From one sport to another

We had two very crazy Saturdays full of tapping our feet waiting for the kids to finish swimming at least freestyle and backstroke before rushing to soccer and softball games. Whew! Glad that's over, but we get no break. Now, we are full into swimming - practice 5 days a week (7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, 9:45 and 10:15) followed by a 7:00 AM start on Saturdays. Part of me is wondering what in the heck I was thinking and Dave's really wondering why he let me do this...but, I have to say that I'm kind of getting the bug.

Both kids are on the young side of their age group, but they're doing great. Rachel has a great backstroke. She just needs to figure out how to go straight. It's fun to watch because we have no idea what her time will be because it depends so much on how straight she can stay. We're working on this, but it makes it exciting.


Alex surprised us all this weekend. He had double digit improvements in both strokes. He won both heats, and he was super excited about that. My kids only want those heat ribbons. They don't understand the actual way that swimming works, so I was glad that he got his heat ribbon. Hopefully he will be able to keep up his times or he'll never win another one.

Look at that great smile.

It's going to be a fun and busy summer for all of us!

What happened to his nose?

So, we've gotten this question everywhere we've gone for the last week. Too much sun? A fall at the pool? No, he took at nose dive at the dressing room in Target and got rug burn on his nose. I'm not sure what he was doing, but I'm pretty sure it was semi-intentional. He started screaming (because we all know how much rug burn hurts), and I had no idea what had happened. It was a little red, but it took a while for me to really understand what he had done. The next day, it was quite a "boo boo".

Here he wanted me to take a picture of him pointing to his boo boo. He's even making a sad face to get as much sympathy as possible.

The boo boo in all it's glory!

Coach Dave

My boys absolutely love soccer. Zack cries when we have a rainout because he loves it so much. I know that they are just sports kids, but I think they love it so much because Dave is their coach. I had to encourage him a little to start coaching for Alex's second season of soccer, 4 years ago. But, he has really embraced his role and is an excellent coach.

He loves to coach the 3-5 year olds. He gets to get out there and play with them and be silly. They all love that and really take to him. It is common in this age group for kids to refuse to play and want to stay with their parents on the sidelines. I don't think Dave has ever had one of these kids, and I think that is largely due to the fact that he engages the kids so much that they feel comfortable enough to get out of their comfort zone and play.

Although the older kids are a little more challenging, he does really well with them. He tends to get young, inexperienced teams that struggle to win a lot, yet all the kids have fun and find that they really enjoy soccer. Many, many parents have told him that their kid did not really like soccer until they played with him. I think that's a true judge of a good coach.

Here he is giving out patches. He found this somewhere and uses it for all his teams. He rewards the kids with soccer ball patches for goals, hustle, bravery, defense, etc. They all love it, and it sets him apart in the league.

I love watching Dave coach. He is really in his element. He gets to play with the kids in a semi-competitive environment. Although it makes game days a little more hectic for me, I am thrilled that all my boys get to have this great experience together.

My Burrito

Bath time is one of my least favorite activities. I usually try to barter with Dave to get him to do it. But, Matthew and I have developed a cute little back and forth after his bath that helps to make it more enjoyable. I wrap him up tight in his towel and call him my burrito. I've done this for many months, but recently he started replying, "No, you're my burrito". We go back and forth many, many times with this. But, it's cute the way that he loves this and finds humor in it over and over again. It reminds me to enjoy the little things in life the way that a child does.
I tried to video him saying it, but he was too busy "cheese-ing" for the camera. He is very much a ham, so I never capture his true personality on video.

Happy Birthday, Alex - a couple weeks late!

Alex turned 7 on the 7th of May. Seven!!! I just can't believe it. The time goes by so fast. He was my most difficult labor (and not just because I didn't have the epidural with him), but I've always said that it was because he is such a Mama's Boy that he didn't want to come out. He's kind of growing out of that a little bit, thankfully just a little, but he is such a mini-Dave that he can't help but gravitate toward him a little more as he gets older. I'm OK with it because I've got Zack, who still loves his Mama best : )

Alex is really a fun kid. He loves things so much and really gets into whatever he is doing. He has a real competitive sense about him, so he really gets motivated by competition. For now, it is completely in check and I love watching him push himself to do well (or at least better than everyone else). He just ran at school for an hour for their fundraiser. He ended up running 4.5 miles in a hour. I don't know how it compared to the other kids, but he was out there having a lot of fun and trying to keep running as much as possible. A lot of the kids were complaining or socializing and walking, but not Alex. He was in it to see how far he could run. I ran about a mile with him when he started to lose his motivation. He's fast (like I said, mini-Dave) and was hard for me to keep up with when he decided to kick it in. It was fun watching him!

Not too old to take a break to pose with Quackers, his school pet.

He had a laser tag birthday party that was right up his alley. He and his friends loved it and none of them wanted to leave. So, it was a huge success!

A New Order of Things

Coda is the perfect dog for our family. He is so gentle with the kids and pretty obedient to us. I attribute this to my choice of dog. I had read that you should not pick the alpha dog, so we chose Coda because he moved away from the food bowl to let his siblings eat. We made a good decision because he is so far from the alpha dog that I call him my omega dog. He is even a little scared of Jamie and Jonathan's 4-pound Yorkie.

But, we've hit a new low for him. For anyone that has been to our house, you know that Coda's place is on the middle step. Despite the fact that I make him move multiple times a day as I walk up and down the stairs, he chooses that place to sleep. I think it gives him a sense of security that he can watch the front and protect his family. Well, today, I caught Coda checking himself as he went to his favorite spot only to find it occupied by our 2-month old kitten. He looked at her and then just planted himself on a lower step to take in his watch of the front. It cracked me up. The kitten, Mittens by the way, wants desperately to play with Coda, but he just walks away. I'm hoping that they will one day get along because finding a playmate for Coda was part of my motivation for getting Rachel a kitten.

A close-up of Mittens. She is definitely well-loved!

New York Girls!

Mom, Rachel and I took our 2nd Mother's Day trip to New York. This year we wanted to do a little more sightseeing than last year, so we got tickets on the double decker tour bus. It was full of interesting commentary on the makeup of the neighborhoods and architecture of the city. I think Rachel was a little bored, but Mom and I found it quite fascinating.


We stopped off at the World Trade Center site (nothing there yet) and walked to Battery Park to look at the Statue of Liberty. Rachel wanted to ride the ferry over to her, but you can't go up in the Statue until later this summer, so we decided to save that for another trip.


We saw two shows - Mamma Mia! and Shrek. Both were just OK. Last year, we saw Wicked, and I think it will be impossible to top that one. We did discover a new find in New York. It's a bakery called Crumbs. They sell these enormous, delicious cupcakes. We enjoyed snacking on these anytime we were in our hotel room whether it was for breakfast or a late night snack after the show. Yum!

Mostly, we just enjoyed being with each other - shopping, talking, people watching (Mom saw Constantine Maroulis from American Idol), laughing as we walk out of another restaurant because we just didn't find something we wanted. It was a very fun and relaxing weekend. Thanks, Mom, for treating us to a very special weekend full of many memories. It was a wonderful present. And, thanks to Dave for making it through what sounded like a challenging weekend with the boys. It was quite a nice Mother's Day for me!