Gym Boyfriend and Rose Hill Friends

 Frank's pool is one of the boy's happiest places in the world. Probably because he lets them do the stupidest stunts with his toys. He has always been the 'shark' in the water that attacks the boys...I thought this year Obe Wan would give him a run for his money, but because my eldest doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body and doesn't know how to use his size to his advantage, Frank still took them both down! It was super fun to watch. Maybe one year they will gang up on Frank, but for now, they let him win! I think it is also a respect thing. They look up to Frank as another family member--I would say glorified Uncle. He spends time and money on them both--not to mention the harassment he dishes out. There are those few people in life that God gives you that aren't family, but at the end of the day, they are closer to you than some of even your family. We are blessed to have Frank in our lives. Who would have thought the old guy at the gym who RAN while watching the History Channel would become such a good friend? HA! Who knew?!?!

Unfortunately, I didn't capture the picture where the boys had three rafts piled on top of each other and they were sliding off that one. We took one of the Arheart boys with us and that added another level of fun! Too bad there weren't that many warm days this summer! It was the coolest summer I can remember. It was also the summer where I bought a pool pass--never again will I do that.

At the Andover Y with our RH peeps! 

J-Bird and his love of tumbling

I haven't quite figured out why J-Bird loves this, but he does. He will spend hours on the trampoline perfecting his stunts. I wonder if this is influenced by YouTube, but who knows? I don't really have an idea on this one. It is a costly, not going anywhere sport for him. He is going down to once a week as I can't be in two places at once. ObeWan has Spanish tutoring at the same time J-Bird has his tumbling lessons. He will get to do one a week, not two. He is handling it okay as he didn't have ONE free night of the week. It was exhausting to both of us! 

Picture Day on the Knobs!

 My preppy little boys got 'un' matching Under Armour shirts for their pics. I had bought these at the Outlet mall in hopes they would wear them this summer when we had Tobie pics, but unfortunately, her prices have jumped a bit too much for me to do every year. I have a camera--I can just take their pictures. Or not?!?! I ordered LifeTouch pictures and that will work for this year. You can really see the size difference in the two of them when they stand next to each other. J-Bird is in the 50% for his height and so is Obe Wan, but since he is in 6th grade (and should be in 7th due to his age) he is actually short. SHHHH- we won't tell him that. ;)

Middle School times two!

Well, at the end of July my two babies are officially both in MIDDLE SCHOOL. We have a 5th and 6th grader. One who is grinning from ear to ear because he is so happy to go to school and he other one who 'is much more interesting on the Internet.' I think there expressions truly capture their attitude about school. They are such polar opposites. Obe Wan is now measuring 5'3" and is taller than his Mama. I got to ask him to get something off a high shelf the other day and it was bittersweet.

U11 Soccer Game LIFE!

That, my family and friends, is a winning smile. After 12 losses last spring and another loss yesterday, it was a well deserved win. Of the 25 minute halves, J-Bird played 22 minutes of the 2nd half! He was on fire. Coach took him out and had him on the line to go back in when the ref blew the whistle for game. When you play hard and GOOD you don't get set on the bench. It was much a nice feeling for everyone!

We went out for pizza and beers to celebrate. Obe Wan was at the game and read a book. At least he was there for the win?

J-Bird, theactualperson has a YouTube Channel

Now, I think it takes a village to raise children these days. ESPECIALLY with Social Media. SO, I must tell you J-Bird has created his own YouTube Channel. Please let me know what fun things he posts on the Internet. I told him the whole world sees these and once it is online, it is forever online. (God help us.)

J-Bird blows it up!

 Mimi called me on the 3rd to wish us a Happy 4th! She was reminiscing about when her little boy used to stay inside and watch cartoons with his Mimi because fireworks petrified him. I fondly remember those times. He wanted nothing to do with the lights and the loud boom.

This year was the first year where he wanted to light the whole world on fire. He was a grinning fool. The neighbor kids came over and he kindly shared. (I think he was afraid of my wrath if he didn't.) I stayed out of it as I didn't want him to share, but he did the right thing. Good for him! I bought the fireworks for J-Bird, not his friends. Sigh!

We invited another soccer family over on the 3rd for dinner and drinks. We all enjoyed having a display of Fountains being lit up for our enjoyment. Obe Wan just watched and talked politics with Prince Charming and Andy. It was quite amusing to listen to their conversation. Obe Wan thinks fireworks are a waste of money. Such a fiscally responsible young man! :)

A Neighborly Trip to Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN

You can never go enough times when the price is $27.99 with free parking, all you can drink FREE Pepsi products, free sunscreen and FREE WI-FI! Woot. Now I must tell you the above rollercoaster, named the Thunderbird, is an amazing steel roller coaster. When it is Monday in the beginning of June there are hardly ANY lines. You can ride this coaster NINE times in a row without any wait. When you do this, make sure you have trashbags in your car so when your neighbor kid starts puking you don't have to use your Eddie Bauer MOM backpack as the puke bag to avoid having puke in the car. Just a helpful side note from our time at Holiday World. :)

 J-Bird got over his fear of coasters. He rode every one at Holiday World. My boys are growing up!

Creative Cougar Contest at School!

Our elementary school has a contest for decorating the Cougars on the walls. J-Bird, with two of his classmates, decided to adopt a Cougar. For the cost of $20, I bought a Cougar my kid, and his friends, could decorate. The theme was a book character. They selected 'Big Nate.' Thank goodness for my hording of crafting supplies. We were able to make a Cougar turn into Big Nate. Sad to say, they didn't win, but as you can see, they had a good time. The money raised went to our 'Blessings in a Back Pack.' This funds food for kiddos who don't have any. Great cause-lots of fun!

Paoli Pike is amazing Skiing when there is SNOW!

Ah-Mazing! We concluded the 6-pass session with only 5 go's, but J-Bird was okay with this. He learned to ski, tried his hand at snowboarding and ultimately has fallen in love with this new sport. He took to the snow naturally. I'm not surprised as he is extremely agile and little. Me, on the other hand, would have fallen and been bruised for a week, or month, or year. I told Obe Wan we will buy a family pass next year and he just said "Um-Hum." I am not sure he realized how serious I was. He and I could stay together and help each other out when we fell on our bums! 

They offer 3 free lessons with the purchase of J-Bird's pass. The first time he had individual lessons with Tom. He was patient and kind. He also realized J-Bird's natural ability. The 2nd lesson was also one-on-one! Who the heck gets that when they go to Colorado???? No one. This time J-Bird wanted to learn to snowboard. They spent an hour with him. By the end of the hour he was ready to turn in the board, eat dinner and then find skis again. He was not a fun of the board. Fine with me!

The 3rd lesson also ended up being one-on-one. This is not the case every time, but due to the time we arrived (4 pm) and lessons being on the hour, we were able to steer clear of other people. (No pun intended, but the slopes were empty this early in the day!) This instructor took J-Bird on the more complex blue trails. This was wonderful for him! It gave him the confidence he needed to up the ante on his skis. I watched from the deck and had a marvelous time! We took 3 other kiddos with us the 4th time we went and I was able to not stand outside watching the whole time. The buddy system was great and I was allowed to read a book! WOO-hoo!

Coffee Crossing Visit on a Friday night!

When will I learn to not challenge ObeWan to a game of anything and then have the AUDACITY to tell him I am the reigning champ of a game? These words are merely an abrupt challenge for my child to kick my ass in a game. He watched me beat him once and left me crying for the following five games. I was never so glad to have to go pick J-Bird up from soccer practice. (Yes, the kid is on two soccer teams right now!) We ended up playing Scrabble after I lost my Heine to the kid at Connect Four. It was a fun night and got ObeWan away from the computer for awhile! 

Feet needed for Futsal!

My Mom keeps asking me WHAT IS FUTSAL? It is indoor soccer for the layman. This includes me as I really don't know the difference other than one is outdoors and one is indoors. I also know these are 22 minute halves verse the 30 minutes for outdoors. It is super fast paced and intense. The Futsal is a smaller, weighted ball. It hurts. The kids have to keep it on the ground and head hits are highly discouraged! J-Bird loves this game. It may help that he is a U10 player who has been allowed to play up to U12!!! It is super exciting for him to share the love of the game with 6th graders! It has given him a boost in confidence and he is well-liked among his team members! 

Those three points were made by J-Bird!!!

See his fancy foot work? That girl was coming to take him out....she missed!

Winter Futsal has helped him out tremendously! 

The pass was made and another score was added to the board!

Small Choir, Big Man on Campus

Zachman is top row, three over to the right of Mr. Stone's head.

Our first choir concert at Highland Hills! Mr. Stone is an amazingly fun and talented choir teacher. Zachman has said he really likes his class AND enjoys his sense of humor. I am not sure the teacher even knows who my kid is because I'm sure they've exchanged less than 10 words from my shy kiddo, but I was impressed nonetheless at Zachman's respect of Mr. Stone. The concert was less than 24 minutes long--my kind of concert. I was sad the DAD was outta town because the time on this concert would have made him proud. Ryan has always abhorred the amount of time 'wasted' at his Mom's concerts through the years, but this one was perfect. They sang songs Ryan would have recognized and had a great tempo too!