Cousins!

Two of our nephews Kaden and Jacob had their birthday party at the end of January and all the family was there. My BIL's parents have this amazing yard and I really didn't take enough pics but I think everyone had fun, especially the birthday boys. It's so great that our boys have so many cousins close in age who live nearby. We get to see each other at their games, birthday parties, family dinners and all the time at random other stuff.

omg he looks like such a chubby bunny here :)

the only girl in the group - Madison :)

More soccer pics

Connor is almost done with his first soccer season and while it started out amazing with 11 goals in his first 3 games, we had a rough patch there for a bit. He got taken down by the neck by this weirdo kid and got really skittish. Totally stopped going after the ball and just ran along with the pack kinda. Well, finally this week he snapped out of it and scored three more goals! Yippee Connor :)

Here are a few pics from recent weeks. I swear the registration fee is worth it just in cute uniforms and priceless pics alone!!

Kaci and Connor - future soccer stars :)

I swear I feel like that Office Space song, Damn it feels good to be a gangsta should be playing to this picture. Kaci, Connor and Gus

So, after getting hurt a few time with some rough takedowns we started trying to talk to him about brushing it off and getting back into the game if he's really ok. We're not mean, I swear...but there's a difference between really getting hurt and just getting a little spooked. We told him that whenever he falls down if he's not hurt he can stand up, brush himself off and flex his muscles. Seriously, the next play we say him go down hard at the end of the field - even though his back was to us we could see him get up and flex his muscles. It was amazing. Sometimes kids really do listen.

love running through the parent tunnel at the end of the game. I swear those kids run though 8 times

Crockpot Friday

whoa blogger, it's been a while since i've posted a crockpot recipe on here. i'm home today with bear...another post for this part...so I figured I'd have the luxury of being able to start it mid-day instead of 6:30 in the morning. What, you aren't ready to eat dinner at 3pm? oh. my bad.

We buy basics like cream of whatever soup, frozen veggies, stuffing, etc when they are on sale. Jeff came home from the store this week with something loco like 8 boxes of stuffing. I saw a recipe long ago with stuffing and pork chops in the crock pot so I went in search of that. Couldn't find it so I am doing what I normally do and screwing around thinking I'm betty flippin crocker. I make no guarantees that this will turn out well, but I'm sure it will at the very least be edible. Pretty sure.

I didn't have pork chops. Didn't have any more chicken breasts. I dug around in our deep freeze and found only steaks, roasts and ribs. Then I remembered that we bought a bag of frozen chicken strips at costco this weekend and grabbed those. Here's what came of it:

Chicken strips - mine were frozen
1 can cream of something soup - mine was chicken
1 cup milk
a few slices of cheese - swiss here yo
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 box stuffing
1 cup chicken broth - I didn't have this so I used plain water and seasoned the chicken a bit more
s&p to taste

Cover the bottom of crockpot with chicken strips. Pour broth/water over chicken and then cover with the cheese slices. Mix up the milk and soup and pour over cheese. Dump the stuffing in there now and pour melted butter over stuffing. This is a crapshoot so use more or less depending on how it looks to you. Cook for 5 hours.

i love cheese

This turned out really yummy. I think that next time I'll add more water/broth so it's not so glue-like and gloppy. Tasted great, just looked gloppy.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

I seriously need to stop calling this post Nearly Wordless Wednesday. That's ok, I'm just thrilled to have a place to post our pics - lord knows baby books are practically archaic at this point.

We've had a busy past week or so. Each year, my sorority selects two cities to host an event called Chi Omega Today. They select highly performing alumnae chapters and this year Phoenix was selected. This is me being a super thrilled, super proud President!! My friend who works as the Director of Alumnae Development at our HQ in Memphis was keeping me informed as to the number of RSVPs as the event got closer. I was amazing, and proud once again. She told me that the average presentation had about 30-35 women attend...at last count we had over 90 RSVP. staggering, right? Well, the National President attended our presentation which was amazing. If I can put this into perspective, each collegiate chapter has a President - the college Sister who runs the chapter. Each state/alumnae chapter also has a President who runs the alum chapter (that's me). The entire sorority is run by 5 Governing Council members and the President is part of that council...and she came here!! I don't tell a lot of people this, but I'd love that job down the road, love it. I use the word 'job' loosely because for as much work as the role includes, it's voluntary just like my position is. Anyway, the event was a huge success. It was held at the JW Marriott at Desert Ridge, which is also the site of the 2012 Chi Omega Convention. Convention is coming here which means that more than 1200 Chi Omegas and their families will be traveling to Phoenix in July 2012...can't wait. I'm hoping to be re-elected President so I can serve in this capacity during Convention. So much fun.

That was a long story for only having one photo of the Chi Omega Today presentation. This is just a small group of us with Letitia Fulkerson, the National President.

Sara Koda, Marni Money, Letitia Fulkerson, Me, Alona Del Rosario, Shelley Lair, Rheana Techapinyawat, Wyndham Roth

Otherwise, we've just been busy with normal activities like soccer practices and games, watching our boys grow up far too fast and trying to enjoy family time a bit more. Here are a few funny pics of Noah taken this week.

Noah has been gagging each time we give him those little puffs so we gave up for a week or two. I tried it again last night and he full on ate them. I mean, it was a total mess and they were stuck all over him but he didn't gag or choke one time. As you can see by the pics, he loved them. I love the one of him licking the table. lol.

so inquisitive...he managed to crawl into the bottom of his jumper. the good news is he was able to get himself out too

Soccer Game Numero Dos

five goals!!

Last week Connor scored three goals, all in the wrong goal. This week we pointed out "our goal" as soon as we arrived to the field and Connor seemed really excited to kick the ball into "our goal" this time. The prep time must have worked because he scored FIVE goals this week. I really don't know the name of the other team so we'll say they were the navy blue team.

I'm stoked that he'd doing so flippin amazing but can't help wondering...are we all honestly going to be disappointed when he stops scoring all the goals? Will someone else's kid have a turn at kicking the ball in? I know these are selfish, petty things to think about but what can I say here?? Anyway, for now we're just going to relish in the fun of it all and imagine him playing soccer professionally some day...I guess that still really needs to catch on here though right?

sharing a high-five with Gus after one of his goals

the kid in the orange shinguards was huge. and really good. and Connor scored on him. twice. my kid weighs 30lbs.

Connor and Kaci

the traditional parent tunnel at the end of the game

Tonight we had soccer pictures. Two of our 7 players didn't show up for photos so our team picture is itty bitty. Can't wait to see them. Connor was the only one who brought his soccer ball so he had a mini breakdown each time one of the other kids took their picture holding his ball. Don't get me wrong, he insisted that they use it but still...he's three.

I swear, with all the pictures of these kids I really need to find a way for them to earn their stay... :) People ask us all the time about getting them into modeling of some sort but I just don't know who is legit and who is a total scammer. If anyone reading this knows of a local childrens talent company I'd love some info. :) We joke about it all the time but maybe there's something to it. Who knows, if nothing else then it may just be something fun to do. You know, because we have so much free time in our family!

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

I've been horrible at Nearly Wordless Wednesday postings so why not start up a post at 11pm. Sounds like a totally reasonable idea - oh, and I'm aware it's not Wednesday but if I waited until Wednesday it just may not happen :) I haven't pulled cell phone pics in a while so there are a few great ones here that I really wanted to get up.

This is after the trophy ceremony for tball.

Noah loves watching Connor - this was at soccer practice

we're introducing the sippy cup and Noah doesn't seem to be buying what we're selling. He's all about chewing on it...but he sees there's stuff in there and when it doesn't immediately go pouring into his mouth he loses interest and usually throws the cup. amazing.

we've just recently started having meals at the actual dinner table. is this horrible that it's a 'recently' thing? we never, ever eat at our table. i can feel the judgement happening as you read this. whatever, we're trying to be better.

this is what I saw as I tried to organize our spice cabinet. He started climbing the step stool. boys.

I promise Connor is laughing in this photo. He was laughing so hard that I'm surprised there wasn't a cleanup needed. Noah grabbed his hair in one hand and proceeded to beat him with the other hand.

look at those leg rolls will you? he's totally squeezable. and lazy. he can totally hold his bottle and will do it when he feels like it but sometimes he will just lay himself down and be a bum about it.

Connor loves soccer

Tball, football, golf, bowling, etc...name the sport and Connor loves it. Really loves it. After finishing up tball a few weeks ago we started soccer. Connor hasn't ever really played it but he's really into anything sports so we went with it. The fact that it's a bit more active than baseball was likely helpful as well since there wouldn't be as much down time which causes "I'm hungry", "I want to go home" and "I have to go potty" to occur out of sheer boredom.

So, Kaci and Connor are now playing soccer. We only had one practice and then it was game day so we had no idea what to expect. tears? tantrum? who knows. Like most of his games, the family was out in full force. Both of my parents were there, Jeff's mom, Stephanie, Sarah, Chuck, Jalen and even Will was in town and stopped by. It was great. We're always a presence I suppose.

Right off the bat, Connor scored a goal...in the other team's goal but still. A GOAL. I hate that there aren't lots of goals in soccer and he got one. Thrilled. Espcially thrilled since the goal was in the wrong net - hilarity. I always love that stuff and he came through for us. Not just once...but THREE times that game. He scored three goals, all in the wrong goal. We didn't care, it was amazing. He loved it. Here's a video I got of his first goal. You can hear us telling him to turn around and to head the other way but we gave that up after goal #2 and just went with it.

how many goals did you get Connor? Three. FYI, this is three in sign language.

purple jerseys. love.

when you are three there are a couple "norms"...there is no 'out of bounds' and always run in a pack.

Bear loved it too

Go Thunder! Final: Thunder: 3, Other Team: 1

Crap Morning

At first I was liking this morning, even tweeted/fb about it because I put my new contacts in and there is just something about having fresh, new, not globbed up with eye history contacts.

I got in an accident about a block from my office today. I was driving along, enjoying my ten minutes to myself each day, and saw a grocery bag with stuff in it up ahead in my lane. I had plenty of time to change lanes so I turned around to look back in the other lane. My truck, like most larger SUVs has horrible blind spots so I can't really rely on my mirrors. I saw a little pickup a ways back so I started to get over. There must have been an Accord in my blindspot coming up fast that I totally missed because all of a sudden I heard this scratching noise.

Seriously, it didn't even sound like a crash like it should, which I suppose is good news. I turned into a side street and sat there for a moment screaming at myself in my car. I called Jeff told him I was ok but had just been in an accident and where I was. After fumbling around for my insurance info I got out and saw the other driver. She looked like she was near vomit. Seriously.

I asked if she was ok and she said yes but that she suffers from severe panic 'episodes'. episodes. jesus. She was such a wreck that she couldn't even write out her info and had me do it for her. I felt bad while still being annoyed at the whole damn thing. It was really dark out still but from what I could tell her drivers door had scratches - not pretty but hopefully no real body work. My truch had a good sized dent in the fender - likely where her side view mirror was. Otherwise there were just scratches that should be simple enough, hopefully. When I opened my passenger door there was a little click noise so I guess I'm more concerned with what you can't see if that makes sense.

If anyone knows of an auto body place that would love to trade labor for Dbacks tickets let me know :) Only kind of kidding, mostly not. Ugh. I'm so pissed at this whole thing. Luckily our deductible is manageable and the car is still totally driveable.

I know everyone says the important thing is that no one is hurt. I 500% know that's the truth, but just allow me to stew in the financial ouch of it all.

We exchanged info and went on our way once I was sure she wasn't going to pass out. She worked closeby so I was pretty sure she would make it to her office. It was pretty quick dealing with the entire mess and I arrived to my office only 10 minutes late.

Happy Hump Day, sigh.

Too lame for facebook

Today I'm wearing my glasses because I really need to change out my contacts but I was just too tired to get the new contact out of the itty bitty vial this morning so I didn't. How do people wear glasses all the time? I swear I clean mine hourly and they are still smudgy and annoying.

7 months old

Mobility is the theme of this age for Noah Bear. He's crawling - to clarify, he's been crawling since mid-December so he's a crawler. He loves sitting up and looking around or grabbing at whatever is close enough for him to grab. If it's not close enough he'll crawl over, grab it and then sit there for a while just chewing on it. When he gets really excited about something he pounds his hand into the ground or slaps his leg over and over while smiling his big, gummy smile. I loves him.

Speaking of his smile, he's still rockin the two bottom teeth. they are bigger now so you can usually see them when he smiles or "talks".

We were at a doctor's appointment last week and I was jokingly trying to get him to say Mama. Dada was first for Connor so it's a constant joke for us that Noah will pick me. I kept saying Mama and Jeff kept saying Dada. After a few rounds Connor pushed past us, looked right at Noah and said "Connor!". It was hilarious and I wouldn't be surprised at all if Bear does choose his brother's name first. They really love each other and I'm so thrilled that they have each other.

His favorite toys still seem to be whatever Connor is playing with or whatever he wants to chew on at the time. Oh man I realized this morning that we've bought them matching shirts. I don't intend for them to wear them at the same time but if I were that person, they'd have a week of matchy matchy craziness. I blame Old Navy.

He's still eating a ton. Yesterday at dinner he had three large scoops of oatmeal mixed with a Stage 3 size amount of sweet potatoes - 6oz of sweet potatoes! That's a lot if you're not down with the baby food stats. We've been giving him a sippy and he just doesn't seem to have any interest in it beyond chewing on it. Maybe I'll put his milk in there and see if that changes his mind!

Here are a few of the 7 month highlights...

Noah is at an age now where he and Connor can play. This is both good and bad news for Connor. If we need Noah pacified somewhere we will tell Connor to go play with him or entertain him. Noah thinks everything Connor does is hilarious and deserves one of his famous belly laughs.

standing!! already!! On Christmas morning, Noah put his hands on one of those popcorn tins, pulled himself up and stood there until we sat him down. He loves standing. I remember this time with Connor and once they stand they don't want to do anything else. Noah is exactly the same. We really have to keep an eye as he somehow targets things like the laundry basket, or an empty box or other items that won't stay put when he pushes on them. Connor had stitches right about this point due to being an early mover so we'd love to avoid that with Bear if at all possible!!

7 months also gets Noah taking baths like a big boy - sitting totally by himself without his little chair bath tub thing. He loves it. We need one of those huge tubs for them, but let's get real. A few people have commented about me posting pics of them in the bathtub. Is this creepy and I'm totally unaware of it? I don't want to be that weirdo who posts uncomfortable pics of her kids...they are just babies, come on! :)

how cute is this little hoodie? so cute, I know.

being silly - Noah at 7 months, Connor at 43 months. bahahah. 3 1/2