Boot day!

I have been fighting off the first cold of the season, so I am a little behind.  The house is a little messy, I needed to make up a long run, and I am just TIRED right now, so this is going to be a short post!  

Today was the first really cold day of the fall.  It was cloudy and rainy, and temps were in the 50s most of the day.  There is even a skiff of snow on top of the mountains.  What does that mean?  That means today was boot day!  The first day of boot season!   

(I pulled out some old favorites and from this picture I can see they need to be given some TLC!  Or maybe I need new boots!  Maybe BOTH!).

Happy Boot Day, everybody!   Shouldn't this be a national holiday?

Keep Trying

Yesterday was one of those days.

One of those days when I wonder if I even have a clue about what the heck I am doing at this whole "Mom" job.  One of those days when I think that I probably don't.  

One of those days when I realize that even though I have been with my kids for nearly all of their lives, I still have no real idea what is going on in their heads.  None.

I have always considered myself to be a reasonably intelligent person, but yesterday was one of those days when I just felt like I had no clue.  How in the world did I think that I could do this job?  What gave me the idea that I was qualified to teach another person what they need to know to be happy and successful?  

It was one of those days when I felt like if I was getting graded on this whole mom gig, I would be pulling a solid D-.  If I was lucky.

I guess the only thing to do is to keep trying my best.  What else is there to do, right?  

Here I go!

Cora's First Soccer Game

Sorry for two Cora posts in a row, but she is breaking new ground again!  Another last first for our little family.  This is Cora's first soccer game ever!  We let Dax play soccer when he was 3 years old, but we made Cora wait until she was four because she was so little (and because I was afraid of having three kids playing soccer at once). 

Her first game was Saturday!  I cannot even tell you how excited this little munchkin was to finally get out on that soccer field!  We ordered her the smallest available uniform, but she was still swimming in it.  Oh well, she is adorable:

Cora has seen quite a few soccer games in her little life.  This wasn't her first rodeo, you know what I'm sayin?  She knew exactly what she was supposed to be doing, and despite the fact that she was one of the littlest ones out there, she managed to be in the thick of the action most of the time:

She even started using her arms to maintain her "hula hoop of personal space" as Preston calls it:  Go Corbs, Go!

So, while Cora was getting her kick on, Dax was doing the same on a nearby field at the same school.  Preston and I took turns watching each of them, but I didn't get very good pictures of Dax.  Here he is running after the ball (he isn't very close to it, but he sure looks like he is running fast, doesn't he?)

Daxton's team is blue this year, so they couldn't be the Ninja Tigers again.  The name of the team is still kind of up in the air, but this week they called themselves the "Space Dolphins."

Um, what?

I laugh every time I hear it.  The coach (for some reason) isn't in love with the name so they might change it for next week.

It was pretty hot during this part of the day, but both kids were troopers and stuck it out.  Dax did pretty good and didn't tackle anyone that I noticed.  However, when he saw a pack of kids surrounding the ball, as happens quite often at this age, he kind of would run a circle around the pack and then take a run at all of them and see how many bodies he could send flying.  Kind of like bowling.

So, Corbiecakes, how many goals did you score?

Two goals? AWESOME!  She scored one while I was watching and one when Preston was watching. Awfully nice of her to spread it around like that.

But for this little girl, the end of the game treats were what she has been waiting many, many moons to get.  I think the end of game treats are approximately 96.7% of the reason she signed up for soccer in the first place....

Oh wait, maybe not.  You can't forget about the ice cream bribery.  (If the kids score a goal, we go for ice cream!)  That is probably a big reason too.

Great job, littlest!  Can't wait for your second game!

The Last First Day of Preschool

Cora is my last preschooler!  Can you believe it?  I have had a kid in preschool for the last 5 first days of school, but this is my very last one.  The last first day of preschool.  It makes me sad to think about.

But do you think Cora feels sad?  Let's look at the following first day of preschool slide show and you decide for yourself:

I think she will get through it all somehow, don't you?

Corbie had to wait an entire week and half after the other kids started school.  It has been a long week for the poor girl.  Every morning she would ask, "Is it MY preschool day yet?"  Finally, the day arrived!  Cor was so excited to get her turn to have her picture taken on the stairs at last!  She kept saying, "Just one more!  Take my picture one more time!"  Oh, okay.

Then when we got to school, the sun was so bright that it was hard to take any pictures, but we did another one anyway!

Since Cora went to this same preschool last year, she knew the drill.  She was so excited to be the first one up the stairs so she could pick which peg to hang her backpack on:

After that, she ran into the classroom and started playing with her friends.  She didn't even really notice when I waved goodbye and threw a "Be good!" in her direction.  I slipped out and headed back home to get some work done.  

The house was so quiet, I couldn't think straight!  It was brutally quiet.  I actually had to turn on the TV so there could be some background noise before I could get any work done.  I get to have about 5 hours of this total silence stuff a week...it is AWESOME and HORRIBLE.  

But I will get through it somehow :)