Fall Begins...

Collin's first day of school after he rode the bus home. That smile says it all!

Collin waiting to be "sponged" back into the game. I don't know why he calls subbing sponging but he does. I keep reminding him that its sub not sponge so maybe by the next game....

Coach Daddy and Collin (#6).

So much has been happening lately and its been hard to find an extended period to sit down and write about it all. The biggest happening is that Collin started kindergarten. There was much trepidation leading up to this event, mostly on my part but a fair amount on his as well. It was all for naught. He seems to love it. His teacher is very nice and he has come home every day with a smiley face on his behavior chart. In typical little boy fashion, its like pulling teeth to get him to tell me about his day.
Me: Tell me about your day. What did you do?
Collin: It was good.
Me: Tell me what you learned.
Collin: Nothing.
Me: Ok, who did you sit with at lunch?
Collin: Jacob, Tackle and Mystery.
Me: Who??
I've met Jacob but I have no idea who Tackle or Mystery might be. He's come home with some new songs and several awards for good behavior which he is very proud of. I'll have to shoot video of him singing the "Tooty-Ta" song. It is hysterical. He likes school because its fun. I like school for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it has made bedtime a breeze. He goes to bed like an angel now because he's actually tired. I also like it because I only have to get one kid up and ready to go in the morning now so my mornings are easier.

The boys are both playing soccer and taking swim lessons again this fall. Nick is doing the junior striker program that Collin did at his age and I'm very impressed with how well he's doing. He is engaged and follows directions from the coach with absolutely no prompting from me. He was so excited to go to the first practice. Collin had his first game today. He is very excited because Tim is the assistant coach for his team. He calls him Coach Daddy. Their team got crushed today but they had tons of fun and I don't think they realized it because there is no official score. The other team had a little kid who probably could have played with the 7 and 8 year olds and fit right in. I was proud of our team because they all gave it their best effort and had a great time.

Collin is also starting Sunday school in a couple of weeks. Tim and I will be taking turns being the second teacher in one of the classes. I don't know if it will be his or not yet. We're looking forward to that as well.

Its going to be a very busy year for us. There is certainly more than enough to keep us busy! I will try to find more time to blog and keep things a little more updated than I have lately.

Collin's T-Ball Game

Collin's first t-ball game was one of the most entertaining things I have ever seen in my entire life. It loosely resembled a game. Every kid on the team got to bat, there were no outs and the last kid up each inning hit a grand slam and cleared the bases so that each kid got to go all the way around the bases and score a run. Half the kids would barely hit the ball, the kids in the fields would rush forward to get it only to have the batter pick it back up and put it back on the tee. Collin had one really great hit that went over the head of the three kids playing short stop. His coach called it the hit of the game. He also got to play catcher for an inning. I couldn't have been prouder helping him suit up to play my old position. He did a good job too. Not that he actually had to catch since the ball sits on a tee but after every hit the first baseman throws the ball back to the catcher and its his job to put the ball on the tee for the next batter. When he was paying attention (which was most of the time) he did a good job stopping the ball and putting it back on the tee. Did I mention he plays for the Yankees? I have never cheered so hard for the Yankees in my entire life. He had such a good time he's looking forward to practice on Wednesday and playing another game this Sunday. I was going to add pictures to this post but realized they are on the other computer so I will have to post them later but they are available on facebook if you just can't wait to see him.

Our First Foray into Organized Sports

I've been just waiting until Collin was old enough to sign him up for soccer because I thought he'd love it. He has so much fun kicking the ball around in the back yard. So last week we had our first experience with organized sports. I picked the boys up at daycare and headed to soccer. We got there early and I ended up leaving half way through with Nick because he was being horrible. I rescued him from running onto the field during an active game no less than 4 times and actually lost him once. The woman behind the food counter found him for me. I didn't want to bring him this week but Tim had an appointment and my mom wasn't going to be home in time to watch him. My Dad met me at the Soccer dome to help me watch Nick while Collin had practice. Mostly, soccer for 3 years old involves a whole lot of running around and very little actual soccer but the kids love it. Here are a couple of videos of Collin. In one he's supposed to be jumping over the hurdle. In the other he's crawling under it. You can hear Nick whining for Mommy in them. I so hope I don't have to bring him next week. I also hope that Collin does better next week. He spent half of this weeks session laying on the floor saying he was tired. He only listened and followed directions about half the time. The other half he did his own thing. Maybe he is really tired, he has been refusing to go to bed at a reasonable time again. I put him to bed at 7:30 and he's still up at 9. His alarm goes off at 5:35 am so, do the math, that's barely enough sleep for an adult. Its definitely not enough for a small child. I'm working on it, but so far I've been unsuccessful. Tim says he did very well the first week. I wouldn't know because I spent most of the time I was there chasing Nick. All poor Nick wants to do is play soccer with his brother. He doesn't understand why he can't and its very frustrating for him to be pulled off the field all the time. Maybe I'll enjoy soccer more when I'm not so busy chasing Nick and I can enjoy watching Collin have a good time, and when I'm not busy being embarrassed because he's the only kid not listening and paying attention and instead he's on some other part of the field doing his own thing.