Cheer Camp

Sophie is on the far right.

Yes, you read the title to this post correctly. I, reluctantly, allowed my daughter (who begged and begged) to go to cheer camp at our local high school. I thought I could handle everything that goes with cheerleading camp, but I had to resist from gagging myself when I dropped her off. Sophie was as excited as ever, practically running to the gym to get started. I walked into the gym and was quickly greeted by big smiles and loud hellos....which is fine, I sound like such a grump. As I looked around, I spotted the token injured cheerleader, sitting on the sidelines but still participating in the arm movements while her fellow cheermates (I refuse to say teammates) practiced. Another corner of girls were rehearsing right in front of us, counting their dance steps nice and loud for people like me to hear and get annoyed. Although I have a brief history of going through a cheer phase, let me just say I quickly got over it.

I feel like a bad mom when I say I was secretly hoping Sophie would finish cheer camp and tell me it was fun, but wasn't really her thing. I didn't want her to have a horrible experience, just one that would clearly lead her in the direction of NOT WANTING TO DO IT AGAIN. When I came to pick her up and watch her performance, I could see the excitement in her eyes from a mile away, the extra jump in her step when it was her group's turn to perform, and the enthusiasm she had when telling me about her day. She LOVED every moment of it and has asked me several times already if she can continue in cheer. I took a deep breath, smiled as wide as I could and told her "Absolutely, Sophie."

Goodbye Fall!

Sophie and Noah had a great time playing in the leaves in the backyard while Daddy was blowing them into a pile. With all the huge trees around us, our front and backyard were buried in leaves!

Here's Noah assessing the yard with his tractor.

Diving in!

Sophie getting ready to throw a big pile right onto me!

Yay for fall!

Thanksgiving 2009....one to remember

We made it home safely from Thanksgiving at my parents' house. Unfortunately, my health did not. On top of missing Thanksgiving altogether due to a yucky stomach virus, I also "ruined" Black Friday for my sister and husband also (they were only teasing me.....I think). All I can say is thank God my parents were there to encourage me to rest as much as possible. I wanted to hit some deals so badly Friday morning, I woke up and thought I felt much better.....went to a couple of stores and then Tim and Michelle had to drop me off at home while they continued their morning shopping. The misery continued on Saturday when we were supposed to head home in the morning but found a mysterious leak under our SUV.....lucky us, we had a broken water pump. So, $500 later, we were finally headed home around 6pm last night.

I am pretty proud of myself today as I have been able to stay upright for most of the day. Let's hope I am well enough for work tomorrow! Hope everyone else had a much more uneventful and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday! Maybe next year I can actually partake in some turkey, stuffing, and all the trimmings!

Changing the System

I think I may have created a monster. A 5-year-old pink sparkly nailpolish wearing monster, that is. I finally succumbed and I had a fun time giving her a manicure and painting her nails a cute sparkly pink color. As a kid, I was never allowed to wear nailpolish....not sure why, but I think my parents made some sort of correlation between nailpolish and teenage pregnancy...who knows, really. So, I was hesitant to allow her to do this, but I have obviously eased up on those standards. Now, my standard is it has to be a cute glittery little girl color, not too dark, definitely light and almost sheer. So you will understand that when she asked me if we could paint her nails red for Christmas, I adamantly said no.....didn't really have an explanation when she asked why, but I have clearly justified this logic in my head. Now instead of my parents believing that nailpolish = pregnancy, I have set a new and improved methodology that only seems to make sense for me.

Go Bucks!

Sophie and Noah love to dance to TBDBITL....here they are getting ready the night before the big game! GO BUCKEYES!

All-Nighter

So, I stayed up way past my bedtime so I could finish reading Andre Agassi's autobiography (fantastic, by the way). On top of that, I felt like I had to watch a couple of things on my DVR (Real World/Road Rules Challenge and Modern Family). Fast forward to this morning where I can barely keep my contacts from popping out, my hair is not washed, and I feel like I can barely put two words together without sounding like an idiot.

After all of this, what is my crafty solution? No, it is not to pace myself and read a few chapters a night. No, I will not take some shows off my DVR. I need to either put my kids down at 4pm or let them zone out in front of the TV for three hours before bed.....is that so bad??? How else am I supposed to cram all of these activities in?! Do people realize how much bad TV I can get in if I expand my hour and a half of free time? Granted, this would also mean I would have to completely ignore Tim, but he should understand, right?

Who took my Noah?

Noah is acting like the two-year-old he is. I thought I could escape this age without too many issues, but he is clearly reminding us he only has two months to squeeze in terrorizing behavior...especially since he's been relatively laid back for the previous 10 months. Lately he's going through the phase of not just wanting something....but wanting it NOW (insert stomping of feet and tears here). He's forgetting his manners, hitting his sister for no reason, and basically fulfilling his role as "little brother." Unfortunately, this means he's spending more time in the thinking corner.....but then he'll refuse to apologize once we let him out....which makes us all crazy as we go through the whole cycle again.

Lately, he'll flat out punch Sophie in the stomach and say "sorry" AS he's doing it, thinking he's covered all his bases. He insists on sleeping with all of his cars, airplanes, Brutus (he has three of these). How he gets a good night's rest is beyond me, but at the end of the night when I'm all out of energy.....he could sleep with his full-size John Deere tractor and I wouldn't fight it. He is now trying to pick out his own outfits.....which is why he is wearing a hooded Cars sweatshirt with his OSU jersey and paired it with his fireman rain boots. Needless to say, I am carefully picking my battles these days.

Like Father, Like Son

Noah jumped in Daddy's recliner and said, "Look Mommy, I'm Daddy!" Yes, Noah....you are doing a perfect impersonation of your Daddy!

My Life as a Photographer

I'm not a good photographer. I have come to grips with this fact, but also feel the need to help people understand how hard it is to get both of my kids to pose for the camera SIMULTANEOUSLY. I bribe, I threaten, I yell, I scare, and this is what I get.

Noah is zoned in on the T.V.....I get that. But what is Sophie looking at???

Is Noah biting Sophie?

Finally.....but Noah's smile is his typical fake, get-this-over-with smile. And Tim....love him but he needs to be photoshopped out.

Both smiling, both looking, both cute.....and it comes out blurry. And thus is the story of my life as a photographer. The End.

Soaking in the Sun

We had the last bit of sun this past week, so we decided to make the most of it and took the kids to a small water park! It was so nice and warm and the kids had a great time! Since it was a last minute decision, I didn't have time to prepare....thankfully I had a change of clothes for them in the car!

Here's Noah carefully navigating his way through the sand dunes.

Sophie screaming at the top of her lungs as she runs through the sprinklers.

Noah just being so stinkin' cute!