Taylor's first soccer game of the season

Who's the cutest soccer player in BRIGHT orange?

He wanted me to photograph his number 4

He has 3 girls and 3 boys on his team MOVE YOUR FINGER MOM!

Taylor had his first soccer game on Saturday. He played for the YMCA last year but is now old enough to play for the soccer club in the area. His team is BRIGHT orange so you might want to put on your sunglasses to view the pictures :) Thank you to Mamaw for coming out to see his first game! He scored two goals (the team scored 6) and no, they don't "officially" keep score but the parents and the kids do "in their heads". This weekend we have TWO soccer games-one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Not to mention soccer practice on Tuesday and soccer pictures on Wednesday. Taylor is missing his first school skating party tonight to got to soccer practice. Ah, remember skating parties? However, Taylor has never put on a pair of roller skates and he is MY son, so I'm not sure how well his balance would cooperate. We had a long talk about how he could MAYBE go to the next one so we would be able to take him to practice before hand. He was okay with it, but a little sad. Ah, the life of a Kindergartner and learning that he can't do EVERYTHING activity.

My Birthday Weekend

Boys playing football-Ben was playing too-not sure where he is....

Grub time at the kiddie table-Connor had escaped to try to sit at the adult table


Olivia being a rebel going UP the slide...imagine that, Becca's daughter a rebel?



Connor, The Baby Whisperer-he's "listening" to Will

No, I'm not really 32, those are just the only candles Becca had :)

What? It's good. So I got a little on my face....

Football players

Becca (35 weeks pregnant), Kim (26 weeks pregnant-TWINS), Nicole (19 weeks pregnant), Me (35 weeks pregnant). Todd says mine looks fake-like I stuck something in my shirt to "look" pregnant :)

In case one belly shot wasn't enough....

My lovies! (yes, I used the word lovey)

Me and momma-Taylor took this pic. And maybe it is just me, but why is my NOSE pregnant?

I had a super birthday weekend and got to visit with lots of people. Todd & the boys got me a much needed and wanted new vacuum cleaner. Exciting, I know-and how old am I that I am excited about a new vacuum cleaner? And further proof of my increasing age is that after Todd & I went on our date (dinner) Friday night we finished it off w/ running errands including a trip to the grocery store. Hey, you got to take advantage of stuff like this when you aren't toting arouond kiddos. It could have had some thing to do with my advanced pregnancy as well; we may have done something a little more exciting if I were up to it-but can be a party pooper these days. We did rent a movie (I Love You, Man) when we got home. Thanks to my mom (Mamaw) for coming over to watch the kids!!!! So, what else did I do?

• Got to visit with my friends from college and their families (they came over for dinner on Saturday). Except for Sara who unexpectedly had to stay home due to Shingles :( Thanks to Becca for making a yummy chocolate cake!
• Went to breakfast with my dad, stepmom, mom, sister, nephew and Connor (Taylor & Todd were at the Colts game).
• Connor & I went to the apple orchard for a little time together (and so I could get some apples)
• Went to dinner at my moms (she made one of my favorite meals-rouladin (sp?) & dumplings and oatmeal cake with toasted coconut topping-homemade and oh so delicious!)
  
  

Labor Day Weekend-Dale Hollow

We went to the lake for Labor Day weekend. Of course I was nervous traveling because of being 34 weeks pregnant-but thankfully all went well. We stopped at the dock for ice cream, however, and the "worker" asked me how far a long I was. Then she proceeded to tell me that they don't deliver any babies at Albany (the closest hospital) unless it is an emergency. Great, so if something did happen, I would be going to a hospital that isn't used to delivering babies needing a C-section delivery of a premature baby. Nice. The other option was to drive a couple of hours to the other hospital in the area-I'm pretty sure I would have taken that option. But no premature babies, just a nice time fishing, swimming, boating, tubing, 4-wheeling and hanging out.

Birthday Parties

We have been having fun at birthday parties lately! First we had Austin's 3rd birthday part at Chuck E. Cheese. Then we had Aidan's 5th birthday party (which I didn't take any pics of and haven't seen any posted by Em yet so don't have any of those to share) at Monkey Joe's. Then we went to Jacob's 2nd birthday party in his backyard where the kids ate and bounced and played and then Grace's 6th birthday party at the park and they got to bust a pinata. The kids had lots of fun!

Grandma makes baby blanket

Grandma Morris (and Grandpa too) came to visit last week to bring the baby some goodies. Grandma has been working hard and finally finished her first EVER blanket. It is knitted/crocheted (I can't remember which one b/c she is doing a hat too and that is the opposite of what the blanket it-I think the blanket is knitted). Either way, she did such a fabulous job on the baby blanket and I am super impressed, so I had to share it with everyone. And since I was taking picture, I am also including the cute pink Colts outfit they brought for her. We're cleaning out the baby's bedroom this weekend so that we can put the crib up and get everything ready. It's getting closer-only 6 more weeks! It's funny because to Todd it hasn't been all that "real" yet since he isn't carrying her, but when we were talking the other day about it only being 49 more days or something until her arrival, he about choked on his spit at the realization that yes, we would have a new baby in our family sooner than later :) Connor is getting anxious be/c he says "hi" to the baby, or mommy's baby as he calls her, all the time but recently he has starting saying, "I can't see the baby. I want to see the baby." Taylor is anxious b/c she will get to "hear" him play soccer since we decided together that she wouldn't be able to "see" through my tummy.

Follow up to bullying

Just as a follow up to Taylor's bullying situation, we did learn through more conversation about what took place that it doesn't appear that Taylor was "targeted" to fight w/ or anything. It sounds more like the group of boys were out of control and Taylor just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They didn't specifically think or say "let's get Taylor". And then of course Taylor comes home today and said he made a new friend and that new friend was one of the boys that had him in the headlock and had hit him the day before. Geez. Kids are so forgiving. Todd was also trying to explain to him that sometimes kids aren't nice..blah blah blah and Taylor said, "but they ARE nice kids..." Apparently we need to do a better job of teaching him what "nice" means :) Anyway, things have been much better. I just don't know if I am ready for the heartaches that come w/ growing up.........oh well for me, saddle up Jade!

Bullies in Kindergarten!

I am NOT happy that Taylor was bullied at school today! His teacher was at a conference and they had a substitute teacher. An elderly man (who probably was a great father or grandfather, but really had no business subbing in a Kindergarten classroom) was the subsitute teacher for the day. Apparently he did not establish control from the beginning and a group of "naughty" boys in Taylor's class took things a bit too far. Taylor came home wide eyed and said "Guess what happened to me today?" And then tells me he was punched in his face, punched in his stomach, elbowed in his stomach, pushed, tackled and "attacked" by four boys in his class. Our caregiver (also friend and neighbor) picked the kids up from school today to see one of the boys putting the other kids in headlocks on the playground, including Taylor. Her daughter, Grace, was also hit and pushed by these same boys at some time today. Needless to say, I was IRATE, MAD, etc. And if you think I was mad, you should have heard Todd! I really wanted to track down these kid's parents and talk to them, because ultimately it starts there. I did, however, call and talk to the counselor at school (the principal was out today) and communicated with his teacher; well we traded messages. Both have assured me it will be "taken care of"...whatever that means. But I was just so saddened. Taylor is not hurt (no physical scratches or marks) but he said, "I told Grace; they used to like me, but I guess they don't like me anymore". Sorta nonchalantly. Anyway, I know these things will happen, I was just hoping it wouldn't start in Kindergarten. Now all I want is for the school to make sure they DO something in an attempt to make sure this does not happen again. I trust that they will. We will see. I just wish I could protect him always. Ahhhh (sigh).