My next project

I decided I wanted to make an advent calendar for Halloween this year.  A couple of weeks ago I visited my local dollar store and found a cute chipboard tree that I thought might work for what I had in mind. 

Looking though my stash of odds and ends I found some small white tags that I thought I might work for the numbers.  Either just written on with a marker, or maybe some black glitter.  Since the tree wasn't too big I thought I might tie on small rolled up pieces of paper with the various "treats" written on them with a variety of ribbon.  I have a handful of [random] ideas for what the treats may be from classic candy, to wrapped Halloween themed bedtime book or movies (mostly things we already have, but a few new ones mixed in, too), along with outings like picking a pumpkin, visiting the corn maze, stuffing a scarecrow, etc.

Since the boys aren't terribly patient, and I would like to be able to use the tree again sometime I decided I would use some tiny colored clothespins I found while riffling through my desk to secure the tags to the tree.  Though I am a few short so I picked up some slightly larger plain wood ones that I will paint (or color with a sharpie maybe?)

I think it will be super cute.  Hopefully by the end of this week I will have ideas for all the days of the month, and I will have remebered where I put the rest of the ribbon... :)   I can't wait to see what it looks like when it is finished!

Speaking of Halloween... I can't believe it is almost that time again.  Costumes are already out in our neck of the woods.  When I asked the boys what they wanted to be Ryan immediately piped up that he wants to be Lightening McQueen and Connor declared he wanted to be Nemo, but opted for Mater when we were in the store.  I am not crazy about the costumes we found and have some ideas for some home-made cardboard creations that might not be too bad... Famous last words... :)

The boys' 1st Soccer Game

We have never once at soccer practice practiced 5 on 5 play.  We have also never played with just one ball.  So we knew our first game would be... interesting.

The kids weren't sure where to line up or what to do.

Though the second they put the ball in play the one kid on our team who has played before and who knows what he is doing took the ball and scored.

The boys meanwhile waited on the sidelines for their turn.

When it was their turn, Ryan stepped out on the field and then promptly announced that he had to go potty.  Again.  So Kevin took Ryan and went in search of the restrooms a mile away and Connor and some of the other kids went into the game.

Connor only touched the ball once.  With his hands.  When one of the other kids on his team was kicking it the wrong way and he was trying to turn it back around to go the right way.  Poor guy.

Our ref was a hoot.  He really got a workout.  The kids didn't really respond when he blew his whistle so he spent alot of his time trying to race ahead of the kids 20 feet off the field or 20 feet into the other game's field to steal the ball away.

And when that didn't work once or twice he picked up the kids kicking the ball and ran with them to catch the ball and stop it.  It was a good thing he was really, really fast, and energetic.

At one point when 3/4 of the kids from our game were standing on the other teams field as one of the other teams were driving to their goal one the the kids from the other team in our game leaned down and caught their ball and then used his hands to roll into their opponets goal.  I just about died laughing.

Getting the kids out onto the field was quite an adventure as well.  The coach wasn't very organized and didn't seem to have a plan about who would go in when.  He would go up and down the sidelines asking who hadn't been into the game and would get 6 or 7 kids out on the field and then send some back.

The first time he asked both the boys popped up ready to go and were then told to go back to their seats and wait for next time.  The next time he came by neither of them wanted to go.  I bribed Connor with treats and finally wrestled Ryan's yellow ball out of his hands and practically booted him out on to the field amid threats to just go home if he wasn't going to get out there and play.  It was not my finest mom moment.

Thanfully, after his 15 minute restroom break with just a few minutes left in the game he actually did get out onto the field to play.

And kicked the ball.  And kicked it, and kicked it, and kicked it way off the field missing the goal by a good 5 feet and continuing to kick the ball until almost at the edge of the forest where the ref finally caught up with him and scooped the ball away.

On a bright note, the other team wasn't terribly well prepared either.  They only managed to get the ball on our half of the field once, and never scored. 

Final Score: Portland - 2, Houston - 0.

Random Thoughts

• I love my tivo.
• My Season Pass Manager is the "who's who" of cancelled programs.
• I am so beyond ready for some new shows on television.
• So ready in fact that I have been updating my season pass manager with new programs the last few days.
• I am pretty sure that's the kiss of death for those shows.
• We still don't have cable.  We must be the only people in the free world.
• It's probably a good thing.  HGTV would be a giant time suck for me.  :)
• The kids would be little zombies - so many shows to watch so little time.
• The only thing I miss is football.  College Football.  Pro Football.  ESPN is creating a monopoly.
• I don't even want to know what the Longhorn network is.
• If A&M leaves the Big 12 will we still play Texas on Thanksgiving?
• We went to our first Aggie football game.  ($10 kids tickets - vs. Idaho)
• Idaho is the "Vandals."  I wonder if their mascot is a raccoon or prison pin stripes.
• We also left at the end of the 3rd quarter.  (37-0 Aggies)
• Like a million other people.  2 percenters!!
• And sat in traffic on 2818 FOREVER.  There must have been a massive accident.  We saw a cop escorting a tow truck.  Never a good sign.
• We ended up back at George Bush and Welborn.  There was absolutely no traffic. 
• I got a maroon out shirt (after waiting in line for 30 minutes).
• They went up from $5 to $8.  And the smallest size they have is a Youth Medium.  Which is HUGE.  The boys didn't get one.
• I thought the 66 stairs on the way to our seats in the 33rd row would get us.  They didn't.  But the cobble stones did.  Connor got a bloody nose, 2 split lips, bleeding gums.  And the list goes on...
• There are 38 rows in the upper deck nose bleed section.  It's still not a bad view of the game.
• 3 year old soccer is AWESOME. 
• 3 year old soccer sucks.
• There are no restrooms anywhere near the soccer fields. 
• Who thought this was a good idea?  It must be a man.
• No matter how long you spend cleaning it will take the kids precisely 3.2 seconds to undo it all.
• I don't remember buying the kids that many clothes.  They must be multiplying like bunnies in the hamper.  Or the baskets.  Or the couch, or the bed, or anywhere else that I have dumped all the clothes that need to be folded, paired, and put up.
• The good thing about dressing your children the same is that you don't have to come up with 2 matching outfits.
• The bad thing about dressing your children the same is that you have come up with 2 MATCHING OUTFITS. 
• I haven't decided yet if I am going to sort soccer pictures or fold clothes. 
• If I don't fold clothes I am not sure where I am going to sleep.

Kyle's 4th Birthday at the Fire Station

I didn't even know you could have a birthday at the fire station until we got the invitation for Kyle's 4th birthday.  How cool is that?

The party started off with one of the firefighters talking about fire safety.  Telling the kids they should sleep with their doors closed and reminders to crawl on the ground, not touch hot door knobs, and of course to stop, drop, and roll.

One of the kids asked several funny questions, and kept his hand up most of the time until the fireman had to tell him that they would have to hold questions to the end.  :)

Then one of the fireman donned their fire suit as they told us what each piece was and why they needed it.

The fireman then went around and gave each of the kids a high five and talked about how if there was ever a fire in their house that this is what the fireman would look like and to not be afraid.  The boys didn't mind at all, but some of the other kids even after seeing just a normal man get dressed up into a "costume" still weren't so sure about the whole creepy darth vadar sounding man right in front of them.

Afterwards we went out to see the fire trucks.

They opened up all the doors and talked to the kids about what the various tools were for.  Tools for putting holes in the wall, and pulling walls down.  Landon's Dad Wade joked that by the end of the day someone would have a hole in their wall as the kids played fireman at home.

After the tour they let the boys sit in the fire trucks. 

Ryan and Kyle even got to drive it.

Connor was one of the first kids in and one of the absolute last to get out despite my repeated attempts to get him out short of going in after him.

Needless to say - he really enjoyed getting to sit in the fire truck.

And how many firefighters does it take to get 15 preschoolers lined up to take a picture?  At least half of the department.  :)

When we got back inside, Kyle's mom Lisa tried to set the fire station on fire with her lighter.  When she first clicked it over the cake it shot out an almost foot long flame.  They immediately took it away from the kids and were trying to turn the flame down to a more manageable level.  This was as low as it would go.

And how many fire fighters, and parents does it take to figure out how to light candles with a flaming blow torch.  Once again, far more than you would think... One of the mom's finally stepped up, pulled a candle out, lit it, and then used it to light the other candles on the cake.  Doh.

With the candles finally lit everyone sang Happy Birthday to Kyle and we all enjoyed cake and ice cream.

Afterwards, they pulled out one of the fire trucks and hosed the kids down with it for a few minutes.

It was actually pretty funny because they had blocked off the side entrance to the fire station so the kids had plenty of room to run and play.  All of the parents stood safely to the side near the fire station to avoid being sprayed and left the kids out in the field by themselves.  The second they turned on the fire hose the kids ran away screaming and made a beeline for the road. 

I was the closest to the kids taking cover behind an SUV hoping not to be sprayed and once we realized where the kids were headed we realized that at least some of us should stand out there to keep the kids from running into the thankfully pretty distant road. 

The kids really enjoyed being sprayed by the hose.  They particularly liked the game when the fireman would turn the water off, the kids would edge closer, and closer until the sprayed them all as they ran screaming away.

Ryan's Big Day

I don't know how parents manage to keep up with half a dozen kids and even more activities.  The boys are just doing swim lessons and playing soccer (same time, same place) and just 4 days a week and I am exhausted!  I long to see my house in daylight.  And I am getting really tired of fast food. 

But then there are days like today where I am reminded, again, that it's all worth it.  Ryan swam for the first time today.  Just a few feet, but he did it.  As he was swimming back towards me in class I pantomimed putting his head and the water and he did it.  After that something just clicked and he just started putting his head underwater and swimming.  I was so proud of him!  I couldn't have been more excited.

Though he was funny - as he swam towards his teacher he would keep his head up and as he swam back towards me he would put his face in the water.

He must be part blond, too.  He might be able to walk, talk, and chew gum (if we ever gave him any), but he had quite a time trying to remember to put his face in the water, blow bubbles, move his arms, and his legs all at the same time.  Several times he put his hands out as far as he could reach in front of him and just left them there while he kicked his feet and put his head under.  Other times his arms would move slowly, but his feet would stop all together.  I couldn't help but laugh while I coached, clapped, and cheered from the sidelines.  Way to go RY!!!

And no, thanks to the Y's silly no photo policy I don't have a single photo to share of the momentus occasion so you will just have to take my word for it.  It was AWESOME!

The Boys at Soccer

For the record this was completely unposed.  They were jockeying for space trying to sit on the soccer balls and cones in the bag and when I yelled at them they looked up grinning. 

And then went right back to their fighting while completely ignoring everything I said.

Though I am pretty sure they still knew I was talking...

Not that they cared of course...

I am still amazed by the fact that seem to listen to their coach when  he asks them all to come here and huddle up, and stand in line, and do this or do that.

A line.  No cutting, no pushing, no fighting.  For the first few minutes anyway...

And I have no idea what Ryan was asking the coach here.  Probably why Connor got to go first.  :)

And speaking of Ry... you will just have to wait until this weekend to see amazing new soccer pics of him as he's either the flash - too fast to be captured on film, a giant blur flashing though the frame, or one of probably two dozen or more pictures accidentally shot in the wrong mode where the ISO was set to 1600 and the vast majority of the pics came out looking like this... or worse...

In fact, this was the only even remotely good picture I managed of him today. 

Unless you count this one...

Sorry, Ry. Promise I will do better next time, k?  Well, if you promise to slow down a little that is... :)

[Nearly] Wordless Wednesday: Connor's soccer practice

I actually have lots of new favorite pictures.  And even more still to sort through... :)  All despite the fact that I stopped taking pictures about 15 minutes into to practice when it became impractical to try to take pictures while also attempting to corral the boys.

Here are my favorites of Connor this evening:

The little bugger stole my chair!

My new favorite picture

Leaving Lost Pines - Wildfires Part II

As I mentioned yesterday when we first got to the high ground of the parking lot we could see two separate fires.  The first was the Union Chapel fire East of Bastrop just off 71.  The other was the tail end of the Bastrop Complex fire.   As we turned further to the left following the tail end of fire back to it's source it was quite a sight to see. 

Though the fire was at least 10 miles away it looked like it was just across the Colorodo River from the hotel.

As we made our way out on 71 we weren't sure how far out the fire was and if our normal route home would be accessible. 

We decided we would head that direction for a short ways, and if it looked too bad we would turn around and head back and find an alternate route.

We hadn't gone more than a couple of miles when it was obvious that we would need to find another way home.  The smoke from the fire spread across the entire horizon almost as far as the eye could see.

It was like a wall - rising untold stories into the air.

As we exited to turn around some 8 or more miles from the fire we practically had to crane our necks out the front window to even find more than a glimmer of blue sky left.

Luckily we had no problem heading back towards Austin, cutting over to 290, and making our way back home.  On our drive we repeatedly searched the radio stations for updates on the fire, and road closures.  Despite the late hour we didn't want to stop to eat until we were well on the other side of the line of the fires.  As the road twisted and turned we more than once wondered if we would be able to make it through as it appeared as if the road was headed straight for the leading edge, if not behind the furious pace of the fire.  Luckily as the road wound it's way closer to home the fires were still well off to the South and we had no problem getting home. 

15 or so miles from our house we did see several police cars blocking a road north bound, and had assumed there was some sort of accident.  Imagine our surprise when we got home, got the kids to bed, and then turned on the tivo'd news wondering if they would even have a snippet of the Bastrop fires to see that the news did indeed lead off with a segment on wildfires - only the fires they mentioned were less than a dozen miles away up straight up 249 in the Magnolia area.  And the roadblock we had seen was likely traffic being blocked from heading North into the line of the fires.

Ironically when we got home after we got the kids in bed I turned on the tivo'd news and immediately saw the fire.  Thinking it was the Bastrop fire I called Kevin to come watch.  But as soon as we turned the show on we noticed that the fire being