Christmas ideas

I'm doing pretty good this year so far. I've already started shopping for the boys and am likin' what I got so far. I am not one who shops early to avoid the hustle and bustle and lines of the mall at Christmas time.....I actually really like the season and the feeling in the air with the music and decorations. I do it more for the cost to be spread out. We don't go too crazy on gifts for the kids....Lord knows with grandparents and Godparents, they get enough. But even 3 to 4 things per boy can be 20 items and that adds up. Here are the things we've already gotten....maybe one of them will be something you'll like for your kiddos.

I was reading the reviews on this toy (something I always recommend) and one parent that said she wrote "I love you's" on this when she tucked the kids in so it glowed when they turned off the light.....that got me, I'm sold.
Look at Amazon.com under Crayola Glow Station


And this....gotta love Crayola...



Then I saw this at the Toys R' Us and couldn't resist. My boys love when we go to the science Museum. They have this device in the Human Body section that you put on your skin and a magnified picture appears on the screen in front of you. Hair on your arms looks huge and the subtle wrinkles on your skin (well, on THEIR skin it's subtle anyway) looks liked a cracked mess. They love the find little open sores and and are always tempted to put the thing up their noses to see what may be inside....they're boys, what can I say.
This is an at-home version. I can't wait until they find a spider or ant to look at close up. Blah!
Look on Amazon under Eye Clops = Bionic Eye


Had to edit my post to add one more thing. It is actually a gift my hubby gave me a few years back and it's one of my faves. I think he got it at Kohls at the time....but here is a link to one just like it.

http://www.weddingaccents.com/accessories/mm-photo-bracelets-m0122.htm

and a pic....



Head over to http://www.nihoayall.com for a whole host of ideas from other mama's. They're even organized in age groups. Happy shopping!

Football woes...

I really love my boys being in sports and enjoying it, but this season of football for Tyler has been less than a perfect experience, to say the least. I felt so bad for that kid last night. He just hung his head and held back the tears. It's not right the way his coach has handled that team. I sat down and wrote an email to him this morning. I'm not sure if it will do any good, but I sure felt better getting it off my chest. Here it is....

M***,

This is a long time coming and I feel it's important to let you know how upset my husband and I are about the events of this football season. Our son, Tyler, started his second year of football with high hopes of being challenged, learning more about the sport, and being a part of a team. Unfortunately, that just wasn't the case. Tyler felt very frustrated at many points during the season when he was not given the opportunity to play in the games. He played a very minimal part, usually consisting of only a couple plays per game on kick returns...never stepping foot on the field for any sort of defensive play. My husband and I felt his frustrations, but kept quiet and encouraged him to continue to do his best at practices to allow you to see that, although he may never be the most athletically inclined kid, he was trying and working as hard as the other boys. We have been a part of organized sports with our 5 boys for several years and are not the type of parents to get in the middle of things. We teach our boys to be respectful of the coach and to always try their best and never quit.

But it came to a head for us when you played a game in which you were winning by a score of 26-0 most of the second half and he STILL did not get in...at all. My husband told him to go up and ask you if he could get in for a play. My husband watched you look up at him and then walk away....having never even acknowledged his request, much less give him a chance to play. The following game, when he played two kick returns only, my husband did go up to your asst. coach and have a conversation about this. He was very non-confrontational about it, but just felt it was time to talk to someone about our concerns. You asst. apologized and said he agreed and would try harder to get him some play time. That last one game...he went in for 6 plays which he was thrilled about. After that, right back to the same as before.

I realize that this is a competitive sport and the team wants to win, but it's also a team of 12 yr. olds. This is the age when they should be getting the opportunity to play and learn to prepare them for the possibility of playing in high school. If this were high school football, we would not have an issue....we understand it is possible to ride the bench if you aren't a good player....but even in high school they play the 2nd and 3rd string guys when the score is seperated by 26 points.

Last night was the icing on the cake. We were there....in the rain and cold....his grandparents there to see him.....and do you even know how many plays he was in?? None. Zero. Not even a kick return. There is just no excuse for that. He left there feeling frustrated and defeated and very uncertain whether or not he would be playing ever again. This is what this type of coaching does to these young kids. It discourages them to the point of not wanting to play anymore.

He deserved a bigger effort on your part to get him some play time and to feel a part of a team effort. We paid the $150 for him to play and learn...he was at every practice....he was at all but one game....he did his part....we did ours.

I really hope that you consider some of this when you coach again next year. I can tell you that we are not the only parents that felt this way. Tyler's a good kid. He will never be a star athlete, it's just not in him....but he should have been given more of a chance to improve. Who knows, he may have surprised you.

Sincerely,

Jenny and Jason *******

Clothes...

.....as far as the eye can see. My gosh, where do they all come from. It's like the loaves and fishes....you fold, you put away...there are still just as many.
This is the result of my twice a year change out of the boys' clothes from summer to winter. Over the years, I've gotten it down to a science (though my pictures of the madness may show otherwise).
Here are the steps to this dreaded task.
1. Get all laundry done so that the summer clothes are all clean.
2. Have the boys empty their drawers and bring the clothes into the family room. See picture below.
3. Take a deep breath upon seeing all the clothes from all 5 dressers.
4. Start folding and organizing them by child and season. Each boys 'keep in my drawer' pile and each one's 'pack away for winter' pile....that's 10 piles for those keeping track.
5. Bring in the bins from garage with all the winter clothes....scratch that...have HUBBY bring in all the bins from garage.
6. Go through them one by one to see if they will fit one of the boys for winter...then place it in the "keep" pile.
7. Put the summer clothes IN the bin to be stored til spring.
8. Have boys bring up all their respective clothes piles and fill their drawers once again for the season.
9. Have hubby put bins back INTO the garage until it's warm enough for shorts once again.
10. Thank God that I only have to do this twice a year.

Sunday snapshot

I'm starting something called "Sunday Snapshot" thanks to a great fellow blogger who is starting the same idea for her kiddos....thanks Stefanie....
Every Sunday I'll brag....er, talk....about one of the boys. That should be easy to do.

Today I'm starting with Tony. No particular reason...just why not.



My Tony Baloney, our Tony Spumoni, my favorite 6 year old....he's such a warm heart. He's my toughest little guy, and he would wrestle 'til the sun came up if we let him...but he's also got the warmest spirit.



He has started his second year of wrestling for a team. I figured since he does it at home all the time, why not get a mat under him and an apponent to face.





More than any of his brothers, he absolutely loves babies or any child younger than he is. He dotes on his little cousins and gets excited when he sees a baby at the store.






He has struggled a bit in school, but his teacher just told us at conferences that he is doing great and is in the high reading group and is helpful to his classmates when they don't understand. What a difference from last year, thank you God.



He is one of my most affectionate boys. He came up to me the other day, grabbed my face and said "you're cute....let's smooch" I love that kid.





I lost a baby before getting pregnant with Tony and I've often thought about that moment and what bad news it was....but God had another plan for us and for our family. He had this sweet soul in heaven waiting to come down and be a blessing to our family. God always knows best, doesn't He?! Thank you for trusting me with this wonderful gift.

Halloween through the years.

Year one, Tyler debuted the football costume. He was a devil for his second Halloween. I don't have pictures scanned in for those, so I'm starting in 99' with Timmy's first year.

I resurrected the football costume for Timmy's first Halloween.


In 2000 it was the angel and devil.....appropriate for their personalities at the time.


In 2001, Trae joined the bunch and was a bumblebee in between his "hippy" brothers.


One more year with just the 3 of them and I made these cowboy costumes for them. One of my favorite years....2002.


By 2003, Tony was wearing the pigskin and the other boys were rounding out our theme for the year.


I'm drawing a total blank as to what they were in 2004. I have no picture handy and just cannot remember. hmmmm.......

Still letting me dress them alike, in 2005 I made these pirate get-ups. We even put vaseline with coffee grounds on their faces for whiskers.


I knew at some point, they'd want to do their own thing for Halloween. Here they are in 2006 with their first hodge-podge of costumes.


For the second year in a row, they all had their own ideas. I suppose it was bound to happen. Ha!


I still can't believe it that in 2008 they agreed to all dress the same again. This time as the girls we never had. This is by far my favorite year.....was there any question as to why.


So, here we are this year. It's 2009 and Tyler is saying it's his last year trick or treating. He's actually at a friends house with some other boys having pizza, going door to door, and watching a movie. The others are out with dad as I write. Of course, I had an idea for all of them this year, but it was hopeless. The older ones are at this age where they just want to be creepy and scary. I guess that's to be expected. :)



Off they go.....


Happy Halloween!!!

Autumn leaves

Is there anything better for a kid in the fall than to jump into a big pile of leaves?

It lasts for such a short time before the snow falls.

We have a great yard for raking leaf piles.

Wrestling woes

Last night, the boys had their first wrestling meet. Tony, Trae, and Timmy all won matches. Tony only got to do one round (out of the regular three) with his opponant because the other boy started crying and wouldn't continue....I'm laughing as I write that, is that wrong?? Trae pinned his guy...awesome! And Timmy had 2 matches...the first he lost to a tough competion. The second, he pinned....but there's a story there. We were just about done and the coach pulled Timmy to go do an exibition on another mat. He told me this so I could go over and watch. By the time I walked around to the other mat, Timmy was facing off with his new opponant.....a girl. The second girl now to join the wrestling group. This girl was at least 10 or 11 and had on a sports type bra thing under her singlet. Oh great, I thought....I really don't like this. Jason and I had talked to the coach last year about not wanting our boys to wrestle girls. Think what you want....we're being unfair....girls can do whatever boys can....we're being old fashioned....don't care....sorry, we stand by our feelings on this one. I'm watching Timmy try and grab her the way he would his male counterparts, around the chest from behind, grabbing a thigh to pull into position, needing to do a 'chest to chest' position to get the pin. These are just not things we feel are okay. Thank goodness, he pinned her....I say that because losing to a girl would only and insult to injury for a boy. When the match was over, Jason went over to talk to the coach. He explained to him that he tries to teach our boys to be respectful of girls, both by not 'wrestling' with them and also by not putting their hands on them in inappropriate ways. He said he teaches them to respect them with their actions and their hands.....thats hard to do in a sport like wrestling, can't get more hand to hand physical than that. The coach totally understood and said he would be sure to not team up the boys this way again. I gotta say, I often wonder about the parents that of the girl that don't seem to mind. If I had a daughter, especially one that was older like this girl was, do I really want all these boys manhandling her? I don't know...maybe it's just us. I have no idea if any other parent has said this same thing to their coach, but we feel comfortable with our position on it.