Grandpa's Birthday at Bucca de Peppo

Grandpa Holloway's birthday is in September.  We met up with them at Becca de Peppo, which is family-style Italian dining.  The kids find it really interesting in there because there is a ton of fascinating artwork, and on the walk to the table, we get to walk through part of the kitchen.  We ended up ordering way too much food, leading into Grandpa's Birthday Dinner II, the following night at the Holloway's house.  Which is very rare for us to see Grandma and Grandpa Holloway two days in a row, despite the fact that they live within walking distance of us.  

 The Birthday Candelabra.  Clearly, Daniel is very impressed with something on his menu.

 I think he just noticed the birthday candles.

 Megan, trying to use the puppy dog eyes to order dessert.

 And there it is, yum!
.

 She's such a ham!

Joshua enjoying his dessert.

It was a very nice dinner and a good time was had by all.

More from Cheer Season 2012

He looks real sick, right?  Or maybe it's my amazing cure-all of freshly juiced oranges and goldfish crackers. Daniel managed to stay home from school sick one morning just a few weeks into the school year.  Truth be told, he gets sick FAST and bounces back even FASTER.  

 Not to be out-done by Pepper (the cat), Lily (the dog) wiggles her way into a comfy spot on the couch to hunker down with whoever is staying home sick.


And now back to cheerleading:

 Megan on the front row!

 Uh oh, "taking a knee", must be someone hurt on the field.

 The girls way over in the end zone, cheering on the boys as they get ready to kick for extra points.

 More from Homecoming.  We stressed with Megan that it's all for fun.  Even if she didn't get a player from her school.  One of the players is a good friend of Joshua's and she was hoping to get him, but didn't.

 There she is with her #72 poster.

 And her new sash.  Seconds before the tears fell because all the girls were taking pictures with their football players.  She got over it pretty quick and then we learned that the little boy had to drop out because he was in the hospital.  She was excited to think maybe he'll hang his new poster in his hospital room.

The Pro Team Might Not Have Made it to the Superbowl...But The Mitey Might Pop Warner Team Did!!

Really, I'm still catching up on pictures from LAST SUMMER! Okay, maybe more like last early fall.  I have  hundreds of pictures from cheer season, and so I've been slowly going through them to keep our favorites.  The newest revelations with this cheer thing:

1.  Megan needs to learn to tumble.  Most of the girls can do cart-wheels, and despite my stellar display of my own cart-wheeling skillz, she's still unable to swing her legs up over her head.  Suffice to say, she is now enrolled in gymnastics weekly and will begin that next week.  As will the boys, much to Joshua's chagrin, since I think they'll both like their own "boy" class.  Daniel is stoked about learning some new sweet ninja moves.  I told Joshua he needs to give me 2 months of gymnastics and if he doesn't like it, we can drop it.  Before anyone gets up in arms thinking I'm forcing the boy to train like an Olympian against his own will...he originally wanted to take the class, then decided he didn't, and then decided he did and so that's when I paid for it, and then he decided he didn't.  His options were to pay me back for the deposit, or to take the chance that he may just end up enjoying himself.  

2.  BOTH of the boys want to try-out for football for the 2013 fall season.  *Sigh*, while I worry about injuries, I have to think back over the last season and how super-safe the coaches are with these kids.  I know they'll be fine.  I just know that I'll be taking 3 classes during football season, and will plan to study in solitude out on the end of the practice field.  

 The boys and I sitting in the stands at LBHS enjoying a home game.

 Daddy and the boys...we were glad this game was an early one, because the clouds were moving in!!

 We like the home games best because of the comfortable bleachers.  We also know where all the good breakfast stops are between our house and the school for those off days when we forget to make coffee before heading out the door.

We went to an away game out at Colonial High School and since I work night shift, I can't ever seem to sleep when I'm supposed to be sleeping.  I needed coffee BAD and asked Keith to drive up the road to the little store at the end of the street and get some coffee.  Of course Keith's like, "I didn't see a store at the end of the street".  Me: "There's a store there, trust me.  There's a huge David Hasselhoff right outside the store.  Coffee, please!".   The game got real intense (for Pop Warner football) and I never did get my coffee.

And as we were leaving the game and drove down that street, past that store, to the stoplight.  I turn to my loving husband and ask him if he saw the store.  He said there was no store.  Then I showed him this...

 That's right....the Hoff.  On a light pole, outside of the tiny little store that sells coffee.  Hmmph.

 I feel asleep on the car ride home and was woken up by Keith singing "Call Me, Maybe".  Oh dear.

 Joshua and I at another home game.  Enjoying the sunshine and football snacks.

 Sweet Megan after a long, hot game.

In October, Pop Warner turned pink for Breast Cancer awareness.  The girls were given cute knee socks and pink hair bows.  The picture above is from an away game 40 minutes from our house.  

 The girls are huddling up to decide how to proceed with Homecoming.  For Pop Warner Homecoming, each girl (girl's mother, let's be honest) makes a poster for an assigned football player.  Then for Homecoming, the posters line the field and at the end of the game, the cheerleader presents her football player with his poster and the football player presents his cheerleader with a sash.

Unfortunately for Megan, her football player dropped out of the program before Homecoming, so while she had a lovely poster to give him, he was no longer playing and did not come to the game to receive his poster or give her a sash.  Fortunately, the coaches were already prepared for this and had her sash ready for her and so she didn't feel too left out.

But clearly, here, she was done.  She was hot and unhappy and just done.

1st Day of School 2012-2013

I always feel like the scene in Finding Nemo where the fish is yelling, "first day of school! first day of school!".  I am so glad that our kids really enjoy getting out of bed in the morning for school.  One of the things that's HUGELY different this year is that I'm now working the night shift at the hospital.  This usually puts me walking through the front door about 20 minutes or so before everyone needs to be loaded into the truck for the quick ride to school.  We haven't been brave enough to try the school bus just yet.  When I get home in the morning, I have just enough time to help Megan do something with her hair and peek in lunchboxes to verify the contents include actual food.  

 Shopping for school clothes with Megan in the JC Penny dressing room.

My classes were in full swing when the kids' school started back up again in August.  I get most of my school work done on my nights off of work.  I've had a few occasions where I'll be quietly studying, only to find one of the kids has gotten out of bed and is roaming the house.

 Megan with pinky over her arm (her favorite blankie) coming out to get another blanket from the linen closet on a chilly night.

 One afternoon, I was listening to a class on-line and turned around to find Daniel reading away and listening to a riveting lecture on active vs. passive immunity.

 Megan is in a crafty phase right now.  She makes the cutest things...and the biggest messes.

 The kids playing with the cars and track in Joshua and Daniel's room.

 Daniel is in the FIRST GRADE this year.  How did that happen?  His teacher is Ms. Parker and he adores her.  She is pretty fond of Daniel as well.  Here he is on supply drop off day checking out his new desk.  He's really enjoying school this year and it's so fun to watch him grow.  He loves to read and is a wiz at first grade math.  I'm so proud of him.

 Megan is in the THIRD GRADE in Mrs. Smith's class.  Megan was nearly moved to tears when she found out her BFF Sophia is not only in her class, but sits right beside her.  Yay!  Thank you, elementary school classroom planners.  Also in Megan's class is one of her cheerleading friends, Eliana.  Megan's been on the A/B Honor roll so far this year.  Her reading is improving and her math skills are amazing.  I'm a little nervous about the FCAT this year, and will be shopping for an FCAT study guide in the next few weeks to work on some home-prep.

 Joshua is in the FOURTH GRADE and his homeroom teacher is Ms. Akers.  Joshua is enjoying his class this year because all of his best friends are in his class.  Last year, when the 3rd grade FCAT scores came back, a group of kids scored exceptionally high on both the FCAT and the IQ scoring, and these children were grouped together in the same homeroom class for the 4th grade.  Which means, there are a lot of smart kids with strong personalities all in one classroom, so his teacher has to have an extra dose of patience!  Here he is talking to his friend Owen, who lives across from Grandma and Grandpa Holloway's house.  Joshua has also earned the A/B Honor Roll all year so far and is doing quite well in his studies.  He is playing the recorder this year and learning how to read music.

 Here's a shot of the crew before heading out for the first day of school.  They were bright-eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go!

 I'm not sure how I managed to upload this picture here...but yes, that is a frog on my kitchen table that Joshua rescued out of the pool filter.  ON MY KITCHEN TABLE...eek.  REALLY?  I guess it's just the life of being a mom to boys.

 The view of the back packs.  We love our Land's End backpacks.  Now that we are halfway through the school year, they still look brand new.

Daniel doing his homework on my computer.  Isn't he adorable?