Music and Lyrics

Okay, this is a sort of unusual post for me, because it has absolutely NOTHING to do with my kids. But I have been listening to a new song for a few weeks and I really enjoy it. It is one of those songs that you just want to listen to over and over and over.... It is called "Eight Feet Tall" and is song by Gabriel Mann. I discovered the song because I heard it in the background of my favorite soap "Guiding Light", so I went online to figure out what the name of the song was and to hear the whole song. Here is the link to Gabriel Mann's website where you can listen to the song and also check out the lyrics. www.myspace.com/gabrielmann
I think the reason I like this song is that I have felt the need to live up to others' expectations and rules and I can relate to the feeling of needing to be "Eight Feet Tall". Haven't we all? It is just really one of those songs that I related to.
Hope you also enjoy it.

Nebraska trip

Well, I made it back to Nebraska again this summer and greatly enjoyed visiting with my friends Melanie and Becca. It was nice to be able to talk to them and to catch up on life. I also enjoyed spending time with my family. We took the boys to my uncle's farm while we were back and the boys had tons of fun there as well as learning a few things. Neither of my city boys realized that potatoes grew under ground and they were delighted to help my uncle dig some up. They were also surprised that carrots also grew underground and helped pull up a few of those. Liam was enthralled with corn fields. As we were driving to my uncle's house Liam kept telling grandpa "look there's a corn field" as you can imagine he repeated this few times!!! At my uncle's farm he got to go into the corn field with Aunt Judy and they walked to a pivot in the field. The boys also got to get eggs from the hens and Peter helped cousin Jackie feed the cows and cats (sorry about the mess Jackie!!!) Both boys said they want to come back to the farm again.

Now I am in full football mode. I am on the board of directors for Pop Warner and I am responsible for getting 17 team books organized and making sure that all 350 players have all required paperwork turned in before the start of practice August 1rst. Then once practice starts I will be going like mad for the month of August now that both boys are involved with Pop Warner. So I probably won't be blogging much if at all for the next couple months. I'll try to post some pictures of the farm/Nebraska trip soon.

Broken bone and other stuff

Well, Peter another broken bone. It's his second one in two years. This time he did a pretty good job of it and is in a full arm cast. He's taking it pretty well, especially considering he cannot swim, play football, run, or roughouse with his brother. He fell off a slide when trying to climb up the slide part while his friend was sliding down. He put his arm out to catch himself and he cracked his elbow.

I took some pictures the night of the accident and then I took some more with his cast on. I think he is enjoying the attention he is getting from the cast.

a blog about nothing

I am blogging about nothing. I don't have any remarkable tales or amazing ideas to share. I'm just trying to keep in touch. Although I have been busy lately, life hasn't been extremely exciting. Peter finished his second camp of the summer and we are trying to figure out what to do for the 4th of July. I really enjoy the fourth. It is one of my favorite holidays, the food, the activities, the fireworks...what could be better???? It's a little different here in Poway. We cannot have our own fireworks, not even black cats, little black snakes, or smoke bombs...if we want to see fireworks we have to go to the local high school and hang out with thousands of other fireworks lovers. But we can still eat and there are lots of activities going on at the park down the street from where we live. They have an "Old Fashioned 4th of July celebration", complete with mock train robberies, gunfight demos, quilt show, and craft market. And then there is the food....burgers, dogs, snowcones, ice cream, etc...

Next week the boys will both have swimming lessons. Peter is a pretty good swimmer, but it is always good to have a refresher course. Liam is getting the hang of it. He has even started diving down to get rings off the bottom of the pool in the shallow end. But he will have to take a break from doing that for a couple of days because he has an ear infection. He can still swim, but the doctor said no diving. He wasn't too happy about that and was even more unhappy about the eardrops three times a day. He has to lay down for 10 minutes after getting them and he doesn't enjoy that in the least...he's much too busy.

I am including a couple of pictures from Peter's open house at school. His teacher is really creative and the masks on the wall are made from molding them on the kids' faces. The life size astronauts are sitting in a large "space shuttle" ready for their mission into space. The heads for the astronauts are paper mache that the kids did and then the heads are stapled onto a "body"made up of clothes stuffed with newspaper. Peter is the astronaut in the forefront of the picture.

Here's a cute pic I snapped of Liam "shaving" with daddy.

Pictures from Puerto Rico

Here are the promised pictures from our trip... Enjoy!!!! The first one is Liam with Gracie the dog. The second is Liam and Peter with the turtle that Peter accidentally caught when he was fishing. The third is Peter and Liam sleeping in the car...the looked so angelic!!! The fourth picture is Peter on the zipline at the kiddie pool. And the last picture is Liam sitting in the kiddie pool with his snorkel gear on.

Vacation

We just returned last night from a lovely trip to Puerto Rico. This is the third year in a row that we have gone there and I always enjoy the weather and the beautiful beaches. I will post pictures soon, but I am much too tired to do it right now.
On our second of two flights to Puerto Rico Liam wasn't feeling well and threw up. Luckily, he told me before he did it and I was able to get him a barf bag, so I didn't have puke all over me at least. He ended up throwing up about 6 times during the flight, so I had to keep borrowing bags from everyone sitting around me. Then when we got to Puerto Rico we had to drive about a half hour to Ben's parents house, and when we got there Liam got out of the car and puked in the grass. I felt so bad for the poor kid. By the next morning he was feeling mostly better though.

We were in Puerto Rico for a week and got to do a lot of swimming and relaxing. We also got to travel to the southern side of the island and go snorkeling in the Carribean. That was really an amazing experience. I had never been snorkeling before and I was very nervous about it. The guide was very helpful and did a great job of explaining how to put on the mask/snorkel and how to work the fins. Our first stop was in about 3 feet of water and we got to see lots of different fish. We even saw a barracuda...but it was moving so fast I couldn't get a picture. Then we went to another sight which was about 5 to 6 feet deep and got to see some beautiful blue fish and lots of other colored fish. There was a small coral reef that was also really neat to see. Ben found a Conch shell and we got to bring that home with us. We also got to tour a coffee plantation and the Bacardi factory as well as a fort in Old San Juan.

Overall it was a good trip, but it was nice to get home and sleep in my own bed. Now if I can just get my internal clock set back to California time I'll be in good shape.

May update

Okay, it's been awhile since I blogged. I really don't have any big news to report. Peter just finished his first season of rugby. He really enjoyed playing and is anxious for the next season to start. We signed up both Peter and Liam for football this year. Liam will be playing flag football and Peter will be in his second year of tackle football. Ben got selected as a head coach for Peter's division in football. Peter is excited about the idea of having his dad as his coach. Liam will have the same coach Peter had when he was in flag football.
Today I signed Liam up for kindergarten. It really is hard to believe that my "baby" is going to kindergarten.
Last month my sister and her hubby and kids drove from Nebraska to California with my parents to have an enjoyable spring break. I got to visit with them for a few days and it was nice playing tour guide. Ben and the boys went to Kansas at the same time to celebrate Ben's grandma's 90th birthday. So, although I missed them at least I wasn't all alone.
At the end of May we are going to Puerto Rico to visit Ben's parents for a week. We are all looking forward to a little RandR.
Other than that, not much is going on other than the usual running errands and school things.