Soccer is Done

Today was the last day of soccer for Logan and Colleen. I think they've both improved this season. Logan is really getting in there and going after the ball when he's on offense. He's made some good blocks on defense. I'm proud of him. Colleen still doesn't play, but she doesn't cry while on the field. She's progressed from crying, to holding on to Daddy's finger, to at least standing on the field until it's her turn to sit on the bench. LOL I figure in a few more seasons, she'll warm up to the idea of team sports. I hope we are able to do dance for her in a few months. I think she'd like that.

It's Fall

Fall has arrived! It was feeling like winter there for a few days, but now it feels like fall. A friend knocked on the door this morning, and when I opened it up I felt the crisp coolness that is fall. Lovely. Words can't describe how wonderful it felt.

Kids are doing well... They had soccer this morning. I didn't go. It was the first game I've missed this season. Patrick took Colleen to her game at 8AM, then came back and got Logan for his game. As I type, Colleen is engrossed in Tom & Jerry.

I don't have much more to add right now. Such a boring update, I know. I'll add more when I have more time. I am cooking some lunch now and waiting for Patrick and Logan to come home. After lunch, we are going to do a bit of cleaning before going to a pumpkin party tonight. I'll be back with some pictures soon.

Baked Mac & Cheese - 1st Ever Attempt

OK, so I am making a baked macaroni and cheese to take to a pool party and cookout today. Since I've never done this before, I figured I'd attempt to capture it all in photographs. I'll post a finished photo later as it's baking right now. Man, do I hope this tastes good. I got this recipe from a friend - it's somewhere online, but I could not tell you where. I doubled everything since I am making it for a lot of people. I'm listing the ingredients as the recipe called for, but when you look at the photos remember I doubled everything. Pray it is yummy!

Ingredients



2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 1/2 cups of sour cream
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tablespoon pepper
10 oz bar mild Cheddar cheese, grated

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cook macaroni in salted boiling water according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Pour into a 3 quart casserole.







3. In a saucepan, melt butter and stir in flour. Gradually stir in milk and sour cream. Add salt and pepper.



4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until sauce bubbles and thickens.



5a. Reserve 1 cup grated cheese for the top of the casserole. Toss macaroni with remaining cheese.



5b. Realize that when you double the recipe, a 9x13 3 quart casserole dish is not deep enough and you will need to make a change.



6. Pour sauce over macaroni and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle with reserved cheese.





7. Bake for 1 hour, or until bubbly and brown.



8. Serve immediately. (Um, not. Hope that doesn't affect how it turns out.)

Serves 6. (Or, in my case.. serves 12.)

Summer!

We have been enjoying a nice, relaxing summer break. We spent a good bit of June in Florida. Logan and Colleen have decided they love the beach, and Patrick and I have decided that we are going to have to plan more trips to the beach more often when we go to visit Grammy and Grand Dad.

Both kids are in swimming lessons again this week. They took a week of lessons between our two trips to FL and loved it. Our first lesson was to be last night, but it was canceled due to a thunderstorm.

We went to Six Flags yesterday. They both loved it. Colleen is going to be my roller coaster rider. I just knew the Wiley (sp?) Coyote kid coaster was going to scare her. The hills were pretty steep for a kid coaster, I thought. But, Logan and Colleen both loved it. There were a few rides I couldn't get Colleen off of. Thankfully, there was no line and they let us ride again.

OK, that's all I have for now. I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Not-So-Short, but Sweet

I haven't posted anything in a while, so I thought I'd at least pop in here and let you know we are all still here and doing well.

Logan is only two and a half weeks away from being a 2nd grader. How in the world did that happen? It seems like he was born just a few weeks ago. It's looking like on his final report card he will have met or exceeded all standards. Yay, Logan!! On his last report card the only thing holding him back from meeting all standards was being able to complete 100 basic addition facts in five minutes. He can add beautifully, but doing 100 in five minutes was not working. He's finally done it on a few assessments. Patrick and I were both in agreement that if he isn't able to complete all 100 accurately in five minutes, we were ok with that. We know his ability when he's not timed.

Colleen is as much the little stinker as she's always been.. and I love it. I have to turn my head sometimes so she doesn't see me laughing at her. Today she was talking to herself about time-out. I asked her if Shelly (our childcare provider) puts her in time-out. She told me no, she puts herself there. So I asked her if Shelly told her to go to time-out. She said, "Yes." I asked her why, and she told me it was because she hurt Joseph. I asked her how she hurt Joseph, and she said she pushed him. I asked her, "Are you supposed to push peolple." "Yes," she said. Thinking she didn't understand, I asked her if it was a good thing to push people. I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the huge grin as she said, "Yes. I pushed Emma, too." I about lost it - I had to turn my head to hide the grin. The little stinker was pushing to see what I would say. She kept at it until I told her that Emma wasn't going to want to be her friend if she kept pushing her. That took care of the grin. She said, "I want Emma to be my friend." We talked a little more, and she decided that pushing was bad. We'll see how long until we have this conversation again.

We have one more week of soccer. Yay! We love soccer, but by the end of the season we are ready to be done. Look for pictures from the lasts game next week (I hope).

Make-up and Soccer

Logan had his first soccer game of the Spring 2009 season last Saturday. He did such a wonderful job! He played more than he ever has before. He got in there and really tried to get the ball moving. In the past, he's sort of run toward the other kids and the ball, but he's just sort of stood back and avoided the other kids. Not this time, though. He really took off after the ball. I love this picture. He's got the tongue out and really concentrating on getting to that ball. Even Carly turned to me and said, "He's really playing well!" I think we were both a bit shocked at how much he's improved since the last time he played. He really enjoyed it, too. He kept saying, "I played really good today." Yup, really proud of my boy.

Colleen discovered my make-up drawer on afternoon. She had gone upstairs to play. I wasn't worried about her. Until she got really quiet. Logan ran upstairs to see what she was doing. I heard Logan say, "Um, Mom. I think you should come up here." The picture you see is what saw when walked into the bathroom. After scrubbing the mascara off her face, we talked about no more make-up. That night, when she was supposed to be sleeping, we heard the door to our bedroom close. She was coming out. She did a little more damage the 2nd time. She ruined a make-up brush with some cream, totalled a tube of lipstick, and demolished the remainder of my mascara. The mess was insane. I didn't get any good pictures at 9:30 at night. After scrubbing her (again) she finally had enough of makeup. I asked her the next night at Spring Fling (at my school) if she wanted her face painted. She shook her head no. Finally.

Ear Infections

In Feb. 2008 Colleen had tubes put in her ears as she was having a lot of ear infections. After the tubes, her ear infections stopped. It was great. We saw the ENT on March 2nd. The tubes were out of her ear and actually in the wax build-up in her ears. He removed the wax (and tubes). Two days later, Colleen had an ear infection in her left ear. She finished the antibiotic this last weekend. Sunday night, her temp went up to 101.5. She had a nasty cough and a stuff nose... definitely congested. So, I took her to the doctor this morning. Guess what? Ear infection. This time it was the right ear. So, I made an appointment with the ENT. We may be looking at round 2 of tubes for Colleen. Logan may be getting his tonsils removed. Guess we'll be paying the ENT's mortgage a couple months. LOL

Listening to God's Voice

Last Sunday, Rev. Jim talked to the kids in the children's message about hearing God's voice. So Monday or Tuesday Logan and I get in the van after school, and Logan says to me, "Mom, can we just be quiet." Now, at this point, I am thinking, "Yes! A quiet ride out to get Colleen." Logan then says, "Good, because I was to listen for God's voice."

The conversation continued. Logan was trying to figure out where heaven was. I told him that when we died, we'd know where heaven was because we'd be there. He told me he didn't want to die. I told him that I didn't mean right now, but at some point everyone dies. It's part of life. That lead us to talk about Christians going to heaven. He wanted to know what a Christian was, so I told him that a Christian was a person who loved God and wanted to tell others about how much God loved them. A Christian is a person who has God in their heart and life and who want to live like God would want us to live. To this Logan replied, "Mommy, I love God. And I want to tell others about God. God is in my life." It was all I could do to keep the van on the road for all the tears in my eyes.

Fast-forward to Wednesday morning. Logan and I were taking Colleen out to the sitter. On the radio (104.7 "The Fish") Kevin and Taylor were interviewing a little girl who was writing letters, making pictures, and such and sending them to veterans. They asked her why she was doing it, and she told them that one day after church God told her to do it. Logan didn't say anything for a while, then he said to me, "Mommy, I think that girl can hear God's voice."

So sweet. I am loving watching my little boy learn about God and watching his love for Him to grow each day.

Us In A Nutshell

Dare I say it? Colleen went to bed without too much fuss tonight. I took her upstairs at about 7:45, and I was back downstairs before 8:20. The typical night begins with either Patrick or me putting Colleen in bed, one of us laying on the floor for a while, and then quietly sneaking out. If she's asleep, that's the end of it. If she's awake, we put her back in bed, lay down on her floor, and try again. Usually it take a while before we sneak out, but tonight was pretty quick.

I sure do hope she's getting the hang of going to bed and staying in bed.

We took Logan to get new soccer cleats on Saturday. He's so excited to be starting soccer again. He and Patrick went out and played baseball, and he loved it. So, we think we might have to look for a baseball league to do in between spring and fall soccer.

Patrick is trying to get back into some bike rides and racing again. I'll post more on that once he actually goes on a charity ride or to a race.

I'm still plugging along. I was pretty excited on Friday when three random people noticed my weight loss. Then on Saturday, I put on a pair of shorts I haven't worn in two years.

So, that's us in a nutshell.

The Day After

School was cancelled today due to the weather we had on Sunday. This morning, we could hear vehicles sliding on the ice trying to get up the hill. By noon, it was mostly just water again. By four, there was hardly any wet pavement to be found. We took the kids out so they could play in the snow once more before it all melted. Logan had fun throwing the snow at the garage door (encouraged by Patrick). Colleen just enjoyed kicking what had fallen off at the front of Patrick's car.

Since we had no school today, we took down Colleen's crib and put up her "big girl bed." She really was quite cute laying down in her bed for the first time, and she was so excited. And then we left. And we went downstairs. And we went upstairs. Repeat numerous times. I eventually just got a pillow and laid on her floor. She's now sleeping in her bed, and if I thought I could get a picture without waking her, I'd go and snap a few.

In other news, we took the kids to the ENT today. Not long ago, I took Logan in to the doctor to get established with a new pediatrician and to get a new inhaler. The pediatrician noticed Logan's tonsils were quite large. So, fast-forward to today. The doctor we saw was awesome. He said that since Logan wasn't having problems with recurring (sp?) strep infections that there was no immediate need to remove the tonsils. However, his snoring, tossing and turning, mouth breathing, waking up with his head hurting, and some other things could be a sign of sleep apnea - which could be caused by the tonsils making it hard for him to breathe, especially at night. We are to keep an eye on him and see if we notice any improvement with age/growth. The doctor said that based on those symptoms we could remove the tonsils. So, Patrick and I are going to see how he does... there's a chance we could possibly be having his tonsils removed this summer.

Colleen saw the doctor, as well. We really expected her to scream and pitch a fit - she does with most doctors. She did so well. The tubes that were put in her ears just about a year ago have fallen out. They were stuck in her ears in the wax build-up. The doctor removed the wax from both ears (again, Colleen didn't scream) and showed us the tubes. He asked if we wanted to keep them. We declined. (I seriously hope he was just joking.)

As for Patrick and me, we are OK. I've been fighting a stomach virus. I'll be taking tomorrow off to try and get over this. It's a persistent little bug. Patrick's gearing up to coach two teams in soccer - but neither of them are Logan's team. He wants to just be a dad during the 5/6 games. Next weekend is the coach's meeting, and the following weekend soccer starts up. Time for a busy spring.

SNOW DAY

We went to Pennsylvania this past Christmas, and the kids (especially Logan) were so excited that they would see snow. Wouldn't you know that while we were there we only had a light dusting of the white stuff. They started reporting on Friday that there was a possibility of snow on Sunday, but I was skeptical. Fast forward to today... man, did we get some snow! Now, I know it wasn't a whole lot compared to what they get up north, but this was major for us. The kids had a blast - the whole five minutes we let them out in it. The ground was saturated from all the rain we got Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (before it turned to snow).

Colleen loved the snow. She would have gladly played in it longer if we'd have let her. At one point, she kept sliding trying to walk up the hill on the side of our house. It was all muddy and slick. She was quite mad that Patrick wouldn't let her stay on the hill longer. If we were thinking, we would have gotten the trash can lid and let the kids slide down the hill. I bet they'd have loved it.

I am not sure if Logan was more excited that it snowed, or that we let him take off his eye patch to go out in it. He was so excited that it snowed, and said he wish he could play in it for ten hours. He even threw himself down into the snow/water/mud like he did in the sand on the beach. Patrick put a stop to that pretty quickly.

Here's a nice, snowy, wintery shot of our house. I think it looks so beautiful when it snows. I am glad the kids had the chance to experience it.

Vacation is Over

We had a wonderful break this past week, but unfortunately it's time to head back to work and school.

I think I mentioned we went to Florida. Here's a few pictures of the kids from our trip.

Colleen never lets me put anything in her hair, but on Monday she did. And she was quite proud of her hair, too. That cheesy grin is pretty typical lately anytime a camera is out. She loved the beach on Tuesday. She didn't care a bit about the water, but had a blast flinging sand with her shovel.

Logan absolutely loved going to the beach. Hard to believe he didn't want to go as we were leaving the house. It really was too cold to go in the water, but when you are six.. yeah, that just doesn't really matter. His pants ended up quite wet. There was sand everywhere. He ran out into the water, and then threw himself into the sand. I am so glad we had a dry pair of pants in the van.

Starting Over

I had forgotten until this week that I had created a blog. I had only made a couple entries, and then forgot about it. My father-in-law reminded me about it, and so when I got back home from our Florida visit I decided to start posting to it again. Yeah, it wouldn't let me. I guess when you don't post or visit your own blog in over a year, they make it inactive. Or something. Who knows? I got tired of trying to figure out how to get into it, so I just created a new one.

Right now, I think I am going crazy. Patrick and Logan have discovered the joys of the Nerf gun. I've got Nerf "bullets" flying past my head, Patrick and Logan running circles in the house trying to sneak up on each other, and Colleen has sought shelter in the bathroom. Oh, the joys of being a mom. LOL

We are going to attempt restocking our fish tank again. We've managed to kill all our fish, so we are starting over. Pray for the fish. Maybe I'll be back later with a picture. I promise I'll try.