Sports Class

For about 3 weeks now, Lea has been taking a class called "Sports basics for Tots." It covers the basics in soccer, basketball and T-ball. Also in the class is our friend Wilder. Dan has been escorting Lea to class and they seem to be enjoying themselves. Dan took pictures at the first class which (along with the second week) focused on soccer. They stretched before class.
Stretching before class with Coach Chris (left) and Coach Liz (right)

After stretching the kids do laps.
Lea and Wilder do laps. Dan and the moms agreed that they would sign up for a class that just had the kids just doing laps around the gym. Anything to wear them out... not that anything does!


Wilder and the coaches work on passing

Lea gives the ball a mighty kick.
Lea stops the ball with the "airplane" move. A move she told Mommy all about after class.

Lea gets a sticker at the end of class.

St. Pat's 09

We had a wonderful St. Patrick's day this year. We were involved in the parade through a friend who needed a trust worthy sober driver for the float. Who comes to mind? Dan of course. 

We met up at Michael's at 8am to be at check in at 8:45. It was a bit cold and threatened to rain, but none fell. 

The float was for the ABC drinking club, named because they bar hop (on a monthly basis) alphabetically, as in a bar that starts with A, then a bar that starts with a B. We joined them at the Tipperary on T month. Lea went and had a blast with the Irish music so she is an honorary member of ABC so she fit right in.

So we joined the party. We got to sit safely (and warmly) in the truck and threw beads out the window. The waiting to get going was the hardest part (for Lea at least). But she made some grown up friends and I brought some distractions (like cartoons on the ipod). We did have one near disaster. Lea had to go potty (did I mention she's been diaper free during the day for 2 weeks... that deserves it own post but this will have to do for now.) We ran down the street looking for a potty and the nearest place was a strip club. Well, I think due to the "Let me in. My 3 year old has to pee" frantic look on my face, the strippers (and bouncers) with hearts of gold (and probably each with 2.1 children of their own) let us in to pee. So yes, Lea was in her first strip club. There were no dancers on stage. They were all milling about out front fully clothed and bundled up trying to stay warm. This was the same place we parked for free last year so I  went around extolling the virtues of the strip club with a heart of gold.

When we finally got going, the parade sped along pretty quickly. It is much shorter to be in the parade than to stand on the sidelines. It was fun to throw beads and watch the crowds. It was very powerful. It is always amazing how valuable those silly plastic beads seem in the moment. I used to call it liquid greed in the streets of New Orleans. The need for beads was almost tangible. It was no where NEAR that, but it was powerful to wave at the masses and toss the beads. Although we did get things thrown at us. We got a little rubber duck, beads and (just missed catching) a football. Some people just have to shake up the order of power!

So that's a pretty good summary. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

St. Pat's Video of the parade

Art, the dude behind it all.

Lea & Mommy's bead stash to throw.
Mommy and Daddy ready for the ride.

Michael and his girlfriends (including Lea).

Lea blowing bubbles in Raney's hat. Note the shirt that Daddy helped make the night before!

Lea and her new best friend Raney. She was awesome. She played with Lea and Wilder ALL day long. She even carried cheese stick snacks with her. She was a 3 year old's (and a mom's!) best friend! And she doesn't have kids. She was just that prepared. Also explains why she had the energy to play with Lea all day.

King of the parade, Art.

Mommy and Lea ready to start throwing beads to the awaiting crowd.

Daddy, doing his scary leprechaun impression.

On the parade route

Throwing beads from the float.

Lea on the parade route. We were stopped waiting for the authorities to check out a woman on the float 3 floats in front of us that fell off her float. I'm pretty sure she passed out drunk because I watched her fall like a bag of rocks to the ground. So we made sure the police knew it had happened and hung out in one spot for about 15 minutes. I heard the crowd cheer so I assume she got up on her own power, but by that time there was such a crowd I couldn't see anything from the truck.

After the parade we dropped off the float and truck and headed to Lisa (and Art)'s house where we met up with the Scotts and Becky. Lisa always throws an excellent party. Its a fine way to spend St. Pat's. We had burgers and hot dogs and the kids ate their weight in chips and cookies! And perhaps we drank a beer or two. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the bottle Kris was toting. With the kid strapped to her back she had both hand free for drinking, hee hee. Actually the day was so long we probably drank alot, it was just over such a long period that I never even felt tipsy. It was also cold so that seemed to hinder slamming a cold frosty one. I will take this opportunity to confess/admit/boast that I started the day with cranberry and bourbon. I had drank three or four minis of Makers Mark before the parade was over. And still... no silly rowdiness... that I remember...

Anyway... here are pictures of Art & Lisa's.

It was a pretty big crowd at Lisa's this year. Perhaps a combination of the float excitement, the additon of Art's friends and the fact that we were making up for missing it last year. 

Despite the crowd of 30-something drunks, the kids had a lot of fun. It was a little bit cold and damp. No rain, but it had poured the day or two before making everything soggy.
Lea amused herself much of the day by leaping from stone to stone throughout the yard. She had Raney and Mommy and Wilder following her on her meandering path through the yard at different points through the day.


The kids played on their own for a quite a while (oh and with Raney for about 2 hours) and then it was time for the parents (and Becky) to entertain them. Some how Kris and Becky found the energy to play 3 year old tackle.

Here Kris awaits a big tackle from one of the kids. Lea enjoyed the tackle game as much as Wilder. I love this photo. Kris always points out Creepy McSips-his-beer in the background. No, no not Chapman... the lurking one. tee hee.

Daddy kisses!

And finally, as a last ditch effort to amuse Lea I gave her my camera and told her to go take a picture of Lisa. This is what I got. Lisa's feet. Oh well.



I say "last ditch effort" as though I was trying to get Lea to stay. I was SO ready for the day to be over when we went home at 6pm. We had been up and about since 6:30 am and I was tired. I tried desperately not to be the first of our group to say "I gotta go home," and I succeeded, but I certainly didn't argue when talk of going home arose! It was a long tiring day, but lots of fun.

Lea on The Party Circuit

It has been a wonderful Spring for Lea, filled with parties and birthdays (not hers of course). Lea got invited to a party of one of the girls in the Friday playgroup. It was a lot of fun. It was kind of a big deal for me since this was her first party that was a friend she had made at playgroup, not someone she sees and likes just because Mommy and Daddy know their parents. Of course those friends are awesome too, especially when they throw a DANCE PARTY like Wilder and his Mama... but that's the second set of photos.

At Eliane's party there were 3 games of sorts. Game # 1, The Puppy Game.

Two kids "raced" to get their puppy fed, pooper scoopered (lincoln logs and a toy shovel... TOO CUTE!), bathe him, get love from his friend, walk him and put him to bed. It was so cute and fun. Here Mommy helps Lea with the puppy game.

Then they played Musical spot.It was like Musical Chairs, but one didn't get taken away. One little girl Ella was true to her spot and when someone else sat on it she became upset. It was cute. She finished the game by keeping her little bottom on the spot so no one else sat on it. Good thinking Ella.

Eliane, the birthday girl, lets out a scream as part of the musical spot game. When the music stopped and everyone was seated they got to make as much noise as possible. What is more fun for kids than to be encouraged to scream and make noise!

When the music started they got to pick a move. Running, stomping, marching, but Lea's favorite is always jumping!

Ariel, Eliane's mom also put together a magnificent Caterpillar for the kids to play with. They decorated paper circles and got to stick them on the caterpillar. Then they all put their heads through. It was very funny to watch. The kids were so cute.

And finally time for yummy little cupcakes. Ariel made them with beets which added a natural sweetness. They were very good.

We had a lot of fun at Eliane's birthday. Lea had a ball!
Eliane's Party Video


Then the next weekend it was time for Wilder Dance Party. Now I don't know who had more fun Kris or the kids, but I am pretty sure that Kris danced more.


Lea ready for the party. It was a bit chilly and Lea and I had so many errands to run that we didn't make it back to put on a party dress. But that's ok because she had her dancing shoes on! Well ok her "let's dance for one minute and then go play with Wilder's toys" shoes on. Still it was a lot of fun. Kris throws an awesome kiddo party. They were all having so much fun.

I think perhaps Kris had more fun dancing than the kids. She certainly inspired them to get moving. But at some point it turned into balloon war more than dance central. Nothing is more fun that flipping balloons at a grown up.

Hunter sat in front of his grooving Mama for several songs just soaking it up. I could not capture it on film, but this photo should be a blur of activity around a wide eyed Hunter in the middle of it all.

In full knight regalia ready to battle for Wilder's toys. She didn't have to battle, everyone shared nicely. Lea and another little boy did spend most of their time in Wilder's room, while the others danced and ran around.

This boy ate an entire bowl of candy before the parents caught on to him. He had a rainbow colored ring around his mouth. In fact after he pushed the last brightly colored ball into his mouth, he himself had a kind of rainbow aura. That's what being a kid is all about!


And some bonus pictures of a very happy niece with her Aunt Kaitlin. I believe there is the threat of a wet willy in this photo.

Aunt Kaitlin and Lea. Look at those gigantic smiles!

Once the kiddo parties were over, it was time for the old folks to have a birthday or two.
For Daddy's Birthday, he got a printer. (One of the many errands we had to run the day of Wilder's party the day before.) Was Dan surprised? Umm... No. Not after Lea came home and said "Daddy we got you a printer, won't you be surprised." Never tell a 3 year old your secrets! But he didn't know we got one with all the bells and whistles. It is a pretty darn cool all in one printer, even for Mommy. Plus it has caller ID in his office now. An unexpected bonus. Grandma Lynn made ribs and Grandpa came for dinner. We had a magnificent feast and a lovely time. I made Dan a Peanutbutter pie with peanut butter cookie and brownie crust and a peanut butter mousse on top. It was yummy, but no match for the cake Dan made for my birthday!

For Mommy's birthday Grandma took us to dinner at Red Lobster. Lea was all decked out and looked like a super star! She ate like one too. She had crab legs for dinner! She was pretty good at getting the meat out if I cracked them for her. At some point I realized I couldn't keep up with her, let alone eat my dinner. I'd cracked at least 4 legs for Lea and not had a bite of my own dinner. But we worked it out and ate like crazy.

Super star Lea.

That was just part of Mommy's birthday. Dan and I went out to dinner at a place with video games for a date night on Tuesday. Thursday was Red Lobster with Grandma. Friday lunch with the office. Plus on Friday Dan made the MOST awesome cake in the world. It was a rich dense flourless cake with chocolate mousse on top. Yes it was the year of the mousse in our house! Then on Saturday we were in the Greenville Ave. parade. But that's a whole other post!

Hockey, Hockey, Hockey

Lea went to her first Hockey game on March 8. We saw the Stars play Montreal. It was a perfect game for a 3 year old because it was at 5pm on Sunday. Just the right timie.

She wasn't crazy about all the noise, especially when I would burst out with something like "Shoot you idiot," or something equally sweet and nurturing. About 10 minutes in Lea said to me, "Mommy, I want to skip this hockey." But, with some candy and popcorn she made it though the whole game. She kept asking "Did we win?" Well... no we lost with some disappointing power play wastes and a goalie goof, but we had fun. Michael Hopens went too so that added to the fun. Here are some pictures from the game.

Lea's Interview about Mommy

this is a thing from facebook, but thought was fun to share. These were the instructions:
Ask your child(ren) to answer the questions and type their answers in.
(My comments are in parentheses.)

Lea is 3 and a half. I had Dan give this quiz to Lea to see what she'd say when I wasn't around. I intended to give her the same questions about Daddy, but didn't get a chance.


1. What is something mom always says to you?
Eat your dinner

2. What makes mom happy?
me helping put up decorations (we decorated Daddy's office for his birthday and she helped tape things)

3. What makes mom sad?
me not pooping in the potty (gosh maybe I've been to hard on her, but I think we're over that struggle so I'll lighten up!)

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
she tickles me (Dan wrote, "this was followed by a giggle")

5. What was your mom like as a child?
me

6. How old is your mom?
I don't know

7. How tall is your mom?
bit, tall, really tall

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
work (hmm... just because its what I do most, not so much my favorite, although we have talked about that I like what I do.)

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
she goes to work

10.If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Because she is going to a ball (we're big on the princess thing right now!)

11.What is your mom really good at?
surprising me

12.What is your mom not very good at?
Tickling me twice (we don't know what that means!)

13.What does your mom do for her job?
work, worky (I'm putting that on my resume)

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
so... no she gave up soda. Umm... PIZZA (I gave up soda for lent)

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
that she likes me, and I'm the best kid she ever had (And that's the truth!)

16.If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
a ghost (hmm?)

17.What do you and your mom do together?
play outside (hooray for not saying watch tv together!)

18.How are you and your mom the same?
we have hair, and we have ears and nose. But we don't have the same jammies. we have foots and legs.

19.How are you and your mom different?
we don't have the same Pooh Bear jammies

20.How do you know your mom loves you?
Because she is the best mommy in the world (aww!)