Friday, August 28, 2009

Happy Birthday, Sammy!



I know I recently did an "all about Sammy" post and Max is next on the list, but I need to say Happy Birthday to Sammy.

Today, my second baby is 7. I really don't know how they are getting older because I'm not.

We knew from the beginning that Sammy was going to be a prankster. Even as a baby, we'd comment about how he always joked around. But even parents comment on it now. That child does everything with a smile. Whether it was karate, reading, or talking to another parent, he always has a twinkle in his eye. (The only exception I can think of is football, although I can't see under the helmet, he may still be grinning under there).

He starts second grade this year and continues to be the youngest in his class, but keeps up and excels in so many things that I know he is where he is supposed to be.

Happy Birthday, baby!

Monday, August 24, 2009

I've still got it...

This past weekend was lots of fun... partially because my wonderful husband totally gave me a ton of time to myself... he took the boys for school shoes while I went and got my hair done and then took them with him to his bike race so that I could go play in an alumni soccer game.

The WPI women's varsity soccer alumni game was a blast. My friend Lynn and I were the old timers (the only alumni who graduated in the 90's) and then a bunch of younger girls some grads from '01, '03, and a handful from '05 and even '09s. (Yes I did feel old for a little while). But all the soccer I have been playing paid off because I held my own against the young girls who are currently on the team! The alumni won 2-0... woo hoo! I commented to my friend Lynn that all we needed was my Gram in the stands and it would have been like old times!

Can't wait for next year to defend our win!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Sam the Man

Sam the man... this child is my smart alec. He has a heart of gold, but he will come up with the funniest things ever. He is good natured and loves to play games.

So, Sam decided to play football this year. Despite being too young for the cutoff, by 1 month, they let him play because he is still bigger than half of his team (they are all 7-8 year olds). Tim is on the same team and it is very interesting to watch the different personalities out there.

As Rich puts it, Sam needs to get a little more 'ugly'. He is strong and tough, but this kid does everything with a smile on his face. (seriously, other parents comment about it all the time) He doesn't quite trust the pads or himself yet, but when he gets a hold of a guy, he can take him down.

I try to remind him that he has an advantage over everyone else... he is used to tackling Tim and he will not find anyone on the field bigger than his brother.

He has also come leaps and bounds in the pool. This summer he has been gaining his confidence swimming which is good, but he would not go under water. Until we got him the eyes and nose goggles. This child now swims across the pool underwater, jumps off the deck, and does flips in the water. It is so much fun to watch.

Now we are preparing for his birthday party in a few weeks. He is very excited to have a pool party. I'm just hoping that we have a nice day for it... or at least no thunderstorms, cuz they can still swim in the rain :)

Just a quick thanks to my husband...

We are flat out lately. Football in August is a lot to handle and this year the coach asked Rich to be an assistant, so despite knowing it would put a crunch on his bike training time, he agreed.

Now, for those of you who know, Rich already gets up early (out of the house by 5:30 most mornings) so that he can be home early. Which means he gets between 5-6 (on a good night 7) hours of sleep a night. Well in order to still help with football, work and train for bike season, he got up at 4:30, rode his bike in the dark this morning and then left for work at about 6 this morning.

I don't think that the boys and I tell him enough how much he does for us.

Thanks, Baby!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Did I just get hit on?

So, yesterday I was in the supermarket with Max. Now I come home from work, threw on a pair of jean shorts, so just looked very mom-ish. Well, we were in the dairy aisle and all of a sudden a guy wearing a sleeveless shirt and has his arms pulled into it says, "you must be from around here. Its freezing in here."

I said, "yeah, I am, but it is freezing in here."
He says, " Its 115 where I'm from, I live in Palm Springs, CA."

So I figured the conversation was over and started to walk away. Then he says,
"Is that your little brother?"
I said, "Nope, this is my youngest son."
He says, "Wow you started young!!"
I said, "Yeah, but when they are all in college, I'll be young and still be making money to do the things I want."
He said, "Yeah, you'll be like 50."
I said, "Probably younger than that."
He said, "I did it the other way around, I'm 55 and my kids are 10 and 13." (Now I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was old enough to be my dad)
I said, (trying to be polite), "I never would have guessed... well, have a nice visit up here." and finished my shopping...

I wonder what he would have said if I had Tim with me, maybe, "so is that your boyfriend?" Ha Ha!!

Watching Timmy mature

Day by day I see Tim do things and say things that show me how much he is maturing. These things are huge because as parents we always want to feel like we are doing something right with our kids.

A few examples:

One morning, I was scolding the boys about how they treat the living room. The one room that we actually try to keep nice and they treat it like a wrestling ring and gymnastics floor. Well, I went back into the bathroom to get ready and came out to find it actually looking nice... Tim had gone and cleaned it up, straightened all the couch cushions and straightened up the coffee table.

Recently we went school shopping, and as we went through the checkout line, Tim was shocked at how much I spent. We then went over to ToysRUs to shop for my niece's birthday. Tim then asked me if he could buy Evie's presents with his own money because I had spent so much money on them. I told him that it was a very sweet offer, but it was my job to buy them school supplies so they could do well. He insisted on buying one of her presents, so I let him buy one of the smaller ones.

Finally, Sammy has decided to also play football this year. (more on that in another post). Now, Tim is just man-handling the kids on his team. Sammy is bigger than 50% of his team, so you can imagine how Tim is compared to them. Anyway, Tim and I had a conversation the other day about how he is worried about Sam getting hurt. I had to tell him, that he probably will and he'll probably cry. But he won't get any more hurt than Tim did and that the coached never put any kid in a position where they can't handle it.

So, my little boy is going into 3rd grade and is totally becoming a mature little person... (no pun intended)

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Conversations with Max

THis past weekend Timmy spent at my parents. On Friday he went on an amazing 3 hour zip line tour with my dad in the Berkshires. Then on Saturday, Max and Sam and I went out to swim in the pool and hang out. While in the pool Max made a passing comment about grandpa's armpit hair (sorry , dad)!

Well, in the car yesterday, Max offered to show me his armpit. Here is our conversation:

Me: "No thanks, I'm driving"
Max: "Grandpa has armpit hair, but I don't"
Me: "Well, how did he get armpit hair?"
Max: "Because he's a grandpa. And he has beards and hair all over his body."
Me(chuckling): "Are you going to get armpit hair?"
Max: "no, because I'm not a grandpa"
Me: "DOes daddy have armpit hair."
Max: "Yup"
Me: "But he's not a grandpa"
Max: "But he's big. But you're only medium big, so you don't have armpit hair."

He then went into detail showing my with his fingers how big each of us was compared to each other.

Ahhhh, conversations with my boys...