Bring on the green!!!

Friday night, after Sam's soccer practice, we went down to the fountain in Five Points. Each child was given the opportunity to dye the fountain green. They had beads and stickers, a leprechaun, and bag-pipers, but the hit was the Balloon man. He was the best I've ever seen. Although, we missed the actual dying of the fountain, we still enjoyed bumping into a few friends and watching the balloon man. Sam chose a not-so complicated sword. I'm sure it was a relief after the extremely intricate lion and elephant he had made just before he got to us. We treated Sam to pizza at Za's for doing such a great job at soccer and concluded our evening!
Saturday, we had Sam's first game. We came home and enjoyed the beautiful day and played in the yard. We had our neighbors over to cookout and enjoyed a surprise visit from Muzzy. Sam and Fulton enjoyed doing the video Karaoke with Michaela and her friend Lilly. I need to figure out how to put video footage on the blog. HMMMMMM...

Stay tuned.

Soccer Blogress

Okay, so we signed Sam up for YMCA soccer with a few church buddies and friends.

We interrupt this post for a word from Dr. Claudia...

For those of you who do not know Sam well, he is VERY reticent or as most would say...SHY. Although, we prefer to use the phrase "slow to warm up". It tends to do less psychological damage in the long run and sound a little less harsh. My pet peeve is the people who are totally unaware that children DO have feelings and they DO begin to believe about themselves what they hear repeatedly. So therefore it makes my blood boil when people lean over to him and say Oh...ARE YOU SHY???? Hearing this over and over does not leave much room for a child's personality and self-esteem to blossom. So we have taken the advice of our Doctor at Sandhills Pediatrics and signed him up for some group activities.

We had our first practice a few weeks ago. It was so precious, a little discombobulated, but definitely precious. The funny thing is, he wants to go, he gets excited about going but he just shuts down once we get there.

Bless his little heart! He'll get there!!!

Day 1-Sam's soccer status---Our Goal for this week- Just try to participate. He was little afraid but excited to get to kick the ball. I gave him full support, trying to coach him in a sport I know nothing about. He did a great job when he participated but was reluctant to do so some of the time. His coach is great...he has the patience of Job. He doesn't push him he just lets him come into it on his own. After all, it's not the World Cup, it's Half-Pint soccer!

Sam and Mommy waiting his turn and giving him a pep talk

Trying to help Coach Brandon keep some order

Put me in coach!

Day 4-Sam's soccer status---Game day! Our Goal for this week-Run on the field with your team. Sam was nervous but comfortable knowing that parents have been invited on the field too. Shannon joined "Big Red" on the field to comfort and encourage Sam. He did a great job. The other parents on the team are huge supporters of each child...so I think that helps too! I think he was really proud of himself.

Go Sam Go!!!

Run Sam!

Sam and Anna

Tid-bits in February

Donuts Anyone???

As most of you know, we have the Saturday morning Donut ritual in our house. Shannon and Sam wake up, throw on their robes, sweatshirts, slippers and/or rain boots and head for Dunkin' Donuts. It's actually quite a social event. The drive-thru line serves as the perfect place to hob-nob with other local donut getters that we know from various circuits (school, church, neighbors, bunco, etc.). This time, Fulton demanded to be a part of the action. They suited up in their drive-thru attire and completed another successful mission. We invite you all to meet us in the line on Saturdays!!! The coffee is well worth the trip!

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Goin' to Grandma's

We were packing up Sam and Fulton to go to Nana's & Papa's for the night a couple of weeks ago. Sam has a clear bag that he totes his Monster Trucks in. Little Fulton was so disgruntled because he wanted to tote some in a bag too. I found this little clear bag and we put some of Sam's not-so-favorite trucks in it and voila...He was happy as a clam. I love this picture...He looks so proud of his very own bag.

Clear bag-$1.99... Monster Trucks-$3.99... A night out with your husband- $100.00... The look of pride on your child's face-Priceless!