My multi-colored calendar-confessions from a new soccer mom

I feel that my role as a mom is changing. I used to care completely for Ali and Ashling all day, every day. I was pretty much the only one responsible for their care. I got them ready for the day, taught them everything they learned from using the bathroom to learning their letters and played with them all day. Now I have a new role. I am a soccer mom. What is a soccer mom? It is the mom who is responsible for driving their kids everywhere. A soccer mom no longer needs to dress her kids and feed them their food but instead must buy the right kinds of clothes and pack the right things in lunches. A soccer mom is not the only adult in her kids life but now shares that life with a teacher, a coach, a dance teacher and for me, a primary teacher. I take Ali to school, take Ashling to school, pick up Ashling from school, pick up Ali from school, take Ali to soccer practice, parties, friends houses, and soon to dance practice. I even find myself taking Ashling more places than just school as she enjoys friends houses and story time.

So I now have a multi-colored calendar. Ali is orange, Ashling is green, I am blue and Cameron is yellow. I have some color on all of my days and many of them are a rainbow of different colors. In a matter of weeks I have gone from not needing a calendar to needing one with multiple colors.

I actually love my new role. I am always going somewhere and now I do not feel trapped in the house with nothing to do. I get to meet lots of neat parents and people I would never get to meet if I wasn't driving my kids everywhere and waiting for them. I enjoy their independence, do not mind never having to change their diapers and I still get to tuck them in at night and cuddle them on my lap. I love my daughter reading to me on the couch where she still sits on my lap and letting her pick out my clothes because she knows what is in style better than me. For now they may think they are big but they are still my little babies.

On another note- Ali had her first soccer game on Saturday. It was a learning experience. She had never played or watched soccer before and only had two practices. She was a little unsure of what the whole point to the game was but she tried to keep the ball away from the green team. The problem was the green team had some excellent players and they kept scoring goals. If you look at the picture of Ali pouting that is the problem- another score for the green team. (It is good that we don't keep score in under 8 soccer because otherwise I would have to report the score to you!) Her big play was getting the ball away from a girl about to score! Go Ali!

Ashling's first day of Preschool

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Ashling started preschool today at Apple Tree Learning Center. That is the preschool that Cameron's sister, Erin, owns and it is down in Highland. Ashling was very very excited to preschool. She kept asking me, "Mommy is it today?" I had told her that today we got to go and I guess that she didn't really know what today meant. We went there and she found her name on her basket (she can now spell her whole name,) and put her backpack in the basket and sat down on her own little circle. She did not fuss or cry like so many of the other kids. She just calmly said goodbye. She enjoyed herself and came home with an A covered in Apple stickers. I went shopping by myself to Costco and bought whatever I wanted without anyone asking me for this or that. I am going to enjoy the 4 months of time to myself on Tuesday and Thursday before the baby comes.

Disneyland!

On Labor Day we decided to go to Disneyland. We hadn't decided one way or the other so Cameron woke the girls up by asking them if they wanted to go to Disneyland. They did. We actually spent most of the day at California adventure. We wanted to go on the new toy story ride and got there right before the park opened. But we didn't notice the long line was forming so soon and by the time we noticed it the line was over an hour long. (Season pass holders do not normally stand in any line for that long.) We decided we will try that ride another day. We rode on the merry go round and then Ali and Cameron went on California Screaming. Ali did not like the ride and came off crying. She said it made her tummy hurt. She wanted to go on the Orange Peel swings and so they went on that. (We were able to walk on all these rides.) We then went on the jelly fish ride which is a very mild up and down ride. Ashling reached a milestone this time as she is now 40 inches tall so she can go on a lot of the rides. We rode on the rockets and then went on California Souring (with our fast pass.) We got another fast pass for Grizzly river run for Ali and Cameron. After that we went to the Brother Bear place and Ali base jumped and rock climbed while we watched her and ate lunch. They went down the slides. Cameron and Ali went on Grizzly river run and Ashling and went over to Disneyland to wait in line for the other rockets. After we all went on the rockets Cam and Ali went on Space Mountain and then we saw Honey I shrunk the Audience. (FYI do not take little kids to this show as it is very scary for them. This was more scary to Ali than California Screaming.) We were then very tired and hot and we decided to call it a day. It is nice to have season passes and go home whenever you get tired.

Sunday Dinner

Grandma Sue and Papa finally are home from Alaska! We had to wait all summer but they came home on Friday afternoon. The girls were very excited to see them and look forward to spending the night there this Friday. In the meantime we had a family dinner on Sunday. Chalon's family didn't make it due to stomach viruses but everyone else came. I made cafe rio pork and had a burrito bar. Grandma Sue and Papa passed out lots of presents for everyone! It was a nice relaxing afternoon.

Tile Work

Cameron tiled our upstairs bathroom this weekend. We decided on a layout and it was very involved. Cameron had to cut most of the tiles but we were very pleased with the work that he did. Here are a couple pictures of the results.

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was our 9th anniversary. So I wanted to wish Cameron a happy anniversary although yesterday I was too busy to blog. We are still planning a date night for next week so I will have to post all the latest then. Cameron brought me some flowers and I gave him some new art stuff since he is itching to be creative.

It seems like Cameron and I have always been married since we were married while I was still a teenager and he wasn't much older than one. I am grateful for a husband who is willing to work hard and play harder. I love doing things with Cameron and miss him when he is not here. He is amazing! He always fixes the things that need fixing, builds the things that need to be built and is always working. He is also good at drawing, painting and music. I don't think that I could have married a more amazing husband.

Last Saturday he really out did his self. We had a brand new gas range sitting in our garage since we moved here because we didn't have a gas stub in our kitchen. Well on Saturday he realized that there was a gas stub in the garage. Instead of putting it off until another day he went to work right away and bought the right attachments and installed our new range. I love using the range to cook on and love cooking on gas much better than electric.

I love you Cam!

1st day of school

The air was cold and the sun wasn't quite up when Ali came into my room at 6:30 ready for school. She dressed in her new clothes which of course means that she had to wear butterflies and then lay back down on her bed. For whatever reason her stomach hurt and she said she was hungry. I quickly did her hair and then we went upstairs to eat. I made french toast for breakfast to celebrate the day while Ali laid down on the couch silently. At breakfast she didn't say much and kept laying her head down on the counter. I wondered where my usual bubbly talkative Ali went and was sure she must be deathly ill. She didn't eat hardly anything. I asked her if she was nervous and she insisted she wasn't. After breakfast she still was laying on the couch while I got her lunch ready. I decided to call Cameron and see what he thought. He said it was probably just nerves and that she would be fine. I then told Ali that I would take her to her classroom and stay with her until she asked me to leave. Those must have been the magic words because she perked right up and we were able to take smiling first day of school pictures.

At school we saw her teacher from last year as we walked down the hall. It seemed to be a good omen for Ali and she hugged Mrs. Malcom like a long lost friend. I had forgot to mention to Ali that her teacher this year is Mrs. Malcom's sister and it seemed to help her warm up to the idea of school. We waited outside her teacher's door and then went in to her classroom. Ali has 7 girls and 12 boys in her class. We found her desk and Ali sat right down to do her work. She was still very quiet and overly calm compared to her normal self. All the parents sat at the edge of the classroom wondering if we should really leave our babies for a whole day of school.

It seemed even harder to leave her this year than last year since she seemed so nervous. But at last she told me I could leave and I took that as my dismissal and left to enjoy a day with just Ashling and me. We went to the gym, went grocery shopping, played cars, read stories, took a nap and just enjoyed each other.

Ashling and I walked to Ali's bus stop to pick her up. When the bus came I saw Ali waving and she waited her turn patiently to come off the bus. She talked to two or three kids all much bigger than her on the way out. She had a huge smile on her face and reported that she already loves her teacher because she is so nice. She made friends with her desk-mate, Nick, and played at recess with everyone. Apparently her nerves are over and now she will just enjoy school.

The bad news is that Cameron figured out that the outside influences on our daughter are 8/5. We only get 5 hours with her and the school gets her for 8! I hope we have raised her right so far!