Tuesday Sports - Starting Basketball

Tuesday was our first day of basketball! Will was really, really excited and talked about it most of the day. We tried to get out of the house early, as we were going to a new Parks and Rec locale and they are very, very hard to find (more on that later) but Fi was still sleeping and we had to wake her up. That did not go over well. Oh well - I got the troops locked and loaded a little after 5 and away we went.

True to our "let's find t-ball" expedition, this turned out to be much the same. I did think it would be easier this time as I had an actual address (which we lacked for t-ball - luckily, soccer was in the same place as t-ball). However, with as windy and curvy as Greenville is, when the GPS said "You have arrived," there was nothing there. There were houses, businesses, and some other streets in the area, but no Park Avenue Gym. I had written down the cross streets and tried to see them on the GPS map, but I couldn't find it. So, we tried driving in the general area and then I spied a police car. I thought he was stopping, so I took off after him. He lead me into the county jail where the posted signs said no unauthorized vehicles. Oops! I did manage to ask a nice man in blue where the gym was and he gave me directions. I high-tailed it out of there and, luckily, the directions were great. I found it - it would have never happened without asking as it's tucked in behind the county transportation barn, the recycling center, and a cemetery.

Because of where the gym's at, there was very little parking to start with, and by the time we got there, we were #8 on the curb. Except there was no curb and I had to park up on the embankment. Will asked me," Mommy, why did you park up here? Why is the car leaning?"

Coach Jim welcomed us to basketball (we weren't too late) and Will trotted to the circle for warm up. I recognized some kids from t-ball and soccer, and so did Will - that was nice. After warm-up, they took the kids over to some medium hoops to let them try making shots. This one kid was a ringer! They kept moving his "stand here" circle backwards, then off to the sides . . . He hit every shot. Look out!

Will had about 3 kids in front of him when they decided to move all the 3 yr olds to a different group (with smaller hoops). The only issue with this was there were a lot more 3's than 4's, and they had 3 hoops set-up on wall that was probably 9 feet across. Not a lot of space for that many little kids.

They did let Will shot first, which I appreciated. He missed a few and made a few - we'll have to work on it when we get our own hoop back. Then, they moved Will's hoop and group to a different area of the gym. It was much better for everyone that way.

Then they gathered all the 3's on the floor and gave them each a ball. With them sitting on the floor so that their legs kept the ball in place, they worked on dribbling. This had Will laughing most of the time and he did pretty well.

After a brief bathroom break, we came back to the group for passing (see short video). Will's done this before too, but he wasn't quite catching the way the coach wanted. He was very good at throwing it back though - he almost took out the coach! I think it was pretty funny.

After basketball, we celebrated with McD's nuggets and a playplace, since neither of the kids had eaten. Will had fun playing with some boys that showed up. I was inspired by Brent letting Fi run around when I was on my cruise, so I let her tackle the playplace. She really only went up and down the spiral stairs, so I only worried when she was trying to climb down them (she's still working on that part). Then, she really worried me when she found she could hang from the back edge of the top step platform and swing. She did this for awhile, with me saying "Fi, SIT. Fi, DOWN." the whole time - I was freaking out and she was cracking up and gave me her little grin every time she finished. Argh! I might have to find her a gym class too . . .

So, first day of hoops was good fun. I'm excited that Brent will be back next week so he can see all the fun.

New Skinny Jeans

Everyone talks about their "skinny jeans" (Sex in the City phrase). Well, I tried on my old skinny jeans and managed to pull them off while they were still zipped. Yea! I actually had to go out and buy a new pair of skinny jeans -- I'm so excited! I've lost 20 pounds and am quite proud of myself - I couldn't even wait for Brent to get home to take my picture. :)

Thanks mostly to Weight Watchers Online and the Wii Fit - I hope I can keep it off during the colder winter months and maybe even manage to lose a little more.

And, thanks to my readers for letting me brag a bit - like I said, I'm quite proud to actually need new clothes and getting back into others that I haven't seen in a long time.

School Work

I just realized that Will's been off to school for 6 weeks now and I haven't posted any of his art. I've been terribly delinquent - Ann has several posts of Sylvia's artwork (which is lovely - I'm sure she's inherited her mother's creative eye) and she's not even 1!

So, here's a picture of the latest and greatest Will masterpiece. This month's theme is Fall and last week they did quite a bit with apples. They even had an apple tasting and made apple sauce. I'm not sure how they made it, but that's what the flier said and Will said it tasted good.

He's made lots of wonderful art pieces - even branching out into painting. He's definitely still doing "modern" art - he made a picture of his friend, Jackson, and instead of features in the face circle (provided by the teachers), Jackson had squiggly lines.

I'm going to get a little gallery wire think from Ikea to display it all since the fridge just isn't big enough. And, I'll start showing it off here too. Enjoy my little budding artist!

Fall for Greenville

We had a wonderfully busy weekend. There were events all over town for "Fall for Greenville" and we took advantage of all of them.

Friday night, we headed over to the mall for their kids fall carnival. Will was super excited by all the lights and the giant ferris wheel. I haven't been to a carnival in forever and was utterly shocked at how much things cost - we spent $30 and were out of tickets in under an hour and only went on the kiddie rides. Not that we entirely trust the big kid rides - the whole idea of someone taking them apart, moving them, and putting them back together again in a safe manner . . . We've both been through too much automotive life to trust that. :)

But, for Will, we went over to the ferris wheel (they charged us for Fi - how stupid is that). It was early and we were the only ones on it - he had a blast and kept looking at all the lights and the things around us. He really got a kick out of seeing Barnes and Noble from up high. Sofia did well in my lap and didn't squirm until the last bit. I think she liked looking around.

From there, we headed to the merry-go-round. Brent and I both agree that there's just something timeless and wonderful about a carousel. I love them! Before we even got to the horses, Fi was going "neigh, neigh" and trying to get out of my arms to get a horse. Brent held onto Will and I held onto Fi - they both had the biggest smiles. It was great (and they didn't charge Brent and I to ride either, which meant we could do a couple more things.)

From there, Will really wanted to ride the mini-roller coaster (he thought it was a train) but he didn't want to ride it alone (and we weren't sure we wanted him to go on it anyway). He moved onto the Dizzy Dinosaurs and Brent went with him. Brent got it spinning pretty fast (it was hard to get a picture) and Will told him, "Too fast, Daddy. Slow down!" When we were putting him to bed, he actually talked about going on the tea cup ride and spinning at Mickey World - he even remembered that there was a mouse popping up and down. I can't believe he remembered this - it was almost 2 years ago!

We had enough tickets left to ride the merry-go-round one more time and I was able to get a great picture of Sofia enjoying herself. We called it a night and headed home to bed.

Saturday, Barry and Kathy were kind enough to babysit for us so Brent and I could go out to dinner to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. This was the first time they babysat the kids for an extended period of time and we were nervous for them. Not worried, but nervous. We wanted it to go well so that maybe, just maybe they would do it again. :)

We left them with a still sleeping Will (a very unusual thing - he hardly ever naps anymore) and a fussy Sofia (cuz I was leaving). We tried a restaurant downtown, The Brown Street Jazz Club. Choosing a restaurant downtown made driving and parking very hard as all weekend the Taste of Greenville was going on and all the streets that we normally used were closed down. But, we made it.

The venue has great ambiance, they made a killer Huckleberry Cosmo (new one for me - very fun), and we had high hopes. Unfortunately, the restaurant was a disappointment. The food was all over peppered - every dish we had, and I don't add extra pepper to anything - and the service kept getting slower and worse as the night wore on. We wanted to order dessert, but after Brent got cold coffee and it took almost 15 minutes for her to come back to take our order after telling us about the desserts, we decided to call it. With all the other places we haven't checked out, we're not going back to this one.


We got home a little before 10 and walked in the door to 2 very happy children who were running around Will's room. Barry and Kathy were still smiling, which we took as a good thing. They said Sofia never cried, even after we left, and that they all had fun. The piano you see in the picture is actually from Kathy - she's letting us borrow it until we move ours down here - and Sofia loves to play songs to her baby. They've been so good to us and the kids. We were so glad and really appreciated them watching the kids for us - it's so nice to go out and have some adult, alone time.

Sunday was our actual anniversary and we had a great day as a family. We went downtown to hang out for the Taste of Greenville. A ton of restaurants had booths set-up to try different things and there were different bands all over. We walked a little bit and heard a drum circle. We went over to check it out - Brent was really into it, but it was too loud for Will. So, the kids and I wandered around and decided which kiddie ride Will could go on. When we went back to find Brent, Will didn't mind the drums so much so we listened for a bit before heading to the kid zone.

We got balloons first and then Will wanted to do the bouncy slide thing. We let him do that twice (he gets through it so quickly) and then he went in the "normal" bouncy house for a bit. He's so funny about them - he won't go in them alone but has a blast when there are kids in there with him. Luckily, there were lots of kids to bounce with and he had a great time.

We grabbed a slice of pizza for the kids to share and Brent and I both picked out pulled pork sandwiches from Sticky Fingers (anyone who comes to visit will be heading there with us - it's great barbecue). We walked around a little more and listened to some more music before heading home for nap time.

We all had a great weekend and are looking forward to the one coming up - we're going on the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad on Saturday and I can't wait to see how Will likes it.

Picture Day!

Well, family and friends, it's been awhile since I've taken the kids for a photo shoot and today we finally checked out our local JC Penny Portrait Studio. I've been taking the kids to Pennys for pictures since they've been born - my Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike got us a gift certificate there as a baby present and it was one of the best presents we've ever gotten. I really liked the one in MI, but I'm very happy to say that this one is better.

The studio is much larger (thankfully because the one in MI was a broom-closet) and there are more things for the kids to do while I pick and choose which ones I want to buy (always hard, especially when Will's in a good mood - he just takes the best damn pictures!).

The photographer, Patty, was very patient with the kids, especially Fi who hasn't quite embraced her inner super model yet. However, when Patty pulled out a giant Elmo doll, Fi was hooked and we got some good shots. I thought I'd share a few - Enjoy!

Last Soccer Update

Today was our last day of soccer, and to be completely honest, it was a bust. Last week was much more engaging and awesome. Today, they barely did anything and gave out awards after only 40 minutes. It was quite a bummer, especially since Brent couldn't be there last week.

Oh well. Will had a lot of fun - you can see him doing a victory jump/dance after scoring a goal (done before practice started). He warmed up today but instead of running from the fences, they ran from lines today. After almost 12 weeks of fence running, it was a bad change in the routine - for all the kids. Then, they lined the kids up against the fence for stopping the ball. It was not organized at all and the kids were running amuck - climbing the fence (Will and friends), climbing the foul ball pole (Will's friends, not him) . . .



While this madness was going on, Sofia was making friends and playing soccer with Ben's parents (Ben's Mom, Michelle, and I are going to play next week, which I'm totally excited about, but I don't know her husband's name). She was very charming and was having a lot of fun.










Fi also learned how to put the buckles together on her stroller. She's been working on this at every soccer practice, but today, she made the breakthrough and got them together.

The good news for me is that she hasn't figured out how to get them apart. It's bad enough she can now escape from the shoulder straps - I need to have her contained somehow.







At the end (again, way early - it's not supposed to end until 6:30), the kids all gathered around Coach Jim and got their real soccer ball awards. Will now has a size 4 ball to add to his collection. Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike got him his first ball, a 3 (the smallest they make), when he was 1.

After the awards, we played at the nearby park for a bit and then went for traditional post-soccer/sports milkshakes. Good times.

Basketball starts on Tuesday - I'll let you know how it goes!

Shoes and Purses

Anyone who knows me AT ALL knows just how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE shoes and purses. They're just great and a good purse or shoe (even better- both!) can just make my day. It's one of the things I miss about a "real job" - getting to use different purses and wearing all of my great shoes. Heels really don't work well on the playground. :)

Well, it seems that Fi has inherited my love of shoes and purses. The purse pictured here is from Target (gotta love Target). The first time I saw the purse in the store, I looked at it and wasn't sure I liked it, so I tried to put it back. She pitched the biggest fit ever and we ended up carrying it around the store. I put it back right before we checked out (she was distracted by goldfish crackers). The next time we went in, I decided to buy it, take it home, and try it out. I did try it out and still wasn't sure. Normally, this means I would take the purse back and continue my quest until I found one that was just right.

Fi was sure this purse was totally right though - we can't get it away from her and when we try, she throws the biggest tantrums - feet kicking and everything. It's hilarious! So, now she carries it around all the time and I'm not sure I'll ever get a chance to actually use it.

She's also started wearing my shoes around the house. She actually gets them on the right feet (most of the time) and can get around pretty well. It's pretty cute and makes me wonder what it will be like to share shoes with her. Although, her feet are so big that it might happen in middle school for her . . . Guess we'll just have to wait and see. :)