Soccer, Shopping and Home Repair

Kaitlyn recently began her soccer career.  We were very proud to take her to her first game.  We were also slightly apprehensive.  You see Kaitlyn is not the most persevering of our children, nor is she the most brave.  In fact you only have to look at her the wrong way and she is likely to burst into tears followed by a screaming fit for which, when asked, she will have no idea what the reason was.

She got all dressed up that Saturday morning and was extra happy to be on the purple shirt team (a fact that all but the one other girl on her team had probably been less than pleased about).

When we got to the field she had a 30 minute practice session with her team.  They did exercises like kicking the ball, running after the ball, chasing the ball into the neighbouring soccer field, jumping over the ball, tripping over the ball, trying to keep the ball away from the coach and sitting on the ball.

Finally the game was all set to begin.  At their age they don’t have a goalie and they only have 4 players at a time on each team.  Kaitlyn wasn’t picked to go on the field right away so she sat with the rest of her team on the sideline.  We watched as the two teams battled it out in the middle, each player trying desperately to get the ball off every other player regardless of their team colour.

Bachelorette Party – Part Two

The day before the bachelorette party I assembled all the items necessary to execute my devious plan.  I had the bag from Victoria’s Secret in which they had placed my purchases and I had an empty gift bag and tissue and my granny sack.  My plan was to do a swap so that the granny garment ended up in the Victoria’s Secret bag and vice versa.

I carefully unwrapped the lacy negligée in order to place it in the other gift bag which would have been totally uneventful had it not been for the flinging around of this negligée in the store when I was suspected of shoplifting (see part 1).  As I attempted to refold this lacy number I realized that one of the bows had come undone.  I took a closer look and realized that this particular bow was designed as a fastener which when unfastened (as it was at that time) created an opening for certain body parts to be ‘revealed’ (think Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction). 

Bachelorette Party – Part One

Earlier this year I was invited to go with a few friends to celebrate the imminent marriage of one of our group. It was to be a low key affair involving nothing more scandalous than a dinner out with friends and some gifts for the bride-to-be.

I had been advised that all the attendees would be getting lingerie for the lucky girl which seemed like a fantastic idea to me.

This girl is beautiful and sweet and I thought that she definitely deserved some fancy underthings to enjoy on her honeymoon.

I also realised that although I knew this girl pretty well we had not been acquainted for a very long time. This gave me an idea. I figured that she was unlikely to have seen or even to suspect that I have a slightly twisted sense of humour or that I delight in a little mild trickery. I started spinning a plan.

Midgets, Tie Dye And The Olympics

We were driving home from dropping James at work the other morning when Abigail started pointing out the window, giggling and saying “ook, ook”. I “ooked” and heard her say “oh, so funny” and noticed her in the rearview mirror sitting with her hands covering her mouth as if she had discovered something very amusing and a little bit naughty.

I “ooked” again and saw what it was that had amused her so thoroughly. She had seen a sign advertising cups of coffee that you could get in any size for 99 cents. The picture they were using to illustrate this amazing deal was a photograph of the tallest man in the world standing next to a little person (the PC way of saying someone with dwarfism) who didn't even come up to his derrier.

It was at this moment that I realised our twisted senses of humour may be genetic and have been passed right down to the youngest in the herd. Our baby was actually laughing out loud and pointing at a midget.

Travelling, Fire Fighters And An Illegal Aubergine

James is travelling again this week.  He left on Sunday morning which of course required a super early start to the day to get him to the airport on time.  He set his alarm for 5 am and we planned to be on the road by 6.  He had put on a load of laundry the night before and I presumed that he was going to remove the clothes from the dryer and dump them directly into the suitcase in the morning.  I made this presumption based on the fact that his suitcase sat open and empty just outside the laundry room.  It is quite astounding how differently we approach a trip away.  I would make a list and although it wouldn't take me very long to pack I would have ensured that I had outfits selected for each day, enough underwear to last a few extra days just in case and of course shoes for every eventuality.

I have learnt to leave him to his own style of packing even if it means he forgets things and we end up with extra gadgets on his return.  Last trip he had to buy a new computer mouse (which he then gave to me) and we usually end up with an extra phone charger or cord of some sort.  I have tried to help him with his packing but he prefers his own haphazard methods to my more listy ones.

A Week In The Life - Day 6 One More Sleep

The sleep last night left much to be desired.  Each night more 'inmates' have been added to the colourful characters occupying my normally peaceful room.  Last night as I went to join the already sleeping beauties I found that there was very little room for me.  Apparently Dave the Bear had decided to join us.  He is a giant teddy bear we got for Kaitlyn for her first Christmas here in the US.  James had bought me a similar bear (named Boris) before we were married and Kaitlyn wanted one of her own.  Dave and Boris are good friends and I was quite glad that Boris had decided not to join the party too.

A Week In The Life - Day 5 Almost There

I got everyone out the door in record time this morning. We all accompanied Emily down the driveway to meet the bus. Both Kaitlyn and Abigail pushed their strollers up and down while we waited.

Abigail and I went to our regular playgroup after dropping Kaitlyn at school and it was so nice to sit and watch her play and chat to friends. Afterwards I decided to do drive through McDs for lunch in the hopes that Abigail was be ready for a nice nap as soon as we got home. I got in line and waited for my turn. I'm really bad at deciding stuff in general but when I have the pressure of a line of cars behind me and a box with a voice asking me if I am ready to order my brain just clams up and I find it difficult to think straight. Add to this the fact that I have a non American accent and it makes for interesting drive through moments.

A Week In The Life - Day 4

Last night was a pretty good sleep.  None of the nocturnal happenings of the past few nights except the gymnastics by Emily.  Kaitlyn decided that she wanted to sleep in her own bed since her room was tidy.  I think she was trying to make sure Abigail didn't wander over to her things and start getting into her lip gloss.  She did appear at some point in the night but as I have had the girls trained from birth to only disturb Daddy in the night I didn't know about this until I woke up in the morning.

As the week has rolled on we are getting up later and later in the morning.  This morning we all kind of dragged ourselves about and I finally found myself standing on the doorstep yelling for Emily so she wouldn't miss her bus.  The bus was waiting for her at the gate and she had to run across the lawn to catch it.  

A Week In The Life - Day 3 Half Way There

Last night's sleep wasn't really that spectacular.  I was once again kicked and punched by my firstborn (it shouldn't surprise me, she did start this kind of behaviour in the womb) but I had some weird dreams and kept waking up suddenly.  Then when I had finally settled into a decent sleep the phone rang, just 2 rings and then silence then it happened again.  I don't know who it was but they're probably fortunate that I don't know!!

Of course I had to go and check out the house in the dark.  You know those thriller movies you watch where the idiotic woman is opening doors and you know what's behind them and you can't help yourself but to yell at the screen "DON'T OPEN THE DOOR"?  Well I felt like I was in one of those movies.  Of course there was nothing out of place in the house (unless you count the stuffed toy of Bob the tomato from VeggieTales that I tripped over in the kitchen).

A Week In The Life

The girls and I reluctantly took James to the airport this afternoon.  He's off on a business trip and won't be back til really early next Saturday morning (at which time we will be rising at the crack of dawn to go and retrieve him).

I have been dreading this particular trip because its the longest one he's been on so far and he hasn't done any trips for a really long time so we were getting used to having him around.

Add to this the fact that he will be back for just a week and then he'll be jetting off again for another week long trip and you can understand my feelings of dread.  Add to that the fact that the week in between these two trips is the girls' April vacation from school and you can understand how I am nearly tipping over the edge of sanity at the mere thought of what I am in for.

Having Kids Is The Hardest Thing You'll Do - hmmm

I was thinking about things the other day when that phrase you hear all the time popped into my head and I started mulling it over. You know the one “having kids is the hardest thing you'll do”.

I decided that I really don't agree with this statement. Having kids is not hard at all. In fact all you need is a few semi healthy body parts and either a malfunctioning contraceptive method or a willingness to enter into the hallowed ranks of the extremely bewildered (which if you are choosing to do voluntarily just underlines the fact that you are completely clueless about what is about to happen and therefore deserve the title).

4 Rules To Live By

I recently spent the night in hospital and this experience has taught me a few life lessons that I thought I would share with you. Actually it really reminded me of these lessons that I should never have forgotten.

Hairy Legs And An Addled Brain

I tried to wax my own legs this morning. Actually the first attempt was made a few weeks ago but due to the consistency of the wax, the time of the month and the fact that I had used up all the quick wax strips on James' back (a not to be repeated delight for me unfortunately) I was only able to do one strip. This meant that my left leg has had a clearly noticeable bald strip on it for the last two or three weeks and the rest of the hair on my lower legs has grown to such lengths that I can now feel the breeze whistling through it as I walk across the room with my legs exposed. Of course this only happens in the confines of my own bedroom and is witnessed by noone but still its just not right.

The Holidays

So the holidays snuck up on me this year and although I was prepared to be prepared I was still side-swiped.  I decided just before Thanksgiving that I would make my American nieces and my daughters scarves for Christmas (7 girls in total).  It didn’t seem to make sense to make all my NZ nieces scarves since they are in the middle of summer.  This didn’t seem like too big of a task since I figured out a really easy and quick pattern that came out really cool.  I started crocheting and had them all done in just over a week.  That was along with all my other mothering and wifeing duties too so it really didn’t take that long to complete each scarf.  

The Stair Master of Doom

You might remember a while ago I mentioned having bought a pair of gym shoes and other gym related gear.  Well I did make it along to the gym and even joined up.  This is my experience so far.

I got all dressed up in my new gears and went to the gym with my friend to sign up back in November.  Now this friend is rather fit unlike me.  She disputes that she is quite as fit as I think she is but I’m telling you a person who harbours a treadmill in her basement and actually uses it, to run not walk, most days of the week and then goes to the gym and climbs on the stair master for upwards of 30 minutes is classified as fit in my book.