Fall Sports

warning: bragging ahead...

 

Logan is playing his first season of football!

When I signed him up, I thought I was signing him up for a FALL sport!

So...I was a wee bit surprised when, this SUMMER, we got an email about practive starting up in August.  ALL of August.  6pm - 8pm Monday THROUGH Friday.

Ayi-yii-yiii-yiii!!  Are you kidding me!?!

 

Thankfuly, Logan is a sports-aholic and loved every minute of it.

He wakes up talking football,

asking about his practice, his next game, etc.

This little boy breathes sports.

 

He's only six!!

He looks sooo big! 

And so intense!

 

Bragging:

Logan is a phenominal little football player.

He runs the ball.

He grabs the flags.

He understands the game.

He loves the game.

It is sooooo fun to see him in his element.

And shine.

 

But.

Truthfully, I am hoping and begging that football will not be his chosen sport.

Way too rough for this Momma.

Too many concussions and injuries.

;-)

 

Austin flat out said "No Thank you to football!"

Which is a first...

I think he realized that he signed up for baseball

because he thought it would be cool...then realized he didn't actually enjoy anything about baseball.

So, I was very proud of him for thinking it through and saying No to football.

Although, now that he has seen Logan play, he may be a little more open to it.

He likes running the drills, etc.

 

We gave him lots of options for his Fall activity, and he chose Swimming.

Not just swim lessons,  but swim team.

Austin has always been a phenominal little swimmer.

Always.

He has had practice for about three weeks and then had his first meet this weekend.

(sidenote: ohmylawd - whattheheck are these crazy events!)

 

Bragging: Austin raced in 4 heats (true story, I was calling them "heaps" til Gary gently and laughingly corrected me), he got 2nd place in one, 6th in one and we are not sure of the last one - it was a 50 (what yards?) down and back. 

Of course, my camera went out on me, he doesn't have another meetfor a month.

But it's safe to say,

swimming is his sport:

 Look at that precious face!

Getting instructions. It was a very, very confusing day!

But Austin remained focused. 

Was ready to go when we yelled at, er....directed him that it was time to swim.

 

Yay for sports and cheering on your kids.

We are trying really, really hard to hold true to one sport per child per season.

Just trying to keep it real, and not overwhelm any of us.

Which - we are...

...still overwhelmed.

 

But we are having lots of fun right now cheering on our little athletes! 

This little piggy...

Lawd have mercy!  These boys! 

 

We were jumping on the trampoline.

Discussing our plan of participating in Krispy Kreme's "National Talk Like a Pirate" day and snagging a dozen (or two) free doughnuts by dressing up as pirates.

 

Then, the bleeping, effin', overpriced, inconveniently timed ice cream truck comes through the neighborhood.

I distinctly told the boys, "No.  You are not buying ice cream from the ice cream truck."

 

 

....

 

..

 

..

 

But......Gawdigit!

They didn't listen.

 

What they DID do was

go into their room, climb to the TOP shelf,

 

grab their piggy banks down,

BREAK one open.

 

And BUY ice cream.

Actually, I think ALL of that was done by Austin.

But...Logan didn't stop him

AND when asked what he wanted, he clearly stated his ice cream preference and "allowed" Austin to purchase ice cream on his behalf. 

 

 

Soooooooo.

yeah.

There goes that trip to Krispy Kreme's for the free doughnuts.

;-(

 

And that's sort of when all hell broke loose.

I announced that the illegally purchased ice cream was going into the trash,

but Austin threw it in the backyard instead.

(That one is ALWAYS the control freak!)

;-)

 

Austin got mad,

declared me the WORST, most Horriblest mother evah!

Packed his backpack and said he was running away.

 

Logan was just simply devastated.

BEGGED for a "redo."

Apologized over and over and over.

Asked if we could talk about it.

And in between,

each time I re-stated that we were not going to be going for doughnuts,

would loose his marbles all over again.

 

 

We hadn't even had dinner yet.

I was making it through all this screaming, fit throwing and running away'ness.

Actually, half the time

I spent in the bathroom

texting my neighbor

and calling Gary.

 

Then, after I calmed down, I would come out,

work on dinner,

and then, maybe...
 go back in.

;-)

Sometimes
.....a little distance

(like a door)

makes all the difference in the world.

 

I informed the boys that dinner was going on the table.

They could eat it
or not.

They could continue their fits,

But after 20 minutes, we were going upstairs for showers and bedtime.

It was up to them if they wanted full bellies.

 

Eventually.

Eventually.

They calmed down.

And ate.

And we even had some midly normal conversations.

 

They took their showers.
Climbed into bed.

We discussed the afternoon.

The poor decisions.

That, saying all those nasty things to mom, about me, about hating me,

doesn't change the fact that I still love them.

That Mommies are built to withstand those kinds of things.

 

We discussed that all those things they were saying about themselves,

"I'm stupid.  I'm running away because you hate me."

really had no place in our lives.

That even Mommies and Daddies make bad decisions.

Bad decisions do not equal bad people.

It was an exhausting day,
after a long day of work.
 And I can only hope that a lesson was learned.
I can only hope that my
loosing it, getting as equally frustrated
doesn't scar them

...too much.

This 6 year old thing is tough.
This being a mommy thing is tough.

I declare the day a success if we survive it.
I really, really relish the happy, loving moments.
The goofiness.

I remind myself that it would have been
sooooooooooooooo easy
to have just ignored their crime
sooooooooooooooo easy
 to just go get the frickin' doughnuts.
But that
"easy"
isn't
always
best.

And I remind myself that once they fall asleep,
I can sneak into their room
and loose myself in their beautifulness.
 

 Their quiet, non-talking back, sweet, sleeping beautifulness!



1st Grade

Austin, Day 1

Logan, Day 2

(bcuz we didn't have TWO brand new Power Ranger shirts, thankfully Nonnie scoured the department stores and snagged one for her baby to wear for his "First Day" picture:

 

Austin, Day 2

jazz hands!



First grade- you can tell because they are holding up ONE finger.  Though Austin kept trying to gt a second one in there!

 

 

True story.  I sent them off on their first day with the WRONG bus number tagged on their backpacks.  The tags that the school uses to make sure they put your child on the right bus home.

"Boys, listen to me.  The FIRST thing you do at school is tell your teachers Mommy got the wrong number.  k?  K.  Have a great first day though an dhopefully we'll see you at the end of it."

 

I followed up with a call to the school, who politely laughed at me when I told them what I had done!

 

 



And.....we're back!

I hadn't intended on taking the sumer off from blogging, but it was a nice little break!

Also, the boys weren't exactly "cute and funny" this summer!  hahaha

Seems they did really, really well at their camps, and for their sitter and mostly, for Nonnie.  But....they saved up the good nasty, hot and tired attitudes/meltdowns for Mommy.  When they did this at 2 and 3 (and even 4 and 5), I had a lot of patience.  A lot.  But at 6 - it's not so much fun anymore.  And my patience seems to have finally worn off a tad.  I spent a lot of my summer pretty darn tired and exhausted.  Then again, mother nature has continued to bless me and my womanly ways and "that time" when a woman usually starts um, slowing down, has arrived much earlier for me.  So, my attitude *may* just have a little to do with that as well!  ;-) 

And yet - in other ways, it was the easiest summer we have had yet.  The boys got to go to their school for a free country rec program Mon thru Thurs from 8 to 2:30.  Cannot. begin. to say what a BLESSING that was.  It kept them in a routine.  Kept them with friends.  Wore them out.  Diverted the whole need to complain about "boring" summers. and hello - it was FREE! 

So, their schedule went like this: Wake up, dress, grab packed lunch, head to camp, play, play, play, arts and crafts, down time, outside play, more play.  Nonnie or the babysitter would pick them up, bring them home - where they would then demand to be fed non-stop for 2.0 hours while vegging out on the couch and tv.  Re-energize around 5ish, berade Mommy and Daddy all evening with "Entertain us!  Play sports with us!  Spend money on us! Take us places!"  And then (thankfully) early bedtime.  

We all did the best we could.  But not a lot of noteworthy blog pictures to take in that above scenario! 

We did have lots of swimming, a few day trips to the beach. Unbelievable, nasty HOT temperatures and then a very mild August. 

And in typical summer fashion, there were a lot of other things going on too, like:
Church Summer camp, Theatre camp, fishing, swimming, working on the musical at church, VBS, hanging with their new FAB babysitter:

 Pajama day at camp

(yes, entirely too tight, too little pf's, cuz ya know, they still sleep al natural most nights!)

 

 Day trip to the beach, this was the only 5 minutes they spent out of the water that day.

Excruiatingly HOT!

 

 July 4th fun

 

 Amazing babysitter, breathtakingly beautiful!

I snagged thispic off her facebook page, cuz I didn't actually get any pics of her and the boys.

But she is not gone out of our lives quite yet (or ever!), so I'll be sure to get one!

 

 Sleep over fun!

 

 New looking, less cluttered, more grown up looking toy room.

 

 Goofing and shopping fun!

What they did ALL summer!

;-)

 

Logan waiting for his fish!





Austin caught one!

 

 

 

Playing with fire as newly commissioned church Alcolytes:

In other news, Evan came and went - this year causing very little disruption to the twins anxiety levels.  I'ld say it was rough for the first week he was home and tough again the week before he was leaving.   Christmas 2011 sort of did Evan in.  The twins were just out of control - with dad's new job and two weeks away training, the excitement of Christmas, the change in schedule with school break - it was all too much! ;-)  They were holy terrors for about 6 weeks...if not longer!  But I think we would all agree the summer went much better.  And there were even a few moments of returning to the fun and goofey times between the three of them.  Right, Evan? ....do you even check the blog anymore? ;-) 

I hate that this post sounds all kinda debbie-downer, lol, but it is reality.  It's our life.  The twins' life.  They are soooo full of energy.  They are cuddly and snuggily one moment and then, feet planted in cement - not budging, demanding little twirps the next and then all out fit throwing, temper tantrum kid-cussing (they don't really cuss, but if they could, I'm pretty sure their rants would be laden with them!) knockdown, drag out fits!  Gary and I have sought the help of a wonderful family counselor - who has helped us....help them.  We have all noticed a marked changed in the boys.  The fits are shorter.  We handle them better.  Recovery is more satifying - for all parties.   We know that this will be the ebb and flow of our lives.  There is no "cure" no "end" to their issues.  And we are now in an optimistically good place to work with the boys through their more trying times.  Although, dear Lord, please, PLEASE send re-enforcement angels during Austin's teen years.  I. am. begging. 

Okay - longest post in the history of my blog.  Back to Summer 2012

After their theatre camp performance (Winnie the Pooh)

Next up, back to school, the beginning's of Logan's football career, and Austin joins the fall swim team!