TRADITION

TRADITION!! Every Memorial Day for as long as I can remember my parents would open the pool for the FIRST time that year, the only catch ......it was UNHEATED, it was a big to-do! My Dad would usually end up chasing me around the swimming pool and when he finally caught up to me he would pick me up, walk onto the diving board and toss me in! Haha, yeah fun memories. Well now that I am all grown up, and #1 I am totally out of shape and probably couldn't run around too long #2 I am not as lite as I used to be and would probably give my dad a hernia if he even tried to pick me up, let alone toss me over #3 I like to think that I am a little smarter now that I am grown up than I was when I would run around laughing, screaming while my dad chased me....so with that being said, I am happy Henry was so TOUGH and carried on the Memorial Day tradition this year.

Harrison thought about it, he got a 'Swimmer' on, but in the end wouldn't even dip his toes in the water.

I will admit there is NO WAY I would have jumped in. It was overcast, breezy and in the low 50's, and that was just the weather!!

Inside the pool the water....well it was COLD we are talking Hypothermic temps!

Well, Henry invited his good friend Owen over (he lives next to Gpa & Gma) and he is just as crazy and adventurous as Henry.

We of course had to get the BEFORE picture where they are all smiles

DURING where I have never seen Henry's eyes opened so wide, and him SPLASH so fast

And the AFTER picture, the "BRRR I'm cold, what the heck was I thinking?!?!" haha
WAY TO REPRESENT H!

If you give your boys some chalk

If you give your boys some chalk, they might draw .....

a linewrite a wordmake a colorful display of FIREWORKS!
Draw ON their brother

heck, they just might trace each other
they can color on a scooter or a bike

and if you sit on it, this is what your bottom will look like........

But if you give a mom some chalk, she will draw...

SPONGEBOB!

Stampin' up

Welcome to Stampin’ Up! For over 20 years we’ve been building relationships through sharing the joy of creativity. If you enjoy card making, paper crafting, or need scrapbooking supplies, you’ll find amazing products for sale in the Stampin’ Up! online store. You can also locate a demonstrator in your area to help you place orders from the Idea Book & Catalog, earn free products, and give you fun craft ideas!

Wow, doesn't that sound SO fun? Now, I've known a lot of people that have gotten into the whole Stampin' Up thing , and they end up making such cute cards, and scrapbook pages. Well I have yet to get caught up in the craze, and am not sure if I really ever will. I would like to show you the kind of Stampin' Up that takes place at my house..........

It is kid friendly, your kids will LOVE it!

You can choose from a variety of shapes, sizes and colors!

Not too time consuming, it's pretty QUICK and EASY

And best part of all, it's WASHABLE!

LET's GO TIGERS!! :)

So, I sent Derek to sign Henry up for soccer this year............and then ended up being the coach! Thanks a lot bud! lol No it wasn't ALL his fault, they called and asked me if I would be willing to coach. And I had like 5 minutes to think about it, and told them YES. Yeah, I know part of me is still wondering how I was able to accept. lol

I went into to the season thinking about my first year of soccer, really the only thing I remember is I was the only girl on the team.....I also thought frequently about how my mom coached me (U8) in soccer for oh, 8+ years. We were able to spend QUALITY time together, we developed many FUN memories, became great FRIENDS and we were GOOD!! I thought to myself that it would be nice to be able to make those memories with Henry.
I will admit after the first practice I went home thinking to myself, well to be honest I was speechless, but the words "Oh goodness!" came to my mind. I never understood the phrase "They're like 4-foot whirling dervishes. I don't even know what a whirling dervish is but that's what they're like." from the soccer movie 'KICKING & SCREAMING' till after my first practice, except some of my players were barely 3 foot tall. lol Derek asked how the first practice went, and I said something like ,"Well, one girl just sat and picked the grass, another girl just laid down on the grass with her eyes closed the whole time, and one little boy kept poking his fingers in the mud..." At least I didn't have a 'nose picker' right?!? Yeah I wasn't really feeling much hope! lol
After our first game, I had a glimmer of hope, and thought, "this might not be too bad, if we win just 2 games I will be happy" You see out of 8 players only 3 had played before. Henry and his 2 friends Conner and Quinn. Other than that I had 'rookies'. And they were YOUNG. The team was a U6 team so I was dealing with 5-6 year olds, and I have never really worked with kids other than my own. Young Women, yes, but not KIDS! I knew from the start that this was going to be "interesting" to say the least. I was really excited to be able to hang out with Henry, and of course lil H attended all the practices. Infact, I am sure he would have gone into the games had I let him, he seemed to know what to do, and he probably would've done a great job, plus he was the same height as half the team!

So as the season went on, I saw potential, and became a total Optimist. I will admit the first few practices were probably, not the most productive it was hard to 'try' to show or teach them something, and then you spend a good amount of time wondering if what you just showed them "registered". But, when I couldn't think of any thing else for them to do, I would just have them scrimmage for the last 20-25 minutes!!
As the season progressed so did the kids, it looked like maybe they had listened and learned at practices. They would RUN, and KICK the ball. There was no sitting on the field, or playing in the mud during the games. I especially thought it was nice, there were several games where EVERY player was able to score at least 1 goal. Seeing the smiles on these kids after scoring a goal was a nice feeling! They quickly learned that after scoring a goal they had to go back and stand around the circle. As a coach I just had to make sure they were on the correct side of the field. lol

With the experienced players, I encouraged spreading out, and passing to the other teammates so they could also score a goal. They were learning how to pass, the importance of it, but most importantly TEAMWORK. It was really cool to see them learn and grow!
Well after playing our 10 games I am happy to say that the Tigers ended the season with a 10-0 record :) And looking back I had a lot of fun, and I am hoping each kid learned something!
WAY TO GO TIGERS!!

Hanz & Franz Hardy

Yesterday the boys decided to both go shirtless and came and showed me their "mussos" as Harrison would say. They were nice enough to give me a front row seat for the "gun show", at no cost (except maybe a little sanity) After I took the picture I laughed, it reminded me of these 2 characters that I saw on TV growing up, Hanz & Franz.......Their famous quote was "Hi I'm Hanz & I'm Franz, and WE are here to PUMP (clap) YOU UP!" Renaming the boys crossed my mind only for a brief second. lol Though Hanz Hardy would work...it IS an H name! haha totally kidding!I guess they could be a modern version of Hanz & Franz, ya know minus the muscles, and foreign accent! I know what they could say... "Hi I'm Big H & I'm Little H and we are here to BLOW (clap) POPPERS!" lol yeah that would work. You see after flexing for me (Little H actually flexed SO hard he 'passed gas' haha) they stayed shirtless and chased each other around the house laughing, tackling or pinning and would blow a popper on the back, arm, or belly of the other! It was rather amusing to watch.
I LOVE my little Hanz and Franz!

Better now, than later

I guess you could say I am a thinker! I tend to think a lot, enough at times that Derek has told me to stop. lol I know that I am still quite new at parenting where my oldest is only 6 1/2, so I have quite a bit to learn and experience. I feel very fortunate in the way that I was raised, my parents were awesome, they were my friends, but most importantly my parents! Don't get me wrong, I definitely consider my parents to be my friends, just ask Derek whose hand I grabbed and raised on our wedding day, when President Featherstone told us to grab the hand of our best friend and raise it up...........yeah. Anyways, I consider myself VERY lucky to be able to get parenting advice when I feel I need it, whether it be from my Mom, Dad, or Anita. They have let me 'vent', express any questions or concerns I may have about raising my 2 boys, it is nice it's like a PARENTING LINE 24/7 lol.
I have wondered a lot lately, if I am doing an 'okay' job with raising my boys. Dr. Clarke was right, he told us when Henry was born, "Kids don't come with an OWNERS manual, and there's a NO RETURN policy!" If only they did (on the Owners Manual). Sometimes I think that it would be nice if kids came with an ON/OFF button! haha Well, they don't!! I came across this quote, and liked it a lot!! I think that I will print it off and have it in my room so I can see it EVERYDAY!! It really hit me hard and made me realize, that I DON'T want to look back and think the same thing! I don't want to be a would've, could've, should've kind of parent. So I think I will start working on it NOW rather than LATER!! I want to live with NO REGRETS!! here it is ENJOY:

If I had my child to raise over again
I'd build self-esteem first and the house later
I'd finger paint more and point the finger less
I would do less correcting and more connecting
I'd take my eyes off my watch and watch with my eyes
I would care to know less and know to care more
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites
I'd stop playing serious and seriously play
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars
I'd do more hugging and less tugging
I'd see the oak tree in the acorn more often
I would be firm less often and affirm much more
I'd model less about the love of power
And more about the power of love.
Diane Loomans

Mothers Day 2011

Today was Mothers Day! I was lucky enough to have 2 little guys surprise me this morning with gifts One of them gave me a fun book about moms, the other gave the best gift I could ask for, a homemade flower and card!
We had the opportunity to talk to Jeff today, it was really nice to hear his voice. The most exciting thing about talking to him, was finding out that the next time I hear his voice.....it will be at the airport!! Henry had a fun time talking with him, he told him about his soccer season, school, how he lost his first tooth, and of course most importantly the NBA playoffs! lol
My Grandma Mary was able to come to my parents house, she looked beautiful! She was accompanied by 2 of her sons and her 2 daughters (Front row Brent, Grandma Mary, Danny/Back row: Susan, my Mom)

I thought a lot about my mom and everything she has done for me in my life and continues to do. I am so thankful for her and the example she is, and the influence she has been. I am also very thankful for Dereks mom, and the wonderful influence she had in his life which resulted in one INCREDIBLE man. My mom and Anita are both awesome Grandmas for my boys!
It was a good day! I am so thankful for the blessing I have to be a mother!

A few things learned in Motherhood

What a great day today was, it started out with 2 handsome little boys coming into my room and giving me a cute book, and the best kind of card and flower......homemade! It has been 7 years since I celebrated my first Mothers Day, in a way it seems like so long ago that I was 4 months pregnant with Henry. Then in a way it feels like it was just yesterday. I am no veteran in motherhood by any means, but I feel like I am learning and growing everyday. So here are some things that I have learned about motherhood over the last 7 years:

-There is nothing like feeling the first kick, movement of the baby inside the womb, it is an amazing undescribable feeling, one of the coolest feelings EVER!

-I never knew how strong a bond could be, between myself and someone I had yet to meet or see

-Epidurals were invented for a reason.

-It is best for the husband to wait until AFTER his wife has received her epidural, to tell her when she is having a contraction, and when it peaks....lol (while in labor)

-There is nothing like holding your newborn baby for the first time

-After having a child, you cannot even imagine life without them

-I never knew just how much my heart could love, until I had my first kid! It seriously grew at least 3 sizes! Not that it was 2 sizes too small...lol ;)

-The saying, "Mothers work from son up, til son down" is TRUE!

- No matter how overwhelmed, or stressed I may be about life there are 4 words that somehow make any worry or care in the world disappear...'Mom I LOVE YOU'

-The love of a child is UNCONDITIONAL, it is so pure

-There is no greater feeling then holding and snuggling with your child

-The best hugs are from the smallest people! (my kids)

-Sometimes the best kisses tend to be a little wet (my kids)

- There is no greater job in my mind than being a MOTHER

- It is the SIMPLE, LITTLE things in life that count

-My greatest blessings in life, call me MOM

-Though they have the same parents, your children can be as different as night and day

I am so thankful for my boys :) They make me want to be a better person, they keep me going, they are the best thing(s) to ever happen to me, along with their father of course! lol I LOVE Derek so much also!

Now you see it, now you don't

Today was a pretty important day for Henry. Not because it is a Friday, but because from here on out May 6th 2011 will forever be remembered as the day that Henry Hardy, LOST his first tooth!! It had been loose for about 3 weeks, there it stubbornly sat, like a tenant about to be evicted but was in no hurry, while the new tenant was ready to move in. The only problem.... it hadn't quite gotten to the 'ready to pull' state until today. Henry had a lot of mixed feelings about losing "his first tooth. His biggest reason he didn't want to lose it was "it has been with him for 5 1/2 years!" (that's what he said) I think that he also might be a lot like his mother in the sense, he doesn't like change and he tends to think too much about things at times which can lead to worrying!!
He is quite the lucky little boy. Grandpa Manning told him that he would give him $5 when his tooth came out, plus as parents Derek and I of course threw in a little bribery also, actually, I prefer the term 'incentive'. lol Then when you think about the Tooth Fairy coming, it was just a WIN,WIN situation for Henry. I think that Henry will be taking the family out to dinner this weekend.......you know in honor of Mothers Day! jk

It wasn't an easy ordeal to go through. I guess the saying, "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it" could apply in a weird, unusual sense throughout this losing of the tooth adventure. At the same time, it made me realize just how important it is at an early age to develop a level of trust between parent and child. Henry HAD to know that he could trust me in order to get it out, especially when I told him that it wouldn't hurt.
So, finally after pulling it down as far as he could, which was FAR, he decided to let me try to pull it ONCE! Forget the saying, 'Third times a charm!' because our saying today would be 'FIRST times a charm!' lol In honor of the momentous occasion here are some pictures! ENJOY! :)

A little nervous (yesterday)

finger exercises.......wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle

Harrison offering his support and encouragement by telling Henry to open his mouth

Henry pulling it as far as he could
Now you see it.........(his lips are a heart shape lol)

Now you don't.......(looks to be a little in shock! lol)
ALWAYS apply pressure to slow the bleeding

whoop there it is!

What a priceless smile!! (not really;)



Something kind of cute, while I have been blogging, Henry has been walking around the house repeatedly saying, " I can't believe I LOST a tooth, it's so AWESOME, I didn't even feel it!" lol