Grace, the Poet

OK....so, I'm a bad blogger...I probably shouldn't even call myself a blogger...I could tell you how awesome this day was b/c we sold our house...but since I never blog you'd probably not even know we were trying to sell our house! haha...well, that's for another day...I had to share with you the poem that my brilliant 5 year old daughter made up today (after her soccer game and awards ceremony where she received her first ever trophy)

"Where shiny trophies have been given
And soccer balls have been kicked
And people have been kicking them
It’s a magical kind of sport.
It’s soccer." by Grace West
Grace (on the left)with her soccer friend...
I'll write more soon-promise:)

...it's the next morning now...I had to add this...when I woke up this morning I found Grace (who is NEVER out of bed before us) in the bathroom, with a sink of soapy water and a washcloth, lovingly shining up her trophy! Haha...and she has carried it around with her all morning...the thing is so big (considering it's a U-6 team!). I told her that I thought it would be a lot smaller and she said, "No, those are T-BALL trophies...this is SOCCER!" :)

Matching Boys

Here is a cute shot of the boys before school today...yes, they wore jeans and thermal shirts even though it was 87 degrees...it was picture day at preschool:) Don't think I'm too mean, though...preschool is air conditioned and they had Hanes T's on underneath so they could take their thermal shirts off after pictures...

First Family Picture Adventures

Oh...I won't even go there...you know-to the place where you are explaining how frustarating taking a family picture can be...how every time the shutter clicks there just HAS to be SOMEONE who is looking around or has their eyes closed! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! That's all I will say about it...I said I wouldn't go there...We will try again in another month or so...

Other than that...things are going GREAT!!! The boys love preschool...Grace loves Kindergarten....we are trying to sell our house and move back to Newburgh...anyone wanna nice house on the westside of Evansville?

more pictures

Here is one of the guys this afternoon...watching the race for the 'fastest man in the world'...an American won! It was so cute the way all three of them in their khakis laid there on the couch...so comfy...And here is Luke getting VERY excited about racing Anteneh on the playstation!And Anteneh....And I couldn't resist putting this random one of Luke up...he looks like he is ready to go hiking...both boys have been wearing snow boots around the house ALL DAY...I just got them at Lands End on super clearance and they are huge and hot but they are OBSESSED with them! Nevermind the fact that has still been in the 90's every day:)

Updates

I am so disappointed in myself...I have been HORRIBLE at keeping this blog updated...Here are some current pics:




Anteneh in a rare moment....being alone with Mommy-Grace was at school and Luke was napping so Anteneh and I made corn casserole AND an apple pie! It's amazing how much more enjoyable it is to spend time with your kids one on one!!!


This is Grace, Daryn and me on the first day of school right before we drove her to Kindergarten for the first time!!! I didn't even cry...so proud of myself...oh, yeah-and her too:) haha...She had on her little horse shirt and black and pink cheetah print backpack (that was a Grandma purchase!) with a fresh horse folder in there...

And here is Luke enjoying a nice blue Popsicle poolside at our friends' house Saturday...
Grace had her first soccer practice Saturday, too, and scored a goal! The only other goal scored was by the coach's daughter who played last year...Grace was VERY excited...it felt good to sit on the sidelines and cheer for her-even if it was only a scrimmage:)

Our Daughter

GRACE AFTER HAVING HER FIRST TEETH OUT! CHECK OUT THE GAP WHERE THE BOTTOM FOUR SHOULD BE! (it looks a little strange b/c the gums are still hilly)
Grace is growing up to be such an interesting girl...This world of school aged kids is new to us...There are so many things about her that keep us laughing in ways that are totally different than the crazy boys...a little bit about Grace...

She is Grace the:

BRAVE: Yesterday she went to the dentist and had 4 teeth pulled out. Her FIRST four she's ever lost (she had to b/c she had permanent teeth coming in already)...she was awake the whole time and when we asked her if she was scared or if it hurt she said, "Nope-I just watched the movie the whole time!" and never complained a bit from then until now about her mouth. She is so brave and tough!

MISTREATED: We are the biggest looser parents EVER! She woke up this morning, reached under her pillow and (gasp!) there were her teeth...She came in our room this morning and asked, "Daddy, Mommy, why are my teeth still there?" Yes, that's right...THE TOOTH FAIRY FORGOT TO TAKE HER FIRST 4 TEETH!!!!! I was mortified...I promised her tonight would be the night. Shame on us

OVERLY OBSERVANT: So, the other day I got home from running some errands and Daryn said, "Honey...Grace patted my butt today with her hand!" Oh, my goodness! So, is this a bad thing b/c it's weird or a good thing b/c she learned it from me and her parents flirt with eachother? Haha...yeah-we told her not to do it anymore

ANIMAL LOVER: Grace could spend all day with animals and love it...it really is a gift God has given her. She catches frogs, bugs, small rodents, anything she can get her hands on. Any animal she sees becomes her friend. She will spend half a day shoveling horse stalls at her grandma's and not be ready to quit. We found a stray dog Saturday and she played with it all day until we found the owners then cried when she wasn't going to get to take it home. So we let her go b/c it was breaking her heart...it's so cool to watch her with animals...she isn't like most little kids who don't know how to treat them. I've seen her walk right up to some kids who were mistreating a frog and tell them, "You'd better be careful. That frog can't breathe-it might DIE!!!" haha...

TECHNO GIRL: Yes, she is only 5 but she LOVES webkinz...(thank you West cousins for buying her her first webkinz!) Today she was online playing computer games at webkinz.com and she said, "some kid wants to be my friend? should I click yes or no?" Of course, being the protective parents we are, we quickly answered, "NO! Always say 'no' unless you know the person!" I don't know if there are any sickos on webkinz.com-I doubt it but you never know...I can't believe she is 5 years old and we are already having to watch her on the internet...it's crazy.

HELPER: Yesterday I was so excited to sit down by myself after feeding the kids lunch. I had my 2 oreos and a little cup of milk on the counter and I was finishing up the dishes. I turn around and Grace announces, "Mommy-I dipped your oreos for you! they are all ready!" AHHHH! I just said, "Thanks, honey!" and she proudly stood there to watch me eat them. You know how exciting it is to dip oreos in milk and eat them? Well, it's a little different when they've been predipped with questionablly clean 5 year old hands and laid on the counter dripping wet getting soggier by the second...I picked the wet, falling apart cookies off the counter and ate them as she watched and I tried to smile instead of gag. It's funny how one of the best treats ever can turn into a food you have to gag down! haha

THE MAGICIAN: Daryn and I were laying on the bed enjoying a few stolen minutes to talk about our days and all of a sudden one of our bathroom drawers opened and shut again...I said, "Daryn! Did you see that? How did that drawer move?!" He looked at it and Anteneh walked in the bathroom and stared at it, puzzled...it did it again! We all stared at it for a few minutes before we realized that Grace was in the cabinet moving the drawer in and out! Nobody had seen her crawl into the bathroom and squeeze under the sink...We laughed so hard...you had to be there...she really did have us going for a minute!

CLONE OF HER MOTHER: I was telling her how we are going to go back to school shopping next week, just the girls, and her first question was: "Great! Can we get a 'fun drink'???!!!" (meaning a starbucks decaff mocha)...I'm not going to lie-this is due to spending too much time with Aunt Tracey and Mommy...haha


Well, random but here are some pictures of the boys at their fist baseball game: we went to an Evansville Otters game Saturday...umm...it's not worth it-don't take two out of control three year olds and a five year old girl to a baseball game...they were so bored! But I got cute pictures and can write it in their baby books! And we got in free.

Clarification

The kids reading together...Grace is growing by leaps and bounds reading...it's making me wish were were still going to homeschool her this year so I could take all the credit for her abilities:) Haha...but really she is just amazing. She can read just about anything, it seems-and she has taught herself. She's not even in Kindergarten yet. She loves to read to the boys. Here she is reading a Spiderman book that they've already heard probably 500 times(and nursing a doll it looks like-haha!)
After getting a few comments about it, I figured I should clarify something! Our pediatrician wasn't telling me that we couldn't catch ringworm but he was saying that Anteneh's scalp fungal thing wasn't really ringworm but a different specific type of fungal infection that is harder for Caucasians to catch(it had a name that I can't remember)-he just said, "kind of like ringworm" to explain what a fungal infection was to me...A few people thought that he said we couldn't catch ringworm but that was probably the way I wrote my blog entry-sorry everyone-I was probably a little misleading! So, apparently there is a TYPE of fungal infection that is harder for us to catch b/c we aren't black but LUKE DID! It doesn't surprise me b/c he's got very sensitive skin, anyway-it seems more susceptible to rashes and such...He is now on the same medication to get rid of it that Anteneh was on...but Luke only has to take it for a month-Anteneh had to take it for 2 months but his was much more extensive...I look now at Anteneh's little face and those spots on his cheeks are completely gone...he has the smoothest, most beautiful skin-especially those cheeks...he still has scars on his forearms from the skin infection but I'm wondering if those might still fade over time, too.
Well, here is one of my favorite recent pictures...we made the trek to the nearest drive in to see Shrek the Third a few weeks ago. It was an hour away so we stopped on the way to see my Uncle Fred and Aunt Ann who live near there in Spencer County. Anteneh is becoming quite the country boy-haha. We picked green beans and eggplant out of their garden and the kids picked a pail of blueberries (that we'd finished eating less than 14 hours later) and played with their 3 big dogs for a while. They have a Great Pyrenees(FYI those gigantic white dogs) that towers about all the kids. He is HUGE. It's awesome to see the kids so comfortable around big intimidating animals! In this picture is our set up at the drive in. It cracks me up-notice Grace sitting on one of the back seats from the van in her yellow rain boots (no sign of rain-not sure why she chose to wear those)...we laid the sleeping bags out in the back of the van and ate popcorn (of course I popped on the stove before we left b/c I'm too cheap and healthy to pay $5 for bright yellow movie popcorn), junior mints, and peanut M&M's...umm...did I just say 'healthy'? Well, I make exceptions for chocolate...and for special occasions like the drive in...

And here is one more of Grace and Anteneh holding some dear antlers that the dogs had drug in...notice the skull and even hair still attached...thank goodness for soap and antibacterial wipes! They LOVE Uncle Fred's house! Oh...and what trip out to the country would be complete without a four wheeler ride? Anteneh's first four wheeler ride...oh....why didn't I get a picture of that?! He loved it...