. Cade was SO excited and so proud. He looked adorable. He proudly wore his helmet and pads while playing on the swing set out back so all of our friends and neighbors could see him in his football stuff.

Everyone always says he looks like a football player and I must say he looks like he belongs in the uniform, huh?

He's playing tackle football, which scares me somewhat. I can't wait to see what he thinks of tackle football. He is beyond excited to play but we're talking about the boy who came off the soccer field crying because he fell down. How will he handle tackling or getting tackled? Stay tuned to see how that goes when practice starts in July.

Maddi wanted to try out the helmet and shoulder pads as well. She just doesn't look like she belongs in them like Cade does. Thank goodness.

Saturday night Brett and I went to the Gala for the kids school and we "won" a movie night basket from the silent auction. The kids were very excited to wake up this morning to see the huge basket of movies, candy, popcorn, and gift cards. The animal they are holding was part of it and it's to lay your head on while watching movies. None of us parents could figure out what the character was from. Cade woke up and right away said "oh, look at the lion from the Horton movie." Brett and I had a great time at the Gala, but stayed out way too late. We went to bed after 1:00 and Cade was up at 6:02 to greet us.

Sunday the kids went to a birthday party and had a blast in the jump house and making tie dyed shirts. Brett and I got to go eat lunch together and went ring shopping while they were at the party.

Four for Friday

1. Gotta love kids. I know I say it all the time, but kids are so funny. They just speak their mind. Cade had a friend over and she (yes, Cade played with a girl. This is a first for sure.) wanted her mom to bring her a Webkin so they could play Webkinz together. She said, "my mom is going to bring me a spotted pony webkin. IF she remembers. She's always forgetting things." To which Cade said, my mom forgets too. Probably worse than your mom. Thanks Cade, I heard that!

Cade also informed us last week that he has actually moved to yellow twice this year. Their classroom behavior system has them all start on green and if they get in trouble they move to yellow, then red, etc. One of the times he moved to yellow was for doing a summersault during calendar time. That's my boy. I'm actually pretty amazed that he's only moved to yellow twice this year. Who knows, it could me more considering that he just now decided to fess up to the two times, there could be more.

2. I got out of yard work! Woo hoo. Cade was going to play with a friend today and I wasn't sure if the friend was coming here or if Cade was going there. We really need to do some work in the yard so I offered for the friend to come here so I could get the yard work done. The other mom insisted that Cade come to their house and I can have the afternoon free. So, off to the mall and other places to run errands and I didn't have to do yard work. I just don't enjoy working in the yard. I like the yard, flower beds, etc. to look nice, but I don't want to do the work. So, now Brett will get to do all the work tomorrow. I MIGHT help him if I'm in a really good mood. My mom LOVES working in the yard and getting dirty and playing in the dirt. I'm pretty sure I am NOT her child.

3. Brett and I have a hot date tomorrow night. Not really a hot date, but we are going to a Gala for the kids school. Last time we went to a Gala Brett had a great time with the stickers for the silent auction and we came home with all sorts of "souvenirs" from the evening. Hopefully he won't "win" so many auctions this year!

4. Getting older. So, I had my birthday this week and it was so nice to have so many family and friends call and send cards, etc. I love birthdays whether it's a kids or adults, I just like thinking back to that special day when our lives began. Since I realize I'm not a "kid" anymore, I am trying to do things that we should all do as we age. One of those things I did was visit the dermatologist. I had all of my freckles and moles looked over (I must say he was very quick considering I have 5 MILLION all over my body. ugh) and I got a green light. He also pointed out how important it is to wear sunscreen and cover up when I'm in the sun. I'll try to be good, I really will.

Another Weekend Gone

Another fun filled jam packed weekend has come and gone. Friday Maddi had a dress rehearsal and we ended up staying later because the kids were having fun hanging out with friends and Brett was gone getting a massage. (We gave it to him for his birthday back in September and he finally used it after I made an appointment for him). We got home sort of late and the kids went right to bath and bed.

Saturday morning the kids woke up early and we watched ET. Yes, the E.T. from when we were kids. They both totally LOVED it. It's so funny, Cade is really intersted in what a speak and spell is after seeing E.T. take it apart and communicate with his family with it. I forgot all about Speak and Spells and realized my poor kids missed out on part of their child hood because they were deprived of a speak and spell. I was afraid Maddi would be upset at the end of E.T, but Brett assured her E.T. would be fine and she didn't even shed a tear. I can remember being so upset and scared as a kid watching him in the bubble. After the movie it was time to get dressed for the first dance recital.

Brett went to get dirt and mulch for the yard and got a little yard work done before he took Cade to play at a friend's and came to watch the first half of Maddi's recital. Then Brett left to take Cade to his soccer game. Maddi and I didn't get home until after 8:30 when both recitals were finished. We were all worn out and went to bed early. Here is a picture of Maddi with Rachel killing time before the recital. They were playing hangman or something.

A quick pic with Daddy before he left to take Cade to soccer. There was one dance at the recital with the itty bitty ballet class that had me in tears. It was the song Butterfly Kisses which makes me sad anyway. The little 2 and 3 year old girls were precious, most of them just standing there looking cute. Then their daddies came out on stage and they twirled them around and the girls hugged on them, etc. It was so sweet. I am so glad Maddi never did that dance because I would have been bawling.

Me and Maddi before the first recital. Saturday was actually nice and sunny and in the 70s. I enjoyed it for a few minutes before being inside for the rest of the day. It was a long weekend watching a LOT of dance, but it's fun to watch my Maddi Girl. It brings back lots of memories of all my dancing days.

Sunday it was crazy windy and cold and rainy. I guess a few ducks decided to hang out in the mulch that Brett had just put down Saturday. They were here for over an hour. We left and went to lunch and when we came back they were gone. The kids were hoping they were going to make a nest in our yard, but it seems that maybe the male was making the female a mommy (if you know what I mean).

Brett and Cade came to the first half of the Sunday recital and then I stayed with Maddi until it was all over. We came home, ate a small dinner and got the kids in bed. Then Brett and I watched the finale of Survivor. It was actually a really good season, and I was sad it was over. I know I'm a loser for loving reality tv.

That's all folks.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies reading this! Being a mom myself makes me realize how special my mom is and all she had to endure through the years. I love Mother's Day. It makes me think of my mom and what a great mom she has been. I also think of my mothers in law and how thankful I am for them and their role in raising Brett. But it also makes me feel so lucky to have my little Maddi Girl and Cade Man. They are such awesome kids and it has been so fun watching them grow up over the last 7 1/2 years. They get so excited about Mother's Day and I always love their cards and their genuine excitment to have a day just for their mommy.

We went to lunch before Maddi's last dance recital. As you can tell from this picture Cade was not in a great mood when I made them take a picture so I could remember them from Mother's Day 2008. He was so angry with me that he said he never wanted to see me again. Isn't that a wonderful Mother's Day gift!?! An hour later when Maddi and I got home from the rest of the recital he was all happy and lovey dovey and sorry for what he had said and done. I just keep telling myself that one day he'll have a child just like himself and maybe, just maybe that child will do the same thing to him on Father's Day.

I am typing this post on my new Mother's Birthday gift. A new laptop! My b-day is this week too and so Brett decided to call it Mother's Birthday. Brett was less than thrilled to find that I had paid a surprise visit home yesterday between dance recitals to find that my laptop was sitting out on the kitchen table. He was trying to get it all set up for me and then he had to leave to take Cade to his soccer game but figured I wouldn't be home and just left it all out on the table. I tried to play like I didn't see it, but I confessed yesterday when he found out we had come home for a bit. Poor guy. He was trying so hard to give me a big surprise, but even though I didn't try to find out about it, I still did. Thanks Brett, for the new laptop!

Happy Mother's Day everybody!

Five for Friday

1. Today was the first grade field trip to the zoo. I think every school in the Chicago area was at the Brookfield Zoo today. It was crazy crowded. I had 4 girls in my group and it was fun. The first picture shows the goose who chased us off at lunch. He was right next to our table and would open his mouth and show his teeth and tongue. The girls would scream and freak out, which is what they are doing in the second picture. I gave him a teddy graham a way off from our table and that only made him want to come right back to us even closer to beg for more food. We ended up grabbing our lunches and finding another place to eat because the girls wouldn't stop screaming. Girls will be girls!

The last picture shows the four girls in my group. Claire, Maddi H, Julia, and my Maddi. One of the girls in my group would get excited and run off to check out whatever caught her eye. I was paranoid I was going to lose her. I don't have the best track record with keeping children that I come with. I lost Cade at the water park at Fiesta Texas. That was one of the scariest moments in my life. A few weeks ago I took some neighbor kids with me to pick up Maddi from school. They were playing on the playground while I went to get Maddi. I came back the playground to find a teacher with a little boy running around in the open area by the street. I thought to myself, nobody is even watching that little boy. What a great parent they are. Then I realized....that's my 3 year old neighbor that I'm supposed to be watching! I am happy to report that I returned all of the children that were under my watch at the zoo today.

2. When will I ever learn? I have told a few people lately that Cade has been doing so well with his asthma and I think he is outgrowing it. Well, me and my big mouth! He had a rough night Wednesday and then Thursday throughout the day he was getting worse and worse. Last night he spend the night in bed with me and Brett in the guest bedroom so we could do his inhaler around the clock. The worst part of having asthma is the night cough. It makes it so hard for him and anyone else in the house to sleep when he's coughing all night long. We have been really aggressive with the treatment and tonight he seems to be doing a bit better. Poor guy. I hope he can get some sound sleep tonight.

3. Gotta love kids. They just tell it like it is. I was kind of teasing with Maddi when I asked her who she loves more...me, or Omie (my mom). Her response? She said she can't answer that! I know what that means. She loves Omie more than me. Thanks Maddi Girl. One day her little girl will love me more than she loves Maddi (I hope).

4. No grape juice allowed. Why is it that whenever kids have grape juice or any other brightly colored juice, they spill? It's never water that gets spilled all over a freshly mopped floor or on a brand new outfit. Without fail when my kids have grape juice they spill and not just a little spill, it's a full glass that gets all. over. the place. Last week when we were signing Mother's Day cards for grandparents Cade spilled his grape juice and it got everywhere. My clothes were stained in grape juice, the chair, the freshly mopped floor, the cards and envelopes. My kids love grape juice, but I just can't let them have it for a long while.

5. Today was dress rehearsal for Sunday's recital. I volunteered to work the concession booth. I don't know why, but I kind of like making nachos and adding up in my head how much the order costs and making change. Takes me back to the MANY baseball concessions that I worked at my brothers games. I get to work it again tomorrow night at intermission. Woo hoo. Here is a video of her ballet dance. Enjoy!

Dress Rehearsal Part One

Tuesday Maddi had dress rehearsal for one of her 3 recitals that are this weekend. She has another dress rehearsal on Friday. She has two recitals Saturday and one on Sunday.

First let me apologize for the quality of the videos. It was dark and it was taken on my camera, which I only know how to point and press the video button. I don't know any tricks or techniques, so watch with caution. Very poor quality, but you get the point. The first one is her hip hop recital dance and she is on the left middle. The yellow outfit is the musical theater recital dance.

Tuesday Tennis

Me and Cade and his friend Kiya went to play tennis Tuesday. It was 80 degrees and sunny. The boys were on the court for about 1 1/2 minutes before they decided it was too hot and they were going to play in the shade. So they hit the ball against the fence a few times and then sat on the bench "cooling" off. There were workers at the pool cleaning it out and filing it back up with water and they boys were more interested in watching them and dreaming of days when they can swim again.
I did manage to get a shot of Cade actually playing on the court.
Maddi got a haircut! I've been wanting her to cut her hair for some time, but she wanted to grow it long. It was her first time to ever have long hair so it was nice for a while, but it was just needing a cut to freshen it up. She came home from school and said she wanted a hair cut and we got right in the car to get a haircut. It looks cute. We had to keep it somewhat long to be able to get it in a side ponytail for dance. She decided not to tell Brett she got it cut and wanted to wait for him to notice. As soon as he came he in he noticed and told her how much how loved the new 'do. She was also trying on her costumes for recital when Brett came in so that's why she's wearing a costume!

Sunny Sunday

Sunday was super sunny and it was the perfect day for a baseball game. The kids school had a reading program where the kids got a ticket to the minor league baseball game for a reward. The whole school got their tickets for the same day, so the kids had a blast seeing their friends at the game. First there was a parade where basically the kids walk out from center field and then around third, home plate and end at first base to get autographs from the players. Cade, Maddi, Jane, and Maddie H. stopped for a picture at home plate.
There were long lines to get the autographs, so each of our kids just got one autograph from the players. I think they had more fun getting autographs from friends on their reading club t-shirt. The whole game the kids were moving around the stands getting autographs. It was so cute.
Cade was so proud of his foam finger. What a goof ball! We were sitting with Maddie H.'s family and she has a little brother who immediately wanted a foam finger when Brett and Cade came back with one. His mom gave in and got him a foam finger too and as soon as he got it he looked at Cade and said "let's fight." I've seen these silly fingers for many years at games and never once did it cross my mind that they could be used as weapons. The boys had a great time "finger sword fighting." Who knew?

The kids went home with Maddie H.'s family and Brett and I stopped at the outlet mall to get Brett some new shirts. We enjoyed our time shopping together without the kids. We picked up pizza on the way home and ate over at Maddie H.'s. The kids were wiped out from a day in the sun and got baths and bed and we called it a day.

It was a beautiful sunny day in the 60s and we even got sunburns. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine I would consider a 60 degree day a day for a tank top, but that's what a Chicago winter will do to you. My body thermometer is warped and I now think 60 is warm and I actually dread a 90 degree swealtering hot day that might come in a few months!

Six for Saturday

1. Happy Half Birthday Maddi Girl! The pictures above are from Maddi's half birthday which was Wednesday. I'm not sure how/why but we celebrate half birthdays for the kids by going for ice cream. I guess from looking at my blog in general we go for ice cream just because we're alive. This family eats a lot of ice cream. My little Maddi is 7 1/2. Makes me so sad.

2. Is it really May 3rd? It feels like it's March 3rd. It's 48 degrees and really windy and just plain cold. Cade had a soccer game and it was so not fun sitting out in the cold. When is it going to get warm and stay warm?

3. Cade is doing great at soccer. Until last week Cade liked to play soccer but was more into the social aspect and the snack after the game. He is finally showing some aggressiveness and is really going after the ball. He scored 3 goals last week and this week. Yeah Cade!

4. Maddi had another dance competition today. They did great again and won 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place out of all the dances in their age group. Yeah Maddi! I love indoor activities. We were inside all day and it didn't matter that it was cold or rainy or windy or anything.

5. Tomorrow we are going to a minor league baseball game. The kids had a reading thing at school and they get to be in a parade and watch the game, get autographs, run the bases and all kinds of fun stuff. It's going to be 63 with ABUNDANT SUNSHINE! Woo hoo for the sunshine! I'll post pics from the game this week.

6. I'm going to chaperone the first grade field trip to the Brookfield Zoo on Friday with Maddi's class. Let's hope that I don't pack her cookies for her lunch again!