Micro Soccer

Otherwise known as 3 and 4 year olds playing soccer. I use the term "playing" loosely.

I guess it's official. I now have a mini van and a child playing soccer. I'm a soccer Mom. I even have those little people stickers on the back of the van. (To my defense, it came that way.) Really, it did! Seeeeeeee

(It saved me some money because I wanted some anyway!! I guess I need to add a dog)

Anyway, back to soccer. G's very first game. I think there were about 3 little boys on our team that sort of knew what to do. (G was not among them) It was so fun to watch. G is number 5 (quite by accident he got his Dad's old number)


2 little girls, which shall remain nameless, walked around ON the field holding hands while "playing" the game. They were adorable.


At 6pm the sun was killer. Especially to a blond haired blue eyed fellow. But more especially for one that has had eye surgery. Even the sunglasses were not cutting it.


A friend loaned him his visor and it helped a lot. To do: purchase visor before next game. Here he's playing goalie!!!


Dad giving some pointers.


Kicking that ball.


He even got it off the ground!


Ahhhh look at that form! That's my boy.


Don't ya love his little purple soccer playing dress?? His Indian name could be, "Boy who wears way too much gear."


A big smile walking off the field after playing goalie. NOTHING GOT PAST HIM!!!!!!

Probably due to the fact that nothing was aimed well enough to actually go into the net area.

It was a WONDERFUL loss. 0 to 3 We had a ball!

Spring has Sprung!!!

(Saturday April, 25th)

You know Spring is here when you can do this:

Take your poor innocent four-year old and try to teach him to play soccer. Here we are on the way to his first practice.




This little man is a bit sad that he only gets to watch and kick his own soccer ball.

It was So hot that we pulled out the old pool, dusted it off and filled it up. The boys were thrilled. I enjoyed the break of just sitting and laughing at them. Oh, did I laugh. What antics! At one point Gabe just swung his arms and danced around the carport. They pored water on each other, ran little wet foot prints all over the place, jumped, splashed... and had a ball. It crossed my mind to put a little soap in there and kill 2 birds with one stone.... but I refrained.


You know it's truly hot when you want to do this:



Pouring. (Gabe is using his hat) The boy is going to be a rocket Scientist. He can figure out a way to do anything he wants to do. Or perhaps he'll be a garbage man... he loves going to the dump with Daddy.


Posing for Mom. (part of the punishment when you land on the step for a time-out) ... he he he


Would you imagine that Gabe got in trouble too and had to sit on the step for a bit? :)



I'll leave you with this shot. This is what it's all about just "unlaxing" in the sun. (well, shade if you have pasty white skin like my young'ins) I've found the best sunblock is to block it completely with the carport. Not that my over protective genes didn't kick in and require me to slather them with spf anyway...


Post on the first Soccer game coming soon!!! Now that I've got most of the major ordering finished for the Basement reno I want to get back to more regular posting! Thanks for bearing with me.

A pretty day at the park and some balloons

Whew! I just can't keep up with this blog lately. I think it's because all my computer time is spent on the net searching for furnishings for the Church Basement. By the time I finish that I'm ready to look at something besides this screen!!

I have been taking pictures though. You know I can't resist that! So, I have some inspiration for some posts!

On that last trip to Ikea we got the boys another rug for their play room. Here is what Gideon promptly did with it.

Sky view of Charlotte? (enlarge for a closer look) Is he obsessive compulsive???


Then there's this little guy... he likes to line things up too. They must have gotten their Father's organizing genes.


We went to the park ... I think it was Friday. I got sunburned lips. Don't ask. Fine, I'll tell ya since you really want to know why I wasn't wearing something on my lips with sunscreen. Well, the last thing I wore that was not pure petroleum jelly was Blistex. ... and it landed me at the Dr. with Fat Albert's lips. Apparently I'm allergic. Yes, how many of you wives wore a lovely shade of perfectly clear petroleum jelly for your WEDDING!!! If you don't know already, sunburned lips feel like chapped lips for 3 straight days. So, I am now, bravely, exploring my lip protection options. I'm trying Burt's Bees at this moment. If it doesn't work out you'll not be seeing Fat Albert's lips at church that's for sure!!!!

So, where were we... Oh, yeah, the park. On the way there Gideon calmly told us that he was going to do the twisty thing today. And he did!!! Lots of times! We'll not count the one where he let go with his hands and I rescued him as he held on upside down with just his legs. Looked like a pulled back to me. Didn't bother him a bit. Oh, to have a lithe 4 year old body. I'd have been sore for a week.


World's most static slide.


Gideon: Contortionist. Look carefully at the feet!!!!!


They are GABE's feet!!! Gabe was climbing up and Gideon undercut him and knocked him over. ... thus the Grin.... mission accomplished.

Saturday we did "Operation InAsMuch" ~ the NC State-wide evangelistic effort by the Southern Baptist Churches. We headed to the church in the morning and got the prayer walk started and then prayer walked back home. Then we took "Friend Day" fliers to Ansonville. The boys loved walking the streets and knocking on doors and inviting folks to Friend Day.

Then we headed for the evangelistic baby shower for young and unwed mothers in the county. We helped load up and clean up there. That is where the host of balloons came from. Somehow our boys wrangled a whole bunch of helium balloons from that stop.

(Parent's secretly cringe at Balloons) ... you know... kids get attatched... balloon flies away... kid cries/screams for an hour.......

Rodney had a great idea.... we tied a friend day invite to them and let them go!


The boys thought it was great!


Heeeeee heee so did we!!! *insert semi-evil laugh here... bye bye evil balloons...


Come to think of it... is this legal?

Oh, well.... It made us all very happy and perhaps someone on the north east side of town will find their invite and come!!!

So you are now up to speed on our weekend! Hope yours was full of sun and fun and serving the Lord too!

Fun at Ikea

Ever since that night out with the girls I have wanted to go back to Ikea. So, we took a little family trip on Tuesday. (I was actually seeing if there were things we could use in the basement reno at church.)

We had a great time and (as usual) I snapped a ton of pics. .. mostly of needed items for the reno, but these 2 blonde boys got in a few.


Isn't this a cool see saw?? Not that they could really work it because Gabe didn't really want to get on.



You can do this with it too.


How about this chair?


Hmmmmmmm... you can close them in there....


This was a small part of the children's stuff they had.


Would you believe they encourage you to try stuff out?? Like sit on the couches and lay on the mattresses??? Even play with the toys. There are even little play spots throughout for the kids... if you don't put them in the 1 hour free childcare....

That place is really fun and exhausting. We did the top floor and stopped at the restaurant for a snack. Then we breezed through the bottom floor quickly. We were all spent by then.... our money was only a little spent. I tried to behave.

I did get a new piano lamp though. Only $12.99 and I've been trying it out and I LOVE it! I think I'll go use it now! G'nite.

Easter Fun

We had a lovely Easter. It began bright and early with the Sunrise Service. I didn't attempt to make that with the boys in tow. They would have been miserable for the entire day. Anyway, we made it for the end of the breakfast. The Deacons cook and they did a Great job.

We had an early Sunday School and Worship service and the choir sang 4 selections. It was just a moving day. Praise the Lord! He is Risen!!!!

This pic is from the egg hunt on Saturday. They were decorating cup cakes with all their little buddies.

Hunting eggs here.

This is one of 12 hilarious Group pictures I took. What a fiasco! It was so funny. Parents cooing, children wailing, cameras clicking. It was just not possible for them all to be happy at the same time.

We did not do baskets at home before church. That was not a possibility. We were up way too early and Daddy was already at Church a Preachin' at the Sunrise service. Besides, what's the fun of getting your goodies only to have to leave them and go to church.

So, we decided to have the Easter Bunny's surprises after Church. We came home and got comfy and Rodney snuck out and hid their baskets and coloring books. We decided to hide them outside because Gideon was expecting to have to hunt for his basket!! So, we just went with it!! They loved hunting their for their stuff.

Gabe had just found his right here.

We had a wonderful Easter Celebration and are So thankful that we serve a Risen Savior!!!!

The boys singing

Gideon loves to sing. Here's his latest rendition of "Jesus Loves Me." Gabe sings some at the end. Listen for the end of Gabe's version. You'll hear, "The Bible hellme ho."




Gabe loves to sing the "ABC song." Here he is answering the toy when it asks him if he knows his abc's. You'll need to turn up the volume a bit for this one.

Happy Birthday to My Sweet Husband

My wonderful husband turned 33 Yesterday. It is just a little bitter sweet this year. I can't stop thinking about the rare cancer that took Rodney's Dad away so young. As a matter of fact Robert Earl did not make it to his 33rd birthday. He died when he was 32. Actually, he had just turned 32 July1st and died August 2nd after over 3 years of battling the cancer.

Rodney was only 5 years old and yet he remembers the day his Daddy died so vividly.

I can't help but wonder what his life would have been like had his father lived. Would Rodney have felt the call to preach so young? Would he have grown into the man he is today if his life had not held such heartache?


This is a cherished picture. The last professional one made while Robert Earl was still living. It was an orangy sort of dingy looking color so I scanned it in and black and whited it and put it in a new frame for a surprise for Rodney.


Lest this all be sad I want to show you some pics from our celebration. My Sweet man wanted to take the whole family to ride a train for his birthday.


This is Sunday Morning when he got home from Brotherhood. The boys helped him open presents.

I cooked him some favorite foods. Parmesan Chicken, Garlic new Potatoes, and old fashioned green beans.

Here he is with the requested cherry cheese cake.




What can I say. He is a precious gift from God.

Put that 2 year old to Work!!!

Gabe just loves to fold washcloths for me. See for yourself!

This was Yesterday.

What a Day!

Today began in grand style. While getting some Apple juice for the boys, before school, I bumped the new little water container in the frig. Before I knew what was happening something flew through the air and exploded on the floor. Thankfully it was just a half gallon of purified water....in a pretty little container that was a whole week old. :(

Next, Rodney was getting something from the pantry and bumped the cookie container. *CRASH* I came running from the other room. Cookies everywhere. Bye bye cookie container that we've absolutely loved for many years.

Did I mention that last week we found out that my new Awesome Electrolux cordless sweeper was recalled??? Oh, yes, it EXPLODES!!!! Check out which models here. A Lady was badly burned and is suing them! Watch a clip on it here.

We have requested a return label to mail it to them and are waiting for that. I guess they will replace the battery and mail it back. What a mess!! I'm glad for the folks who noticed the recall and mentioned it to us. It's really dangerous.

So my cookie explosion was cleaned up with the old "shark" cordless that I've had a while and is on it's last leg. But I'm still counting my blessings that I do not have a burned hand from an exploding vacuum!

Please check and make sure yours is not in the recall!