Attacking Bears, Game #1

Seriously, I don't think it could be any hotter! We had to be at the field by 9am for weigh in and warm up. I knew we were in trouble when it was already 100 degrees! Grandma, Grandpa, and Jax came to watch the game with us. The game started a little after 10am and lasted until 12:15! By then it had reached 110 degrees and those poor boys were exhausted. Wearing full pads and playing on artificial turf made for a tough day! They played well, although we took a big loss 21-47. Cooper played quite a bit the first half, on offensive line, but hurt his back on a tackle. So he watched from the sidelines the rest of the game.


Here's hoping for no injuries and cooler weather next week!!

Opening Ceremonies and Carnival

Tonight was the official kickoff to the football season. It seems like we've been doing it forever though, with practice almost every night for the past 3 weeks! All of the pop warner teams were announced and it was off to have a little fun at the carnival. Unfortunately, Zoe wasn't feeling all that great. After a long week, she ended up with bronchitis and back at the doctors office. More medication and more down time. But she was a trooper and still tried to have a good time, for the time that we stayed.

(All the way to the top!)

(What's a carnival without a colored hairspray booth?)

(Cooper couldn't leave without getting his marshmallow shooing "gun")

Tomorrow is our first official game...good luck Attacking Bears!

Already flu season??

Poor Zoe has had a rough week! She started feeling bad on Wednesday evening, had a low grade fever off/on and by the weekend was pretty miserable. After 4 days of feeling bad and her fever finally getting to 103 we hit urgent care. So after the first week of school, perfect attendance will no longer be possible. She stayed home with mom to get some extra rest.
I can't wait to have my enthusiastic, happy girl back!

Scrimmage Time!

It was an early morning for us as we headed to the local high school for the division weight certification. Cooper weighed in at 49.1 pounds. We were very excited because that means he's put on 2 pounds since practice has started. I guess all of the pasta, bagels, cereal, waffles, and pb&j throughout the day is helping! He's still one of the smallest guys on the team, but holding his own.
Then it was off to our back to back scrimmage in Menifee. The boys were in the uniforms and ready to go.

(Getting ready for the huddle)

(Cooper is the one to the right, trying to block the guy who is a foot taller than him!)

(Headed off the field after a long, hot day!)

Can't wait for the real games to start next weekend!

Giving Teri a reality check...

Jenny and I took Teri to Babies R Us to do her baby registry. I really thought she might pass out when we walked into the store and saw all the stuff she needed to get! With less than 12 weeks to go, this little guy needs to be taken care of! So after Teri signed up, off we went to find the perfect bedding, diapers, stroller, car seats, bottles, and bibs. I was armed with the scanning gun, Jenny had the checklist, and Teri just followed along feeling overwhelmed. After checking out lots of different crib bedding, she was feeling the color green calling her name. We found the cutest green and brown print with monkeys. Now its time to get the paint and get that nursery going!

First Day of School!

Where does the summer go? I don't think any of us were ready for this day. Cooper was full of nerves last night and was quite worried. Zoe was pretty excited, but pretty nervous about being in the "big kids" classroom of 32 kids.

Here they are ready to go...



I love walking to school that first day...there is just something special about it.
We walked Cooper to his classroom first. He is happy to have his friends Adam, Lorien, and Allison in class with him.
Then it was time for Zoe. She was happy to be in class with Maddyn, Lauren, Taylor, and Cassidy!
The first day is always pretty hard for me. I just miss them so much and worry about how they're doing and wanting them to feel secure. After doing some PTA work in the kindergarten wing in the morning, I made sure to do a quick loop through the rest of the campus so I could peek at my little ones. They were both smiling, so I could breathe a little easier for the rest of the day.

Well, 1 day down, 179 to go!!

Photos and jogging (well, sort of...)

Cooper had football pictures early this morning and he looked so cute in his uniform. Unfortunately, I didn't get a great shot since he had to rush to get in line as soon as his pads were on. Then immediately afterwards, their new jerseys were turned back in so they could get the names printed on them before their first game.

After the pictures there was a football jog-a-thon. I guess I was expecting it to be like the one we have at school with lots of kids running for an hour, trying to get as many laps as they can. Boy was I wrong...basically it is just a way for the league to get donations. So if the kids got their flat donations they just had to run a lap with their team and they were done! Sounds good to me, I was ready to get out of there. Thank you Grandma for sponsoring Cooper and giving him his donation!!

Time to meet this year's teachers!

What lucky kids I have! We were blessed to have 2 great teachers again this year. Tonight was our annual Ice Cream Social, so Zoe and Cooper got to see some old friends and get a quick hug from their new teachers.
First stop was Mrs. Falciano for Cooper's second grade class. We are thrilled to be having her for the 2nd time now (Zoe also had her for 2nd grade)!
Next stop was Mrs. Atkinson. She was our 1st choice for Zoe and we are so happy to be in her class. This year it will be a 4th/5th combo class, so Zoe will be working extra hard!

After their quick visits, Joe rushed off with the kids to get Cooper to football practice. I stayed to hand out ice creams, help sell spiritwear and PTA memberships, and clean up! The new school year has officially begun!

Visit from friends!

Our friends Shloe and Roger (with their girls, Cora and Callie) were down to visit today, along with my friend Kim. We haven't seem them in a quite a while so it was a great time just catching up and letting the kids play. It happened to be Cora's birthday today, as well as Callie's last week, so after lunch we had a few cupcakes to celebrate too!

(Zoe, Cooper, Callie, Cora)

(Kim, Shloe, me)

(Afternoon swimming with Zippy)

It was great visit, but way too short! One of these days we'll get to spend more than a few hours together.

A long road comes to an end...

Woo-Hoo!! Joe's last round of liver treatment medications were finished tonight! It has been such a long 6 months for him (as well as the rest of us!). Now it's just a matter of giving his body time to recuperate and get strong again. We all can't wait to have Daddy back to his "normal" self!! :)

Not sure I'm ready for this!

There are certainly days when I think being a mom is a hard job, but I must say, I wasn't quite prepared for how hard it would be to watch my son on his first day of hitting practice with full pads. I do tend to worry a lot when it comes to my kids, overly so I know...I just thought it would get easier as they got older!
A lot of my worry was due to the fact that Cooper wasn't feeling well today. He was battling a pretty bad cough, and with his asthma, it complicates things a little more. Along with that, he was dealing with a heel injury from last weeks practices, and recovering from a pretty bad sunburn on his face from the beach yesterday (its okay Grandpa...we forgive you!) I really didn't think he would make it through the whole practice, but he is one tough kid. He looks so little in those big pads, but he held his own.

(the team is ready to go)
(not feeling so hot, but looking cool!)

(fighting hard against a kid who was a full helmet size taller than him...)

(waiting for his next turn)

(running hard!)

(taking a huge hit...that one hurt!)

I'm pretty proud of my little guy. It was very scary though seeing a few kids carried off the field with injuries and already needing quite a few ice packs. I will be saying a lot of prayers over the next few months!

Another beach day...

We've had a lot of beach days this summer, but after a long week of daily football practices, sleepovers, and swimming, we were ready for another day playing in the waves. So after cleaning out the playroom we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's. We had a great dinner and spent all day Sunday at the beach, mostly boogie boarding and learning to skim board. Wish these days would never end!

Are you ready for some footbaaaaalll???

The day has finally come! First football practice of the season and Cooper couldn't have been happier. Actually, both of us were quite nervous before it began, but once he got there, he was thrilled. I've had a pretty big pit in my stomach most of the summer awaiting this day, but I must say, it turned out ok, and nothing made me happier than seeing the huge smile on his face after 2 hours of sweating!
The first 5 days are basically just conditioning, so it will mostly be running, drills, and basic exercises. Next week is when the hard part begins, hitting practice with full pads...what am I thinking??

So think of me every night from 6-8 as I sit on the sidelines!

Puzzle craziness...

A few weeks ago we got a puzzle from Jenny. I thought it would be a fun activity for us to all work on together. Well, Cooper and Joe had no interest, and Zoe quickly lost interest as well. So it became my obsession for several days before our trip. I was frustrated that I had to leave it sitting unfinished while gone and couldn't wait to come back to it. I spent the last two days filling in pieces and finally convinced Joe to help me finish the end of it. Unfortunately we must have lost 2 pieces along the way...I hate that!
Anyway, here it is...before and after:

Thanks for the fun Jenny (although at times I wasn't very happy with you!! )!