The Frogs

What a good-loookin' team, don't you think!?!? :) This was taken on Saturday, after more than half of the team had left the fields or never showed up on a VERY wet morning. We were troopers and headed to the field, just to wait under the pavilion for our team's picture to be taken. It was SO cold out -- thank goodness we were covered, but by the time we waited an hour or so, our hands were frozen! We weren't prepared for such a drop in temperature. Despite this, Bear Cub eventually warmed up to the idea of no soccer playing and started running and playing with some other kids. He made friends with a girl on his team (the lovely lady standing next to him) and they played "Chase me!" for a long time. Pretty funny to watch! When it was his turn to be chased, we noticed that he purposefully slowed down so she could "get" him. Oh brother. And so it begins! :) I'll post more pics soon from our weekend and from late last week. Just thought I'd share the team photo. Go Frogs! :)

Weekend pictures!

Mr. Science!! In one of his "National Geographic Little Kids" magazines, there was a science experiment about "dancing raisins." So of course, when we bought raisins at the store, we had to come home and try it! And yup, they danced!! :)

Whoa...COOL! :)

Can't you imagine him with a lab coat on and a beaker in hand?? Ha!

All smiles with Daddy at the park after Saturday's soccer game

Bear Cub! :)

Howdy

Hi there! I still need to upload a few photos from the weekend, but I'll have to say that it was pretty uneventful. Bear Cub had a soccer game on Saturday, but wasn't too into it. He'd been fighting a cold and his mood was just a little "off." By Sunday afternoon, the poor guy had rosy, red cheeks and a fever. :( It didn't last too long and after a day of rest on Monday, he seems to be getting back to his usual self. He went to school today...and so did I!! I got a call from his school this morning asking if I'd like to be a sub in a 4-year-old classroom. My first question was, "What do I wear??" I'm into my THIRD year of being at home, so needless to say, my "professional" wardrobe is less than desirable. I was able to dig through the closet and find some khakis that still looked presentable! It was fun...VERY different than working with the 8-year-olds that I was accustomed to! I only worked for the 3 hours that BC was at school, so I was glad to go pick him up and have our usual afternoon together. I didn't tell him about the job, as to not get him worried this morning, but his teacher spilled the beans! His poor little face crumbled and he started crying right away. I imagine he thought I'd be gone ALL day and that this is the beginning of Mama going to "work" for real. He knows that I was a teacher and he understands that now my job is HIM. I bet it caused him a lot of confusion when he heard that I was going to "be a teacher today." Tonight he asked me again if my job was to take care of him and I said, "Yes!" I am forever thankful that I've had the opportunity to stay home with him and hopefully I can wait until he's in kindergarten before I go back into the classroom full time. But for now, I'd be happy subbing on the days that he's in school, not changing our usual routine.

Have a good rest of the week and I promise...pictures to come soon! :)

Memories!

I had to send in a baby picture of BC to school yesterday for a class book that they are making. I had a lot of fun looking back on ALL of the pictures that we've taken of him. Gosh, he was such a beautiful baby! :) (Not too shabby now, if I do say so myself!) His teachers loved the photo of him from when he was about 15 months old. Both of them said, "Oh! It looks JUST like him still!" I am so thankful that he was as young as he was when we adopted him. I'm thankful that we do have pictures of him from our visit when he was 9 months old and I'm thankful that I did print a photo of him when he was near 5 months old from the Russian Database. The one thing that STILL makes me sad is that I did not print a picture of him that I originally saw on the Database...he was SO tiny, probably only a few weeks, or maybe a month old. It's in my mind, but not anywhere that will be available for him. :(

Well, he at least will have THOUSANDS of photos that I've taken along the way!

Enjoy these 2 cute pictures (the real close-up is the one I sent to school) of our baby Bear Cub! Have a good weekend! :)

Bear Cub-isms :)

• Tonight at bedtime, I told BC that I loved him and I also said, "You are such a good boy, you know that, right?" And his reply was, "Yes, I know that. And you're a good girl, Mommy."
• Also tonight, we talked about potentially finding a train show to attend sometime. On my way out of his room, he said, "Let's check online for that train show in the morning, Mommy." Wow - even a 3-year-old knows computer lingo! :)

Busy weekend!

YUM! My sweet hubbie gave me these sweets for Valentine's Day. So tempting! Maybe they'll last through the week??

Bear Cub sporting his team shirt at soccer! He's # 9 (no reason...just what the coach handed us)

Power kick! He and Zoe have been playing soccer in the yard too. Yes, our dog plays soccer...and she's GOOD!! He could learn a lot from her. Of course, she doesn't kick the ball, she gets with her mouth, but wow, she is fast and has some skills!

After one of his kicks, running off the field to us, so proud!

Zoe helping to open his Valentine present. She is one nosy puppy!

Introducing Biscuit to his newest pup. They are kissing because the new pup has a heart that says "Kiss Me" around his neck.

BC made the CUTEST card for us at school. He even drew a little person with yellow hair and blue eyes to go along with his hand prints. The card says, "Guess how much I love you? THIS MUCH!" He was really proud. :)

Enjoying his Valentine treats from Mimi...check out that FROG!! Adorable!

Zoe loving her new gift.

Hello and Happy Belated Valentine's Day! We had a busy, busy weekend...starting with another soccer game on Saturday. Go Frogs! You'll see that the kids got their team shirts and look SO cute in them! Bear Cub did pretty well. Actually, he gave a couple of great kicks during the game, it's just that he needs to stick with it afterwards! He's so happy to have kicked the ball that he comes running off the field to us, saying, "I did it!' No hands in this game though, so maybe he learned that much from the previous week. It was pretty chilly out, so the game went quicker with only a halftime break instead of quarters. I liked it better that way. It seemed to keep BC's interest a bit more too. Then it was home to get ready for our friends' birthday party! BC had fun helping our friends E & J celebrate. I thought for sure he was worn out from all of THAT, but once we were home, he and Daddy decided to go on a bike ride to the park. And not just our neighborhood park, but one in another section of the community. I had to go pick them up, as Daddy didn't think the cub would make it home. BUT, he did really good getting there! :) Of course, Bear Cub fell asleep watching one of his shows around 4 p.m. that day and got in a quick power nap before his baby-sitter came at 5. Daddy and I headed to Outback and then had ice cream out. We had a great date night and BC and the sitter survived just fine! Remember the passionate good-night kiss after the last sitting experience? Well, BC went for it AGAIN! He LOVES this girl! She tried to give him the cheek again, but he just won't have it. She might as well give it up...just pucker up for this boy of mine! ;)

Our weather was beautiful on Sunday, so we spent the entire day outside! It was fantastic. Walking, going to the park, and just enjoying being at home and in our yard. We got LOTS of fresh air that day!

So, here we are...Monday over with and charging full speed ahead into the rest of the week. School tomorrow for Bear Cub and probably our weekly trip to the library in the afternoon. He asked me about that one today...we just ran out of time!

We went to McDonald's tonight for dinner -- oh, so healthy, right?!? But BC was SO good. He even ate all of his nuggets! Daddy had to bring the work pick-up truck home, so BC was so excited to get to ride in that to dinner (car seat transferred in...no worries!). He even told us how excited he was and THEN at dinner, he said, "I am so impressed that Daddy brought the truck home!" OH REALLY!?!?! His vocabulary never ceases to amaze us...he's one smart and verbal cookie!

Enjoy the rest of the week!!

Fun at the State Fair (yee-haw!)

On Monday, we headed to the Fair with Mimi! We always used to go when I was little, so I was excited to get Bear Cub there. Not so much for the rides, but for the animals and just the whole Fair "experience." It was uncrowded with beautiful weather -- lots of fun!! You can't go to the Fair without some sticky, yummy cotton candy! Mmmmm!

Check out the sign for the Krispy Kreme Donut Burger -- a beef patty between 2 donuts...HEART ATTACK SPECIAL! No, we did NOT have that...just couldn't resist the signage for these foods!

More interesting foods...the fried specials of the Fair. Deep fried BUTTER?? And Pepsi? What?!?!?

Yum!

Feeding some donkeys at the Fair...he also fed goats and some sheep and got to pet all sorts of other animals. There were even giraffes! While in this "barn" there was a mama cow that gave birth to a calf while we were in there! Pretty cool!

Checking out a 1960 helicoptor

The one ride he went on -- super fast fire trucks that went around in a circle! He was a bit taken back by the speed of it (me too!) and by lap 2, his little face was crumpling. But, with a little encouragement, he started to "steer" and seemed to have fun after all. I was about to have the guy call it quits for him!

Sucking on a tube of peach honey. Ooh! It was good! This part of the Fair is called "Cracker Country" and is all about "old time" living. It's pretty interesting! About 6 years ago when I was teaching, we took a field trip to this exhibit.

Cheese! with Mimi

We had a great day together! :)

Last week's Family Fun

Look at the little "gift" that BC left for his baby cousin. What baby girl doesn't need her own scorpion?? ;)

Oh, so in love with baby!

Great Grandpa & Grandma...and a collection of puppies too!

"Decorating" Grandpa with some pups

Bear Cub is very fortunate to have GREAT-grandparents, in addition to the "regulars" (that's his way of distinguishing them all.). Last Thursday, we headed over to Clearwater so we could visit with his Great Grandpa & Grandma that were in town from Indiana. We had a great afternoon and dinner visit with the WHOLE family and then we were happy to have them here at our house on Friday afternoon for lunch. It was a great visit for us all!

Saturday Soccer

Heading off the field...he can run FAST! Woo-eee!

Trying to get in the mix...

Lined up, ready to start the game.

Hanging with some of his teammates...fellow Frogs.

Ooooh...he wants to pick that ball up SO bad!

Practicing some kicks...actually not too bad!

He was VERY interested in the goal area. We had to keep telling him to get out of the net. No goalies yet for the 3-year-olds!

Hi! Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Right now, Bear Cub is playing trains and has Animal Planet's "Puppy Bowl" on. Talk about cute! He has his puppies out too, having them take turns going "in" for the game. :)

We had a very fun Saturday! It BC's first soccer practice and game! Yes, we signed him up to give it a try! I didn't tell him, knowing that he'd say, "No, I just want to be a frog scientist!" so on our way there, we kept telling him that he was just going to have some outside play time where he could run around and kick a ball if he wanted to. He had to have shin guard socks -- which we told him were "frog socks" (Oh, the things we say and do to make things easier!) and once on the field, he turned to me and asked, "Mommy, why do all the kids have these BIG socks on?" Pretty funny! So, the kids "practiced" for 15 min. and then had a 45 min. "game." Or 45 min. of dashing around the field with maybe 2 or 3 kids really understanding what to do the with the ball! It was so cute though and Bear Cub looked adorable out there. He was very willing to get out there and made a couple of attempts to run for the ball. Need to work on the whole "Don't use your hands in soccer" concept...he just wants to pick it up! ;) We were really proud of him for getting out there and having fun. We only had to re-direct him a few times! So, we have 3 more weeks of soccer, and then it's on to 4 weeks of T-Ball. Oh! AND...his team is officially called "The Frogs" now! The coach asked for some team name suggestions, so I told BC to tell him that he liked frogs. Bear Cub marched right up to the coach and told him and the suggestion went unopposed....so there you go! Too funny!

Hopefully BC will be happy to go back next Saturday. It's totally a non-pressure, just for fun, kind of thing put on by the YMCA. I'll keep you posted! Enjoy the pictures from Bear Cub's big soccer day! :)

Photo fun :)

This boy loves for his daddy to "jump" him...he can really FLY! :)

Take flight!