All Those Leaves....

Here is your typical raking up the leaves day. With the help of Spencer and Carter we managed to complete the backyard, but not before the boys had a bit of fun first. Surprisingly, this was on a day Spencer stayed home from school with a cough, but as the day wore on and the kids grew more and more restless, I figured some fresh air and fun could be manipulated into helping me tackle all the leaves and we'd all benefit...

The End of a Perfect Season

Spencer just finished up his Flag Football season and had an amazing year. Our little Red Kid has learned and improved so much that he became quite the little star. He showed his speed and knowledge of the game in playing majoritively QB and Safety on Defense. Their team went undefeated and Spencer still reminisces and ask Rob or I what our favorite plays of his season are. His hussle outshines any touchdowns he scored. He tracked down many a boys streaking down the field for a clear touchdown only to rip their flag off at the most opportune time and prevent them from scoring. He even flat out dove twice for the flag and came away victorious once.
His love of football has not waned one bit. If he's not playing or talking or watching football, he's reading his NFL or College magazine. The kid still can't quite ever get enough....Rob and I think we may have created a monster!

Spencer's First Tooth.......Finally!

Finally at the ripe old age of 7, Spencer finally lost his first tooth. His tooth had been loose for sometime and we kept telling him to wiggle it, because his permanent tooth was starting to come in. Rob decided to take matters into his own hands.....he gave Spencer one week to get it out on his own, but if after a week it still wasn't out and was ready, Dad was going to pull it out. Spencer was fairly disconcerted with this idea and I'm sure wiggled his tooth like a banchee the night Rob told him this, ....but 1 week went by fast and sure enough Rob remembered. Before going to bed (this was a Friday night) Rob had Spencer come show him his tooth. Rob got to work and starting loosening and working the tooth with floss, pliers, and even his fly tying scissors.....but don't worry! He washed and disinfected these tools of choice before going to town on Spencer. After Spencer finally realized that it didn't really hurt, he started to believe Rob that it was time to pull it out. Rob gave him the heads up and with 2 quick pulls --with the fly tying scissors-- Spencer's tooth was out! And let me just say that watching this all unfold from my view was absolutely priceless....something I'll (and I'm sure Spencer) will never forget!

School is Beautiful

First day of 2nd Grade was a success....Spencer has been excited these last few weeks to get back to school. I think we ran out of steam in August, plus got sick, and Spencer was getting a bit bored. It's good he's back to routines and structure and of course all his friends. I met his teacher, Mrs. Leedy, and Spencer reported that she's so nice! There were a lot of familiar faces in his class from previous grades and even PreSchool! We surprised him last night with a new LT Jersey, so he proudly got decked out in all his Charger Pride and had a great first day. He announced as we were leaving the house, that he could be the Charger's #1 Fan....and he just may be right.

Carter and The Wind

Okay, so this past summer Carter has developed some kind of phobia of the wind. If he sees the trees moving out the window before we even step outside, the kid has a death grip on my hand and starts freaking out! I have no idea how this all started, but it's really not the greatest. Even camping last month was a trial.... any time the wind picked up, the little guy was running to me or Rob to "save" him from the wind. Why in the world is my son afraid of the wind and how do I break him of it!

Summer 2009

A LITTLE PLAYSTATION.....well actually a lot of PLAYSTATION, Wrastlin! Floatin' down the Columbia River on the 4th, and then the crash at the end of the day......and yes, those are bubbles.

A Spencer Moment...

So we were eating dinner the other night, and out of nowhere, Spencer says the following:

SPENCER: Mom, I wish I was Black.
ME: Why do you want to be Black?
SPENCER: -SILENCE-
ME: IS IT BECAUSE YOUR FRIENDS, SONJE, SOLOMON, AND MICAH ARE BLACK AND YOU WANT TO BE LIKE THEM?
SPENCER: -MORE SILENCE-.....NO, ALL THE GOOD RUNNING BACKS ARE BLACK.....LT, ERNIE DAVIS (from that Disney show), WESTBROOK.....
ME: -SILENCE-
ME: -MORE SILENCE- (WELL, WHAT SHOULD I SAY, THE KID'S RIGHT?!)
ME: WELL, SWEETIE, YES THOSE RUNNING BACKS ARE ALL REALLY GOOD AND YES BLACK PEOPLE ARE REALLY FAST, BUT SO WILL YOU IF YOU KEEP RUNNING AND PRACTICING.

Poor guy, he was so BUMMED! I didn't want to shoot down his dreams. He is a fast kid, but again..... he is right. It's been 2 days and I'm still racking my brain and can't come up with 1 amazing WHITE NFL running back!

Oh the things our kids say! Rob and I had a good laugh later about the whole thing. He's such a football lover and wants to be like his favorite player-- Ladanian Tomlinson, RB for the San Diego Chargers, and he was just so cute about it! He knows so much about football that he recognizes that running backs are in fact Black. I love kids' pure honesty and how they voice their true emotions without worrying about how it all sounds. --Man, I love this kid!

Who knows, maybe Spencer will be the first? -Or maybe we'll just have to slowly transition him to QB or WR....plenty of white guy opportunities there!

Spencer Reaches 100!

Yesterday at school, Spencer reached his goal of running 100 laps at Junior Joggers. To achieve this goal it has meant that every Wednesday that there was Junior Jogger's, Spencer would give up his play time during recess and go run laps. I should mention that this started back in October and that Spencer would plan his outfit accordingly, so he would be able to run really fast.... He would also plead with me every Wednesday morning to have his lunch put in a brown paper bag or have hot lunch, so that he wouldn't have to take his lunch box back to his classroom and thus be the first on the field and have more time to run laps. He has worked so hard and ran somewhere around 50 miles. His legs and feet have hurt and he has enjoyed every minute of it. We're so proud of him for sticking to it and reaching his goal. I thought of taking a roll of toilet paper and having a finish line for Spencer to run through, but Rob thought that was a little over kill. When Spencer got home I asked him if he would have liked my idea, but with a puzzled look on his face he had no idea what the toilet paper was for. Apparently he's never watched very many races and didn't understand the concept of running and breaking the finish line. He probably would have just ducked underneath it. Oh well, I thought it would have been fun, .....maybe next year.

Witnessing an UGLY Moment

Last night I was rummaging through our storage unit for a few items. Right across from our unit was a mom, her 2 boys, and her screaming baby, who were sitting in the front of a really old, rusted SUV. As I was on the phone with Rob trying to locate something, this lady just started screaming at her kids. It's late at night, dark, (and this lady was rather large and rough looking) ---thought I should add that, but anyways, her boys, who were around 10 & 6 were apparently trying to prepare a bottle for the baby. I guess they added too much formula or something that made their mom so irate, I'm not really sure, all I know is that the mom just started shredding those boys with the most abusive and foul language. It was so bad and she was screaming at the top of her lungs. I froze. At first I was thinking, I can't believe she doesn't care that I'm standing so close and can hear what she was saying. I wanted to say something, but honestly was a little frightened of this trashy mom. Think of a mid 35-year old woman who looks like she lived out in the woods in a shack of a cabin and could split wood with her axe with one swift chop. There were a few softball bats in our storage unit, and I thought of grabbing one and going over and beating her with it. I kept trying to think of what I should do, but had a feeling that I might just make things worse for those boys and she might take out her anger on them even more after all was said and done. --Maybe that's just a cop out, but regardless...I can't get it out of my mind. I was instantly so angry and shaky and wanted to go take this lady OUT, how dare she talk to HER kids that way, but I was scared... When I got out of there I called Rob and he tried to make me feel better. I asked him what he would have done, he said he'd have called the Cops. I wish I would have. I wonder if that baby was even in a car seat. They were all shoved in the front seat. There's no way it could have seated 4 people legally. I'm so mad at myself! It was such an ugly moment! All I can think of how horrible it is for those kids. And I didn't say anything. I don't know...I guess I know what I would say and do next time if I was ever in this situation again. But the really sad thing is that I'm sure it's so common for those poor kids and for so many others kids who have shoddy parents. Today, I have made a concerted effort to speak softly and nicely to Spencer & Carter and to take my role and calling as their Mom a little more seriously.

Just thinking about it gets me all worked up again. I don't know, have you ever witnessed an ugly moment like this? What did you do? If, in the future you did, what will you do?

A Nice Surprise....

Last weekend I played in my first USTA Tournament. It was so much fun and to boot.... we even won. I had 2 doubles matches with my partner and we won them both. I had 1 singles match, my very first by the way, and barely managed to pull out a win in the tiebreaker. -Let me just say it wasn't very pretty. I was so stinking nervous! But it is just so much fun to be part of an all girls team and to play competitively at something I love. Unfortunately Rob and the boys were unable to come, because a few were sick, it was a late match, and the whole logistics of having one car just didn't work out. But when I came home Friday night, the first thing I saw when I walked in the door was this awesome poster that my boys had made. It made my whole night. Spencer explained the whole thing: which pictures he colored, and which picture Carter colored, how it was Dad's idea, and he showed me the things that he wrote, and well-- I absolutely LOVED it! I love that Rob thought of me and involved the boys, I love how they had fun doing it, and I love to be loved!

Seattle