Boys and their Bikes

My dad and Joan came down for a visit Sunday and rode their Honda Gold Wing. Joan has had a BBBAAADDD stomach virus so we haven't seen her or Dad in a few weeks. Since she felt better last week, they thought they would ride down to see everyone. Nathan got to ride on the motorcycle with Papaw to the restaurant for lunch. Will got to ride from the restaurant to the house. I don't think I've ever seen him sit sooo still and grin so much as he did on the back of Dad's bike. After lunch, we sat outside in the backyard and enjoyed the beautiful day and the company. Will, Nathan and Papaw

Dad and Joan

Melanie, Will and Andrew
At first, Andrew was excited but quickly decided it wasn't for him.

Another shot of Will, Nathan and Papaw just after they pulled up

Will and Nathan

Right after Dad and Joan left, I took Hannah to a birthday party for a former classmate. (Amery's mom moved and went to the school to change her address. When she did, she found out that they were in another school district so Amery had to change schools about four weeks into the school year.) The party was at Chuck E. Cheese's and everyone had a great time.

Mike's car, our Saturn, had to have the brakes repaired today. The car was leaking brake fluid on Saturday and Sunday it was getting really hard to stop the car. They replaced the master cylinder, the rotors and I'm not sure what all else. They were able to save something but I don't remember what. It was suppose to take about 1 1/2 hours and ended up taking five. While at the shop, the mechanics also fixed the leaky valve in the engine. Now, we can save money since we don't have to put a quart of oil in it every few days.

Mike went on in to work because he had a softball game at 7:30. Oh, as a side note, MIKE'S TEAM, THE TIGERS, WON THEIR GAME!!! YEAH!!! They play a double header tomorrow at 6:30 and 7:30 if it isn't rained out.

While Mike was playing ball, Mom came over, along with Melanie and Nathan, for dinner and we celebrated her birthday. Hannah's friend Gracie also stayed and celebrated with us. We had poppyseed chicken casserole, green beans, corn, and garlic bread. It's a good thing I made a triple batch of poppyseed chicken. There was one batch left for Mike to eat when he got home. Everyone ate great without having to be told.

Homework

Getting Hannah and Will to do their homework can be a challenge. With Hannah, you have to make sure she does everything she is told to do. Now, doing work the teacher gave her like worksheets is not a problem. She flies through them and usually does a great job with very few mistakes. The difficulty lies in the work I give her. I have Hannah write her spelling and vocabulary words (with the definitions) three times each every day to make sure she knows them. She likes to rush through them and doesn't pay attention. She would rather play or aggravate her brothers or her friend Gracie.

Man, it's a chore to get Will to do his homework. I have to sit beside him the whole time and make him do his work. He has to practice writing the letter the class is working on for the week. Today, this exercise took over two hours to practice writing the letter S on four lines. If I leave the room or start working on something else, Will stops what he is doing and starts to play. Even if I am helping Gracie or Hannah with something on their homework, Will starts playing around because my focus isn't on him anymore. AUGH!!!

When we come home from school, I usually get the kids to sit at the kitchen table and work on their homework. This way it is over and done with and they have the rest of the evening to play. It comes in handy when one of the kids has practice, like soccer or baseball, because I don't have to worry about getting homework done along with getting a bath and ready for bed. I need to figure out what schedule works best for Will. Tonight, he finished his letters (and his homework assignments for the rest of the week) after we came home from his friend, Will G's birthday party. There was no arguing and he did it fairly quickly. The bad thing about letting Will do it later is it makes his bedtime later because of baths and other bedtime rituals.

Changing the subject, I have the names of the kids' soccer teams. Hannah is on the Wildfire team and Will is on the Tigers. They each practice on a different night. Hannah's practice is on Tuesdays and Will's is on Thursdays. What fun for me and Andrew!!! At least on Tuesdays I'll have someone to talk to and Andrew will have someone to play with. My friend Tracy will be there while her son Will practices then. Her youngest, Seth, is four days younger than Andrew and they like to play together, at least as well as 19 month old boys play.

Busy, Busy

Boy, this weekend was busy!! Mike watched the kids while I joined my MOPS Steering Team to plan for this next year. MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. I will be in charge of activities we have outside our regular meeting dates. The other girls and I met Friday night for a "Get To Know You" session and spent the night at a local hotel. Saturday we planned our meetings. Our theme this year, taken from MOPS International, is "Adventures in Mothering" and is based on the Ephesians 3:18 verse "... how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ..." We even started a blog (www.cornerstonemops.blogspot.com) so we could post events, sales and anything else we wanted to let others know about.

The kids really enjoyed having Daddy to themselves (though Mike did say they kept asking for me and said they missed me). Saturday Mike took them to Chick-fil-a to eat and play. The kids rode their bikes and played in the backyard on the new play set. Saturday night we ordered pizza and enjoyed being together as a family.

Sunday we went to the YMCA and swam after church. Hannah played with a friend from school and some friends from church while we were there. The crowd was smaller than expected. I guess once the kids start school parents don't think about taking their kids swimming anymore. The temperature was great and the water was cold.

Hannah and Will should start soccer practice this week. Their games start the weekend after Labor Day, September 6th I think. When I hear from their coaches and get information about their teams, I'll post it here.

It's so quiet!!

It is so quiet here right now. Hannah and Will are at school and Andrew is taking a nap. Boy, do I love it!!! This is nice!!!

Mike hurt his ankle Monday night during his softball game. On a hard grounder, the ball took a bad hop of the infield and caught the outside of his ankle. He did finish the game - went 3 for 3 batting. He thinks he should get hurt more often. Mike worked from home yesterday to ice his ankle and keep it from swelling. This morning it was still sore.

The kids had their soccer evaluations this past Saturday and should find out what teams they are on sometime next week. There is another set of evaluations this Saturday for those who missed the last one. The coaches will get their team lineups next week and start calling their players. Mike is going to coach Hannah's team this year. He coached Will's last year and wanted to rotate. Hannah, Will, and Nathan, all played on teams called the Tigers last year. It was great for me that way I didn't have to remember which team I was rooting for. It would be nice if it was the same way this year. We'll see.