Soccer Mom Begins

My new soccer mom role began this weekend. Aidan had his first soccer game of the season yesterday. He has several school friends on his team so he was excited to play. He hustled out in the field and kicked every chance he got. Now those kicks didn't always land on the ball so thank goodness for those shin guards. The opposing team had several of his school friends as well, this added to the fun.
As soccer mom I stood on the sidelines, cheered on cue while working the moms for a carpool schedule for practices. You see, this is just the first of 3 soccer players in the house. Unless I can help it, I'll be going to 2 practices and 2 games a week (Miles and Liam are on the same team). I'll be living the life of the quintessential soccer mom with my mini van to boot.

Mosaic Roll Call

It took months, but it's finally finished. Through the efforts of several moms, including myself, we completed this mosaic art installation as a school fundraiser. It had been eons since I last made a mosaic so having that skill revived was a bonus for me. The visual beauty that it adds to our school just makes me so proud to have taken part in this project and my kids are just thrilled to see their handprints and names out front of their school.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. The twins were finally starting kindergarten and Aidan was on to 3rd grade. For me that meant finally only one drop off. Yay, now if only they started at the same time that would be best, instead of the 1/2 hour stagger, but then that would be asking for a perfect world, wouldn't it!?

Aidan Turns 8

Hard to believe 8 yrs ago this little guy came into my world changing my whole life. He's quirky, fun, and often times thought provoking (with his many deep questions). Happy Birthday Aidan!

All House and Very Little Play

This summer has been all about houses, buying and selling and everything that goes in between. After 5 1/2 months our short sale purchase finally came through meaning we had to whip it into full speed to get our current home ready to sell. After several weeks of constant work, painting, cleaning, organizing, and landscaping, the house went on the market. In 8 days we had 2 open houses and 3 brokers tours, and ended with 3 amazing offers. We couldn't be more happy.
After all that hard work we finally decided we deserved a little rest and relaxation. We took a last minute trip to Calistoga. Thanks to my friend Rachel, I knew exactly where to go, Calistoga Hot Springs. It was a short trip, 2 days one night but oh so worth it. It was what we all needed. Lots of water play, yummy food, and a Sugar Train (candy store in a vintage train car) brought fun end to our summer.

Chabot Camping

Since this summer was about selling out house, we worked our fun around it. We needed to be away during the weekend of open houses and perfect timing, my moms group was planning a camping trip. It was the perfect thing to do, go camping. We joined in on the trip to Chabot Lake, close enough to come home should we need to get back to deal with any house issues and yes still close enough to be connected via IPhone to know (sad but true).
Despite several calls from brokers, we managed to have a good time. We took a boat tour of Chabot Lake, had great pot luck meals, and spent the evenings relaxing around a campfire (as much as we could relax given the circumstances). All in all, the boys had a great time and parents had a bit of down time.

Gross Candies Trap

Some candies are just gross and yet I find myself buying them for my kids. I'm not sure why they gravitate to the gross stuff, but they just can't seem to resist. I like to indulge them every once in a while, so we end up with disgusting things like a hotdog gummy or some awful blue raspberry taffy that sure makes you blue. That much blue dye can't possibly be good for you.