All good

 The birthday party went very well. There were about 15 kids and the GIANT slide was awesome! I have pics to share but just haven't had the time to select and upload them. Hopefully this weekend! Dev got alot of great gifts and had lots of fun with all his friends and family. I did manage to get a good pic of the three cousins after everyone had left.

I can't believe how fast this week is going by. We've had lots of soccer games and a double one tonight. Mike will be home late tonight so Mom is coming to help. Both of the boys games are at the same time on different fields. eekk! So mom will be there to watch one game while I'm at the other. Last week B didn't want to play at all if you remember and just basically cried during the game. Well the other night he was a little hesitant but we talked before the game. He played awesome! He did play a little more cautious at first, but then he jumped right in. He even SCORED another goal!! Whoo hoo! Great job B! What a change from last week!

Working on the preparations for my Halloween party now! The party is next weekend! I am so very excited about it! The theme is a Witches' Tea. Although, we had to change the time to fit our schedules so it has become an evening party instead. But that's ok. It's a girls night out Halloween party and everyone is to come dressed as a witch or wear their witch hat. Below is the invite I sent out. The quality of the pics isn't very good, but you get the idea.

A friend of mine is co-hosting with me. We are planning to get together and work on some more particulars for the party. Can't share too much yet....for those readers out there that are coming! But, I will have lots of pics to share after the party!!

Still running at lunchtime with my coworker. We are running 2 miles 4 days a week. We have really gotten into the habit of it now so that's a good thing. We hate to miss and it's just routine now. We started a new path this week, so that's nice to be able to change it up a little. Tomorrow is the 1st 2week mark weigh in for the work weight loss contest I entered. Doing pretty good actually. They will weigh in on Mondays but I'm off on mondays. So I decided Fridays are better than Tuesdays. That way I can reward myself some over the weekend and have two weeks till the next weigh in! Looking for a loss of 7 or 8 lb loss tomorrow! whoo hoo! Very excited!! I know the running has helped alot and the usual of eating healthy...blah blah blah...I know.. not exciting, but oh well! :-) I am looking forward to a treat this weekend, just haven't decided what it will be yet! yum!

Well that's about all for now. Hoping to get more pics on here soon. Toodles.

Amazing

I am so excited about the cake that I wanted to share it! Thanks to a friend giving some pointers on how to do it, the cake turned out pretty good! D really likes it!

Yippee!! Big birthday party tomorrow! More pics to follow!! Good night all!

Happy happy happy--with add on story

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY 7 YR OLD!!
Yes the day is here! D has turned 7. Mike and I discussed this morning how 7 yrs ago we were at the hospital awaiting our very first child! Me with a gigantic belly, not realizing this boy was going to come out 10 lbs. and 15oz.!! wow!! He was ready to take on the world and lifting his head and looking around at only a few hours old! He didn't seem big at all to me! Not until I walked down the hall and saw him in his bassinett and the others babies in their's at 1/2 his size!! My baby boy!! We were so blessed on this day 7 yrs old! I am so proud of the little boy he has become and excited for the years to come. I LOVE YOU my Devvy Dev!!

We are going out to dinner tonight to celebrate as a family. We still haven't decided where yet. Then the big party is on Sunday. He is very excited about having his friends over to celebrate. Pics will be sure to follow. I'm also attempting a decorative cake. I'm going to try to trace a Power Ranger onto the cake...sure hoping it turns out. I will be making it tomorrow incase it doesn't then I will still have time to make another one  :-)

We decided to go to Red Robin for dinner. D was really excited and wanted to make I told them it was his birthday. Then when they came to sing, he was so shy! But still loved it. Then a guy at the next table came over and gave D a $1 bill and told him Happy Birthday. That was very suprising and very nice from the stranger.

D was happy. But I think it was a long day for him and extra sugar. Actually both boys fell asleep on the way home from dinner. We didn't even get to give him his present from us. Oh well, we can give it to him tomorrow. Just wanted to share this birthday story.

Oh yeah, D won a candy bar in his class. He was the 3rd in his class to write to 1000 in his notebook! Great job!! WE are so proud of you!

Happenings

A couple of weeks ago our neighbor found something in their yard! A full shedded snake skin. It is pretty much completely intact! Yikes! The boys wanted to keep it so she gave it to us. Take a look in the pic on the concrete, the head starts about the level of the big wheel! Pretty long snake!

You could even see the eye sockets in the skin and his mouth in the open position. Very wierd!

Dev has been studying insects and butterflies and stuff at school. The kids are allowed to bring stuff to school if they catch it. Daddy caught this huge Luna moth the other day for Dev to take to school.

You should really go here to read more about the Luna moth. It is VERY interesting!

Dev took the moth to school to show to friends. He came home without it. He told me he let it free because he didn't want it to die. Very sweet, but he didn't read about the Luna moth on the page I linked did he....wow, they don't live long at all. So it's totally amazing, that this morning when we got up there was ANOTHER Luna moth at our house!! I told Dev that the one he set free flew back to our house!! He believed me for awhile. Then I went out and took a picture of it. I told him it wasn't the same because this one was a little smaller. Wow....very interesting that we would have two like we did!

This is the one on our door this morning!

Here is a pic of a project D did for school. He had to create a habitat. So we got some sand, paper that looks like water, some toys and plants and a few shells we had from the beach. He found part of a sand dollar and a piece of an oyster shell that we had in a jar of shells. I think it turned out pretty cute. He postitioned the animals and wanted to make sure he had the shark eating the fish...ha ha. There was a dog in the bag of water animals so he put him under the tree. Relaxing in the shade i guess. :-)

Last night was our double soccer games. D played really well. The awesome girl player they have on their team wasn't there, but he held the team pretty good. He almost scored another goal, but missed the kick as he ran down the field with the ball. The game went into like double overtime for a tie, and I think we won. It got pretty confusing because I don't really know the soccer rules. Then I headed down to watch B's game. Daddy already had taken him down there since the game was starting. B wasn't in the mood at all for some reason. He was refusing to go in the game and crying. The coach eventually got him convinced to go in. He ran around a little and then just sulked and walked around the field towards the ball. I don't know, I guess he just didn't feel into it last night. It was a late game, so maybe he just wanted to be at home in bed. He later told us that he "feels that way" when he plays. I asked him how he felt, and finally he said scared. I think he really is a little scared and intimidated to play. Several of the players are kinda rough and the kids fall and crash into each other alot. The last game he got hurt twice, or at least in his mind. So maybe he's kinda scared now that he will get hurt again. I'm not sure. So we will just see how it goes next time and try to ease his fears. When D played at that age, he didn't have to worry about falling much in the "beehive" of kids trying for the ball, he just stayed out of the circle kinda far back waiting for the ball. Hey...it's a strategy right? Maybe I will tell B to try the same :-)
Toodles for now.

WOWZERS!!

YAY MOM!! Mom won 4th place on Saturday at the 5K race!! She came in 4th place out of 21 walkers in her age group!! WAY TO GO!! That's pretty awesome!! The boys were very excited she came in 4th! They wanted to know what place I came in....uh.....like 30 something....ha ha... But not too bad I guess out of about 90 something in my age. But then Dev said...."Granny beat you!" I just smiled!  So he probably went to school telling his friends that his Granny beat his mom in the race! That's ok....  :-) I know the truth Mom!! :-)  :-)  :-)

I got quite a bit accomplished on Sunday. Did more weeding in the flower beds and got mulch put down. I need some more mulch, but I did get the mums planted. Hope to finish up this week. The yard is looking so much better. We are even watering the grass so it won't be so dead looking on Sunday. Then a friend came over to help me with the girls night out invites. They turned out so cute!! Can't post yet, until I know a few people got them through the snail mail. But then I'll post a pic. I already have a couple RSVP's so I"m happy about that. Hoping it will be alot of fun!

More WOWZERS!! Dev had a soccer game last night. It was the 1st that Daddy's been able to make it to. Dev played really really well. He has a girl on his team that is so good. She plays on a competitive team also. I think Dev has been watching her and how she plays. He did so good last night. Right at the end of the game he stole the ball from the other team and kicked it down the field. He was heading right towards his goal and he kicked.....SCORE!! YAY!! Dev got his 1st goal of the season!!! He was so excited! Then the whistle blew and the game was over! Just in time! Very exciting! Both boys have games tonight so we'll be at the ball park all night. We will be having dinner picnic style at the ball park. Tonight will be tuna fish sandwiches with chips and a treat. One boy will eat while the other plays his game and then they switch. I think we might have one night somewhere on the schedule that they play the same night and same time.

Finishing up plans for Dev's bday party. I've gotten more RSVP's so it should be good. The weather is predicted to be a little cooler too, I'm so glad! He wants a chocolate cake with white icing. This is at his request. Now I just need to plan out how I'm going to decorate it.
A girl in his class has the same birthday as him. So on Friday that mom is bringing girl cupcakes to school and I'm bringing the boy cupcakes :-)  Works out pretty good. I asked Dev where he wants to go do dinner for his birthday. He hasn't decided yet, I'm hoping we convince him into a place that sings for the birthday boy!

Well, I think that's all for the moment.....Happy Tuesday and 1st day of fall.

More runnin

Here are a few pics of my soon to be 7 yr old playing soccer. I'm waiting for him to have the 6pm game so I can get some pics. This game has been his only early game. The later ones are harder to get pics with the sun going down.

He likes to play goalie too. He did a great job and really paid attention to where the ball was at all times.

Yesterday morning was the Women's 5K race. It was Mom's 2nd year! We are still waiting for the official results online but I'm pretty sure she finished in the top 5 for Powerwalkers in her age group! Way to go Mom!

We did it! We finished the race. Camille and I are lunchtime running buddies. We did good and ran well. But I was disappointed that I didn't beat my time from 2 yrs ago. Oh well I guess I'm 2 yrs older now.....so that's my excuse..ha ha ha..

After my race yesterday we took the boys to the first practice for their race. They both did really good and had a good time. B is so much better this year. Last year during the practices he cried and held onto my leg. This year he was doing his own thing and following the coaches and doing what he was supposed to. yay! I saw lots of others moms though, going through what I did last year...I felt their pain, but hopefully next year they will be like us.

I finally got out in the yard yesterday also. I trimmed the bushes and the boys helped pick up all the limbs. I still need to finish weeding the beds and adding new mulch. I want to plant a few mums also for the fall season. Hoping to get a little of that done today to have the yard looking better for D's party next weekend.

Also, my friend is coming over for us to work on our Halloween party invites so we can get them mailed this week. Once they are done I'll post a pic on here. I think they are so cute.

We are heading into birthday overload around here the next few months. Both of my boys, my hubby, my BIL, my FIL, my sis, and me! whew! Hoping I can stay away from all the birthday cake. Yes, I joined the weight loss contest again at work....sigh.......it is 10 weeks long so at least we can eat on Thanksgiving! My work lunchtime buddy is doing it too, so we hope to keep each other motivated! We are even thinking about a 10K race that's coming up. The only problem for me is that it's the morning of my girls night halloween party.....sigh.....not sure if I want to do it yet with the party being the same day. At least that's the excuse I'm trying to use...hee hee....we'll see.....

Well that's about all for now. I woke up this morning and couldn't sleep. I figured I'd get on here and post what we've been up to. Now I'm going to get some clothes washing. Lots and lots of stuff to do today. Yard work, laundry, D's birthday planning, and grocery shopping to name a few. Hoping everyone is enjoying their weekend! toodles for now.

Sailors

Just wanted to share this pic from our cruise. I finally got a chance to scan it this morning before work. I love how the boys each are using different hands!

Also thought I'd share our family pirate picture! ARGH!!!!!!

Yesterday was a long day but went really well with all the activites on the agenda. Looking forward to an evening at home tonight relaxing and reading books with the kids.

I also have a funny story to share. I wore some shoes the other day that I haven't worn since probably last fall. I really like them, but after a few errands, wow they were killing my feet! They were even starting to rub blisters. Well, luckily I had brought some socks along since I was shopping for some running shoes. My only choices were to go home just to change shoes before finishing my errands, OR wear the socks with the shoes! eekk!! How hideous will that look!! But, I decided to do it! Ha!! I felt like my feet were a flashing beacon the whole time I was in the store. Honestly, I'm sure very few people noticed. Although, my feet felt much better and I could finish my errands without being in discomfort, only a little embarassment! So, something I learned that day is if you ever see someone and wondering why they are wearing a wierd outfit....they might just have a good excuse!! ha ha!!!! Yes I did take a picture too! It was just so hilarious that I had to! Pretty funny!

I didn't get my yardwork done last weekend. I have to get it done this weekend though. I'm having D's bday party at the house next weekend and I don't want to have a horrible looking yard and flower beds for the party. I sure hope the weather cooperates so I can get it done. Also hoping the weather cooperates for the party too!

Working on the party ideas for my upcoming Halloween party! I am very excited. It's going to be a girls only party. It will be friends, fun, food, and drinks! I can't share details yet, but I will soon.

Busy continued!

Well my busy-ness (is that a word?) is continuing! We have soccer games three nights this week, I have a PTO meeting that I need to attend and I am flying solo this week. EEkk! Not to mention I am on my new work schedule. 10 more hours a week! I did get D some new school shoes yesterday. I didn't find any new running shoes yet though..bummer! Tonight will be a dinner out instead of picnic style. Especially on double kid game nights I try to bring a picnic dinner. But, tonight is pick up from school, get some dinner, return to school for meeting then head to 730pm soccer game. The boys will be happy about eating out though :-)

I want to share about the popcorn fundraiser, since the boys don't read this. They don't know it yet, probably will find out on friday but....they WON TOP SELLERS!! for the school! Thanks to any of you that bought popcorn and Mom for helping sell it! The boys will get a special catered lunch with the principal (they are very excited about this part), an out of uniform day at school, and they also will get to attend a pizza/movie night at the school this friday, their name will go in a drawing to win a Wii and also into a drawing for a wonderful family prize pack. The family pack has lots of great stuff, like gift cards and free tickets and coupons. I don't remember all of it. But for top seller they also get some Incredible pizza coupons, about $40 in free game cards, free bowling passes, free skating passes a free large pizza and something else I think...can't remember at the moment. Also Dev's class won top selling class! His class will get an ice cream party and some more coupons to skating, bowling and pizza. I know the boys will be so excited when I tell them! Now if I only had helpers to deliver all the popcorn when it arrives...hee hee!!

The women's 5K is this Sat. Hoping I can run a good time and also Mom hopes to beat her time from last year. Wish us luck!! The boys also have their first running practice this Saturday.  They are doing the same kid's run that they did last year. D will run 1 mile and B will run 100 yard dash. They both got medals last year for participating.

I do have some pics to share from D's soccer, but haven't had time to get on here and upload them. Hoping to get around to it soon!
Well just a short update for now....

Happy happy, joy, joy

Last night was a busy night. Mike was out of town. I had to pick up the boys from school and run home and get them changed for soccer. Both boys had games. One game was at 6pm and the other 715pm. Luckily they are at the same park, just different fields. I brought dinner along picnic style so the boys could eat, since we wouldn't be home until aobut 830pm on a school night...eekk!

Dev's game was first. This was his first game of the season. He did great!! He helped assist with a goal and almost scored a goal himself. He also got to play goalie. He did really good, I didn't realize he could kick the ball so far!! His game ended up going into overtime. Oh no....Bry's game was about to start at the other end of the fields. Mike wasn't there yet, he was on his way and said he'd probably get there between games. So I told Dev's coach I'd be right back after walking B to his game. Mike met us down at B's field so it worked out OK. I was able to go back and see the very end of D's game. His team won in OT.

Bry did really good in his game. It's funny to see the difference in how the teams play with the age difference. B's team is like a swarm of bees following the ball everywhere. But man, B is so fast. The other team would take off with the ball towards their goal and B would come running from the back of the pack and catch the lead runner. wow!! AND....... Bry SCORED A GOAL!!! Whoo hoo.....Bry scored the only goal of the night for his team right near the end of the game!! We were so proud of course!!! His team lost, but that's ok. His age really doesn't officially keep score.
So the night was a good night. D almost scored a goal and played great and B played great and did score a goal!!! yeah boys!!!

I'm happy it's Friday. It is going to be a little busy weekend ahead. Both boys have soccer pics at two different times on Sat, I need to get Dev new school shoes, I need new running shoes and I have a PTO board member meeting. I also need to put away all of our clothes. I washed everything after our cruise but haven't gotten around to putting it all away. I hope to also finish weeding the flowers beds and maybe getting some new mulch put down for the fall season.

Sent out birthday invites for Dev's 7th bday!! Wow....7 really??? I can hardly believe it will be here in two weeks. He wanted a party at the house so we are having an inflatable dry slide at the house with cake and ice cream. Sounds good to me. I might even try to make my own Power Ranger cake....should be interesting.
Well I think that's about all for now. Happy happy Friday to all. Toodles.

Flying and running

Tim brought his helicopter over to fly. Very cool! From thee 1st pic you'd think this was a real one!

My niece found a new toy at our house. It's too small for the boys now so she got to take it home.

B had his 1st soccer game last night. He was so happy to be going to play a game. He just kept smiling!

Except running over for a drink...hee hee.

Run B run....

He did so good at his game! He did some great defense and also helped in an assist for a goal! Great job!!!
Tomorrow night both boys have games and I'm the bench mom for B's game. The coach and wife are out of town so I volunteered to help with the bench and keep the kids settled. Good thing the wild child (the coaches son of course) won't be there. Whew....that boy is out of control!! Hope he settles down after a few games!
Well just wanted to post a short note with a few recent pics. Toodles for now.

Lots of fun!

Wow! What a great trip we had! We all had so much fun! The boys did great on our long airport days also! Thank goodness for games and portable movies!! We got to the cruise terminal early on boarding day and we were in the 2nd boarding group! That was great because we got on the ship really early and we had our suits in our carry bag. We walked around for a few and then changed and let the boys start swimming. They loved swimming in the Mickey pool. My camera dropped on the first day and the latch broke that keeps the batteries in it. Boo! So I don't have very many pics from the 1st day but then I got smart and got some tape and taped it up! hee hee....it worked! The 2nd day we were in the Bahamas. We took a taxi with the boys and went over to the Atlantis resort to walk around. The boys liked seeing the fish in the aquarium. Then we came back to the ship and did some more swimming. The 3rd day we were in Castaway Cay, Disney's own island. I got myself up and headed out for the 5K run they had planned. There were about 8 of us. Wow, can't imagine why anyone else didn't want to join us. ha ha! Well, the other 6 runners, besides me and another girl, they were fast runners! They left us in the dust and then I left her in the dust. But my 5K which is 3.1 miles turned out to be 3.9 miles!! eekk!! no fair!! I wore my GPS watch so I could keep up with how I was doing. I did good until I hit the 3.1 miles and I could see the ship in the distance....key word distance!! It was still kinda far away...ugh!!! Oh well, I made it back to the ship and got a Disney water bottle as a gift for running the "so called" 5K! ha..but I was proud of myself that I got up and did it! Hey I ran 3.9 miles in the Bahamas!! Whoo hoo!! very cool!!
Then we spent the day playing on the beach! It was so much fun! The boys enjoyed the sand and floating around in the ocean. They had a new waterslide that you slide down into the ocean, it was so cool! Me and Dev did it. He only did it once. I think it kinda scared him alittle. The water was 12 ft deep but he was wearing a life jacket. But, I'm proud of him for trying it! I thought it was awesome!!! He also had a few other new experiences on this trip. Dev tried escargo (snails), lobster and went down the other slide on the ship. I'm so proud of him. He actually kinda liked the snails, I tried them too for the 1st time, not to bad actually.
The last day was at sea all day. We had fun, just joining in some of the activities on the ship, swimming, ping pong, foos ball, the arcade, a character dance party and lounging and relaxing. We saw great musical performances every night also. We also watched Toy Story 3 in 3D. The boys still didn't make it to the pirate party with fireworks. Last time, they were too tired to stay up and this time too. The party doesnt start until 945pm and then fireworks about 1030pm. This is after our all day fun at the beach. They were too tired. But oh well, we still had so much fun!
It was such a great trip and we got to celebrate our anniversary of 13 years while in the Bahamas!! So cool!!
Well that's about all for my typing right now, I'm sure there are other things to share, but for now I'll quit and let you see my pics. Remember I always take alot of pics!!

 You can see ALL the fun we had HERE.
I added a few videos too, I think you should be able to see them in the album.

We're back

Boo Hoo! We had such a wonderful time! Too bad we can't just stay on Castaway Cay island. It was awesome! I am working on uploading my pics to share, there are lots of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also have fun stories to share, so hopefully I'll be back in the morning to share all our fun. We also celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary while in the Bahamas! Very cool!! Happy Friday to all. Toodles for now.