Girls Day

Today's weather was perfect for some outdoor fun with the girls. After we spent the morning at the park, we decided to come home and paint birthday pictures for Brady. He is turning the big 6 on Friday! All day long, the girls sang "Happy Birthday to Bwady" and they would sit at the table in the living room with a candle/bowl and sing at the top of their lungs and then take turns blowing out the "no-fire" Very Amusing!

The painting went way better than I thought. And a special thanks to ME, for overbuying school supplies and keeping a tub full of countless boxes of crayons, markers, pencils, and at least three watercolor sets!Cate needed to take a kitchen break. Notice that she made it out of the house without her Minnie Mouse jammies, but she insisted on wearing her pants backwards.

HAPPY BIRFDAY BWADY!!!!

Here is a short video I captured while they were hard at work. Three things that I find very funny on it...1-Their response to my question about how old Brady is....2-How quiet and uninterested Cate is until I ask about what kind of gifts Brady is getting...3-Grace's love for cake and ice cream...screw the presents!!!

Bennett's Book Report

3rd grade...ugh. Monthly book reports...double ugh. After this first report, I have two rules when it comes to future book reports....

1. His teachers rule is that the book has to have more than 100 pages. My rule is that it can have no more than 105 :)
2. Every book he chooses needs to also have been made into a movie. This way I don't actually have to read the book, but I can still help.

Bennett chose The Diary of a Wimpy Kid (224 pages...grrrr). He did a great job with his illustration and we've practiced speaking loud and slow. I know he's going to do great!

Catie "Bugger"

One interesting fact about me is that I'm not afraid of bugs. Spiders, moths, cockroaches, crickets..none of them seem to phase me. In our house, I'm in charge of taking care of all creatures not invited in. And nothing made me more proud than when the boys started yelling about a spider running across our living room and Cate jumped up, grabbed a shoe, and smashed it dead. That's my girl! So, we started bagging our "kills" and hanging them in our kitchen. Hey, don't judge me...we're cool!!

This huge spider was no match for my Cate!

Bag-O-Bugs displayed amongst my favorite pictures and Brady's artwork!

Her first spider...it's in about eight different pieces now because she loves to admire it :)

Big yellow-jacket that sent the boys running out of the room...

Singing the Blues

These past two weeks have been emotionally and mentally draining for me. I've been lost in a deep funk and I'm having a hard time finding my way out. Sports schedules, kids homework, bills, housework, and the zillion other commitments have been very overwhelming for me lately. Ugh, I hate feeling this way. The dream I had Thursday night pretty much sums it all up....

I was running as fast as I could towards a bridge, planning to jump off and hopefully sink to the bottom where I would finally be at peace. People were chasing me but I beat them to it (I said it was a dream) and jumped over the railing....free-falling feet first into....clear blue, calm, warm water. *sigh* I swam my way to the side, hauled my wet ass home, only to get two feet in the door before I heard "What's for dinner?" "What took you so long?" "It's my turn to play XBOX". Even in my dreams, I can't catch a break!!!

Thankfully, we had a really great weekend...only one soccer game! I was ultra-productive...refinishing a piece of furniture, stained our kitchen/dining room island thing, and I even watched some tv. Which, for me, is amazing. I don't think I've watched a full tv show in at least three months. I think I'm finally seeing the light at the end of this crappy-mood tunnel.

Countdown is on for Brady's birthday....five more days :) Here's to a great Monday!

Stray Cat

For the last week, we've had a stray cat living on our front porch. The kids named it "Patches". I'm not much of a cat person...I hate pet hair! And cat pee is the worst smell ever. Anyway, there was no way we were keeping this cat, but it was sooooo skinny and pathetic looking that we did feed it. I called every shelter within 30 miles of our house and no one would take it. The Metro East Hum.ane Society said they might have an opening in the next week or two but it would cost me $30 to drop it off!

After a week of non-stop meowing, two attacks on my dog, swarms of flies, and a suspicious case of ringworm*, I called Animal Control and they came to get it. They were unable to catch it by hand so they used a trap. Cate thought all of this was very exciting! I bleached my front porch and power washed everything that cat came into contact with...it gave me the heebie geebies!

Cate will miss "talking" to her little friend through the windows

*When Brady got out of the shower on Thursday morning, I noticed a quarter size blister on the back of his neck. I emailed his teacher and asked her to take a look at it and maybe send him to the school nurse. About an hour later she called to tell me it was ringworm. I almost died!! Just the night before I had watched a show about flesh-eating viruses and I couldn't call our pediatrician fast enough! They assured me that it's nothing more than a fungus that is often caused by being sweaty or sharing towels or sports equipment and that a lot of kindergarten kids develop these rashes. Then the nurse asked if we had a cat and that sometimes animals can spread ringworm to people, but it's very rare. And even though Brady never touched the cat and it didn't come into our house, I can't help but think that maybe that's how he got it. And the treatment for such a rash? A tube of jock-itch cream :) The nurse assured me he's not contagious and does not need to miss school..she said if that were the case, highschool wrestlers would miss most of the school year. GROSS!!!

So glad that's all over and done with.

Ugh

Cate is still obsessed with her Minnie Mouse nightgown. I think we're coming up on the 1 month mark...so ridiculous. She's been pretty good about not wearing it out of the house, but she leaves it in the foyer so as soon as we get back, she puts it on. I'm starting to think that this nightgown has taken the place of her pacifier. She hasn't had one of those in about a month....coincidence???

But, as a veteran of this mothering crap, I've learned to pick my battles, and this is not one I'm willing to fight. I've got bigger fish to fry around here.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

After school, Brady's teacher told me that today in class they were talking about respect and attitude. She asked if anyone could share an example. Brady stood up and said "my mom shows respect to our family because she's stuck at home with Cate all day and she still has a great attitude" Brady is currently my favorite.

Cate Video

I am trying to figure out our video uploading system. I hope you can view the video in a larger screen. Anyway, this is a short video of Cate talking about her bff "Gacie" falling at the pool and getting a tiny cut on her foot. Whenever Grace gets hurt she says to herself "Poor Gracie". It's hysterical!

CMS

Carter is in his final year of middle school....I still can't believe he'll be in highschool next year. Dear Lord, please send Carter through a massive growth spurt (up not out). Soon. Amen. On Tuesday, we attended his National Junior Honor Society initiation ceremony. At one point during Principal M's speech, she was talking about how this group of kids is CMS's most"elite" students and the "best of the best"...Carter actually stood up and looked around like he thought he was being punked! Who me? Elite? It was hysterical. Anyway, we are very proud of his acceptance into this club and I hope he makes the most out of this leadership program.Alina and Carter before the ceremony. They have been friends since kindergarten :)

Randi, Abbie, Carter and Alina.

Carter's biggest fans...aka his grandparents :)


Alina and Abbie love to torture Brady :)

Photo-bomb!

Friday night was the first CMS dance of the school year. The theme was "school spirit" and everyone was dressed in red, white, and black. We dropped by to take pictures before heading to the first highschool home football game

Logan, Zack, and Carter. Now that's some school spirit!

Lexi and Abbie. I know what you're thinking...yes, Abbie borrowed my jean shorts

Cate ready for the first football game. The bow only lasted through the drive :(

Brady, Cate, and Bennett...ready for some football! GO WARRIORS! They won :)

Cate loved dancing at Carter's dance. She parked herself right by the dj and jumped around til we left!

Cate Goes To School

Last week, Cate and I attended a drop-in preschool class at the ECC. She loved it! Playing with the babies was her favorite and she was very excited to see a Barney doll in one of the toy shelves. During storytime and songs, she sat quietly and soaked in every word Mr. Mark had to say. She even stood up and sang all of the songs with Miss Ann! I think she'll be ready for pre-k next fall (I know I will be!)

Soccer

Soccer season has begun. Three months of non-stop practices and games. Bennett decided to play this year, so that brings my weekly total to seven practices and approx. 4-6 games on the weekends. Crazy busy around here.

Carter's U13 Scott Gallagher team. How did he make the top row of this picture?!

Even though Bennett is only 8 years old, in the world of ridiculous pee-wee sports, he is late in starting soccer. (At 8 years old, Brady will already have played select soccer for three years!). But Ben is athletic and has picked up the game way faster than we expected. And he really enjoys playing...even running!

I don't have any pictures of Brady playing yet because his first game was rained out and his next game isn't for two more weeks :( Yesterday he said "I hate this weather" and I said, "I know you're really disappointed about your game being canceled" and he said "I'm not disappointed, I'm pissed" Just tellin' it like it is, that's our Brady :-)

Cate is such a trooper during our wild soccer weekends. Thankfully, we have a lot of family that comes to the games to cheer on the boys, and everyone keeps her entertained. Last weekend, it was so hot at Carter's game and Cate loved playing with the "fweezing cold" wash cloths Grammy brought!

Bennett's first game was in O'fallon and happened to be at the same time as the Scott Air Force Base air show. I'm a scardy cat when it comes to airshows and I'm not sure I'd ever take my kids to one, so it was nice to be able to watch it from a safe distance :)