Miles and Vivienne's First Soccer Practice

On Saturday morning, we went to Miles and Vivienne's first soccer practice.  We will be cheering on the Panthers for the next couple of months.  I'm pretty sure the MVPs on the team are #4 and #6, but I could be wrong.  At least they are clearly the MCPs (Most Cute Players).

They started practice by learning to kick to one another.

And learning to stop the ball with their feet.

And looking ridiculously cute in their jerseys.

Their little sister was content to sit on the sidelines with her apple and sweat like crazy (have I ever mentioned that this child sweats more than any kid I have ever seen?).

Vivienne wanted two braids for the occasion.

They also learned to dribble, of course.

The last half of the practice was a scrimmage game.  Vivienne was not a fan of the game portion of the practice.  Miles eventually caught on, but the parents spent most of our time yelling things like "Wrong way!" and "Turn around!" and "Other goal!"

At this point, I guess we should just be proud of them for not picking up the ball and throwing it to each other.

What About BOB?

I'm glad you asked.  Well, maybe I'm not.  As of last week, we are no longer the proud owners of the world's best stroller, the BOB Duallie.  I seriously loved that stroller.  We had it for nearly 4 years and got tons of use out of it.  I used to run with Miles and Vivienne almost every day, around 6 miles a day before I got pregnant with Evelyn.  It helped us stroll at the zoo, museums, even in a 5k (the day I found out I was pregnant with Evelyn).

Recently, it had become a source of frustration for the kids, fighting over who got to sit in the extra seat (because Evelyn always got a seat).  With Miles and Vivienne being 4 now, they are certainly old enough to walk on their own when we are out and about.  So it seemed clear that it was time to say goodbye to BOB.

Someone came and picked it up when I was away from the house.  When I got home and Jason told me that BOB was gone, I almost cried.  I actually almost cried over a stroller, which seems completely ridiculous, I know.

BOB, you were the stroller love of my life.  There will never be another.  I am forever changed.

Farewell, my friend.  Farewell.

First Day of Preschool

I don't quite know how it happened.  But somehow, my little 6 and 6.5-pound babies started preschool last week.  Their first day was really more of a half-day "meet the teacher" experience.

They were excited and a little bit nervous about going.  But I think they are going to love their teachers, Mrs. M (Miles) and Mrs. P (Vivienne).

It was a staggered morning, with Miles at school for the first half and Vivienne at school for the second half.  Waiting in line to meet his teacher, Miles seemed a bit shy and nervous.

But when I dropped him at the door to meet Mrs. M, he walked right in with his "special bag" (they give each child their own bag to be responsible for).  While Miles was enjoying meeting his new friends, I took the girls to get a biscuit, which is a very rare treat.

Then we went back to pick up Miles and drop Vivienne.

Last week was their first full week of school, and it went very well.  Miles had a little bit of a harder adjustment, but settled in just fine.

On their first full day of school (last Monday), I held it together when I dropped them off, but I cried on the walk back to the car.  I miss them, but is is nice to have 3 days a week with just Evelyn.  I have never had one child before, and I really enjoy it.


By the end of the first week, Vivienne is holding a pencil properly and writing her name on her own.

(Grandpa, I hope you are ready to receive this lovely picture of a hairy bug… or something.)

I had hemmed and hawed about whether to send them to preschool this year.  I'm so glad that I did. I think they are ready for preschool at this age, and this will be excellent preparation for kindergarten next year.  According to the school age cutoffs, they should be going to kindergarten next year, but they will also be youngest in their class (because of their birthday).  I'm so thankful that their preschool teachers will be able to help us assess whether to send them to kindergarten in 2015 or whether to wait another year to give them more time.

Evelyn Turns Two

Somehow my sweet little baby is now a flurry of 2-year-old energy and defiance independence.  Her birthday was celebrated on July 18th, 3 days after Miles' and Vivienne's celebration.  I made her some homemade cupcakes with purple frosting, because she seems to have an affinity for purple.

Evelyn is full of personality and vibrance.  She is sweet and stubborn and independent (almost too  independent) and beautiful and loving and snuggly and rough and tumble.

She loves to chat about all kinds of things.  She is much more often speaking in sentences instead of gibberish.  Her sentences are becoming much more sophisticated.  Yesterday, she said "Open the garage door.  Miles and Vivienne ride their bikes."  Her pronunciation isn't great, but she forms her sentences very well.

Evelyn loves to count now, though her accuracy leaves a little to be desired.  She sometimes skips right over 1, 2, 3 and 4 and will jump right into 5, 6, 7 and so on.  She also likes to count down (probably due to watching so many shuttle launches with Miles).

She goes to the gym childcare most days for an hour or two and really seems to love it.  She gets along with other children very well.  She is fairly outgoing, though she can be a little shy or apprehensive when she first meets someone (or if she is put on the spot).

Evelyn has absolutely no real interest in potty training.  That's a little frustrating, because I would love to be finished with diapers, but I'm not going to rush her.  She will be ready when she's ready.  (I may not be saying that if she still has no interest when she turns three!)

Evelyn is exposed to so many more things than Miles and Vivienne were at this age.  She has been to Marbles and the Museum of Life & Science (and the Natural Science Museum downtown) countless times.  She is always at the playground or the swimming pool or playing with friends.  When Miles and Vivienne were two, I would not take them to the pool on my own, because it was simply too hard to watch them both, but I take all three kids on my own very frequently now (we actually just got back from our neighborhood pool).

I'm looking forward to having more one-on-one time with Evelyn this upcoming year when Miles and Vivienne start preschool (more on that later).

Happy birthday, sweet baby!  I guess I'm officially a "big kid only" mom now.

First Movie in a Theater

A couple weekends ago (on the kids' birthday weekend), Mom, Dad, Jason and I took the kids to their very first movie in a theater.  The cheap theater was playing the Lego movie, so we decided to give it a try.  For $15, all seven of us were able to see the matinee.  The kids loved it.  Miles was especially enamored with it, but Vivienne and Evelyn enjoyed it as well.  The girls got a little squirmy toward the end, but we actually made it through the entire movie with all of us in the theater.  It was a great way to spend a gloomy afternoon.

Walkie Talkies

I just love this photo of him, playing with walkie talkies with his sister on the playground.  All smiles and big blue eyes.  I love this boy.

Miles and Vivienne's Birthday

Last Friday was Miles and Vivienne's birthday, so we celebrated in style when Daddy got home from work.  Grandma and Grandad also came over, and then we headed to Mellow Mushroom for some pizza.  We virtually never take the kids out to restaurants that involve a wait staff (and don't involve chicken nuggets), so this was a real treat for them.

We were lucky that they had a guy there making balloon animals.  The kids had never really seen this before, and they were highly entertained by it.  Vivienne chose a pink monkey and Miles got a gray elephant.  Evelyn was delighted with her pink frog.

After pizza (and an epic meltdown from Miles), we went back home to open gifts and enjoy some cake and ice cream.  Luckily Miles calmed down as soon as he realized we would be opening presents.  They both really enjoyed opening all of their presents.

Vivienne's favorites were probably her Elsa cape (from the movie Frozen).  She has been running around the house dragging a blanket behind her, pretending to have a train on her dress.  Now she has something just like the movie.

Miles' favorites seem to be his Imaginext dinosaurs.  He has really been loving playing with the app on my iPhone, so I knew he would love the dinosaurs in real life.

After presents, we had the cake and ice cream.  Miles requested an airplane cake, and Viv requested an Elsa cake.  I spent hours that week baking and icing these.  The cakes are a lot of work, but I really enjoy it.

At the end of the day, we had a couple very happy, well celebrated kids.  I can't believe my sweet, tiny babies are now 4 years old.  They will be starting preschool next month.  I am thankful for each day I have with them.  Happy birthday, Miles and Vivi!

(We have one more celebration with friends tomorrow, because certainly ONE birthday celebration is just not enough!)