You've Got Your Hands Full......

Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T21:23:00.002-06:00

Cate meticulously filled out cards/pencils for each of her classmates, Brady was less attentive but got the job done, and Bennett just threw a bunch of fruit snacks in a bag and called it a day.

We made these bunny cards to send out, I think they're super cute :)

No fancy dinners or hot dates around here...just a lame card exchange between me and Scott (his wasn't even signed or out of the Hallmark bag). The kids did enjoy their class parties and because poor baby Hadley was home sick, I was able to go to Cate's party. She was very happy to have me there and I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's gift (and huge thanks to Candi for manning the craft station with the glue...I owe you one!) We gave each of the boys new shoes (Brady got two pairs because I found an awesome deal) and Cate got some new eating utensils, plate, bowl, and running shorts. Overall, it was a very relaxing "holiday".

Hope everyone had a great day too!

A Night With The Redbirds

2012-02-13T14:08:00.008-06:00

Last Friday, Scott was invited to attend a charity event at Busch Stadium. Aunt Fran is on the Board of Directors for Nur.ses for Newborns and they were hosting a party to raise money for the organization and honor former Cardinals pitcher Jason Isring.hausen. The event was "Black Tie Creative Cardinals Attire" so I found him a Cards tie and he wore his red coaching shoes.

Epic Fail.
Thank you Uncle Josh for fixing his tie :)

Josh, Scott, Jenny, and Fran in the Cardinals dugout

How awesome is this picture?

Right at home in the managers spot!

Talking baseball with Jason Isring.hausen...or probably more like making fun of a mutual friend ;)

Josh, Scott, Isring.hausen, Elaine (aka Grammy)

The crew with Jason Isrin.ghausen and John Ma.bry

Elaine, Mike Math.eny (new Cardinals manager), and Scott

Fran and Jenny with the World Series trophy!

Scott came home talking a mile a minute about all of the cool stuff he got to see and do. It's not everyday that you get to hang out in the announcers booth, team dugout, and have dinner with coaches and players. Huge thanks to Fran for the invite and Elaine for taking pictures...it's a night he'll remember forever :)

0,1,2,3,4

2012-02-09T19:52:00.012-06:00

Four. Sniff Sniff. Seems so much older than three. Let's look back, shall we?

2.5 days old and already thoroughly annoyed at the noise level in our house. Get used to it sista...

Ready for her first birthday party!

2nd birthday party...hair is finally coming in!

3 years old! (hair is falling out!)

4 years. She looks so grown up...when did this happen?! :(

Miss Cate...you are so full of personality and you are constantly entertaining all of us. We love to sit around the dining room table and listen to your stories. You are very much into pretend play and often sit in your room with your "pretend Rhett" and play house. Bennett thinks this is ridiculous, but I find it hilarious! (your dad is not thrilled that you already have crushes on your brothers friends!) I love to listen to you "read" stories to your babies or "talk" on the phone to your grandmas. Your desire to pick out your own clothes has been rough for me, but I'm working hard to step back and give you the freedom to let your personality shine. Your hair is finally growing thick and long and you've had over four haircuts this year!! I love the way you sweep your bangs away from your eyes with your sweet little hand...it always makes me smile :) You currently weigh 32 pounds, up three pounds from last year. You still sleep with us and your dad and I both agree that 10+ hours guaranteed sleep has been well worth it. And you're still a rockstar sleeper...you fall asleep a few minutes after you lay down and we always have to wake you in the morning. Your favorite tv shows are Dora the Explorer and Gator Boys. I have no idea why you love watching those guys wrestle alligators but you know just where to find the recordings on our DVR and listen intently to every word they say. You still call your brothers "my boys" and they still cater to your every need. You are closest with Brady who is very patient with you even when you don't deserve it! Much to my dismay, you love school and have great stories to tell each day when you get home. Your teachers are so sweet to you and they all look forward to seeing what you're wearing each morning...cause you just never know :) Catie Bug, you've brought lots and lots of pink to our once very blue house and we couldn't be any happier. I hope your year is filled with all things great...just like you :) Happy Birthday Baby Cate!!!!!

four.

2012-02-08T21:53:00.002-06:00

Today is Miss Cate's 4th birthday. I would post lots of great pictures except I can't...I have yet to figure out how to transfer pictures from my new printer to the computer, so that'll have to wait. Anyhoo, when Cate woke up this morning she said "Am I really four now? I can say I'm four? Right now I'm four??" Weeks of birthday talk and it's finally here...she could hardly believe it :) After I dropped her off at school this morning, Hadley and I ran to Gus' Pretzels to pick up treats for her class and teachers. When I walked back into her classroom, she was wearing a bright red formal dress and white dress shoes...Mrs. B said she puts a different dress-up outfit on as soon as she gets to school each morning! We had a pretty low key afternoon and tonight she chose Si Senor for dinner. Brady shook things up with an almost-ER visit after hitting his head really hard while playing hockey. His doctor decided it did not warrant a trip to the hospital but she does want to see him tomorrow. Good times, good times.

Promise a proper birthday post tomorrow......

Skating Videos!

2012-02-04T23:46:00.005-06:00

As promised to my dad, this is a video I took from the skating party we went to tonight. Brady is in orange (he and friend Gannon tried to torture Bennett and Kadin all night), Bennett is in all black, and Cate is in pink on pink on pink on pink on pink..you know, the crazy one in the middle of the rink by herself like she owns the place :)
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I find this next video very funny. Cate was doing some sort of pretend play in the middle of the rink the entire two hours. She would talk to herself (including hand motions of course), practice the limbo, and she had some sort of dance routine going on. And obviously she was not worried about getting run over by the other skaters!
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Ya Just Neva Know....

2012-02-01T16:38:00.002-06:00

8am it's a tiara and shades...
12pm it's sliding shorts and a cup

Hadley Turns 1!

2012-02-01T12:27:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was Hadley's first birthday. We celebrated by going on a "field trip" to Target, the cupcake shop, McDonald's, and Cate's favorite park. She doesn't realize how lucky she was to have 65 degree weather on her birthday...we definitely took advantage of it!

Happy Birthday Haddie girl!

And speaking of birthdays, someone else will be celebrating soon.....
Catie Bug turns 4 next week! After one million hours working on the invitations, and two million hot glue burns later, they're all finished and have been delivered. We're gearing up for a pink party on the 12th!

Soccer~Downtown Disney

2012-01-26T14:27:00.007-06:00

Sunday was our last full day at Disneyworld. Boo hoo! Carter had soccer games at 12 & 4 so we planned to spend the entire day at Wide World of Sports then head to Downtown Disney for dinner. The sun was shining bright and it felt great to soak it in one last time!

On the way to the first game, we took a charter bus hired by the tournament. It was a huge over-the-road bus and it was packed! The bus driver let people sit on the floor and double up seats to accommodate more people(a tad bit illegal I think). I had one kid on my lap, one next to me, and three bags. My camera bag ended up getting shoved under the seat in front of me and when I reached to take a picture at the WWS entrance, I noticed it was missing. Worst feeling ever! I was seriously sick to my stomach...not to have lost my camera (which is the most expensive item I have ever bought!) but that five days worth of pictures had been lost. I walked back to the bus drop and the very helpful guys working radioed the bus driver and he found my camera bag buried under a seat. They put it on the next bus and I received it just 30 minutes after realizing it was gone. I was so happy!!!

Carter's team was pretty much over-matched the entire tournament. Some of the teams there were absolutely amazing. In fact, a lot of the kids don't even play organized team soccer, they only play 3v3....and you could tell! They were awesome. But Carter had a great time and played really well.
In between games, we sat in the baseball complex and watched some very minor league baseball. There was an airplane sky-writing some biblical inspirations! Carter went with the Hurfords to Fuddruckers for lunch...I think he needed to get away and be with his friends!
Sunday night, we headed for Downtown Disney to eat at T-Rex. Carter chose to stay back at the hotel and hang out with Zach. They swam with the rest of the team and who knows what else!Bennett was mortified that he was sporting the same sunglasses tan line as his dad!!T-Rex is a very cool restaurant.
I bought this Tinkerbell skirt for Cate's birthday while she was asleep in her stroller. As soon as she woke up, Brady threw the bag at her and let her open it!! So much for it being a birthday present!
Great picture of Cate having a meltdown. It was her one and only major meltdown and only lasted about 3 minutes. Not bad for it being 11pm on the 6th night of the trip!! But realistically, there is no need for meltdowns when you have seven adults and three brothers willing to accommodate your every need :)

On Monday, our bus didn't leave for the airport until 12:00, so the kids had all morning to swim and play at the playground.
I did not get to enjoy the pool because Scott and I had to try and pack this tornado of a room! I thought it was funny when my sister commented that it's pointless to pay more for a bigger room when you aren't in it very much...of course, she had TWO people staying in her room and we had SIX! Aunt Fran and some of her favorite people! See where Cate is sitting? She looked like this the ENTIRE trip. I was looking forward to getting home so I could actually see her :)

And that's the end of my pictures :( Disneyworld 2012 was the best time!! Looks like Brady will be joining the 3v3 circuit this year...so somebody warn Disney...we're coming back in 2013!!!

Epcot!

2012-01-26T10:21:00.009-06:00

Saturday morning, Carter had his first two soccer games. Soccer? Oh yeah, that's why we're here. Anyway, his games were at 8:30 and 9:30 and because the other kids were exhausted and could use a day to sleep in, I stayed back and Scott, Fran, and Elaine took Carter to his games. The Wide World of Sports is a massive facility...massive! Carter's team had a very rough first game and ended up losing the second game in the final seconds of play. Everyone arrived back at the hotel by 10:30 and we were off for a day at Epcot!

"Those Guys"
We didn't go to Epcot last year because we chose to go to Magic Kingdom two days. I hadn't been to Epcot since I was in highschool and we weren't sure how much the kids would enjoy it. However, I was surprised at how much fun we all had and it's the one park that both Ben and Brady talk about the most! I guess it just had a much more laid back feeling than the other parks and it wasn't crowded at all.
Scott and I took Cate to meet some characters while everyone else went on a ride. Here she is showing them her newest autographs!
The Little Mermaid ride was really cool and they had a huge aquarium with dolphins and all sorts of sea creatures. The "Turtle Talk" show was one of our favorites. Very funny interactive live show...I highly recommend it dude :)

After visiting with Alice in Wonderland, we ate Fish N' Chips in the United Kingdom.
When we were finished eating, Grammy, Fran, and Bau Bau took the boys to the Test Track ride. Cate is too small to go on it, so Scott and I set off with her to meet some more princesses. Ahhh, it was the most relaxing 2 hours of the entire trip!!
Getting her "beast" face ready
I'm pretty sure being the beast would be a crappy job. He basically makes kids cry all day. I'm glad Cate wasn't scared and gave the poor guy a big hug!
I really enjoyed strolling through the different countries and people watching
Cate saluting the flags
I know I've mentioned it before...but look at the lack of crowds!!

When everyone finished the Test Track ride (which was the boys absolute favorite of the entire trip), we headed to Soarin'. It was soooo cool. Definitely worth a trip to Epcot. Grammy, Fran, and BauBau stuck around for the 9:00 fireworks, but the rest of us headed back to the hotel. It was getting cold and the kids were hungry and basically Scott decided we were leaving. This was our final day at the parks and we were all sad to walk through the gates for the last time in 2012. But, it was nice to get back to the hotel early, eat dinner, and let the kids play in the arcade for awhile. Another very successful day!!

Hollywood Studios

2012-01-26T09:35:00.005-06:00

This vacation recap has been nearly impossible to finish. We came home from Orlando to find our computer tower had completely stopped working. So, I'm trying to use Carter's laptop to upload photos, etc and it's nowhere near as Debbie-friendly as my computer. My wonderful, brilliant Uncle Joe is currently fixing my computer so I'm hoping to be back up and running soon.

On Friday, we spent the day at Hollywood Studios, formerly known as MGM. We met more characters, saw lots of shows, rode all of the rides (some even twice) and the weather was again awesome. Carter and I rode the Tower of Terror (there was no line!!), Cate loved the Beauty and the Beast musical, Ben's favorite was the Star Wars ride, and Brady's favorite was the Toy Story ride (which broke down and we ended up waiting forever to get on!)

Crazy Aunt Kathy bustin' a move

Magic Kingdom

2012-01-21T20:40:00.009-06:00

Magic Kingdom is my favorite park because it's.....magical. When you walk through the gates and see the castle, angels sing. For real. Thursday was a perfect 78 degrees. Low crowds + warm sun = Disney paradise!

Notice the lack of crowd in front of the castle...that never happens! Cate was able to meet all of her favorite princesses and even meet a fairy or two! Scott saw his two favorite parades and I rode Space Mountain. I'd call that a very successful day :)

Ben and Brady love the Buzz Lightyear target shooting ride. Ben challenged me and I whipped his butt. I've got the picture to prove it!

Entertaining themselves by feeding a flock of birds
Cate played on the hopscotch a cast member drew before the parade started

Bennett spent the time napping (go figure!)

Ariel waving to Cate!

While waiting in line to meet the fairies with Cate, I captured this photo of Carter um, dancing??

After the fireworks, the park cleared out and we were able to ride whatever we wanted with zero lines. I rode Space Mountain with Carter and then we did the Buzz Lightyear ride a few more times.Inside Cinderella's Castle. It was so cool to be able to walk around and through the castle with no one else around. It was like having it all to ourselves! And for like $25,000, we could have extended our stay and slept in the room at the top of one of the towers. Maybe next time...or not!

Bennett, Walt, and the Castle....three American icons, or maybe not :)

Day 2 was another awesome day...closed down 2 parks in 2 days..what does that mean for Friday??

Disney!!

2012-01-19T10:15:00.021-06:00

Warning: next 4-5 posts contain A LOT of pictures!

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Disney 2012 rocked!! We had so much fun and the warm Florida sun was just what I needed to get over my post-Christmas-pre-spring funk. Every time we're in Florida Scott asks "and why don't we live here?"

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This year we decided to fly out Tuesday evening so we had a full day Wednesday at a park. I picked everyone up after school and we headed straight to the airport. Baggage drop-off, security check, and flight boarding all went smoothly and before we knew it, we were on our way!

Eating in the STL airport. In addition to our regular 9 (us + Grammy + Aunt Fran + Bau Bau), my sister Kathy and niece Ann joined us this year!

Orlando airport

We arrived at the hotel around 10pm and our luggage finally made it to our room at 1am! I was starting to get worried that what we were wearing would be all we had for the week :)

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Wednesday came with a very good chance for rain, so we decided to go to Animal Kingdom. A lot of the attractions are under cover and since it's a park that you don't need a ton of time for, we thought it was the best choice. We did end up staying til close and I think we got to see and do everything on our list.

Brady loved the flamingos...he could not figure out how they stood like this!

The Lion King is one of my favorite shows at Disney. Cate slept through it last year but this year she was wide awake and chosen to be in the show!

Brady says he wants to be a "flying monkey" when he gets older (obviously the perfect job for him!)

Cate's favorite part of Disney World was meeting all of the characters and having them sign her autograph book...she went through two books! I have at least 200 pictures of her with every princess, fairy, and stuffed character we could find!

With 11 people, coordinating meals and what rides to ride and when, was not an easy task. However, it went a lot better than expected...no fists thrown or blood shed!! Actually it was more like "where are we going now?" followed by 10 "I don't cares"!!!

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Scott's favorite part of Disney World are the parades. Animal Kingdom has a really cool 3:00 parade that circles the park. It's short and sweet and it wasn't crowded so our seats were front row.

We were caught in one major rain shower. Actually, everyone except me, Ann, and Bau Bau were caught in the rain...we took cover while everyone else was on a ride!
Soaked but it was a warm rain :) and there was no slowing us down!

I can't figure out if Cate was unsure about Pluto putting her Brady in a headlock or if she was mad that she was going to have to share a picture with her brothers!!!

A Bug's Life 3D show. The kids really loved it. One of the staff members thought it would scare Cate because it was really dark and bugs fly at you from everywhere but she thought it was really funny.

Once the park closed, we headed to Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Delish!

Ben thought it was funny to create the illusion that he was taking a drink from the elephant fountain ;)

Once back at the hotel, the kids went swimming. It was cold, but the pools were heated and the kids are stubborn enough to insist on sitting in the pool long after their lips have turned blue :)

GREAT first day at Disney!!

Thursdays Park...Magic Kingdom (ooohhhh ahhhhh)

Waaaahhhhhh

2012-01-17T18:34:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, we were in Orlando and the kids were swimming in the outdoor pool...today we're back in St Louis and it's like 18 degrees. Boo hoo!

Disneyworld survived the Smallie's! I only have 547 pictures to go through...stay tuned :)

Disney Bound...

2012-01-09T19:10:00.003-06:00

If anyone needs to get ahold of me in the next seven days, too bad. I'll be in the

House of Mouse!

Cate was looking through our album from last years trip and told me "this will not be happening this year!" She's made it very clear that she will be awake for everything!
We're all packed and ready to go. The kids are bouncing off the walls with excitement (and so is my sister). Ipods, Kindle's, DS, phones, laptops, and cameras are all charged and their coordinating chargers tucked away in my carry-on (in other words, don't worry about robbing our house, everything worth anything will be with us!) It was 81 degrees today in Orlando and besides a chance of rain on Wednesday, I think temps are supposed to hold steady in the 70's. Woo to the hoo!!! Bring on the Florida sunshine, the Smallie's (Marks, Litzelman, & Wojtowicz's) are comin'!

A New Year

2012-01-04T20:25:00.005-06:00

Goodbye to 2011. I am so glad it's now in my rearview mirror. What a year! In review, I'd say the first five months held some of my very favorite moments ever and the final seven months were mostly depressing and stressful. Well, not completely depressing, but I'm definitely happy to be closing that chapter.

We started the year with a trip to Disney. And they aren't kidding..it really is the most "Magical Place on Earth". I'd never been a big Disney fan (in fact, I once considered it a "glorified Six Flags" *gasp* Dear Walt, please forgive me.) but the moment I walked through the gates at Magic Kingdom, I was forever changed :)

Then in April, I ran my first half-marathon with my two best friends. What a long, painful road it was getting there (right Ness?!) but so very worth it. I'll display my medal forever (and will be buried in all of my race tshirts..remember Elaine, you're in charge of this)!

Jen, Nessa, and Me...at the Finish Line...U of I Memorial Stadium. WE DONE IT! (this will be the only picture I post today because it was probably the best moment of 2011 and needs a lot of attention :)

A week after the race, I turned 35 and everything went downhill from there. For real. Lack of motivation to do anything and lots of emotional moments from there on out: two of the biggest being Carter starting highschool and Cate starting preschool. Boo hoo!!!

But the bad, stressful times make the good, happy times that much better, right? Fo sho. And, in the end, I'm thankful for all of the fantastic and craptastic moments of 2011 because I had my family with me through them all.

And, finally, what I was most grateful for in 2011 (and years 2001-2010) is that none of the stress and low times were caused by my marriage...something I often take for granted. Yes, there are days when Scott knows better than to walk near the car when I'm behind the wheel ;) but we're a team and in it for the long haul. Life is so much easier when you share it with someone that can make even the crappiest of days seem good :)

And there you have it....a half-ass attempt at a year end review. I'm very excited for what 2012 has in store for us...Disney again (in 5 days!!), .....titles are changing~~Hello Great Uncle Scott and Great Aunt Debbie (we've always known we were great, this just makes it official)....baseball trips to Kentucky and KC....maybe a few days at a beach :)....more soccer...lazy days at Paddlers...ahhhh it all sounds wonderful.

Sorry to say it 2011, but I'm moving on....

HEELLLLOOO 2012!

First Snow

2012-01-03T21:34:00.003-06:00

Last Tuesday, we experienced the first snowfall of the season. It was a pretty good dusting of wet snow, but Mr. Sun quickly heated things up and by noon, it was all gone. Scott woke the kids up early (10am) and they were able to build a snowman, make snow angels, and have a snowball fight that eventually turned into a real fight (naturally).

I shot these pictures from inside. I hate snow and I hope this was the first and final snowfall of the season. The End.

City Museum

2011-12-31T15:16:00.004-06:00

When Uncle Doug and family are in town over Christmas, we always go somewhere fun on the 26th. This year they chose the City Museum. I was apprehensive about going because I thought it would be packed and I've heard horror stories about how unsafe it is (there is an entire website dedicated to lawsuits against CM!). However, it turned out to be the perfect adventure and the kids loved it! When we got out of the car, Cate immediately declared she was NOT climbing up to those airplanes!

This is a picture taken from the official City Museum website. It is literally a playground created out of concrete, steel, tile, old chimneys, old bridges....basically anything and everything you can think of. There are tiny crawlspaces leading to caves and slides...made me wish I hadn't eaten 42 cookies the day before! Oh and there are no rules. The only people working there are the ticket takers and concessions crew. At least I never saw anyone walking around making sure everyone was being safe!

When I said that this reminded me of Goonies, Bennett said "What in the world is Goonies?" Ugh.

Most laid back train ever. In fact, the conductor and Cate sported the same exact pose.

This huge room was filled with bike/skateboard-like ramps. Carter was able to run up a ramp and climb to the ceiling
Cate must have repeated a thousand times that she was not going to climb up to the airplanes, but as soon as we went outside, away she went!
Uncle Mike, Brady, and Cate in the cockpit of a shell of an airplane. As official family photographer, I followed, but I did not love being that high above the ground!

Tim, Scott, Doug, and Nona...this was taken from a platform on the way up to the airplanes

The City Museum was a really great place for my kids. They are pretty fearless and loved all of the climbing and slides. However, I would not recommend this to "helicopter parents" or anyone who gets freaked out when their kids are out of their view. And if you're afraid of heights, don't go outside or to the roof top!

Christmas Afternoon

2011-12-30T21:45:00.002-06:00

Aunt Fran and Uncle Mike hosted the Christmas afternoon celebration. After dining on a delicious turkey dinner {because Mike made Fran leave town over the real turkey holiday :) } we had a ~~chaotic, loud,~~ very jolly gift exchange. Thankfully, Fran has a zillion square foot basement that made it more than comfortable to celebrate with 24 of our nearest and dearest!

Cate and cousin Maddox

Teaching Uncle Mike to use her new laptop :)

Uh oh. Fran was not happy with the love Cate was showing Jenny!!

That's all the pictures I took. I know, it's like I only have one child. But whatevs.

The aftermath.

This is only one of the piles of new clothes. I've folded them and continue to move the piles from table to bar and back again...as if they're going to sort, wash, and put away on their own. In reality, I need to clean out at least 25% of each closet before I can even think about putting any of this stuff away. I'm hoping to get to that before March :)

And that concludes another wonderful Christmas....how lucky we are to have such an awesome family to share it with!!!

Christmas Morning

2011-12-28T15:55:00.005-06:00

Santa did, in fact, make a stop at the Smallie's house. A Christmas miracle for sure.

This is a picture of our tree before the kids walked in. I hope my kids never get on facebook and look at the pictures of other trees Christmas morning...some people posted pictures of their kids having more than 30 gifts each under the tree. Um, no thank you. :)

Four very ~~relieved~~ surprised happy kids!

After each gift, Cate would say "this is just what I wanted, how did Santa know?!"
Brady's new electric scooter (yes, mom, he always wears a helmet, just not on this test run). This scooter sparks...on purpose~as demonstrated by Bennett below

After a few minutes (literally) of oohing and ahhhing, we headed over to my parents house to celebrate with my aunt/uncle and my sisters family and eat a delicious breakfast. Favorite gift...big computer monitor--woohoo! And Disneyworld giftcards..double woohoo! After a close-to-perfect morning (only thing that would have made it better is if it started a few hours later!), we were back at home unloading the van and getting ready for our next celebration. Christmas is exhausting :)

Next up....lunch at Aunt Fran's.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-25T00:18:00.002-06:00

Everyone knows the best way to start Christmas Eve is with breakfast at Cracker Barrel...and everyone is right! Delish. The kids were excited to see Santa walk in, take a seat, and order himself a huge meal. (which I thought was kind of weird...he wasn't hired by the restaurant, just a guy in a Santa suit sitting by himself)

Aunt Sandy stopped by to give Cate a super-cute apron that she made. Cate and I then made sugar cookies for Santa!

At 4:00, we headed to Grammy's to celebrate with Grandma Vineta and Grandpa Bill. They had Bandana's BBQ and Jerry's twice baked potatoes....another delish meal!

Took this picture with my camera timer...not bad!

After Grammy's, we headed to Mau Mau's house. Another huge meal...our annual sausage dinner. Soooooo goood! We sat around and talked for four hours. So much fun to watch Joe and Mary try and keep up with me and Kathy's random conversations!
Cate LOVES her new sparkly TOM shoes. The blingier the better! Thanks Uncle Josh and Lauren!

Leaving food for Santa's Reindeer.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Thursday

2011-12-22T22:08:00.002-06:00

A day in the life of.....me.

It all started at 7:00am. 3 hours earlier than I'd like. Hadley and Tyler came over at 7:30 and then the fun started. Got the boys up, packed their lunches and sent them walking to school at 8:15. Got Cate up and we took her to school at 8:45. Ok, who am I kidding, it was more like 8:55 (school starts at 8:45 but we are NEVER on time). Walk into school and notice that everyone is wearing pajamas. Whoops, teacher forgot to give me a monthly calendar with pj day notification on it. Cate, in a quiet little squeaky voice with very sad blue eyes, asked me if I would run home and get her jammies. Of course I did. Loaded Hadley back in the van and headed home. Hadley fell asleep. Back at school, I had to change Cate in a bathroom stall while holding a sleeping baby (Hadley rocks the "transfer" while sleeping too...only this time it was not so great!) Had to do all kinds of Matrix moves in order to help Cate get changed without anything dropping on the bathroom floor, including Hadley. Sent a very happy Cate back to class and went home. Since Hadleys nap was already half over at that point, I only got a few things done before we had to go back and pick Cate up. Straight from school, we went to Scott's classroom for a meeting with the districts Josten's yearbook representative...did I mention I'm creating Coolidge Middle School's yearbook? Don't ask. After meeting, grabbed lunch and headed home. Laundry, dishes, and Hadley finally took her second nap at 2:00. Jill picked her up at 2:45...right as the boys walked in. Bennett handed me a Christmas gift he made in class and as I was pulling it from the bag, I dropped it and it shattered. Break. My. Heart. and Pissed. Ben. Off. Ugh. My nephew came over at 3:30 and as soon as Scott walked in the door, we walked right back out to do some shopping. Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, 3.5 hours of shopping and finally at 10:15 we arrived back home. So here I am, anxiously awaiting my sleeping pills to kick in. Holy crap, I'm tired! Tomorrow morning, I'm back at it early to finish up a few things (by myself!!) and then I'm going to sit back and enjoy the holiday!

Thanks Candi for taking these great pictures of Cate playing in her classroom!

A football playing princess. How could it be any other way?!

Digging for money to pay for her goods :)

Fa La La La La La La La La

2011-12-16T22:32:00.003-06:00

Lots of Christmas activities going on this week. First up, Cate's Family Fun Day at her school. She was so excited that Mau Mau was going along with us (huge thanks to my mom for her help with Hadley!)

Cate and Reid making a mitten picture frame. We made it through 11 activity rooms, but didn't get her picture taken with Santa. She said she'd already talked to him at the mall and didn't need to do it again! However, Santa did tell Reid that he was getting EVERYTHING on his list this year :) (guess that's what happens when your dad works at the board office with said Santa!) She fits in her locker just fine :)
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That night, Bennett had his 4th grade Christmas program. For our family reading this, sorry you weren't invited! Bennett made us promise that we would not tell anyone because he was mortified about performing in front of everyone! He cried and begged us not to mention it so for weeks we have held his secret. Then, Tuesday night at 10pm, he said that it would be ok if we told MauMau, Papa, Grammy and Papa!The three 4th grade classes sang 8 songs and they did a really fantastic job! My favorite was "Do You Hear What I Hear"...it brought tears to my eyes.
Still embarrassed and so glad it's finally over!

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And finally, tonight, we took the kids to the Way of Lights. I'd heard horror stories about the outrageous traffic and crowds on Friday and Saturday nights, so we arrived around 5:15....just as the park was opening and the sun was setting. The camel rides and petting zoo were almost empty when we got there but packed by the time we left. Perfect timing!

*************************************************************

Carter has just one final this week and then he's done with the semester....half-way finished with his freshman year. Unreal. Everyone else in the house has four days of class this week. I admit that I'm a big fan of the shorter Christmas vacation this year. The 17 days off last year were a bit much. So, we'll enjoy this short break, enjoy our family and friends, and all things Christmas and hopefully have plenty of time to rest up before our Disney trip....just 24 short days away!!

Video From Santa

2011-12-15T18:37:00.004-06:00

Santa sent Cate a video and her reaction was absolutely magical! She couldn't wait for the boys to get home so she could tell them she "made the nice list"!!!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/gNF-NlZL26Wi9g-ojM4-U-w?utm_campaign=share-video&utm_medium=share&utm_source=copy-paste

Cate's Song

2011-12-14T22:18:00.003-06:00

Cate has been talking a lot about how Santa gets into homes to leave gifts and then asks a million "what if" questions. What if you're sleeping on the couch? What if you're not sleeping in your own bed?(something that should concern her considering she NEVER sleeps in her own bed!) I guess she got it all figured out because she made up this very informative song to sing to Hadley :)

Gingerbread House-1st Grade Style

2011-12-12T22:14:00.004-06:00

Today, Brady's 1st grade class made gingerbread houses. Scott volunteered for the leaf painting project last month so it was my turn to go. It's a really great time and the kids love creating their houses, but I hate to get my hands dirty and the whole licking the icing thing really freaks me out. Brady and his "pod friends". On the bulletin board behind them are the Christmas tree family projects...Brady's is the second to last on the bottom row. It's a great tree and I should have taken a picture of it. I also wish I would have taken pictures of the actual making of the tree, but there was a mishap with Brady and the hot glue gun and well, it wasn't pretty :)

When the houses were finished and the desks cleaned, the kids got to feast on the remaining candy! Sugar 'em up and send 'em home!!

Success!! Now I'd like to know how many gingerbread houses actually make it home Friday afternoon!

Random

2011-12-11T22:00:00.003-06:00

Seven days without posting...what is going on around here? I'll blame it on Words with Friends. Alec Baldwin inspired me to give the game a try and in true-Debbie fashion, I was immediately obsessed and am involved in no less than six games at all times. Sorry Carter for stealing your ipod touch, but like all of my past obsessions, this too shall pass...eventually.

In other news, we bought our tree and decorated it this week!Cate demonstrating her incredible balance :)

Oooohhhh Ahhhhhh. Can you smell the fresh pine? No fake trees for us! I read a tutorial on how to take stellar pictures of your lit tree, but my camera died before I could try it and then when it was finally charged, I didn't have the energy or desire to re-google it. So, it's a crappy picture, but you get the idea. It's boo-ti-ful!

Bennett was Student of the Week. In their classroom newsletter, his teacher wrote...Our student of the week is Bennett Smallie. I've really enjoyed having Bennett as a student this year. He likes to participate in class discussions and always works hard to do his best. Excellent job, Bennett!

Yesterday was Scott's 32nd birthday. Alina and Jon babysat for us. Best babysitters ever! Scott and I went out for a very fancy dinner then hit up the clubs on Washington Ave. Or more like went to Texas Roadhouse for cheap steaks and then to Toys R Us to buy toys that we will soon be picking up off our floors and eventually throw away. Fun!

Cate changes clothes at least six times a day and Scott swears the number is at least twice that. Bottom line is, she goes through a lot of clothes everyday and we never know what she's going to be wearing when she comes out of her room. This is what she came out in tonight....my pj pants tied around her neck like a halter top. When Scott told her she couldn't wear that to help him make fresh orange juice she yelled "you're ruining my life!"

Last night, Carter had five friends spend the night. It was so weird to wake up and see their cars parked in front of our house. When did this happen??? How do I have a child old enough to have friends that drive? He keeps reminding me that he gets his drivers permit in 8 months and then says "we will be getting a new car by then, right?" I think he's getting a little nervous about it because I heard him mention to Uncle Mike more than once today that he wouldn't object to him giving him the Porsche for his birthday :)

Scott took the day off tomorrow because I have a doctors appt. Cate is excited that he'll be taking her to school and picking her up. She said "I bet Mrs. Biewald is going to be so freaked out when she sees you". Ha! Brady says I am going to the dr to get my "babymaker" taken out. Which, unfortunately, probably isn't far from the truth. I'm working my way towards a hysterectomy. YUCK! Scotts reaction after my last appt was "You having surgery is going to totally suck for me!" Don't worry though, I have him trained well enough that he quickly back-tracked as soon as he realized what he said and then quickly walked out the door to buy me a fountain soda before I could unload on him! So, I go tomorrow to see what they have to say and probably get more blood tests run. And as if that isn't enough fun for one day, I then have to volunteer in Brady's class helping with gingerbread houses. Double Yuck! I still have nightmares about Bennett's class and the boy that licked the icing off his knife and then dipped it back into the shared bowl of icing. I had to throw away that bowl and I removed Bennett from that pod before I threw up. But since Scott volunteered on leaf painting day last month, no way am I gettng out of this one. Got my stash of Germ-X and Clorox wipes ready!!

Have a Great Week! 14 Days Til Christmas!!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

2011-12-04T22:09:00.004-06:00

Today we made our annual trip to Frontenac for pictures with Santa. And as always, it was very crowded. Fran, Grammy, and Bau Bau were volunteering for Nurses for Newborns there from 1-3 so Grammy got herself a chair and parked herself in line until we got there! Our wait was close to 2 hours...seriously... but I think it's worth it. They have the best Santa...he sings songs with the kids in line and spends a really long time with each child. Our kids were able to sit at the NFN wrapping station and play games on everyones phones so they never complained about the wait :) At one point, Scott told me to turn around and everyone in line behind us (at least 20 people) were playing on their phones...it was hysterical! Even with a good five minutes sitting on Santa's lap, Cate forgot to tell him she wants a kitchen and baby doll so we have to write a letter tomorrow :) Bennett had no intention of getting in the picture this year, but Fran promised Uncle Mike would take him to Red Lobster afterwards, and we all know that sort of bribe works for Bennett!! This marks the first Santa Picture that Scott did not have to get in. Our babies are growing up :( Carter was at his Student Council progressive dinner and secret Santa exchange so he missed out on our fun. And let's be honest...he wouldn't have gone with us anyway. Bah Humbug!

Brady waiting for Santa to get back from his potty break

Santa visited with everyone in line, jingled his bells, and had everyone join him in singing Rudolph! We love fun Santa!!!
Happy Holidays!!!!

One Very Long Week

2011-11-30T23:05:00.005-06:00

This week seemed like the longest week ever. Yet, as I sit here, I can't believe it's already Saturday night! I'm in a funk and I'm having a hard time pulling myself out of it. I swear I've had more anxiety attacks in the last few days than I've ever had. I have gotten all of the holiday decorations out, but we have yet to buy a tree. Maybe the smell of fresh pine will put me in the Christmas mood! Brady was sick all week and stayed home four days. Not super sick..he threw up once every 24 hours...just enough to have to stay home. And he really hates to miss school. He was so bored and sat in our driveway everyday during his classes lunch hour so he could watch his friends play (that's how close we live to school!)...it made him so sad :( Thankfully, he's 100% better now and looking forward to a full week of school (and so am I!)

In other news, Cate has mastered the backwards sommersault unassisted! Woohoo!

Kids Pictures

2011-11-29T21:16:00.002-06:00

So happy with the kids pictures that we had taken last weekend. All the stars aligned that afternoon and it only took 15-20 minutes start to finish. I've obviously got these kids camera trained!!!

wth?

2011-11-28T16:07:00.007-06:00

Cate's teacher couldn't wait to tell me this after school today.....

In class, they were talking about what makes them happy and sad and here are Crazy Cate's answers:

What makes me happy?.....my daddy

What makes me sad?....when my mom won't let me puke on the floor

Um, yeah. Miss Christi knew there had to be a good story to go along with this and there is, I was just too embarrassed to tell her! But what the hell, here goes (warning:kinda gross story).... Last night, after consuming an absurd amount of non-healthy food (raw cookie dough for dinner? umm hmm), Brady threw up in the living room. Just stood up and puked everywhere. He then walked into the foyer and puked ALL OVER the coat rack...drenching every single coat including my beloved Coach cashmere scarf!!!!! Scott and I had the same reaction...we were both pissed! Together, we set off on a 15 minute lecture about how ridiculous it is that our kids can't ever make it to the bathroom and to "quit puking on the floor!!". Obviously, we are not very sympathetic parents, but come on, you know when you're going to get sick and at least some sort of attempt needs to be made to run to the bathroom. (on a side note, I do find it hilarious that we can lecture and clean up barf as if it's no big deal...just another day in paradise). As usual, Cate was paying closer attention than we assumed which made for another great "Smallie story" to amuse her teachers. Never a dull moment.......

Thanksgiving Break

2011-11-27T15:51:00.007-06:00

This year our school district gave the kids the entire week off for Thanksgiving. Parent/Teacher conferences were Mon-Tues so Scott had to work, but he was then off the next five days. I really enjoyed having this break and hope they continue to do it for at least the next 15 years :) It was a crazy busy week for us, but they all are, and at least I didn't have to worry about making school lunches and getting up before 9!

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Tuesday night, Scott and the boys had 5th row seats for the STL Blues game (thanks Fran!) They were all very excited and I received text messages from people saying they were on the jumbo-tron several times. I dvr'd the game and they were able to replay it and pick themselves out of the crowd throughout the entire game. Ben was especially impressed with his "power-play dance" that the camera man captured for the world to see :) Cate and I stayed home and watched Barney's Christmas!

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Brady and Carter were both in a turkey bowl indoor 3v3 soccer tournament Mon-Wed. Between the two of them, they played 7 games....which gave Cate plenty of time to play in the huge playground. Brady's team played awesome and won the championship game! (Carter's team...didn't. ha!)

Rather than hand out trophies or medals, each player had CHAMPIONS printed on the back of their tournament shirt. Soooo much better than adding another dust collector to our house!

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On Thanksgiving, we hosted 26 of our nearest and dearest. Two 25 lb birds were roasted and everything was delish! It was my first time having Thanksgiving at our house and it really turned out great *HUGE sigh of relief!* We even got the good china and silverware out for the occasion...fancy :) Big shout out to my mom who made the second turkey, dressing, cranberries, gravy, tea, etc.....she pretty much catered the entire affair. And we kept the leftovers..win-win.

I wish they sold candles that smell like Thanksgiving dinner!

Cate enjoying a nice glass of water and turkey while reading the Black Friday ads!

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We made a thankful tree for our dining room....I posted my tag earlier, here are the others....

(Scott)

(Bennett)

(Brady)(Carter...he may or may not have been home when we did these)(Cate)***************************************************************
We had some great weather over the break and the kids were able to play outside A LOT!

Carter giving Jack a ride on Jack's psycho-cycle

I'm not much of a Black Friday shopper but I did stay up til midnight and was able to get the three things that I wanted online...all at "doorbuster" prices and free shipping. Friday afternoon, I ran into Target and they actually had a few more things that were on my shopping list..I couldn't believe how much stock was left on their advertised "hot items".

Saturday we took the kids to The Mills for a little bit. Cate played on the playground while I ran into a few stores. Cabela's aquarium held their attention for awhile too
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And finally today, the kids had their pictures taken. Their behavior was surprisingly stellar and Carol commented 4+ times on how awesome they were and how easy it was to get great shots. I can't wait to see the proofs next week...I just need one good one for the Christmas card!
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! 28 days til Christmas!!!!

2011-11-24T21:09:00.003-06:00

pinterest.com is my very favorite website. I especially love all of the different home decor ideas and crafts. I've recreated a few looks for my own home...here are a few of my latest :)

I bought the frame pieces at Michaels (they were for canvas and only $1 each!), stained them, assembled, used eye screws and picture frame wire, and then found my favorite pictures and used tiny wooden clips to display them. All together it cost me about $11!

Since we don't have a fireplace, I wanted a shelf to display seasonal stuff and soon Christmas stockings! The dead flowers in the vase were picked by Cate :)

This is an antique ladder that I attached 5 picture frames to. I bought $1 frames (again from Michaels) and decoupaged current holiday paper to the front...then I put my favorite Halloween/fall pictures in them and decorated the sides with fall berries. Tomorrow I'll begin changing it up for Christmas. And after the holidays, I'll hang my favorite magazines over each wrung.

This is our thankful tree (although it's a terrible picture and Scott is hiding behind it!) I filled the bottom of the vase with glass leaves and pebbles then collected sticks from our backyard. I found tags to attach to the sticks and everyone wrote what they're thankful for....
This one is mine :)

Can't wait to get started on my Christmas projects!

5k Run!

2011-11-19T21:10:00.010-06:00

Brady made his 5k race debut yesterday and he rocked it!! Our school district held their 2nd Annual 5k fun run and this year Scott and Brady decided to do it. This was also Scott's race debut...even though he runs 3+ mornings a week, he's never entered a race and he was pretty nervous about it. I was nervous about Brady running because even though he is the energizer bunny, he has never run 3.1 miles consecutively and that's a long way for 7 year old legs!!!

Pre-Race

Carter's friend Zach ran with Brady the entire time and Scott was so thankful he was there! Zach was very encouraging to Brady and motivated him to keep the pace :) No way Brady was going to back down in front of one of Carter's friends!!
My parents, sister, and nephew joined me, Cate and Bennett at the track to cheer on the boys. We watched the start, then walked over to the park to watch them finish their first mile, and then headed back to the track to watch them cross the finish line.
Candi's son Hunter placed 3rd in the 10 & under division! He did awesome!

When they entered the track they sprinted the last lap...the wind was brutal and they ran the last 100m with it right in their face..so unfair!!

Crossing the finish line in 32 minutes!!! Brady received 4th place in the 10 & under division. Woohoo!!!

As soon as the race was over, we took Brady home to change clothes and then we were off to his soccer game. It was soooo cold and windy but his entire team played a really great game. Last one of the season, holla!
After the game, Brady went home with his friend Chase and then to Chase's birthday party. We picked him up at 8:00 last night and when we got home, he cleaned his room for over an hour. I would seriously give anything to have 1/4 of the energy he has!!!!

I Got Nothing...

2011-11-16T16:24:00.003-06:00

My mind is full of Thanksgiving preparations and my blog is suffering. Cute pictures of Cate will have to do for now......

We Need Space!

2011-11-10T21:46:00.005-06:00

The bedrooms/sleeping arrangements in our home are becoming ridiculous! Six people in a three-bedroom house was at one time do-able for us, but lately, things have been spiraling out of control. Until Cate came along, everything was smooth sailing....Bennett and Brady shared a room, Carter had his own, and we had ours. As with everything else post 2-8-08, our content sleeping situation became chaotic. We moved all three boys into one room and set Cate up in the 3rd bedroom. However, we co-sleep with our babies until another is born, so in reality, Cate has never slept in her room. NEVER! Well, maybe twice in the last six months, but that's it. At some point, we moved things around and now Brady sleeps in Cate's room, Ben and Carter share theirs, and Scott, Cate and I live in ours :) And to put it mildly, we're all WAY OVER this set-up. Carter and Bennett are at each others throats most of the time (Bennett has to fall asleep with the tv on and Carter wants it pitch black), Brady has become a hoarder and he has organized crap all over Cate's room which drives me crazy, and Scott and I are done with having kids in our bed. Cate is the only one still thrilled with the arrangements :) Lately, Scott and I have been brain-storming to figure out what we can do to better this situation. Our basement is finished, but it's just one huge tv/play room. So, we've decided, with the consent of the boys, that we will create two "bedrooms" downstairs, and Ben and Carter will move down there, then Cate and Brady can have their own rooms. BUT, we're not sold on Carter and Ben's enthusiasm, so we're hesitant to do anything permanent with the walls, etc (other than installing an egress window..a must-have). I have been scouring pinterest and other resources trying to find a visual of what we need and I think I have finally found it. Makeshift walls created with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and curtains. Insert exhibit A:

Source: google.com via Debbie on Pinterest

Ben and Carter could each have their own space and we would still have plenty of room for the two couches, three tvs/gaming systems and toys. IKEA (roadtrip!) sells bookcase systems on the cheap and also carries room dividing drapes/suspension systems that I think would work well. We're hoping to get things going on it after our Disney trip in January. Keep your fingers crossed that Ben and Carter haven't killed each other by then and that Cate will go along with the plan!!!!!

Zoo

2011-11-07T09:55:00.005-06:00

We thought Saturday would be the perfect fall day to visit the zoo...and it was! A little chilly but so much better than the 100 degree summer heat :) Carter and Bennett opted out of joining us....apparently, they're too cool for the zoo. Whatev.

A little sunny :)

But the scenery was absolutely gorgeous

Cate could play for hours in the children's zoo farm area. She loaded and unloaded that wheelbarrow a zillion times.

I have created a complete monster in Cate... took us 4 hours to get through the zoo because she insisted on posing in front of every animal and statue! She loves having her picture taken!

Time Flies.....

2011-11-05T19:59:00.003-05:00

Today we made an impromptu trip to the zoo. When Cate was walking underneath the slide at the Children's zoo it immediately reminded me of a similar trek she took two years ago...so glad I captured both memories with my camera.

Ducking because she thinks she's going to hit her head...even though she cleared the ceiling by 5+ inches!

Having to lean back in order to stand up. Time flies.....(sniff sniff)

Halloween Fun

2011-11-02T16:53:00.006-05:00

We decided to switch things up this Halloween. There is really no reason behind the changes...I guess we just wanted something different. So, on the 30th, we trick-or-treated with the Cochran's in their neighborhood (their city does the Halloween thing the night before). Cate finally came to the decision to be Cinderella. It was a toss up between Cinderella, Belle, a kitty cat, or a bunny. Aunt Meme bought her the gown for her birthday last winter and Aunt Fran bought her a pair of light-up glass slippers...satin gloves and a wand finished the outfit. Cate and I had a little disagreement in the middle of Party City over whether or not she needed a Cinderella wig. I probably would have caved had her argument been a little bit stronger however,"I just weally need yellow hair for my costume" did not work for me. No need for explanation right? I mean, Cinderella would die for Cate's natural color :) Brady chose to be a Blues hockey player so he could rollerblade from house to house. He received so many compliments on his outfit!!!! Delaney, Cate, and Harper trick-or-treating

Cate and Harper were so cute together! They're the wild women...as opposed to Delaney who is the more mature calm lil lady :)

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On Monday, Cate had her class party. She was excited that Hadley and I planned to stay. I figured we'd stay as long as Hadley was content and obviously she was content, she slept the entire time!

I brought in bowls of apples, bananas, and grapes for the kids to make fruit kabobs. Should not surprise me that Cate made hers using a pattern. Everything with her is a pattern...colors on her paper, chairs lined up, and her dolls are always lined up by hair color.

Her favorite activity was pounding golf tees into a pumpkin with a hammer. Such concentration!

Mrs. Biewald (Cate's teacher) and Candi sported the same festive shirt! I hope they let me in their club for the Christmas party!

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On Halloween night, we headed back up to E'ville for their annual parade. You know the Smallie's love a good parade! It was a lot of fun, the kids loved it, and I was impressed with alot of the floats. We ran into Brady's soccer buddy Chase and decided to sit with his family. Their seats were close to the start of the parade and very close to our car so we knew we could make a quick getaway...with 1000's of people in attendance, the perfect parking spot and exit route were very important to Scott!

Bennett, Devin, Brady, and Chase waiting for the parade to start.

The Parkers have five kids. Scott and I always laugh about how we seem to gravitate towards other large families. Besides having so much in common with parents of 3+ kids, the kids themselves are so comfortable and tolerant of siblings! So important when you have little sisters who want to butt their way into the middle :)

Cinderella's castle. Not quite Disney, but a good preview of what's to come in a few months! (70 days to be exact)

When we got home from the parade, Cate was so excited to see kids still trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. She stood in the doorway and yelled "Come to Cate Smallie's house cause I'm the greatest!" Scott and I thought this was hilarious ~~and very disturbing~~

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-31T14:11:00.003-05:00

One day last week (I can't even remember which day it was) we carved six of our pumpkins. I had no desire to do anything that night but Scott promised the kids and so I declared myself team photographer and opted out of getting messy. Of course, Scott was right to insist on doing them that night (and I write this only because he doesn't read my blog so he'll never know I said that!) because we ended up with things to do every night the rest of the week.

We all know Cate doesn't mind getting herself dirty! She loved cleaning out the pumpkins. (Precious Mother II- I hope you notice the sewing machine in the background...I'm busy making new curtains and a table runner for Thanksgiving!)
Photo Bomb. I think he has officially lost it.

Carter "studied" while they carved

Things That Are Bugging Me Today

2011-10-27T21:04:00.002-05:00

When Scott does something as simple as push the reset button on the garbage disposal and then dances around and cheers like he just finished an entire kitchen remodel.

When the garage door won't go down because something is in front of the sensor but I can't figure out what it is.

When Carter decides to start studying at 9pm the night before a test

School papers. How am I supposed to conquer clutter with four kids in school?

LAUNDRY!

Finally getting to the front of the checkout line at Walmart and realizing I forgot the main ingredient in tonight's dinner

Making school lunches

Scott screaming at the Cardinals game. Sorry to my sons' future wives for their screaming at the tv habits...they get it from their dad.

When Bennett is crabby and starts repeating everything everyone says but with force. Ex. Me-"Bennett go to bed" Ben-"YOU GO TO BED" Good one.

So happy tomorrow is Friday!!!!

Hayride

2011-10-24T12:10:00.004-05:00

On Saturday, we attended the Relleke's annual Coolidge Staff hayride/bonfire. The kids love going out into the pumpkin patch after dark and having to use flashlights to find their way. Funny story about the hayride....Oliver was in charge of Cardinal game updates and when we left for the hayride, Cards were up 1-0. Five minutes into the ride, he announced we were losing 2-1. Everyone was deflated until he said that he accidentally looked up the score from the previous game and the Cardinals were actually winning 4-0! Ha! I think Scott was about to throw himself in front of the tractor!!

Rob let the boys pile pumpkins under the tractors tires and watch them blow up when he ran them over. They're still talking about it :)

Our very own pumpkin patch! We're going to carve tonight....

Scott is allergic to hay but insisted on going on the hayride because he doesn't like to miss anything that has to do with the kids. Of course he had a pretty bad reaction when we got back to the house and we ended up having to leave because he could hardly breathe. After a dose of medicine he was feeling better and was happy to watch the final innings of the most amazing baseball game from the comfort of his own couch :) GO CARDS!

Week Review

2011-10-22T22:01:00.004-05:00

In our neighborhood, we are the youngest family...by like 30 years. There is good and bad to this. Good=it's a well established, wonderful street filled with people who take care of their homes/yards and it's super quiet. Bad=we stick out like a sore thumb. HA! Just kidding...sort of. The real bad is that there are just a few kids that live by us. I find this to be a bummer, but Scott prefers it. He would rather entertain and play with only our kids in the backyard but I know our kids would also like to have friends within walking distance. A few years ago, The Webbs moved a few houses down and they too have four kids. But, they ~~got screwed and~~ have three girls and one boy :) Poor Jack is the youngest in a houseful of girls. He and Brady have become very good friends and spend ALL of their free-time together. They must ride 100 miles on their bikes each week...up and down the street, around the block, and over to the school yard. And, I love that Jack is very good to Cate who often insists on tagging along when they play out back!

Brady is such a gentleman...offering Cate his jacket when it got cold (even though he made her help him carry this slide across the yard!)

Carrying the slide to the trampoline so they can climb on top to reach the tree to jump out onto trampoline. *I can hear my mother's groan and loud sigh*

A teacher's aide in Bennett's class is being reassigned within the district and on her last day he and Rhett wore mohawks in her honor (I have no idea why). She left quite the impression because he spoke very highly of her and he went to school with crazy hair just for her!

The first grade classes do a leaf painting project each fall. Cate had dance class so Scott took a few hours off work and volunteered in Brady's class. Before school Brady said "I can't wait til 12:45 when my dad walks through my door!"

On Friday, Cate's preschool class went to the pumpkin farm. She was so excited to hang out with her friends outside of school.

Reid was talking to the "rubber duckies"!!! Miss Christy is a rockstar teacher...Cate adores her (and so did Brady). Both of her teachers are awesome.

Difference between girls and boys-Reid was done taking pictures after 30 seconds-Cate insisted on having her picture taken with every pumpkin!

I was surprised to look through my cameras viewfinder and see this little guy...my cousins son Owen!! They happened to be visiting the farm too.

Hadley slept through the entire pumpkin farm trip and Cate was so sad that she didn't get to be in any pictures. So after lunch we had a mini-photo shoot in the front yard. I love this picture of Cate trying to lean on her hand and, well, just about everything Cate does makes Hadley belly laugh!

Also on Friday, Brady reached 100 book reader status. Holla! He had until April to hit this goal but he is so competitive that he wanted to be the first in his class to reach 100.

Now, I must brag.....

1st quarter report cards came out this week...Bennett and Brady both had straight A's. I think the lowest average between the two of them was a 96.98. Carter also had a great report card...not all A's, but I'm hoping he'll get there next quarter. He's finally started to adjust to highschool academics....soccer + being super social + hard grading scale + being super social + Spanish + being super social = a rough first few weeks!!!

ISAT scores from spring came for Ben and Carter this week...both "exceeded" our expectations! (that's a play on words for those not familiar with ISAT. Grades are categorized by "below standards", "meets standards" and "exceeds standards") Both boys rocked their tests!!

Brady's teacher called me a few weeks ago and said she can't wait until his spring testing because she's dying to know his IQ. (Dear Lord, please help Brady to continue using his brain for good and not evil. Amen.)

Our fall schedule is finally winding down...Bennett's fall ball is over, Carter's soccer is over, Brady only has a few more soccer games, and best of all..Scott's 8th grade basketball season only has 3 weeks left. WOOHOO! Here's hoping for a very boring winter! I could really use a few months to relax before spring.

Clever Cate

2011-10-18T21:10:00.000-05:00

When I needed ten minutes to shower, I sat Cate down at her table with an erasable marker and a new Fisher Price toy catalog. I told her to circle the things she wanted for Christmas. This is what I found.....

Homecoming Dance

2011-10-17T21:21:00.013-05:00

On Saturday, Carter attended his first highschool Homecoming Dance. He decided he didn't want to wear a suit coat and instead chose a vest...which I think was a great choice. He looked fabulous :) Because boys are useless, he had no idea what his plans were for before the dance until the day of and that drove me crazy! He met up with 1100 other kids at the park at 3pm for pictures, then he went with a group to the Country Club for dinner (Scott and I joined six other parents for dinner in the downstairs grill) and then the kids headed to the highschool for the dance.

Scott had to google "how to tied a neck tie" right before we left. HA!

This picture cracks me up. I know there are three years between these two, but come on, how unfair is this? When Carter calls me after school and says he's with Brant, I have to laugh at the image of these two driving through town... My nephew Jon also attended the dance. Here he is with his favorite little ladies....Cate, Harper, and Delaney
This picture is classic!Carter said the dance was "the best night of his life" and I'm so glad he had such a great time. Afterwards, I took him home and he changed and then a friend (senior girl, ahem) picked him up and took him to a party. I know, I know....I can hardly talk about it. But, she's in student council with him and I asked his student council rep that ran the dance about it and she said she trusted the group he was with. Bottom line...we both survived the night. Which brings me to a little rant:

Student Council parents were asked to volunteer during the dance. I accepted the challenge and was assigned to the drink table. Luckily, I "worked" with a couple other awesome moms who made the night super fun (Michelle is seriously the funniest person ever). We poured 2000 drinks in three hours. I have blisters on my thumb from opening 2L's of soda. Being on the front line of a highschool dance as an adult was very traumatic for me. The tears, Good Lord, the tears that were shed in that cafeteria made me crazy! Girls sobbing at tables and, I kid you not, one girl literally had to be supported by her friends before she fell to the ground hysterical. I wanted to walk over and slap that girl right across the face. My speech would have gone something like this..."Are you f#@$ing kidding me? You are in highschool...the best years of your life. Why in the hell are you wasting one of the best nights lying on this disgusting floor in your too tight dress crying over some loser that you aren't even going to remember in five years? Do you know who should be crying? Me and the other moms working the shitty soda table. That's right! We are mere shells of the fun-I-love-life girls that we used to be at your age because our kids have sucked the life right out of us. So, do me a favor...get your pathetic butt up and go dance with every guy in that gym that will look past your tear destroyed ugly face and give you a chance. DO IT FOR US!" She'll one day look back and realize what an idiot she was (for both crying and going out in public in a hideous dress). So, there wasn't much I could do for her besides make fun of her with the other moms. I know I sound terrible, and I am, but come on, she was obviously doing it for the attention and now I've given her way too much of mine. Damn. My point is...well, I don't know what my point is...but I did have a fun time watching all of the kids file into the cafeteria sweating like crazy from tearing up the dance floor. And I look forward to next year when we graduate from the drink table to the coat-check table. Woohoo! Overall it was a very successful night!!
THE END

(and in reality, it's probably just me, not the other moms, who feel so far removed from the free-spirited teenagers that crowded that cafeteria. I'm just going to pretend they feel the same as me because it makes me feel better!)

Homecoming Week

2011-10-16T21:40:00.004-05:00

Last week was Homecoming for the highschool. Each day was dedicated to a different theme. Tuesday was tie-dye day and I made a trip to Baxter's in search of a few groovy things. FYI, Baxter's in Alton has every party supply you could possibly need...very overwhelming but in a good way...I love it :)

I only took a picture on Tuesday because the other days were boring....pajama day, casual day, and school spirit day on Friday. Of course the kids loved being 'uniform-free' for a few days!

Tuesday was also Carter's last soccer game of the season...holla! Ben was in charge of game-time photography and obviously loves his new shoes (he has been fired for all future events)

After the soccer game, we headed to the Homecoming Parade. ROAST THE REDBIRDS!

Nicholas and Brady waiting for the parade to start

Cate was patiently waiting for the band and firetrucks!

Annie and Cody...aka CJ SKILLZ I...aka the 2nd greatest, 2nd coolest, 2nd most awesomest guy in the whole world (2nd only to Scott Smallie of course)
Carter was representin' Student Council. I bought him 200 beaded necklaces to throw out and told him exactly where we would be standing so he could throw a few to Cate and the boys. He, of course, was on the opposite side of the trolley and totally missed us. I was so mad!
There were some very creative floats!

The football team threw out Warrior footballs and the kids were all lucky enough to catch one (thanks Aunt Kathy!)

The boys loved their new tshirts and were proud to wear them while cheering the Warriors to a big football victory Friday night!!!

Saturday was the dance and Carter had "the best night of his life". It deserves an entire post of it's own :) I was asked to work the dance, which sounds awesome, but in reality I was stuck (with some very awesome ladies) working the drink line. I poured 2000+ sodas and I have the blisters to prove it....more details tomorrow!

Brady Soccer Video

2011-10-12T18:49:00.001-05:00

Brady is #5 on green team. Love his "scissors" move in the beginning...this ain't your average 6/7 year old soccer team ;)

Saturday/Sunday

2011-10-11T21:19:00.006-05:00

Brady played in a soccer tournament last weekend in O'fallon. His first game on Saturday was at 8:45am...boo. His second game was at 12:30 so we were at the fields until 2:00. After the games, we headed straight to the pumpkin farm. When we finally got home, 9 hours later, we were all exhausted and everyone was in bed and asleep by 8:30. That's a record for us!!!

Brady played great this weekend! His team keeps improving each week, the parents are great, and he absolutely loves his coach. Win/Win/Win!
Cutest. Team. Ever.
Luke, Brady, Chase

Carter was working at the pumpkin farm for Student Council and I was happy to finally get a group picture of all four kids. Until he walked out of the haunted barn like this..... Fail!

On Sunday, Brady had another soccer game and Bennett had a double header at the same park. Cate finally got her wish and was able to wear her swim suit for the water park! 85 degrees in the middle of October...who woulda thought?!

The complex is huge with lots of sidewalks and Brady thought ahead (not shocking) and packed two scooters. He and his buddy J-Dog had the best time.
Sunday night, we celebrated cousin Reece's 6th birthday. It was one very full weekend. Monday was a holiday and I have no pictures to share of our activities...because we did NOTHING! It was lovely :)
This week is Homecoming Week at the highschool! Parade, Powder Puff Football, Bonfire, Football Game, Pep Rally, and Scott and I get to chaperone the dance on Friday night!

Crazy Girl(s) Photo Dump

2011-10-07T10:44:00.005-05:00

Got her Cardinals rally cap on! LET'S GO CARDS!

This is Cate practicing for school picture day. When she came home after class she said "Don't worry mom, I didn't do my mean face for the picture". Then she asked where her yearbook was! She loves looking through the boys school yearbooks and can't wait til she has her own.

Hadley loves when Cate reads her books...she thinks it's hilarious!

Cate is still loving dance class. I love the look of concentration when she's trying a new move.

Sunday Funday

2011-10-05T23:28:00.007-05:00

Sunday was a wild and crazy day for us. 2 baseball games, 2 soccer games, and we hosted 25 people at our house for Brady's birthday. Honestly, the only thing that saved me was that all four games were played in the same park. Yes, a mile walk away from each other, but still in the same park!

Brady's team does not have a permanent goalie so they all take turns. After the game, he said "I can't believe how great I played in goal. I had no idea I was that good" His self-esteem issues have me worried ;)

At 5:00, everyone met back at our house to celebrate Brady's 7th birthday.
It was the year for shoes (3 pairs) and sunglasses (4 pairs). Ask and you shall receive!

Of course Brady loved the crazy glasses from Bau Bau!

Brady's 7th Birthday

2011-10-01T23:47:00.003-05:00

Today, October 1, is Brady's 7th birthday! However, he celebrated yesterday at school (he came home from school and said it drove him crazy that everyone kept saying Happy Birthday to him all day long....even the teachers. I asked him how they knew it was his birthday and he said "Cause I wore my birthday crown all day." HA! Sounds like he really hated the attention!!) and our family party will be tomorrow after soccer/baseball. So, today was a day with nothing on the calendar...holla! Cate and I did pick up his cake, which she has pretty much already destroyed by digging her fingers into the frosting. (It now looks like we're saying Happy Birthday to a bra :p ) This afternoon, Brady left with his best buddy Jack to head to Jacks grandpas farm. They rode a zip line, fished, bonfire...all the things that boys love to do. Bennett, Scott, Cate, and I went to Cracker Barrell to celebrate Brady's birthday without him. It was a lot quieter than normal :) So throughout the entire day, I only saw him for a few minutes but I'm glad I was able to snap at least one birthday picture. More to come tomorrow!

Tooth Fairy

2011-09-25T22:59:00.005-05:00

Saturday, Brady pulled his loose tooth out. He then dropped it in the pantry and lost it. I am pretty sure I later sucked it up in the vacuum. Anyway, Brady left a note under his pillow telling the tooth fairy the situation and hoped she understood. Scott and I are very bad at the whole tooth fairy thing. VERY BAD. We often have to throw money under the bed after the kids wake up disappointed that nothing was left under their pillow...we tell them that they probably rolled around so much it fell under the bed :) So, this morning at 7am when Scott remembered the tooth, he was reaching under Brady's pillow when Brady's eyes popped open and he asked what he was doing. Scott told him he was looking for the remote and Brady closed his eyes and went back to sleep. Good save Scott...or so we thought ;) At lunch, Brady told Grammy, Fran, and Bau Bau his version....."I woke up and dad was checking under my pillow. When I asked what he was doing he told me he was looking for the remote. But, we both know the remote is on top of the dresser like it always is. I knew he was really looking to see how much money the tooth fairy left me, but he's not getting any of my money!"

I find it hilarious that Brady thought Scott was going to take some of the money from him and it never once crossed his mind that maybe Scott was the one leaving the money. He's at the perfect age to truly believe and never question tooth fairies, Santa, Easter Bunny, etc. And even though keeping up with the secrets and all that comes with it (hiding presents w/special paper, writing letters to the North Pole, keeping the other boys quiet), it really is all worth it when they do find that special treat tossed under the bed and the gifts under the tree Christmas morning. It's magic :) And I'm glad we have many more years to come of these special surprises.

In other news, Brady had his second league game yesterday and his team rocked it!! They are so good. Brady played awesome and they won 2-1. These little guys are so much fun to watch!

HAPPY MONDAY!

New Park

2011-09-22T21:18:00.005-05:00

This week, Carter's freshman team played in a soccer tournament in O'Fallon and had games every night (they lost the championship game tonight in sudden death penalty kicks!) The park that they played at is amazing. Bennett also plays his fall baseball league there. On Monday, the city dedicated a new playground/sprinkler park and we were lucky to be some of the first to break it in. May be the coolest park we've ever been to.

Cate was in charge of game time action shots. This is her one and only...Carter's not even in the picture. It's not even our team!

But, she did love taking pictures of her shadow :)

The playground had AstroTurf over rubber flooring...super bouncy/soft and looked like real grass! I wish we could have it in our yard.

The waterpark is activated by waving your hand in front of the sensor (as Brady demonstrates below)

I was talking to another mom when I turned around to find Cate walking through the sprinklers...The kids love finding new places to play!

Another Cate-ism

2011-09-18T21:37:00.004-05:00

Bennett: "I can't wait til I'm 16 so I can drive"

Cate: "I can't wait til I'm 15 so I can drink cold water out of a beer cup!"

We had a garage sale on Saturday and Cate insisted on wearing this snow suit (size 18-24 mos) with nothing on under it and her rain boots...so ridiculous!

Fancy

2011-09-13T23:13:00.003-05:00

Catie Bug got herself a haircut last weekend! It was so long overdue (mine too...I hadn't had a cut since November!). Goodbye ratty chlorine/sun crisp hair....hello supercute bob! Of course it wasn't easy. She cried for thirty minutes straight before we even left the house. She hates haircuts, or so she says. But I didn't care, she was going no matter what. Scott was like "you are seriously going to take her to get a haircut kicking and screaming, but you will keep her out of school over a few tears???" Um, duh. Haircuts are important. She sucked it up though and got in the car. By the time we got there, the tears were gone and she was fine. She sat perfectly through my haircut...seriously, 40 minutes she sat on a couch and played with her baby and never got up. Tasha and I were both shocked! By the time I was done, she was so excited for her turn. She jumped right up on the seat and listened to all of Tasha's instructions..head up, head down, lean to the left, lean to the right, stand up sit down fight fight fight. Well, something like that (obviously my Ambien has kicked in!). Cate told Tasha she hates ponytails so we decided it was time to cut it all off. Glad we did...looks so much thicker and healthier now. Miss Cate is very proud of her new 'do and couldn't wait to show it off to Mau Mau and Papa :)

And that my friends is the story of Cate's haircut. Thank you and goodnight ;)

Labor Day

2011-09-06T21:34:00.004-05:00

We had a fabulous Labor Day Weekend...very few things on the calendar and plenty of down time. Friday night we went to the highschool football game where we watched the Warriors win 30-0...amazing (for real)...2 and 0 baby! We spent most of Saturday at the pool. The water was cool and it was the perfect day to soak up the rays. I can't remember a single thing we did on Sunday...maybe grocery shopping? On Monday, we attended the annual Labor Day Parade...the kids love parades :)

Cate is proud of her new shoes....I think they're the cutest things ever :) Scott will chance getting run over by a firetruck for candy!
After the parade, we went to Bau Bau's for lunch. Thankfully we packed the kids swimsuits because even though it was only 73 degrees they decided to swim. The pool water was still in the 80's so it was actually really nice. Cate spent her time diving in and swimming to Carter. She's getting really good at swimming far...she can take 2-3 breaths with her strokes.
Uncle Josh played ~~fetch~~ frisbee with Carter

At 4:00, Carter had a highschool soccer game. On Labor Day...can you believe that?! The good thing about the holiday game was that our entire family was able to go. His team won 4-0 and he had a beautiful assist.

This is not an optical illusion....Carter really is this much smaller than most of his teammates and opponents!
Scott and Uncle Josh watching a Warrior victory!

I love three day weekends :)

Carter For President?

2011-09-04T21:25:00.003-05:00

Um, most likely NO. However, he was elected to his highschool Student Council this week. WOO to the HOO! I'm incredibly proud of him for even running...it's intimidating throwing yourself out there like that the first week of highschool! But YAY he won :)
Friday was the highschools welcome back rally. Each year they put on a kick-ass school spirit rally...I'm going to try and upload a few videos of some of the highlights. Each class is a different color and this year the overall theme was fruit. Freshman are green...pears....pear up get a buddy. Sophomores are blue...blueberries....berry glad to not be freshman (or something like that). Juniors are orange...oranges...orange ya glad we're upperclassman (I think). Seniors are yellow....bananas...time to split. Teachers were apples...not a bad apple in the bunch ;) Everyone goes all out dressing in their colors...flags, jewelry, socks, tutu's....fun fun fun!!!

Each year they choose 8 kids from each grade to perform in a rally relay race. The obstacles are taken from "Minute to Win-It". Carter was excited to find out he was one of the students chosen to represent the freshman. The video I have of his race is blurry, but I'm trying to get my hands on a different one..when I do, I'll post it. His first obstacle was to throw ping pong balls into cups. He had zero problems with this....future beer pong champ? yeah, probably. Then he ran to the next station and had to unroll a roll of toilet paper as fast as he could. Next, he had to put pantyhose over his head...they had an orange in the foot...and he had to swing it around and knock cans over. The final station was balloon popping..this was his hardest challenge. He was too little to pop the balloon when he sat on it :) He gave it a good jump and destroyed it on his second try. Overall, I'm told, he rocked his portion and had an awesome time doing it.
I'm so glad Carter is taking advantage of all of the fun things to do in highschool. Yes, we're going to struggle with his grades, but damn he's going to have a great time and create a ton of forever memories :)
Freshman Student Council! So happy Alina, Abbie, and Rachel made it...I know they'll keep him focused and in line (and me on speed dial to let me know what's going on!)

back to school=even more chaos

2011-09-02T16:25:00.007-05:00

Saying goodbye to summer is really hard for us....and it's more than just because the pool is closing and the kids fading tans makes me sad, but the end of summer means fall is here and that is our busiest time of year. I'll give you an idea of what a typical week is like....

We'll start with Carter. Entering his first year of highschool. As the mother of a freshman, this is my best way to describe his schooling thus far.....

Carter:"Mom, I need $12 for team shorts. Mom, I need $10 for food after the soccer game. Mom I need $15 for a welcome back rally tshirt. Mom, fill up my lunch account...$100 should get me through October. Mom, I need $5 to help pay for rental of SFF." You get the idea.

His school starts at 8am. Scott has to be at work at 7:55, so they ride together and get there at 7:30. Makes things very easy for everyone. Scotts school doesn't start til 9, so he has 90 minutes to grade papers, read the newspaper, play bball with his fav. teachers in the gym...all fun things while I'm slaving away trying to get three kids up and out the door for school. No hard feelings :) Carter then has soccer practice everyday after school til 5ish. The coaches are very unorganized and no one ever knows what's going on. It's so frustrating. Away games bring him home around 7-7:30...which means he hasn't eaten and not even close to starting his homework. Oh and the homework.....at least three subjects a night. I hate highschool homework!!!!!

Now we'll move on to Bennett-big 4th grader :) Ben and Brady's school doesn't start until 8:30 so they roll out of bed around 8, get dressed, eat, brush their teeth and they're out the door. If Tyler is over (more on him later), they walk to school...if he's not, then I drive them the 500 yards to the parking lot. ugh. On Wednesday nights, Bennett has baseball practice from 6 til I call and tell Scott its too damn late and to get his ass home. Seriously, 9pm is NOT the time to start homework...what are we teaching him about priorities????

Next up, Brady. 1st grade. He loves his teacher but he has homework EVERYNIGHT of the week all year long. Its good for him, but I'm tired of hearing him read...I've done this already with two other kids and it's so boring. We're getting to 100 books quickly to meet his year reading goal and then we're backing off. Brady is so competitive that he wants to read 10 books a night so his certificate gets filled the fastest. *Sigh* I give it a few more weeks before we're done and can bring the pace down a bit!

And what kind of teacher gives out whistles as prizes for good behavior? Grrrrrr

Brady has soccer practice on Monday and Tuesday nights at SIUE. Then his games will start next week and they play Saturday or Sundays...throw in a few tournaments and we're good to go. Brady's team is really good and very fun to watch...Scott and I are very excited about this season. The above picture was taken during his two practice games last week...he scored four goals!!

And then there's MISS CATE. She has pre-k 2.5 hours everyday of the week! As of today, she has officially gone to school more than not! Woohoo! She doesn't whine about going, gets herself dressed, but gives me a sad/shy face when she walks into the room. I sneak out and when I come back 2.5 hours later, she's happy as can be. Uncle Mike did mention that he can't wait to hear what she has to say about finding out that the universe does not actually revolve around her! Well, today she came home and said "I had to wait in a line. Why would I have to wait? I should go first all the time" HAHAHA! Big wake up call for Catie Bug!

Her weekly activity is Thursday night dance class from 6:30-7:30. We had our 3rd session last night and she's doing great. She likes playing with all of the girls and the instructors are really awesome.

Scott's middle school girls basketball started this week which means he won't get home before 5:30 on practice days and then just whenever on game days. Fun for me...I'm left having to take all of the kids to Ben/Brady/Carter/Cate's activities by myself. blah.

And speaking of me....what am I doing with all of my free time now that my kids are in school? Babysitting Baby Hadley of course!

Miss Hadley comes to me at 7:30am and stays until about 3:45. Her big brother Tyler also comes over in the morning and walks to school with the boys and then after school too. I am so thankful Hadley is such a laid-back super baby :) We run errands all morning and play all afternoon. Cate loves reading books to her and teaching her to crawl :)

So there ya have it...our wild fall weekly schedule. No rest for the weary :)

Whoa Garden Whoa

2011-08-31T21:53:00.003-05:00

Remember when we were hoping that these pumpkin plants would actually produce pumpkins?

And then we got a little freaked out that the plants were out of control?

Well, now they're really out of control and we have pumpkins! One is already bigger than a basketball and the second isn't far behind. Yes, it's way too early for pumpkins...I have no idea what we're going to do with them! And the plant has outgrown its bed and is almost to our back porch!

In true Smallie fashion, our tomatoes are blooming way late...we have about twenty-five pretty little greens ones already :)
Cate loves hanging out with Buddy. Tonight she was trying to get him to jump through her swim ring!
Anyone else sick of the 101 degree weather? Bring on fall!!

Tic-Tac-Toe With Sharpie Marker = FUN!

2011-08-29T22:16:00.002-05:00

Note: no child was hurt in the taking of this photo. Said child is crying because her daddy yelled at her...for probably the first time ever.

Boogie

2011-08-27T23:05:00.006-05:00

Tonight we Boogied For Babies for Nurses for Newborns at the Casa Loma Ballroom. The theme was the Roaring 20's and thanks to Aunt Meme, Cate had the perfect dress to wear :) She was very excited to finally get to wear her costume and high-heeled shoes out of the house!

PHOTO BOOTH!!!!!

Tearin' up the dance floor! Shake it girl!!!

Too much fun! Baby Cate was sound asleep before we even pulled out of the parking lot!

LOVED IT....NOT SO MUCH

2011-08-24T12:41:00.006-05:00

That's the text I would have gotten from Cate after her first day of preschool if she had a phone and could text :)

Cate's first day of preschool was an orientation where parents stayed the entire class time. The kids went into another classroom, but they knew we were there. That's why it was smooth sailing on day number one :)

Cate and Reid (Reid loved school and asked his mom to leave so he could stay by himself! And let's be honest, after finally getting all three boys in school, Candi was more than happy to leave!)

Cate loved the first day so much that we were the very last people to leave when it was over.

But out in the parking lot I asked if she was ready for the next day and she said "I'm not going to school anymore" Uh oh.

However, on day #2, she was up and ready to go bright and early. She walked into class fine but once she realized I was leaving, those baby blue eyes filled with tears and she wanted to go home. Thankfully, Miss Teresa was there to help and kept Cate's attention long enough for me to sneak out. She said that when she did realize I had gone, she cried, but they were able to entertain her enough to get through the 2.5 hours. Cate was very happy to see me at the end of the hallway at 11:15! First thing she said when we walked out of the building was "I am not going back to school ever again!" And, she hasn't. I know, I know..."she'll be fine". I've heard this a zillion times from a zillion different people, but "fine" isn't good enough and I'm not dragging a screaming child to preschool...because I don't have to. It's not like I have to drop her off at school so I can go to work..we enrolled her for the social aspect and because we love the school. So, our plan is to ease her into it...we'll try again tomorrow and then on Friday. And if she's not ready, then she's not ready and we'll try again next year.

LOVED IT....

2011-08-21T20:12:00.005-05:00

LOVED IT. That was the text Carter sent me moments after the bell rang ending his first day of highschool. With those two little words, I was able to let go of the breath I've been holding since his last day of 8th grade (or maybe his first day of preschool). Last Monday, I joined him for Freshman Orientation. Fifteen minutes into the meeting, the 9th graders were dismissed with upperclass leaders and given the grand tour of their "home" for the next four years. My stomach sank as Carter joined the other 500 kids and left me to sit with all of the parents wondering where time has gone. Weren't we just walking these kids into their first day of kindergarten?? Thankfully Carter's core group of friends have in fact all been together since kindergarten and this is a journey I'm grateful to be taking with such an amazing group of moms. Speaking of amazing moms....(ha!)

humoring me with a picture before orientation

To be honest, I haven't been handling this highschool thing very well. Me...the least emotional person ever...has cried more tears in the last few weeks than probably the last few years combined. Pitiful, really...I've become a real wimp :( But my four years of highschool were some of the best years of my life and I just want the same for him. I was so happy when he walked through the door that first afternoon and started talking a mile a minute about how awesome his day was. *sigh of relief*

Carter made the highschool soccer team and starting Wednesday, I'll be parked in the bleachers, wearing my red and black, and cheering for #5!!! For their first official practice two weeks ago, the boys practiced at midnight...it was a fundraiser to kick off the season. I was burying my head in the sand and decided to forgo the practice and stay home with Cate :) Scott took the camera and from the above picture, you can see how well that went! Aunt Kathy took plenty of pics and videos and my parents gave me the play by play the following day so I think I have a pretty good idea of how it went...LOTS of running (Carter was in the yellow).

So, for now, I'm going to dry my tears, put a smile on my face, and hope the next four years go extremely slow! Here's to a very successful freshman year....GOOD LUCK CARTER!!!

Dancing Queen

2011-08-19T16:03:00.012-05:00

Tonight was Cate's very first dance class. (Yes, it was also the first day of school, but I'll get around to that another day!). So, a few months ago, Adriane and I decided we were going to put Cate and Gabby and Gracie in dance class together. But, life happens, and we just now got around to signing them up. We chose The Little Gym because it offers an hour long class and breaks it up into 15 minutes of tap, 15 minutes of ballet, and 30 minutes of gymnastics. The session is like 22 weeks long (!) and there is no end-of-the-year recital...something I was trying to avoid. I really wanted a place that was laid back and didn't concentrate on routines, etc. Of course, anytime I spoke of dance class, Cate wanted nothing to do with it. I found this great deal online for a tutu, leotard, and tights for $12.99..holla! I figured a new outfit would be just enough to bribe her into the gym! MauMau bought her tap and ballet shoes for Christmas so we were set. This morning she woke up and immediately started whining about dance class...it was the perfect time to break out the new outfit. Yay for Cate's love of clothes, it worked!! By the time class started, she was super excited :)

Her tap shoes were missing strings, so I improvised with Disney Princess ribbon :)
She was very unsure at first...a few tears were shed, but she sucked it up and joined in the fun
I was so proud of Cate's behavior tonight...she listened and followed directions perfectly. After the class, the teachers commented to me and Scott about how great Cate did and how much they appreciated her listening skills. (and let's be honest, this wasn't a sure thing going into it!)

At one point, they turned on the radio for "free dance" time. All of the girls were jumping around and dancing, but Cate parked herself right in front of the mirror and did her one and only move...turn and leg kick :) She loved the mirrors!

I love this picture! She was so eager to learn :)

High-five for learning first position!

I love this picture too...admiring herself in the mirror again :)

Uh-oh...double trouble is back in action! Cate and Grace had a great time in the gymnastics room and Gabby joined in the fun too. The girls have missed each other!

Such good listeners!

The lighting in the rooms was no good for my camera...I may need to tell them about it so I can get some better pictures!
Cutest dismount ever!

Grace is still a wild woman!
Next week they're learning "Ta-Da's" and how to bow. Cate is VERY excited about this!!

I'm so glad we signed her up and that she really loved it. Finally, after years of watching her brothers get to have all the fun, it's her turn! On the way home, she made a list of everyone she expects to come to her next classes to watch her :) With 21 weeks left, we may be able to fit everyone in! Gabby and Grace were very shy during the dancing part but really got into it during the gymnastics and I'm hoping Adriane keeps them in the class...the girls will have a blast!! Oh and if you're wondering what Scott thought about sitting through his first dance class...well, let me quote him "Cate you did so great and followed directions really well. But Debbie (I knew what was coming because he never says my name) if she acted like those other two girls in class, I'd have yanked her out and beat her butt, then I'd smack you too. Where were their mothers?? They were out of control and disrupting everyone. Cate, if they ever push you, you give it right back to them". Soooo, I will now be video taping the future sessions and showing it to him when I get home! Even a calm dance class can turn into a freak show for the Smallie's!!!

Photo Dump

2011-08-13T20:45:00.008-05:00

I'm clearing off my cameras memory card...here's a look at the last few days :)

Cate can hold her breath underwater for soooo long....

Roadtrip!

2011-08-12T21:32:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, Carter and I spent the entire weekend in Iowa by ourselves! His 3v3 soccer team played in a regional tournament in Cedar Rapids. Because Brady had a baseball tournament in Glen Carbon, we decided that Carter and I would make the trek by ourselves. It was so weird to travel with just one child. I wasn't a fan of having to drive the entire trip by myself..especially when Carter plugged in his headphones and watched movies on his computer or when he took a two hour nap...I was soooo bored. FYI, the only thing between here and Cedar Rapids is farmland....lots and lots of cows, horses, and corn.

Awww...look at that empty car seat in the back :( Carter was thrilled to have an entire weekend without siblings!10 and 2. This was the first time I've ever used cruise control. I seriously don't have the attention span for road trips...I think I looked at everything but the road the entire time (sorry Mom!)
Welcome to Cedar Rapids!

This was heaven for Carter...he could play on his laptop while admiring himself in the mirror :)

Practicing his backstroke. He was in rare form most of the weekend. All I wanted to do was lay in my own bed, read a book, and control the remote...but he sang and danced for 40 hours straight! At one point I kicked him out of the room....told him to go find his friends and do something fun. Wasn't ten minutes later he walked back in...they had gotten in trouble by the hotel manager for playing full-blown soccer in the hallway. They were threatened to be kicked out of the hotel...it only took 10 minutes!!! Ugh.

I have no idea what this is about. But he did count his bday money over and over and over. Thankfully he has since bought a new Ipod touch and has no more money to count :)

I had to take a few soccer pictures to prove to Scott that I did not send Carter to the games with teammates so I could stay in bed all day!

"Those Guys" are Disney-bound!!! Woohoo!

Take Six

2011-08-12T21:20:00.004-05:00

I'm finally catching up on all of Carter's birthday celebrations...the first party we had for him was quite comical. It took six tries to get the candles lit and blown out. Scott made the first attempt, followed by Uncle Josh...then Bennett blew them out and Carter took over trying to light them again. Of course, everyone sang Happy Birthday continuously throughout each attempt. Just another wild night here at the Smallie house!

It looks like the sun or a light is shining on Carter's hair, but it's actually naturally highlighted from the sun. So unfair!!! People ask me (and him) all the time if he's had his hair "frosted"!!

Out of Control

2011-08-10T21:21:00.012-05:00

Remember when our pumpkin plants looked like this?
They've quickly grown out of control...along with our tomato plants and squash. I can't fix the picture size, but you can see how big the pumpkin plants have grown in the last 14 days. I am hoping this does not mean we are growing cow pumpkins that are too big for us to even carve and move to the front porch!
These are a few of our daily picks out of the garden....banana peppers, cucumbers, and green peppers...delish!

Why I'm Crazy

2011-08-08T21:48:00.003-05:00

A conversation in the car tonight:

Scott: "Your mom and I are going to stay in a hotel in Clayton one night soon and you guys are staying at Fran's"

Carter: "You're going to Mexico without us? This sucks!"

Bennett: "They're not going to Mexico, they're going to France"

Brady: "Why would you go to France for one night?"

Cate: "MY BOYS STOP TALKING, IT'S MY TURN TO TALK!!! We are going to Frannie's while those people stay in a hotel without us"

Bennett: "Why would you want to stay in a hotel without us?"

Me: "Seems crazy doesn't it Ben?"

Conflicts

2011-08-04T19:40:00.007-05:00

warning: ramblings of a very tired soccer mom

With all of the sports my boys play, there are bound to be conflicts with schedules. But lately, Scott and I have been struggling more than ever with which game/practice holds the most priority. I'd love to say that spring is baseball, summer is swim team, fall is soccer, and winter is basketball, but in reality, all of the sports run together and everything overlaps forcing us to choose who goes where and what gets skipped. For example: one night, Brady had baseball practice, soccer camp, Carter had 3v3 soccer practice, Bennett had a baseball game and they all had a rescheduled swim meet. We chose the swim meet because they only have five a summer and we could all go and not be running in three different directions. But to be honest, it was a decision we went back and forth with for days. Does swim team trump soccer camp when there are only five sessions of that too? Should Bennett miss a league game? And with only 5 kids on Carter's 3v3 team, it's hard to practice when not everyone shows up. On the other hand, all three boys are in relays on the swim team and missing a meet could mean being bumped from races at the championship meet. We often talk about making the kids choose only one sport to play, but they love playing everything and it's hard to tell a 6 year old that even though he's great at soccer and baseball, he can only play one. Why not put them on rec teams?? Well, because then they're not playing at a competitive level and they'll be behind when they're older. When you have 50+ kids trying out for highschool baseball and only 15 make it...it's clear that only the kids who have played at the highest level since they were SEVEN are going to be the ones wearing those school jerseys! Making this all the more stressful is that Scott and I are the worst decision makers. Three years ago when Cate was born, I gave up on trying to make every practice and game...it's seriously just not possible. We have a friend whose son plays select hockey and soccer...when asked how he does it, his answer is, "I pay $1000 for each and miss half of everything". And he's right..it's just not possible to get them to two places at once. This drives Scott insane. He hates making a commitment and then not showing up 100% of the time, but he is going to have to accept that with four kids, it's just the way it is. Another example...last night Carter had 3v3 soccer practice, select soccer practice, Brady had baseball practice and we were celebrating Carter's birthday(the only night in the next two weeks that we could do so). Obviously, we skipped everything else and had everyone over for Carter, but it bothered Scott all night and tonight at Brady's baseball practice, someone else was practicing in his position (as if!). Which then brings up the argument that why should Brady get to play infield all game every game if he is not at every practice when everyone else is??? No way to win in this game and it stinks. And you can imagine what all of these schedules do to our "family time" ......and sit down dinners??What are those?! Ugh, I'm so tired :/ Thankfully, we all have the summer off work/school and at least have between the hours of 12 and 5 to chill. Damn, saying that out loud makes me sound even more ridiculous. I told Scott we're taking a "radical sabbatical" from all sports next year but the kids went nuts as soon as the words were out of my mouth. So, for now, we'll continue down this path of overbooked kids, no downtime at home, and zero dollars to spare :) Poor baby Cate won't ever get to play sports...I'm gonna be just too damn tired!

fourteen

2011-08-01T22:12:00.002-05:00

On Friday, Carter will turn 14. Is this shocking to anyone else? I can't decide if it's more shocking that he's starting highschool or that I'm old enough to have a 14 year old child. Tonight is his first highschool event and it's breaking my heart! The highschool soccer team and cheerleaders are having a pool party and sniff sniff parents sniff sniff weren't invited waaaaahhhhhh. So, I had to take pictures before he left, which isn't the same, but I'm thankful he humored me and posed for a few. And since Scott won't let me sneak through the park and take pictures through the fence of the pool, I'm left to just boo hoo over Carter starting highschool. BOOOHOOOOO :(

B-NUT

2011-07-27T18:04:00.012-05:00

B-NUT is Bennett's nickname on his baseball team...he doesn't mind it unless Brady says it :) Anyhoo, Bennett was chosen again this year to represent his team in the league All-Star Game. Because our team won the league, they were able to choose four players to play in the game and Scott got to coach. It was a very hot night (but what night lately hasn't been very hot??) our boys played great and we won!

Bennett, Kyan, and Connor...representin'!

Bennett hit a double that tied the game at 2-2...we ended up winning 6-2

MauMau would not be happy to see Cate laying down and eating...this is a BIG no-no with her :)

Scott did a really great job coaching the team. He spent a lot of time figuring out the line-up so each kid got to play in their favorite positions and all have equal playing time. The above picture is of Mr. Positive giving a great speech after the game about how awesome they all played and he pointed out a specific play each kid made that impressed him....which impressed me :)

************************************************

All teams/ages in the baseball league were invited to the Grizzlies Baseball game last night and all 1st place teams received their medals. Bennett was really excited to get to parade around the field and meet the players. As usual, we had a huge cheering section for Ben...17 fans to be exact :)

My dad ran down to the field to high-five our boys :)

Mr. Positive was interviewed on the field and gave a typical Scott answer...."we had a really good year and the kids had a lot of fun. We won some really great games and lost a few hard-fought ones. I'm proud of every player and it was an honor to coach them".

Photo-bomb!

Scott and The Rive may never learn to play nice.
Cate loved the inflatables
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Another successful baseball night!

Clarification

2011-07-27T12:18:00.002-05:00

I've had two inquiries regarding Cate's socks in the previous bowling post. Yes, she is wearing mismatched socks with Teva sandals. No, this is not the norm. Well, the mismatched socks are. We do not match socks in our house...ever. When they come out of the dryer, I throw them into a huge basket and when the kids need a pair, they grab two random socks and put them on. My kids do not wear shoes when they're playing outside, but they do wear socks. Which, naturally, destroys socks quickly and I'm often left with orphan socks. Rather than throw them away, I did away with trying to match them and it's been years since anyone in this house has matched. Just the way it is here at Casa Smallie. As for the sandals, Cate put the socks on when we got to the bowling alley but they didn't have her shoe size (7) and because everyone else was wearing socks, she had to and then she put her shoes back on. It made my skin crawl the entire time, but sometimes you have to take one for the team :)

Bowling

2011-07-25T17:15:00.004-05:00

AMF bowling has a great summer program...2 free games per kid for everyday of the summer. Just sign up online and each Sunday, they email coupons. Last week, we joined Crista, Logan and Hunter for a few games...the kids had a great time and it cost me less than $10!

Bennett had great form and Scott was a little worried that bowling may be his best sport :)

Cate danced the entire time and her skirt was always in motion!

Brady also danced the entire time...and "helped" Cate bowl. Which usually meant he tried to push her ball down the ramp and she would scream at him...fun!

Somebody's beating her big brother :)

Mr. Crabby. Most teachers are happiest during the summer. Not Mr. Smallie. I think it's because he needs structure and a schedule everyday. He wakes up and starts whining.."what are we doing today? I'm soooo bored". I told him next year he's teaching summer school!

Deeeewishus

2011-07-24T21:35:00.003-05:00

Who destroyed Papa Jim's birthday cake???

I DID!!Happy 55th (+ alot) Birthday!!!!!

WE LOVE YOU :)

Eh.

2011-07-21T15:12:00.003-05:00

I left channel 280 TLC on while I showered and Cate caught her very first episode of Toddlers and Tiaras. Clearly this was a very inspirational show for her.....

Swimsuit competition? Goggles add a great touch :)

Dance competition?

She's all about practicing her walk and wave :)

Yeah, I don't think so......

High Divin'

2011-07-18T21:13:00.005-05:00

On Sunday night, we celebrated Keaton's birthday at the Woodriver Aquatic Center. The kids had never been there before and they were excited to go down the waterslides and see the high dive (not go off it). However, peer pressure is an ugly beast and both Bennett and Brady ended up jumping off it a zillion times. Ben was very unsure from the moment he laid eyes on the platform :) but he sucked it up and saved face by joining his friends in line! His face is priceless! He said it felt like time stopped on the way down!
Brady, of course, jumped off the minute the older boys said they were going up.

Cate stuck to the small board. She spends HOURS every week jumping off the board at Paddlers. Most of the time she will wear her floatie so I don't have to get in the water, but sometimes she wants to jump without it and I tread water to make sure she surfaces before she kicks over to the side. I think that by the end of summer she'll be flying solo!

Scott and Cate on the waterslide. She did not love this. No tears but when asked if she wanted to go again, she said "NEVER!"

Working on her favorite stroke...backstroke!

Growing Garden

2011-07-15T17:59:00.003-05:00

After years of talking about it, Scott and Brady finally planted a garden. Well, more like my dad probably got tired of hearing about it, showed up way too early one morning and tilled up half of our yard, left a dozen plants, and Scott and Brady dropped them in the ground. Regardless of how it came about, we now have a very successful garden in our backyard!

We're growing green peppers, banana peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, and carrotsWith lots of rain storms, plenty of hot hot sun, and careful tending, our plants are growing at an extreme rate and veggies are starting to appear
First tomatoes starting to come in

The zucchini and cucumber plants are taking over!

Hopefully these will one day be pumpkins ready for carving

Our first pick! No idea what to do with it since no one in the house eats peppers!

3v3 cont.

2011-07-15T17:42:00.004-05:00

On the second day of the 3v3 tournament, Carter and Brady had another five games between the two of them. Bennett was guest playing in the World Series baseball tournament for the St. Louis Pirates so Scott went to Ofallon with him. Thankfully, my parents kept Cate at home because it was the hottest day ever and she would have been miserable. Naturally both of Carter's games were at the same time as Brady's and six fields apart so I ran back and forth as best I could. Ok, truth be told, I mostly watched Brady's games :) 6yr olds are so cute playing soccer and I've put in 8 years of watching Carter's games so far.....This is the only picture I got of Carter all day. His team finished in 4th place and will be heading to Cedar Rapids Iowa in August for another tournament...then on to Disney again in January!

Brady's team won 3rd place. In their first game Sunday, they beat a team they had lost to the previous day. Brady scored 5 goals...he was on fire!!! When he plays, it is VERY obvious he has two older brothers that beat the crap out of him at home. He never backs down on the field and rolls right over everyone :)

Their final game came down to sudden death overtime and then penalty kicks. Can you believe penalty kicks for 6 year olds?! They choose three kids to shoot for each team, ball is placed on half-line, and they shoot on an open goal. Both Brady and Johnny made their shots and the other team missed theirs. Stinks that a game has to be decided that way, but we'll take it! Brady was so excited to earn a medal..he slept with it on his pillow :)

3v3

2011-07-09T22:26:00.006-05:00

This weekend both Carter and Brady are playing in a 3v3 soccer tournament. A lot of people love these tournaments, however, I do not :) The games are played on small fields and they last just 24 minutes....which means they play more games than a normal tournament. Between the two boys, they played seven games today (and another 4-6 tomorrow). We were at the fields from 8:30am-3:30 and it was very very hot. We took our easy-up tent and set it up next to teammates for a total of 7 tents and plenty of shade. But it was still ridiculously hot!!!

Brady's team played in the u7 division. It was his very first time playing 3v3 and he played great. Won some, lost some and scored four goals....not a bad start!

Carter's team played in the u13 division. They won 2 and lost 2. Carter scored several goals, but I'm really bad at keeping score at this level. In their 9-6 victory, I had them losing 3-1. Clearly, I am not cut out to be an official scorekeeper.

Cate loved playing with the other little sisters. I do not need to obsess over it anymore than I already have but Lylah (the little girl in white) and Cate are the same age. Do you notice the difference in hair length? I made Lylah rub her ponytail over Cate's hair to encourage growth!!

Coach Broshow giving the boys a half-time pep talk! I'm gonna guess Carter was zoned out and thinking "what in the hell are you wearing on your head?"

Carter played on field #20 and Brady on field #1. Of course it always works that way. So, we set up camp at Brady's fields and walked over to Carter's games. During one of Carter's games, I looked around to find Cate had hijacked another teams tent and portable bench!

During half-time of Brady's game, Carter and Cate took the field. Cate wanted nothing to do with the ball, she just wanted to run fast in her new running skirt and dri-fit tank.

Cate (notice the wardrobe change...the boys had water guns out) loves to ride on our "game day" wagon-as we like to call it. It comes in very handy when needing to haul a tent, minimum of three chairs, at least one cooler, toy bag, and one toddler. It has mesh pockets up front for my phone and the best part is that it folds down accordion style to a very small square which saves a lot of space in the van. Need to give a shout-out to BauBau for buying it for Scott for Father's Day. He appreciated the food gift card, I appreciated this!!!!

Yes, we're back to this. See Lylah's hair in this picture? THAT'S JUST HALF OF IT! The other ponytail is still on the other side of her head. Her dad is a minister, so maybe he spent extra time praying that Lylah's hair would grow thick and long. Funny story: at one point this morning when the girls were playing, Cate did not want to share her Disney princess dolls with Ella (girl in the pink) so she picked the dolls up and put them in the wagon so no one could get them. That sent Ella running to her mom crying...which Cate couldn't have cared less about. Ugh! About an hour later, Ella walks up to me and says "your sister over there doesn't know how to share very well". And I said "my sister?!! Why you're the smartest little girl I've ever met and you're right, my sister doesn't share well at all, but you can play with whatever you want! " DUH! Of course she would think we're sisters...Cate is 3 and obviously I look no older than 18. Damn, that made my day!!!!

Grants Farm

2011-07-07T22:18:00.011-05:00

On Wednesday, Grammy, Fran, and Bau Bau joined us for an afternoon at Grant's Farm. It was very hot and very humid but we all had a great time.

Carter fell asleep on the tram ride until an animal walked right up and nearly licked him in the face :)

These buffalo were hanging out on the bridge and we had to wait until they moved before we could cross. Brady thought that was very cool!
Cate, Brady, and Carter enjoy feeding the goats...Bennett, not so much

The elephant show was a hoot...Budweiser, the main attraction, was not cooperating at all. He refused to participate in any of his stunts and then urinated about 10 gallons all over the place. He then pooped 50lbs of crap and continued to pick it up and throw it all over himself. His keepers were less than thrilled

Starting to flood the stage

Stomping around in his poo

Did I mention it was very very hot? Cate spent a lot of time in the misting sprayers

Lunch in the Tier Garten

Carter danced and sang all day long. He always does. I finally yelled "Carter! Your life is not a stage!!"

The music inspired Fran to teach Carter how to dance for real....POLKA!

Happy Birthday America!

2011-07-05T22:38:00.009-05:00

We went all out this year for the 4th of July....even decorated the exterior of our home with good ole' red, white, and blue. We spent our first celebration of the day at Scott's Grandma's house swimming and eating lunch. Brady and Bennett raced the entire time and Cate showed off her underwater swimming skills.

Brady, Reece, and Cate looking for frogs...there's a family that lives in the hot tub :)

Bennett diving in to torture Uncle Josh

Dang White Boy...get some sun!!

Cate loves when Aunt Fran pushes her in Bau Bau's wheelchair! They took a lot of rides :)

For dinner, we headed to my moms. Minus me. When we got home, I came down with a case of the pukes and stayed in bed. Scott said her Italian Chicken was delicious and he didn't bring me any leftovers :(

Celebration #3-Granite City has a really fantastic 4th of July celebration and an awesome fireworks show to end the weekend. Best in the area and this year was the best I've ever seen. We set up our seats in the Coolidge field with Grammy and Bau Bau and patiently waited for the sun to go down and the fireworks to start.

Cate looking all festive in the shirt I made her. Uh, huh, that's right, I sew.
What's not to love about The Rive?
Cody and Brady chillin' before the show starts

Fireworks started and so did Cate's dancing....
By the end of the show, both Bennett and Cate were nearly asleep.

It took us about ten minutes to drive the 1.6 miles home. We are always trying to figure out the fastest route to get through the ridiculous traffic and this year wasn't too bad!

Braggin' Rights

2011-07-03T17:41:00.002-05:00

I'm going to do a little braggin' on Brady. This weekend he played in the 7u State Championships in Jacksonville and hit FOUR home runs!! And not a "hit-a-good-ball-but-infielders-overthrew-it-so-he-made-it-home" either...more like a "hit-the-heck-out-of-the-ball-to-the-fence-and-ran-really-fast" I got to see his first HR on Friday and Scott and my parents witnessed numbers 2,3 & 4 on Saturday. This is four more home runs than either of his brothers ever scored (something he loves to let everyone know!). So proud of my lil' 6 year old slugger!!!

Hair Woes

2011-06-27T22:21:00.007-05:00

I have come to the conclusion that I'm never going to get over it, so I might as well blog about it. Of course I'm talking about Cate's hair. It has been the cause of many sleepless nights for me and I'm not kidding. Best way to explain this is with pictures, so stay with me...

Day 1. Cate was born with very blond (shocking, right?!) fuzzy chicken hair. So cute! Dr. D immediately announced "She's blond, just like the rest of you!"

10 months-she may be walking, but she's definitely not growing any hair

18 months-it's almost growing :)

28 months-BOOM! Look at that thick, curly, luscious hair. To die for, right?

33 months-just five short months later and Cate's hair is falling out, breaking off, super straight and thin. This picture shows where her bangs broke off and no, her hair isn't in a ponytail...it's just no longer there!!! AAAGGHHH!!! We had come so far!! We took her to the doctor and they ran blood tests to make sure there was nothing medically wrong and thankfully everything checked out fine. So, we will probably never know what caused this hair drama. Here are my thoughts: 1-Cate had (and still has) terrible cradle cap. We put some medicated oil stuff (per dr. instructions) on her scalp and then used a comb to remove the crusty skin. This seems like the most logical culprit. 2-Cate's hair turned an awful shade of green during the summer due to the chlorine in the pools. We bought a special clarifying shampoo that could have been too harsh and ended up damaging her hair. 3-After spending the entire spring and summer outside in the sunshine, fall/winter brought her indoors and maybe her hair suffers from seasonal depression?? Or she missed baseball season so much that her hair fell out??

39 months-it's making a comeback!! Grow baby grow!! No it's not thick and there's zero curl (sniff sniff), but it's definitely getting longer and she has bangs again!

And it blows in the wind...woohoo!!!

I know that in the grand scheme of things, Cate's hair length and texture is a minor issue, but....*sigh* I really loved her thick curly hair. Why does Bennett get to be the only one with great hair (that he just had completely shaved off)? Why does she have to have Brady's hair (who has only had 6 haircuts in 6 years...and I'm not exaggerating)? I'm not asking for Taylor Swift crazy thick curls but is braiding length too much to ask for?? I guess on the bright side, Scott has been gifted with more time to learn how to do ponytails :) So, for now, we'll continue to lock her outside in the sun and hope her hair starts growing as fast as our grass! Stay tuned..I'm hoping that her hair will be amazing by the end of summer :)

Go Cards!

2011-06-26T21:48:00.005-05:00

Bennett's chiropractor (don't ask) gave him four tickets to today's Cardinals game. Carter didn't want to go and Uncle Josh was working, so they let me go. Nothing like being No. 3 on the list (and I think if Cody weren't going to a concert, they would have asked him before me too). Because Dr E. drives a Ferrari..on days that he doesn't drive his Bentley.. I knew the seats were going to be good. And they did not disappoint. Section 131 Row 1 Seats 1,2,3,4. Not too shabby. Close enough to reach out and touch the right fielder...or heckle the opposing team, which is what the two drunk guys next to us did the entire game (Dear Jose Bautista-those two guys were idiots and you were justified when you cussed them out in Spanish and grabbed your crotch. It was also entertaining and makes for a great story).

3 hotdogs, 1 hamburger, 1 snow cone, 3 sodas, 2 waters, 1 pretzel, 2 ice creams, and nachos = $5821
It was very hot, I got very sunburned, and the Cards lost but we had a great time!