More Soccer Pics

I don't know about this 3 year old soccer thing. It's quite frustrating to say the least! This competitive mama is having a hard time with it. I'm trying really hard to remind myself that he is only 3, but I found myself bribing him to kick the ball on Sunday. Really? Ice cream for kicking the ball once??? Well, even ice cream didn't work. He did a whole lot of running again, but didn't get anywhere near the ball. Half the time he was in outer space. It didn't help that our opponents were from south of the border (and I think had 5 year olds on their team!). Soccer is in their blood! Highlight of the day--watching one of our little 3 year olds pull down his pants and start to "relieve himself" on the field, the rest of them beginning to follow his lead until we all started running on the field to stop them. It.was.hilarious.

 

Anyway, they sure are cute...

 



Sunday was team picture day and it was mayhem at the fields. We stood around waiting for our team picture to be made for 15 minutes and never had any luck, so we just decided to take our team to our field and take a "free" team picture.

Then, Hudson decided he wanted to pose for an individual picture. I couldn't have paid for one better than this, so I'll take it (nap head and all)!

 Love these boys!

This is about how the game went...our 4 players on the ground while they went and scored.

 

We did end up scoring our first goal of the season. Yay Haines! We were all cheering so loudly and Haines was so proud of himself. It really was priceless. And just to document that I'm not the only crazy mom, Haines came running off the field to his parents and got a treat from them! Ha! The things we do to get our kids to behave.

This little (I mean BIG) kid walked halfway across the room tonight! We are about to have a walker on our hands!

He has even mastered going up AND going down the stairs outside. You have to watch him like a hawk (see the concrete at the end of the stairs--scary!).

 Does this picture below crack  you up or what??? Harrison's face is priceless!

 Can you tell we've entered into the dress up phase??? Every day, Hudson wants to wear one of his costumes!

Videos to come of Harrison walking AND he has a big birthday next week! Can't believe he's already turning 1!

Los Angeles and Las Vegas

This past week, I headed on a big adventure out to the west coast. I had a work conference in Vegas from Monday through Wednesday, so I decided since I had a paid plane ticket out that way, I would leave a day earlier and go through Los Angeles to see Carrie. Originally, Joel was supposed to come with me and it was going to be a little vacay for us, but he decided that it was too early to leave both kids for that long with the grandparents (and we only had one set that was going to be in town to help, so that would have been hard!). Anyway, I left last Saturday morning at 5 am for the airport. It was an early start, but I got to Los Angeles by 10:30 so I had most of the day to spend with them and most of the day Sunday too. We packed in a lot of activities in the two days I was there. It was so much fun!

First of all, I'm very celebrity obsessed, so I was giddy with excitement when I boarded my plane to LA and Niecy Nash was in first class. I just had to snap a picture (excuse the quality--I was afraid I would get in trouble for taking her picture so it was one of those snap and hide pictures!). Unfortunately, she was the only celeb I saw. Boo! It wasn't for lack of trying though!

 

When I arrived, we headed straight for Manhatten Beach. Carrie and Andres gave me the tour, even showing me where they lived when they were there and showed me where they met. It was a happening little beach town! We had lunch at this really cool outdoor restaurant. After lunch, I really wanted to do the touristy stuff like see the Hollywood sign, see Beverly Hills, etc., so they happily obliged and off we went!

We drove down Rodeo Drive (not that I could afford ANY of those places!), and then drove through one of the neighborhoods in Beverly Hills (nice!!!) and even made a little stop off at the Beverly Hills Hilton (the one that Whitney Houston died in). Then, we headed to Hollywood. You can barely see the Hollywood sign in the background of the picture below, but it was there!

This was the Chinese Theater where in front of it, all of the old movie stars put their handprints in the ground. Sadly, I did not know most of them.

They also showed me where Carrie lived early on when she moved out there, and it was interesting (as were all of the places she lived in!). Let's just say that property values don't go as far out there as they do here! :) At least she had a roof over her head.

Carrie and Andres now live in Newport Beach (where the Real Housewives of Orange County are!) and so after Hollywood, we made our way out there. It was much slower paced and spread out than the Hollywood and Manhatten Beach scene and I liked it much, much better. Their place is really nice. It felt like they lived in a resort! We were exhausted from the days activities so far, so we chilled out for a little while before heading out to dinner at this really neat upscale pizza place in Newport. We had such a fun time!

Sunday, we woke up and took Kobe to the dog beach in Huntington Beach for the first time. He LOVED it! First family pic of 3 on the beach!

You can't tell from either of these pics, but the beach was packed with people and dogs, and there were surfers in the ocean (it was freezing though!). It's just a totally different look on the beach as compared to what we're used to on the gulf coast. The sand was not nearly as nice. But, it's a beach and I enjoyed every second of it!

We took Kobe back home and then Carrie and Andres showed me where they want to live next in Corona del Mar and it was AWESOME. I would totally live there. I'm not sure how much work I could get done if I lived out there. It was beautiful--you are always right near the ocean. After that, they took me to Laguna Beach for lunch. Laguna was a neat little scene. It was very artsy. We ate on the rooftop of a hotel and the view was amazing and the food great too!

 

After lunch (it was after 2 at this point, it was time for them to take me back to the airport so I could make the quick hop over to Vegas. It was a quick trip with Carrie and Andres, but a great one. I'm so glad that I got to go and see where they are, where they've lived before, and just life out there! I can now see why they love it out there! I do wish they were closer, but maybe someday that will happen again. I'm already planning our next trip out there and hopefully it involves taking Hudson to Disneyland!

 

I had never been to Vegas before so I was kind of dreading going for the first time by myself. But, it ended up not being too bad. The conference was at the Monte Carlo, so it was in a pretty good location as far as the strip goes (even though it wasn't the nicest place). I made some friends at the conference and Tuesday night, we all went walking down the strip and went through some of the casinos, saw the fountains at the Billagio, and then had dinner at the Venetian. So, I saw Vegas. Can't say I need to go back, but if I have to, I'm taking Joel and we're going to some shows and eating at some really good places! :) It could be a really fun city (if you aren't by yourself!). I will say that one of the partners that was sitting at my table got propositioned at the elevator of our hotel one day. The girl came up to him and said, "You want to go get naked?" That part of Vegas (and all the handing out of cards with girls pictures on them) is something I don't think I will ever get used to seeing!

 



I finally got back in late Wednesday night. I was worried about how Joel would do for 5 days, but he did great! I know he had a lot of help, but I was still proud of how well things seemed to go. I missed the boys SO much. It was a long time to be gone. Luckily, they still remembered who I was the next morning! :) Harrison even took 4 steps on Thursday (I would have DIED if he started walking while I was gone), so I'm glad he waited for me (or else Joel is just not telling me he did it while I was gone).

I'm glad I don't have to travel much for work, but I did enjoy have no responsibilities for a good 5 days! I soaked up every night of not cooking, not cutting any meat, not having to do baths and read books, I got to watch whatever I wanted on tv, and I got to take my time getting ready in the morning. It was a nice break. But, it was also nice getting back to the chaos!

Game Day, Bath Time, Splash Pad, and Soccer!

The boys dressed in their Auburn gear on Friday...we were happy about Auburn football then! :)



 

This was bath time Friday night. I just let the kids go wild and get water all over the bathroom floor. They were having so much fun that I couldn't make them stop! I am loving watching their relationship bloom. They definitely feed off of each other!

 I was soaked by the end of it too!

Saturday morning, we had a birthday party at the Gardendale splash pad at 10. Of course, it rained hard the whole way there, but once we got there, it stopped and it actually was great because we had the whole thing to ourselves! We went one time last year and Hudson played in it for about 5 minutes and was done, but this time, he loved it! He played so hard.

 Hudson and the birthday girl...

 Harrison had fun in the water too!

Since the party was at 10 am, Joel and I decided to DVR the Auburn game and start it later. I'm SO glad that we did because we were able to get through the torture pretty quickly! Whew it was bad! Oh well, maybe next year we'll be ok again???

We watched the game while the boys napped and then took a long walk to the playground and let the boys play for a while. It was a lot of fun. Harrison learned that he loves the slide and wanted to do it over and over again!

Sunday was church and naps (rest time for Hudson--he was too excited!) and then we headed to Hudson's first soccer game! He wore his shinguards and cleats all weekend so he was ready! Here is Hudson and his buddy Cooper!

We had organized for all the people in our Sunday school class with 3 year olds to all be on the same team. Well, the team grew and grew and they had to split us into 3 teams (and then added randoms to our team too for some odd reason--oh well!). Unfortunately, we only had 4 players show up on our team on Sunday, with only 3 that would go on the field. Needless to say, they got tired fast! We were very proud of them though. They had no idea what to do, but they did a lot of running (isn't that the point for 3 year old soccer?!?!)! I think the other team had been practicing because they smoked us (they even wore headbands--serious 3 year olds!).

Here were the 3 muskateers!

 Hudson and Hunt...his mama and I have been friends since we were little. It has been so fun watching them grow up!

Little buddy enjoyed the action too! Well, he pretty much fussed the entire time we were there, but oh well. He looked cute anyway.

 Our 3 players and their mighty coach!

Hudson made one breakaway with the ball. He didn't make it far, but it looks like he was doing pretty good in this picture! :)

He did score a goal too. He picked the ball up with his hands, ran it over to the goal, and kicked it in! I was jumping up and down! It was pretty funny. At least he knows that he has to kick it in the goal. We have to work on the hands part!

After the soccer game, we headed to the Lighthouse at the church for a Sunday school social. It was our second time to have this and it was so much fun again. They opened up the gym for the kids, put the bouncy house up, got out all the balls and jump ropes, and let the kids run wild. We had pizza for dinner. To say the kids were exhausted after all of that was a huge understatement. I took my camera, but I guess I forgot to take pictures! I swear I took some, but there weren't any on my camera. The kids had a big day and pretty much went straight to bed when we got home. Hudson did wake up last night crying saying that he had lost his ball. Poor buddy. I think it was a lot of action for one kid in a day. :)

It was a great weekend!

Fun Labor Day Weekend!

We started out our long Labor Day weekend with a trip to Atlanta for the Auburn game. We went in style on a bus and it was so much fun! We will definitely be doing this again. It was worth every penny not to have to worry about driving, finding a parking place, or paying for gas and a hotel room. The game was fun even though we lost. The only bad thing was that we didn't get home until 1:30 am and the kids were up at 6:20 am, so we are still trying to catch up on sleep.

 

Because we are crazy, we got up Sunday morning and headed to the lake. We stopped for a big breakfast at Cracker Barrel on the way out of town and got there by lunchtime. We all had fun, but I think Hudson had the time of his life this time. He never stopped the whole day and went on and on about how much fun he was having. I mean, who wouldn't have fun when you have a "big green tractor", a gator, 4 wheeler, and boat to ride on!

This is Pops' new toy. Hudson said his favorite part of the day was the big green tractor. He LOVED it.

We took Hudson's jeep up there too and he rode it all over the farm. We will definitely be taking it again as he had a blast.

The boys got some good swimming in too, although I didn't have my camera when they were doing it. I didn't think Harrison would really care about getting in the water so I didn't bother putting him in his bathing suit, but I was so wrong. He about crawled off the dock into the water. So, we just stripped him down naked and let him have at it and he loved it. He swallowed so much lake water that we paid for that on the way home (he threw up everywhere on the way back--yuck). That was fun last night when we were so exhausted we could hardly stand up. We just had to laugh about it, even though my car still stinks! :)

We stayed until 8 last night and then decided to come on home so we could sleep in our own beds. I'm glad we did since the weather has been awful today. We have had a pretty lazy day. We did eat some BBQ for lunch and I took a fabulous 2 hour nap this afternoon, so I think I'm almost caught up on my sleep. The boys were both asleep by 7 tonight so maybe they will be caught up by tomorrow too! It was a great weekend though. I'm so glad college football is back, even if our team is not so hot. I just love this time of year!

11 Months

Harrison is 11 months old today! We had a lot of fun during our photo shoot. He was so happy!

Harrison is a mess at 11 months. That's really all there is to say. He is into everything. I completely forgot about this stage. He goes through every single cabinet we have (that don't have child locks) and empties everything out on a daily basis. The minute I put everything back in, he's into it again. It's a no win! He crawls everywhere and is SO fast. Sometimes, I just want to know what all is going on in that brain of his--I think it is all over the place! He is just so active all of the time.

Harrison is obsessed with balls! He loves to sit across from you and roll a ball back and forth. It is so fun for him and by far, his favorite activity that we do. Just give him a ball and he's happy. He's got a pretty good throw for 11 months too! Maybe he will be my little athlete!

He loves walking while holding our hands and also walking behind his push toys. And, of course, he's an expert cruiser along the furniture. He's getting more stable each day and more confident with it. He's starting to let go some and balance. I still think it may be a little while before he's walking on his own, but he's doing great.

He is taking one nap at school a day from 12:30 ish to 2:30 ish, but is still taking 2 good long naps on the days that we are home. On school days, he's going down around 6:30 or 7 and sleeping until 7 or 7:30. He is a great sleeper now (I've almost forgotten how awful he was the first 6 months!). He takes a paci at naptime and bedtime, but really doesn't love the paci as much as Hudson did. He loves to throw it more than anything.

He is down to 3 bottles a day at breakfast, lunch, and before bed, although he usually does not drink but about half of his bottle at breakfast and lunch. He is doing awesome with the sippy cup and loves regular milk, so I think we are getting close on that.

He is off baby food for the most part. He might get one or two jars of baby food a week, just because I don't know what else to give him or if he can't eat what we are eating. He is doing great with the table food. He even ate Chick Fil A for lunch on Friday and loved it. And, this is all with NO teeth! It does not even appear that any are coming through anytime soon either. I guess he will be like Hudson and they will all come in at once! It is certainly not limiting him too much in the food department though. I'm going to miss his gummy smile though when they do come in!

We had to put a baby gate up in front of the stairs because he found them and he loves them. Once he found them, we would redirect him somewhere else, but he would go right back to them. He's a quick climber too.

He is still wearing 18 month clothes at 11 months. He despises having his clothes changed and his diaper changed. I dread this every day. He will just scream and kick and it is no fun at all! I suspect he's around 25 pounds, but we don't go to the doctor for another month. He's still a chunk. I just love his roly poly arms and legs! :)

He is really starting to copy some of the noises that we do. Hudson does a mean dinosaur roar and Harrison will just copy him with his own roar. It is so cute. He's "talking" more and more and I think he sounds just like Hudson. It is so weird! He is saying Dada really well now and I think he says Ba for ball, and on rare occasions, he says Mama. He has also started saying "uh oh" when he "drops" something (aka throws it!). I hear a lot of "Nanana", but I don't know what he's referring to.

I can't believe that a month from now, he will be digging into a smash cake. It has gone by way too fast. Happy 11 months little guy!

War Eagle!