One Of Those Days

We had one of those days on Monday afternoon/evening.  You know, the kind of day when life just seems perfect.  The sun shines brighter than normal, the air is cooler and cleaner, life just seems sweet, and you know that you are beyond blessed.  I have these moments more often then I recognize.  I am way too quick, however, to complain when I feel overwhelmed but I try to be equally appreciative of the sweet moments when things are just so, so good.  I know I'm not as acknowledging of these moments, but I do try.  I'm a work in progress.

Our afternoon started with bringing home two of the boys best friends from school, Nathan and Drew.  We went straight to Bampaw and Nana's house to visit with Brookie and Landon who had spent the day with Bampaw.  We spent a little time visiting with them as well as Aunt Sissy and then headed home.  Joey had a soccer game that evening and his usual cheering section consisting of Nana, Bampaw, and Oma were in attendance to root on Joe Bug. 

Joey was on fire.  He played so awesome and scored two goals!

He was so proud of himself as were all of us.  I was equally proud of my big boy who couldn't contain his pride in his little brother.  Ben jumped up and cheered for Joe and I had tears in my eyes watching him.  Awesome.

We ended up going out to dinner after the game at a local mexican restaurant with Nana, Bampaw, and Oma.  While at the restaurant, no joke, we saw 22 people we knew.  It was nuts.  And wonderful.  I love our town and the people in it.  It was such a cozy, fun night and I loved every minute of it.  My very favorite part was that my big boy wanted to sit by me and ended up leaning on me and snuggling most of the meal because he was tired.  That almost never happens so it was a definite treat!

I love my life.  Sometimes I have to remind myself of that but it was easy to remember Monday night.

Moves Like Jagger

There is a popular song on the radio right now by a band called Maroon 5 called "Moves Like Jagger."  The chorus is something like "You want the moves like Jagger?  I got the moves like Jagger.  I got the mooooooooves like Jagger."  Anyway, it is the boys FAVORITE song right now and at any given point during the day someone in our house is singing it and dancing.  Today, I picked Joe and his friend Drew up from school and his teachers were giggling at how wound up Joey had been at school all day.  When asked why, they told him he was "just so happy to be there!"  He also told me later (and Drew confirmed) that he had started dancing during play time and singing "I got the moves like Jagger.  I got the moves like Jagger."  Never a dull moment with my Joe.

I have to say, today was a good day

No one will be cheering louder as the cars start crossing the finish line at tomorrow's Indy Car race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway then yours truly.  I am so grateful for the opportunites that Dean's part-time work with Firestone provide our family, the wonderful people we have met, the great time that I know Dean has when he is working, etc.  But.  I MISS MY HUSBAND.  He works a lot of hours as it is at his full-time job so the extra trips with Firestone wear on the boys and I and I just want him home.  What can I say, we love the guy and feel a huge void when he is gone.  It is fitting that this race year end with a long trip and Dean being gone five days and five nights.  Boo. 
After being crabby for two days and moping around, I decided enough was enough.  There is fun to be had, even with daddy gone.  So we were going to have fun today, darn it!

The day started off freezing our tushies off at Joey's 9 a.m. soccer game.  Joey loves playing soccer and today his passion and hard work translated into a GOAL!  His last goal this season, quite honestly, was kind of a fluke.  His foot connected with the ball at the exact right time, right in front of the goal, and the ball crossed the line.  It definitely counted, but today's goal was a thing of beauty with Joey kicking the ball away from the crowd of kids trying to get it and then breaking away from the group and charging straight down the field with a sweet but confident kick through the net.  Way to go Joey!!  Ben had the biggest smile on his face and looked up at me "that was sweet!"  I wish Joey could have seen how proud of him his big brother was.

Following the soccer game we met up with Nana and headed to our favorite pumpkin patch.  The boys and I laughed at our uncany ability to always pick the coldest day of the fall to go pick out our pumpkins.  The patch was definitely chilly but we had a great time. 

The boys climbed the haystack,

posed for a picture with Nana (of course Nana was the cow!),

Ben checked out the spooky strawbale maze,

and we all navigated the corn maze.
Ben rode some tractor bicycles and Joey checked out the tractor slide,

and then it was time to board the hayride and head out to the pumpkin patch.

As always, Joe didn't see a pumpkin he didn't like and we had to keep reminding him that he got to pick two (one to carve and one to paint...though he somehow hustled Nana into five or six I think, funny how that works!) and Ben couldn't make up his mind.  He looked and looked and looked and finally found one that he actually was able to pull off the vine, which I think was the big selling point of that particular pumpkin.

We hustled home to drop Nana off (she was meeting great-grandma for a doctor's appointment) and then the boys and I headed to Steak n' Shake for lunch.  We were all sleepy but starving so we enjoyed the food and decided to head home for some snuggling on the couch and to watch our new favorite movie, The Sandlot. 

As I type this, Ben is playing across the street and Joey is happily painting one of his small pumpkins.  Life is good, and though I still wish Dean was here, it is nice to know that the boys and I can still have fun on our own!

sugar and spice and everything nice

My oldest son is on the phone right now.  With a girl.  The same girl who made Ben a "get well card" last week and left it on our doorstep after he missed a day of school.  The same girl who has now called our house three days in a row.  The same girl who lives across the street and ended up coming over last night.  The same girl who elicited high-pitched screams from Ben and his bestfriend, Nathan, when she called last night and after being told that Ben couldn't come to her house but accepting his offer for her to come hang out with Ben and Nathan at our house.  The same little girl who ended up having dinner with us last night and asked Ben to walk her home because it was dark.  The same little girl who evidently started singing "Ben and Abigail (that is her) sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g." (what??!!). The same little girl whose mom texted me later last night and said that Abby had yelled at her upon getting home that she "had ruined everything.  Ben was totally going to hug me goodnight but you scared him away" because her mom met them in the driveway.  I did tell Ben this morning about that text and Ben made a face and said "What?  I wasn't going to hug her.  She's crazy."  That's my boy.

Oh Joe.

I was very ill yesterday with a stomach bug, thus I was a bit off my game.  Joey is really into getting himself dressed these days so Dean layed his clothes out and then left the room to make breakfast for the boys.  Joey came out of his room later, dressed, and ready to go.  My friend Angela picked him up to take him to school for me since I felt like death.  Several hours later, after Dean picked him up from school (I was still dying), Joey came running into my bedroom giggling "Hi mom.  You feeling better? I didn't wear underwear to school!"  Good grief.  Later in the evening, after Dean had taken both boys to soccer practice and was running a bath for Joe, I heard Dean say from the bathroom "Joey!  Did you not wear underwear to soccer practice?  You have got to start wearing underwear, buddy."  Commando Joe.

That brings us to today.  I am feeling better but still a little crummy.  Joey and I headed out to the grocery store this morning (I confirmed that he was wearing underwear before we left).  Joey decided to walk today rather than ride in the cart and was doing a great job until we got to the checkout and he was antsy and couldn't keep his hands to himself.  I decided to initiate a game of "Simon Says" to refocus him.  It was going great until Joey started playing the role of "Simon."  It started innocently, "simon says touch your nose.  simon says touch your head" but as he got more into it, his voice got louder, and he developed an audience.  And that is when he shouted "Simon says touch your penis!"  Seriously, Joe?  I told him that was inappropriate so he amended it to "Simon says touch the hole your pee comes out of."  Again, I say, good grief, Joey.