Done with soccer.....on to basketball

Yesterday, October 26th, was the last day of the Micro Soccer 2008 season. The boys had fun playing this year. They were on separate teams. Kaden played on the Cyber Communications team with his best friend Matt. Rylan played on the Bistro team. Rylan has played soccer before, when he was 3, so he did a lot better this season. This was Kaden's first time playing soccer and he loves it. They both got trophies yesterday. Now, it's time to get started with Basketball!!

We kicked off this Halloween with a party at our neighbors' house. Robert went as Magnum P.I. and I was a Harlem Globetrotter. We laughed so hard while we were getting ready! Robert looked in the mirror at one point and said, "They're gonna think I'm Cheech & Chong!" then later he decided he thought he looked like Dale Earnhardt! The party hosts, Penny and Rob, really went all out. We had a great time!

Appreciation

I know it's the wrong time of year to be blogging about Valentine's Day, but I was looking through some pictures today and came acrossed this one. It brought back a good memory that brought a smile to my face. Anyone that knows Robert knows that he cannot just give you a present, there has to be some elaborate scheme. Like last Christmas he told me that he had gotten me something that I was going to love. When I opened the present, it was a stainless steel trash can. Granted, it's pretty cool, has a motion detector to open it when you get near it, but needless to say, I was a little disappointed. After everyone had finished opening their presents he proceeded to convince me to open the box and check out the new trash can. Well, inside the trash can was a Dooney & Bourke purse to match the wallet I had gotten at Mother's Day.

Anyway, back to Valentine's Day. So the night before Valentine's Robert went to the gym and got home after I had gone to sleep. I didn't hear him when he came home, but early in the morning, I'd say around 3 a.m., I got up for some reason. Well, being the OCD person that I am, I not only went to the bathroom, but I started a load of laundry! As I walked into the laundry room I saw a rose on the washing machine. I thought maybe Robert had gotten home late, was tired, and left it there by mistake. Then I went to the kitchen. There were 2 more roses, 1 on the sink and 1 on the stove. I went to the bedroom and asked him what was going on. He said, "I put roses on everything I appreciate. And there's one more." He pointed to the ironing board where there was a 4th rose. Ok, so it was funny, but the best was about 7:30 a.m. I told the boys to get in the car, we were leaving for school. As I got in the car they both handed me a rose. He had placed one in each of their seats! (Awww!) And he had placed a vase in the floor on the passenger's side, so I'd have something to put all 6 roses in when I got to work! What a great way to tell me you appreciate our perfect little boys!

The Pumpkin Patch

Today was Kaden's field trip to the pumpkin patch. Mrs. Adair & Mrs. Debbie, Ridgecrest's most fabulous K4 teachers, arrange this annual trip for their class to Aplin Farms. I went with Rylan 2 years ago and I couldn't miss this trip with Kaden. The fun started with a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch to find your very own special pumpkin. Then you could choose a beautiful sunflower, which I brought back to my office hoping to brighten the day.

From there we went back to the starting point and ventured through the many different barns learning about corn grinding, digging for potatoes, gathering eggs, and milking a cow....................

We tried our luck at the corn maze, led by our fearless leaders, Kaden & Matt...........

which we failed miserably at.......we wound up going back out the entrance!!

Fun was had by all, and most importantly, I got to spend some time with my little boy!!!

Oh, and I don't want to forget to show you, the class picture!! This is actually 1 of 4 that I took, and this is the best of the bunch. Let me say though, on behalf of these children, by the time we took this picture they were all pretty tired, very hungry, and not to mention the sun was shining directly in their eyes. So, it's a pretty good picture, if I do say so myself.......

Little Girl

Many afternoons Kaden and I stop at the store on the way to get Rylan. You know, you're always out of milk or bread or something. He likes to buy chewing gum when we are at the checkout counter. He buys a different kind almost every time and he always asks, "Mom, is this the one you liked when you were a little girl?" - it actually comes out as "wittle gwurl", but I know what he means. But he really has no idea about what life was like when I was a little girl. I mean, to him, everyone has always had video games, dvd players, even microwaves. Times change so fast, and times will be a lot different when my grandchildren are Kaden's age. I remember when my Great-Grandmother was alive, she passed away when she was 93. It's only been about 3 years ago since she passed. I often thought of how life must have been when she was a little girl. Of course there was no tv, no dvd, no microwaves, but think about it, there were no automobiles, no electricity, no telephones. What did she do when she was a little girl? Have you ever thought that maybe that's why marriages lasted longer and family bonds were stronger, because they spent more time together talking and sharing than fighting over who's gonna play the XBox? They may have been considered poor, but were they really? There's a house in Dothan where, at any given time, there's 20 people sitting on the front porch. I've said to Robert on numerous occasions "What are they doing out there?" His reply was "Why should they go inside? They have no tv, and if they do, they have no cable tv. They probably don't have air conditioning. Why go inside?" and then he said "You know, some of the best conversations are being had on that porch right now." He's right. When is the last time you sat down with anyone and had a conversation without the television on or a computer in front of you. When is the last time you had a conversation that wasn't, at least partly, had via text message? We need to get back to the old ways. I didn't have cable tv until I was in high school, and we didn't have a paved road to drive down, but I wasn't poor. I was richly blessed!

Happy 5th Birthday Kaden

Our baby boy Kaden turned 5 on September 28th. We had a party for him at the lake on Ft. Rucker with lots of friends and family. We rented a pavillion and the kids played on the playground equipment, tossed a football, and played with a hoverdisc while the adults grilled hamburgers and hotdogs. After lunch we had birthday cake and opened presents. Then we hit the lake. We had two boats, two tubes, and about 10 fishing poles. We spent the day tubing and fishing. It was a blast!!! The weather was beautiful. Everyone was healthy and happy and had a great time. And did I mention that I drove a huge truck pulling the boat. What!!? So I hit a couple of curbs and one cone in the road on base, but for the most part I did pretty good. Oh, and I forgot to bring a couple of things that we needed for the day, most importantly the birthday candles! So we told Kaden that he would just have to imagine that there were candles on his cake. As we sang happy birthday he patiently waited. Then we all told him to blow out his candles. He said "I already did! I did it while y'all were singing!"