Little Rascals

This Fall Kevin volunteered to be the coach for Ryan's soccer team. That's right...coach Kevin (with no prior soccer experience) agreed to coach a bunch of wild little three year olds! We have practice on Wednesdays and games on Saturday's at 8am. We missed the first game (since we were in Florida) and the second game was rained out...so this weekend we had our first game! 

First of all, let me give you a little taste of how practice goes:

And the little brothers...yes, we just threw some food down and let them eat. #secondchild

#mommyfail 

So he refused to wear his nikes because he said they were too tight. Since I JUST bought them I wasn't thrilled to hear that...but oh well, he was fine with his flip flops. You know, considering we forgot his ball it wasn't a HUGE deal anyways :)

After practice team huddle. Not everything makes sense when you are three. 

Last week was the first practice with Ryan's new soccer shoes - which he thinks are super cool! He does like to tap dance in them when we are at home. hmmmm

So here coach Kevin is playing foosball with his son. I mean...it kinda works. 

And here he is kicking the ball on his own! woo!

And then they did a scrimmage. They are all REALLY good at holding hands. The dads grouped them together and got them to stay by holding hands, but then when it was time to actually play they didn't want to let go. The whole scrimmage thing was a tad difficult because once they did get all scattered around they didn't know whose team they were on...And I am pretty sure Ryan left the game at one point to secure a big branch which he brought back to the game. So it was a little unsuccessful...and slightly chaotic. 

Fast forward:

 Yay! It's Saturday morning of our first soccer game! 

Opening the game up with the Pledge of Allegiance. I am not sure if this is standard soccer procedure (nor do the kids know the pledge of allegiance) but the dads all thought it seemed appropriate. 

And game time...there is Charlie taking off for another goal!

Ryan enjoyed hanging with his little bro

Halftime cheer! Ryan is #2

Happy boy! He can't wait to get out on the field!

Lots of dads...lots of hand holding! Here is a little highlight reel for ya:

- It's hard to actually get five kids out there to play (there are only about three kids on the team that "get it")

- Dads stay close for a couple of reasons:

1. to hold their kids hand (and make sure they don't run off the field)

2. to make sure their kid is running the correct direction

3. to pick them up in the occurrence of a pileup

4. to place them in front of the ball going the right direction (kinda like foosball)

Ryan is actually running (without Kevin holding his hand in the pic above). One way to encourage his participation was bribery. Yup, thats right. We used his new Rangers potato head as a bribe. We told him he had to play if he wanted us to actually open it. Yes, he had it in the plastic box all night long (he slept with it) and in the morning. It truly motivated him to play...not sure what will work next week! lol!

Apparently this game was much better than the first. All the moms said that it was much better not having referees (they didn't have enough for some reason) because the kids were somewhat scared of them...blowing their whistles and what not. Plus they stopped the game every time the ball went out of bounds...which happens a lot! Anyhow, I would say that from the beginning of the game to the end the kids all improved about 100%. 

And you might think this was after the game...but it was during. Henry and Ryan decided hanging out with the little kiddos was actually more fun than playing soccer!

 Despite my pictures, Ryan actually did get in there a little bit and enjoy himself. I am not sure he made contact with the ball, which is fine, but he definitely got some running in. He really likes it when you cheer for him! He smiles real big! Super cute! I had so much fun watching the game and I know that Ryan loves it because he gets to play with his dad. 

We also celebrated his first game (and win*...but whose keeping track, right?) with donuts! Yay! 

*I actually had no idea we won but coach certainly did! He said between Finley, Charlie and Ford we scored like 10 goals! woah!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Since I have been bad about my blogging I decided that I would (try and) do a weekend wrap-up each week so that I can keep on top of it all!

First of all we were excited to have Yia Yia back in town! She came up Thursday afternoon to go to a crafting party with me at Paper Source- yay! On Friday morning Demaris came over to watch the boys so that we could have some fun shopping! Ryan has been asking for Demaris so he was super excited to play with her!

First of all I am so excited that we finally made a decision on our dining room table! I can't wait for it to come in! When I ordered it the expected ship date was November 14th BUT on Saturday I got an email saying that it was being shipped! ummm yay! So hopefully it will be here in the next week or so. There is a small chance that it might be too big for our dining room. I did measure and it fits but I just don't know if it will look too big once all the chairs are there too. We will have to wait and see!

T and I headed to North Park for a little shopping. I found lots of cute fall stuff for the boys at Nordy's. They usually don't have much so I was super excited with everything that I found! I love Tucker & Tate, Mini Boden and Peek. The whole theme this season is woodland creatures so everything was so darn adorable! I got the boys some fun stuff but now I need to focus on finding something for them to wear for our family holiday pictures! I also found a really cute sweater dress at Anthropologie! It's perfect for UT games and I will probably wear it on Thanksgiving too! T and I had lunch at Bistro N and then headed back to play with the boys!

On Friday night we headed to the Rangers game to celebrate our friend Andrew's birthday.  Although the rest of the parents decided not to bring their kiddos we thought it would be fun for R, especially since Yiayia was in town and could take of of little g at home. The game didn't start until 7pm, so not only did he get to go to a baseball game but he got to stay up late! He LOVED it!

Since his Ranger's shirt from last year was too small the first stop was to get some gear. They didn't have any shirts in his size (that I could find) so we settled on a hat...which was also a tad too big but oh well! 

And he spotted a Ranger's potato head...and fell in love. Seriously, he is obsessed!

Happy little man!

Daddy got him ice cream in a hat - with sprinkles! This also helped him stay up late!

Hanging with mrs. park!

Parks and mr. potato head!

And the birthday boy! high-five!

On the way back to the car we got a pedicab.

Saturday morning we had to get up and going - 8am soccer game! I am going to do a whole separate post on Ryan's soccer adventures, so stay tuned!

 After the game on Saturday the rain came in and we had a lazy day at home, complete with wonderful naps for all! Saturday evening Yiayia watched the boys (again!) and Kevin and I headed to the Park's house for a little house-warming fiesta.

We had such an awesome time - loved hanging up the the girls! So happy to see Miss Jessyca!!! She was a surprise for Lindsey

Since the weather was AMAZING we sat outside on the back porch. The host insisted on bringing out their leather recliner for their preggo guest! 

Sunday morning Kevin and I realized once again that we are not as young as we used to be...and swore (once again) that we would not stay up late drinking with friends. We were a little slow going but since the weather was amazing once again we went on a walk to the park with the boys! We headed back for Grayson's nap but Ryan and daddy played outside all morning. In the afternoon we finally got dressed (in respectable clothing) and headed to Stella's Princess and Prince 3rd birthday party at Bake and Play Cafe!

Grayson and Ryan loved playing in the kids area!

Ryan dressed up for a hot second...his mask covered his eyes and he tripped so he quickly ripped everything off. I hope Halloween goes a little better than this! 

Then it was baking time! All the kiddos (I am talking about 30 kids) made their own pizzas! It was ambitious, messy and chaotic...but lots of fun!

I helped Grayson...which just meant that I did it all or I am pretty sure he would have eaten all of the ingredients. 

Dressing up...daddy was not happy about that earring I stuck on Ryan. He would probably be less pleased to see that I am posting the picture! lol!

After pizza all the kiddos decorated cupcakes! Yum!

Lots of sprinkles...and lots of icing. 

Another fun weekend with family and friends!

Happy Fall Y'all!

This past weekend we had amazing weather - seriously...like below 100. It was amazing! Our soccer game was cancelled on Saturday morning (from the rain on Friday) so we decided to head to the zoo with some friends!

G bug checking out the elephants! He pointed and giggled at them - so cute! After the elephants he fed some giraffe's. Well, dad did...but he didn't get scared like last time. 

Hanging with Blake!

We headed over to the kid area and Ryan rode a pony! woah! big stuff! And ain't that some cheese! That is his new signature smile. yup. 

Next up - feeding the birds. For some reason I really love doing this. Maybe because it's slightly scary walking in there and having birds land on you...and that's about all the 'scariness' that I can handle these days! lol! When we walked in that little gray bird flew and landed on Grayson's head. I wish we had a picture! It was pretty funny...G was a little confused but not upset!

Ryan and Andy loved it! They kept asking the bird keepers to get a bird down for them - that seems to be the problem at the areas where you feed the animals...they are never hungry!!!

And of course on the way out we had to ride the carosel. Ryan is a faithful man - he did not stray from his white stead. Grayson on the other hand just got what was next to his brother...I am sure he will have an opinion soon. Anyhow, he was worried at first but once it started he was pretty happy. After the zoo we headed to the Truck Yard for some outdoor dining and food! Yum!

On Sunday we took the boys to the Rory Myers Children's Adventure Center at the arboretum. We have been once before but it was Kevin's first time. The first time we went it was so crowded - I really thought it would be uber crowded this weekend but to our surprise it wasn't at all - which was Ah-mazing! I am truly impressed by this place - I have never been to anything like it.

You can't tell but we are under a waterfall here!

We headed up to the big treehouse! G bug loved crawling around on it - Ryan was a little more cautious.

This is the T. Boone Pickens Pure Energy Gallery - the boys love it because, well, there is a lot of water!

There are so many volunteers at each gallery that help explain everything! They are awesome!

This is the Earth Cycles outdoor gallery. Here Ryan is playing with a worktable that demonstrates erosion. You create a landscape with this plastic sand type stuff - add trees and houses then turn on water and see how the landscape erodes. It's basically in warped speed...

All the planets...

And a sundial. Pretty cool stuff! Yup - it was 1:30....

After all this fun we headed back to the house for naps! For dinner we had the Suns, Botterman's and Hales over.

Grayson and Blake just hanging

This is how my little man goes down ALL slides! Head first. He's wild!

And everyone got a ride!

And then I snapped this ... which Kevin and I love. Mainly because this IS the reason we were so excited to be in this house. the backyard. the kids. the pure happiness. this makes up happy.

all the kids were running around chasing each other...just being kids. love it!

life is good. feeling very blessed. happy momma.