Gavin's First Soccer Team

Last week Gavin had his first game with his first soccer team, the Iron Birds.  He's obsessed with the gear, shin guards, cleats, wants to sleep in the uniform, etc.  DURING the game, he has a solid 10 feet radius kept from the ball.  Occasionally the ball is kicked his way.  Here how that looked...

Right before the game, a brother who shall remain unnamed, kicked the ball right into Gavin's face at warm up.  My snot soaked sleeves peeled him off my leg onto the field before the game. 

 I'm proud he got and stayed in there, bracing or not!  

Back to School Haircuts

The boys spent almost an hour perusing Google Images of "2016 cool men haircuts".

"Men."  Because when they looked at "boys", the haircuts weren't "cool" enough.

Finally they picked a current trendy cut with a hard part.  Gavin was the most confident about the choice.  He walked up to the barber, "I want the line!"

I told Gavin I thought his haircut looked good.  He sternly corrected me. 

"It looks COOL Mommy!  My haircut is INTENSE!"

Turned out a lot better than the last time I let them pick their cuts!

Olympic Inspiration

It's Olympics season.

Ethan usually is asleep around 7:30pm.

Tonight he's up well past 9.

Up watching the games?  No, I haven't let on that they are still on after bedtime (even though I'm trying to rush the process to watch myself! ;)

He's up reading, grade appropriate but challenging books that he didn't want to try a couple of weeks ago.

I try to tuck him in again as he debates with me how many more books can he read first.  Then he makes me smile.

"Mommy, it's like the Olympics.  Listen... they said that gymnast [Simone] practices 32 hours a week and I only practice 1 hour.  That's like ALLLL day.  MORE than a day! If I want to be a super fast reader I have to be like an Olympian and stay up later and read more."

He continued, "If I do that then I can become an Olympian.  Not like the sports, like a scientist or something.  That kind."

Needless to say, I let him read another book.

When mom's away

Gavin will play! With Daddy's homemade meatballs and spaghetti!

Let's see who's stronger

Last year someone told Ethan a sleeveless shirt he had on was a "muscle shirt".  He wore that darn thing the rest of the summer happy to set his muscles free and in view of everyone.

Despite my better judgment, and taste, I picked up some muscle shirts for the boys at the local consignment sale. There's still snow on the ground but they raced to change into them and compare muscles.

Ethan: Gavin,  let's wrestle to see who's stronger!
Gavin: OKAY!!!

And wrestle they did. Father's sons they are.

As a woman who grew up in a house of all girls I feel transported to another planet. Hopefully they'll let me stay on it if I buy them muscle shirts with superheroes and sports on them!

The Cowboys Have a New Mascot

Gavin switched his helmet for a cowboy hat and put his Cowboys cape over his Romo jersey.

Bouncing away on his horse, he hollered YEEE HAAAAAWWWW! GOOOOO COWBOYS!

For 45 minutes.

What's the address in Dallas for the audition tape submission?

Cootie Costume

Ethan caught the cold. I think Gavin's pulling out all the stops to scare away the germs.

Meltdown City

Click here if you want to laugh at the morning hell I was in today: http://youtu.be/zu-EXewKkFg

No, I didn't kick their puppy. Gavin's crying because I gave him the "wrong" cereal bowl. Ethan's crying because I noticed what shirt he put on before he could tell me I could look at it. They don't make coffee strong enough for this.

Face palm

We sing a song accompanied by a little dance.

"Gavin's got his poopy n the potty! Gavin's got his poopy in the potty!! Yaaaaaaa!" 

Finish with jazz hands.

I'm feeling pretty great, both of my boys are done with this miserable slog called potty training.

Then Ethan steps up to the plate, er, bowl.

I notice out of the corner of my eye that he overshoots! Half of it has missed the bowl!!

"Ethan! There's a mess of pee on the floor behind the toilet!"

Taken aback at my disgust he reassures me.

"Oh don't worry Mommy. I do that ALL THE TIME."

Gavin the Rhino Rescuer

We discovered a hero was amongst us many months ago.  NPR was playing in the car with a story on the rhino ivory trade. I didn't realize they were listening to the discussion of the conservationists efforts to save the rhinos from poachers. 
Until I heard Gavin exclaim from the backseat "I AM A WHINO WESCUER!!"

We didn't know what had been sparked by this little moment. He has created elaborate stories of how he's "wescued the winos in Abika."  He's sung lullabies to them out his bedroom window, watched out the windows on long drives to spot one in trouble, and is always ready to jump in a helicopter to rescue one in need.

I had to write a note to his new teacher to let her know of his secret identity so he wasn't met with a puzzled stare. 

I adore his imagination and theatrical commitment!

Parenting Fail: Premature Vacation Buildup

We leave in a couple weeks for a family vacation in the Grand Cayman's (aka "Pops' Island" as the boys have coined it, ha!). I'm getting really excited so we started watching some YouTube videos about the locale and picked up a snorkel set.

Um... Apparently a little too soon! Ethan won't take the gear off and they are ready to get on the plane...NOW!

Ethan practiced snorkeling in a dish in the living room!

Then...Gavin realized we aren't going...TODAY!

Well that took a minute.

Luckily he moved on to putting on his police uniform and "going to work" by the time we had milk and an evening show. Ethan on the other hand is a committed snorkeler.

Now I know why parents spring the Disney vacation on kids the morning of!

Oops.

 

Halloween 2014

The older the boys are getting, the more fun the holidays are getting!

This year they each picked their own costumes.

Gavin picked, of course, Superman. He's been practicing this role for the last few months wearing his cape daily!

Ethan threw me for a loop more. "Electricity" was his choice!! I asked him to narrow that down and he picked lightening. Yeah, they don't mass produce lightening costumes.

Off to the craft store for some felt, cotton stuffing, and online shopping for a battery operated LED string light.

A few stitches later and ZAP! Here's Ethan!

Chris and mini-me Gavin were a dynamic duo.

Just as in real life, my little bolt of lightening zapped me!

Chris wasn't going to let some strangers give his boys their first sweets of the night!

The day before was the school party!

They had the cutest school parade.

The kids worked on a spooky craft I had prepped for the class.

"Woah, Mommy really loves holidays with us kids!"

"Guilty as charged!"

 

Eavesdropping on Ethan: Good Luck CCD Teacher!

Ethan starts religious education classes in a couple of weeks and it can't come soon enough, for me! I'm in serious need of a dedicated theological wingman.

 

Here's a list of questions he peppered me with the last 20 minutes in the car, no exaggeration!

 

"Who made God?"

"Is magic real?"

"Why do we die?"

"Where do we go when we die?"

"Did you know tricky people say mean prayers to God?"

"I know how tricky people were made. God didn't make enough mommies. So they were built by machines. "

"How did God make my magic?"

"What's a soul?"

"No wait, I know what a soul is, I have special gases in my body that make me smart. And friction, I have friction too."

Twenty minutes. I fielded these in 20 minutes. And this is TYPICAL. Good luck with your 1 HOUR AND 45 MINUTE class CCD teacher. The church might nominate you for sainthood.

 

 

Eavesdropping on Ethan: Mommy needs to get out more

We've been going to the gym about 5 days a week the past 6 months. On the way there, Ethan sighs, "Mommy, you need to go somewhere new."

"You don't want to go to the Kid's Club today buddy?"

"No, I do. But Mommy, YOU need to see some new places. You know, to see what's out there."

"What am I missing Ethan?"

"You should really go to the jungle. Let's go to the jungle tomorrow instead."

"Uhhh..the jungle is a little far Ethan."

"That's okay, we'll just take a rocket ship."

If he arranges it, I'm game.

 

 

 

The Tale of Super Red

I opened Pandora's box. I bought one set of early reader Justice League books at Costco and Ethan's world is forever changed. Superheroes have entered our home, and I have a feeling they'll never leave.

I found this drawing he left out on his new desk (for kindergarten next MONTH!).

It looked random until I looked closer.

That was an illustration of Superman spelled phonetically.

It's the only kind of book he wants to read.

Which Daddy doesn't mind.

Every task we want done, we just need to invoke a hero. Shoes on fast like Flash! Carry in groceries with the strength of Superman!

His fellow superhero admirer, Mr. Kevin, documented his daughter Lucy's epic battle against Ethan's strength.

(Note Ethan's wardrobe choice. Knowing the science museum had the Tug of War machine, he insisted he had to wear his "muscle shirt" for optimal strength. As Chris later taught me, apparently real men follow the "sun's out, gun's out" rule!)

With victory under his belt, he could resume disrupting tornados with his superhero breath.

 

Parents with more experience, how long does this last?