DJ & Jack's 1st Soccer Game

Since the boys’ games got rained out last Saturday, due to Hurricane Lee, our first soccer games were today. The boys played great. Jack’s team & DJ’s teams both won even though we are not allowed to officially keep score. Secretly, we all keep score, especially the players! This was my first year of coaching & I have the privilege of working with both 1st and 2nd graders. I have to say DJ has really come along way with his soccer abilities since he first started about 3 years ago. My kid was a superstar today. He scored 7 goals & did he ever work the field! We still have our work cut out for us.
We have been blessed with a beautiful weather this week, however, we have much warmer weather coming our way next week. Our pool temperature is 82. That is still a little cool for our newly aquired thin Alabama blood, but with our pool solar cover coming & the higher temperatures coming, we will hopefully push it up around 88! No worries, we are still making good use of our new waterhole. Landscaping kicks off this week & then I can put together the pool pictures from start to finish.

School has Begun

I can’t believe the boys almost have their first week of school completed. Jack started Kindergarten with Mrs. Deese and was lucky enough to know one of his classmates. He and Emily went from preschool to kindergarten together. He is doing great with the transition. I am so proud of him.
DJ started 2nd grade and he got Ms. Moberg. He didn’t seem really excited at first, but once she started giving them math quizzes, he was very excited. He came home asking me to time him while he worked on 100 addition problems. He completed 72 in 5 minutes.
Most importantly, my life got a whole lot easier. Both boys go to Hutchens Elementary and it is less than a mile from our house. It has certainly quieted down since this summer. I have gone from pulling two boys off of one another to monitoring the school cafeteria during lunch and starting my classroom mom duties. I will also be coaching DJ’s soccer team. Our first practice is tomorrow. I am very excited for this school year!!

Family Movie Night

We decided to have our first movie night… Pizza, popcorn, the big screen. We even had our movie picked out earlier in the week. A friend recommended Secretariat. The pizza happened, but since it didn’t come out until later than expected, we ended up just watching it downstairs. The movie was a hit for both kids & adults. My soon-to-be 7 year old now knows that you need to win the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Beltmont in order to win the Triple Crown. He also learned that the last time it was done was before Uncle Mike was born- June 1973. His comment was- “that sure was a long time ago!”
After the pool today, they wanted to watch it again. They spent the next hour taking turns being Secretariat & racing around the house winning. It was fun until Maggie joined in & started chasing too!

Jack's 5th Birthday Party

Jack has had quite the busy week. He had his end of the school year party, as well as, his last day on Thursday, he graduated on Friday, and his birthday, as well as, the celebration on Saturday. Needless to say, we all rested at the Richmond pool today after church! Jack’s party was at the Partridge Plantation in Irvington, AL. There were pony rides & a hayride for the adults & children. They got to play on an old tractor, see a lot of different animals & climb on a jungle gym area. The kids had a great time. The pictures that daddy took will tell the story much better!

The Birthday Boy 

Jack & Talus on the Horse Swing

Aren't they Cute? 

My 1st attempt at a Cupcake Cake

Super Fun Day!

The Graduate

Our baby, Jack, has finally entered a new phase in his life. He is now moving onto Kindergarten & joining his big brother at Hutchens Elementary. He just finished up at Cottage Hill Presbyterian Preschool. It was a place where he met lots of new Alabama friends and he will even be going to Kindergarten with one of them- Emily. As per Jack’s request, we had dinner at Bonefish Grill & then went right to graduation- Friday, May 2oth. It was a great ceremony of singing & reading & then of course the scrolls were passed out. Many of the girls got bouquets of flowers, but Jack got a cookie bouquet… which he & DJ were quite delighted with as they munched on it during our journey home.

  

Maggie

So much to update once again….I haven’t been keeping up & we have a new dog, a new grad & a birthday. We will start with our pup. She is lucky Jack & mommy saw her. We were driving along Jeff Hamilton Extension in Mobile, AL & we saw her playing chicken with a few cars. Our plan was to get her off the street, but unfortunately, a large black dog had other plans for her. We saw Maggie get attacked before our eyes. It was heartbreaking, but don’t worry this story has a happy ending. Maggie was treated by a local vet & she is making a full recovery, Her back & hind leg look nasty, but she is healing. Emma and her are best buds & play continuously. I wanted to find her a good home, however, I was informed she had one! We are now a 3 dog & 1 cat household.

Baseball

We have spent a lot of time this spring at the fields at Christ United Methodist Church watching and playing t-ball. Jack and DJ have practice on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, and both have their games on Saturday. When we are lucky their games are scheduled close to each others. This weekend, however, isn’t one of the lucky ones. DJ’s game is first thing in the morning & Jack’s game is late in the afternoon.

Favorite part of his Baseball Game

Hangin' with the Bay Bear

We also made time to go to a local game. We watched the Mobile Bay Bears play last weekend. They were undefeated until we watched them play. The boys had a great time. They wore their t-ball shirts & walked on the field with their teammates. They also got the chance to chase the Bay Bear across the field.

Happy Easter

Family Easter Picture 2011

The boys are finishing up their last day of spring break. Yippee, back to school tomorrow. We did, however, have a wonderful week. We spent time with wonderful friends and had great pool & beach days.
We found a great water slide on Dauphin Island beach. The boys had been there a couple times, but this time we invited the Mills boys (Kaden, Talus & Bryson) & their mom, Jennifer. We had a wonderful time. We got to the beach by 11:00 AM & stayed until 3:30 PM & the only breaks they took were to have lunch, play a little wiffle ball & a few bathroom breaks. The rest of the time was continuously going down the slide. They were effectively worn out!
This week, DJ also had the joy of going to his first orthodontist appointment. He and Jack loved it. The office was set up with video games & kid movies. DJ got to see lots of pictures of his teeth. I was worried that Dr. Oliver was going to want to start him soon, but as it turns out it was just a consultation & we won’t be going back until next year.
It was hard to go another holiday without seeing our family, but we are thankful to have great friends, many within our neighborhood. The boys were invited to do an egg hunt at Miss Darlene’s church on Saturday & they had a blast. There was a huge bouncey slide & tables set-up around the room with different activities (ie. tatoos, cupcake & egg decorating). The boys did hunt for eggs & DJ did find a golden egg & came home with about 40 eggs.
The boys made out well this year. The Easter bunny was very good to them. Jack finally got his own scooter, so he no longer needs to bug DJ for his. He and DJ both got watches since they seem fascinated with time. Jack can tell you what time it is as long as the big hand is on the 12 & DJ will tell you what time it is to the minute. Thank God DJ took the watch off for a little while today.
They also got soccer goals & a new soccer & basketball. The only thing they didn’t get a lot of was candy! I will probably soon confiscate the little they did get. Going to the dentist with DJ to get his fillings proved to be very expensive.

Blue Angels

We have been very fortunate to be having some gorgeous weather. It has been in the low to mid 80′s & sunny with little to no humidity, something I am told not to get used to. Sunday was no exception for our trip to Keesler’s Airforce Base in Biloxi, MS. We got there around 11:30 AM. There was so much to see- planes, jets, helicopters and race cars. Jack & I toured a hurricane plane. It is one of 12 in the nation. I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

DJ's Toothless Grin

Another one is missing. I mean really missing. Daddy brushed DJ’s teeth so hard that he knocked one out & it went down the drain. The boys and I gave him a hard time since I always have to remind him not to brush so hard. We neglected to tell him that this tooth was loose & had been bothering DJ for a while. It was more fun to give him a hard time. And for anyone who knows Mark, you know that it is well deserved! Bedtime got a little postponed since DJ had to go down & write another missing tooth letter. It is the 2nd one. Note reads- “Sorry tooth fairy but I lost my tooth maybe next time I will catch it.” Tomorrow he will wake up to $3.10 in change. He will love it because he will have a lot of counting to do. I was trying hard to keep it in the $2 range, but who knew they compared notes at school on the amount of cash each one gets. I was informed that some kids even get $5. Picture to follow–

Just Jack

Jack as been waiting for pajama day at school for over a week now. Everyday he asks me if this is the day he gets to wear his pj’s.

So here’s my boy wearing his monkey jammies that his mimi got him & carrying his toy story sleeping bag and night light that his nanna got him. He is set. In fact, DJ’s a little upset his school doesn’t have a jammi day, but he agreed to pictures despite his disappointment.

DJ with his current Magic Tree House book in hand & backpack

Here is Jack after the day was over. He looks a little sick. He told me his belly was hurting. I think he had a little too much fun & ate a little too much popcorn & cookies. You may also be able to see Miss Mackenzie painted a J & a jack rabbit on his cheeks. I think my little party animal needs a nap!

Tornados

That would be the title of the front page of Thursday, May 10th’s newspaper. None of my neighbors prepared me for this, in fact, they told me it was hurricanes I needed to be prepared for. There were never any nearby tornadoes. Well lucky us, it happened on Theodore Dawes Road. It touched down & destroyed a gas station we had just visited last week before we hopped onto I-10 to go to Fairhope. It happened just 15 minutes from our house.
I have to say Wednesday morning brought a pretty awesome & scary storm. The sky was like that of nighttime, the lightning was so vivid & wicked looking, and the thunder seemed as if it were just right above our roof. I told the boys that we would take cover in the closet under the steps if necessary. So of course, every 5 minutes brought the question “should we go now, mommy?”
When the storm had finally passed, I got the question, “when’s the tornado coming?” Like it was some welcomed visitor. They seemed a little disappointed when I told them, I think the storm has passed and we don’t need to worry about anymore tornadoes. That is when I decided to tell them that it did visit this area and I took them to the actual sight it touched down. They were amazed, especially DJ, by the destruction it caused. I’m not sure if I did more harm than good. I guess I will have to wait & see if they run for the closet with the next bad storm.

Taken with Blackberry while stopped at the Corner of Theodore Dawes & Old Pascagoula Road

Pictures of our House in Mobile, AL

Since Uncle Mark was in Vegas & everyone else was asleep, I decided that now was a good time to take some pictures of the house. I learned that Jake wanted to see DJ & Jack’s house with their stuff in it. Here are some of those pictures for you buddy. I hope you & the rest of your family are doing well & surviving the northeast weather. Looking forward to you coming down to visit us! Love Aunt Natalie