My Own David Beckham

He scored!! He scored AGAIN!! HE. SCORED. ONE. MORE. TIME. That's right, Austin did it. He finally scored, and scored big, 3 times! He literally did piroettes on the field after each one. I could not be any prouder of that kid.

He started kicking a soccerball maybe 8 times now and really has a concept of the game now. His first practice, he REFUSED to go on the field with the team. My husband was so mad until I tried to tell him this was something that was supposed to be fun so yelling at the kid and trying to make him go on the field was not going to help. The next practice he couldn't wait to go to practice but did not want to put on the shin guards or the uniform. I was really second guessing myself, if he was to young to play. Then the first game came and he loved the game. He ran with everyone, but would go past the ball.

He was always taught not to kick or hit so when we told him you have to kick the ball and there were other kids around he became timid. I think he didn't know if it really was okay to kick even if there were others around.

So today, he did it. He finally let loose, kicked and bumped around to get to the ball, just like the other kids. Oh, my little David Beckham. Maybe I can be a "posh" mom!

5 the magic number

A's birthday was Monday. Officially 5 and man am I using it to the fullest. 5 year olds put their wrappers in the garbage, 5 year olds sleep in their bed all night, 5 year olds don't crawl under the table at the restaurant. I think he is wishing he never turned 5, I actually heard him say he was still 4. I have to lay off I think now or it's not going to work anymore.

But that made me realize; it was today, 5 years ago that I brought him home from the hospital and the first time he was ever in this house. It seems he's always been here. We were at a restaurant for dinner tonight and he had a hand-me-down shirt on with a picture of a USA Flag and 2001 underneath it and I thought... he wasn't even alive then.

Crazy that you can't imagine when you’re pregnant who this person is going to be like and then you have him and you can't think of life without him.

Happy Birthday A!!

A Rose By Any Other Name

would be a dandelion… but I wouldn’t trade it for any bouquet of yellow long stemmed roses EVER. When a smiling little four year old boy tells you stay right here and comes back with an enormous smile on his angel little face and proudly and gently hands you that pristine weed, my heart couldn’t melt any more. Just goes to show, you can’t buy happiness. It lives in those moments.

No Teacher's Pet Here

So… going back to high school even for an Open House for my daughter still makes me nervous, I could feel a pimple already forming on my chin. Haley and I got to the high school at promptly 6:30 and filed into the auditorium in single file like the rest of the herd. I had my first kickboxing introduction class (more about that later) at 8:00 so I decided that I would go with Haley for an hour, sit in the back and if the speeches lasted to long, I would sneak out. I already have a stepson here for the past three years so I felt I had insight on this already but Haley needed to come and see for herself. So to the back we went, big mistake. Did I forget to tell you that all the punks sit in the back seats? You know the ones, they think they are so cool and have comments for everything and won’t shut up so you can’t hear a word the Principal is saying. The ones I am sure I would have been desperately and totally attracted to when I was that age and since at that time; seriously, did I really care what the Principal was saying? Nope, teenage boys were all I cared about back then. So where was I…, oh yeah, we weren’t sitting in the auditorium five minutes when the vice principal walked up and told them if they didn’t stop fooling around he was kicking them out. And of course, I am the only adult back there and feel like I am the one getting scolded and I feel two inches big. “No sir, all ten boys sitting behind me are not mine”, and “yes, honestly, they aren’t mine, I’m sure…so stop looking at me like I did something wrong” Geezz. I’m not that easy!

Mail Call

Remember when getting mail used to be fun? When the only thing in that little tin box was something good? Maybe a card with $5 dollars in it from your favorite grandma who was in Florida for the winter. Ahh, the good old days when you owed no one and it was a treat to get mail. Now I avoid it like the plague. Guess what, all the big bad bill people know who I am and they have my address and every month they are so kind as to leave me a reminder of just how much I owe them and how much interest they are collecting from me. Greedy Ba$tard$. Now if there were only a legal way to have those fun little cards that are so easy to use at the mall that seemingly have no limit and not have to pay them back, wouldn't that be fun? That might bring back the excitement of that long trip to the mailbox.

HIGH SCHOOL --- YIKES

OMG!!!! Who said time could go by this quickly?? My first born , my baby, the little girl going to school for the first time with her little Barbie lunch box got a letter from the high school saying come join us for an open house to introduce you to the school you will be attending shortly. This just doesn't seem possible. Wasn't it yesterday that I walked her into Kindergarten, made sure she got settled in to her new seat and her Barbie bookbag was hung up, and then hurried into my car so no one could see the tears welling up in my eyes? High School?? How can this happen? Didn't I just get out of high school myself? Seriously, was that really 20 years ago?? Okay, someone has got to stop playing with the clocks!

Change - maybe not

I feel change in the air. Something in the pit of my stomach. Like something is going to happen, I don’t know what, where or how… just something. An unsure feeling to say the least. I look at it two ways: 1- maybe it will be something good or for the better or B- maybe I’m just wrong. Something bad happening is not an option, I refuse to let that enter my thoughts. Positive thinking is what I have decided. Yup, the world has no choice but to listen, ‘cause I said so. (…excuse me for a second) Okay, I’m back – I just had to knock on something wood because fate was just laughing at me and if I didn’t knock quickly it would surely hit me with lightening this very second. Oh yeah, positive thinking. I’m trying to think positive; half glass full, the sun is shining, blah, blah blah. Obviously I have work to do on this positive thinking thing. I do however try to wake up every morning with a smile on my face and think of how fortunate that I am healthy and my family is healthy and that’s what is important. See that, by writing this that feeling in my stomach feels less like a pit and more like a seedling.

I'm Back

I'm back. Miss me? Sorry about that, I always look forward to the holidays but they ALWAYS seem to go way to fast. The shopping, wrapping, holiday parties and family parties have really taken their toll on me. I had a bad cold that started the day after Christmas but am finally feeling better, so I am trying to get back into the swing of things.

Christmas was good/a little too much. I hate the non-stop going of the season. It started Christmas Eve when MOST of my family got together which was fine, then Christmas day came the ENTIRE family got together which was great but then it kept going for the next three days of getting together and spending many hours together. It's hard because I LOVE spending time with my family (and it doesn't happen all that often) but if it could be every couple days for a week that would be fine but that's not how it happens. It's everyday for days straight. And I really do love being with my brother and sisters but when normally it's just my kids and husband and then all of a sudden for a week straight there are like at least 18 of us, it gets to be a bit much. But I really wouldn't change it.

Strange the one part of the season I look forward to every year now is to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" waiting to see if George (Jimmy Stewart) finds the pedals in his pocket from Zuzu's flower and not wanting to change one thing of his life after he realizes how good it is. The part that strikes me as strange is the fact that my mom used to always have to watch it and wrap presents and now as an adult I find myself wanting the same thing. It has me wondering, is this what is in store for my daughter? Is she going to want to wrap presents and watch the same thing and reflect on her own life? I guess only time will tell.