What Do You Mean They Aren't FABULOUS?

A few weeks ago at Down East Outfitters, I saw a pair of pants and thought "hot dog! the 80s are back!" I tried them on and though they were super comfy, I was unsure of what to wear with them, especially shoe wise. Reluctantly I put them back.

Then I saw on Facebook that they were 50% off! I was so excited! I logged on to see more information and was shocked, shocked by the comments people were making on Facebook, essentially making fun of my 80s dream pants. I sighed, and closed my laptop.

I still think they are kind of fabulous.

In Celebration. . .

This year I am participating in Garry's Fantasy Football league. So far I have demolished both his brother and his Dad with my Redskins-led roster. The day after draft day, I celebrated by taking this picture of Braden. You cannot see all of the shirt, but it reads "Mommy's 01 Draft Pick." I love him.

Tiptoe, Tiptoe. . .

Braden will usually wake up before 6 AM, and therefore he is usually ready for a nap by 8:30. Wish he would just sleep until 8:30 instead. . .

This morning I did not get Molly dressed before I put Braden down. Since their rooms are next to each other, I asked Molly to please tiptoe upstairs so we could get her ready. I wanted her to be quiet so that Braden could sleep.

We walked up the stairs and Molly whispered "tiptoe, tiptoe" all the way up the stairs. I was proud of her for being so quiet.

Until we reached her room and she screamed out, "I did it, Momma! I did it!!"

Maybe I should have explained the reason behind the tiptoe, tiptoe a little more. . .

Sometimes I Think About. . .

I feel like I have been exposed to everything but the plague. Macey was sick a little last week and then on Friday I heard her wheezing after she woke up. She also had a deep cough and a raspy voice. I took her into the doctor where she was treated for croup.

Braden has not been his normal, happy self. He has been waking up a lot at night, some nights he would wake up 7 times before 2 AM. Not that I counted. I took him to the doctor where he was treated for an ear infection.

This morning I woke Macey up and she complained about 'stuff' on her eyelashes. I looked at her red eye, surrounded by gunk, with a thick eye lid, and I realized that she had pink eye. Back to the doctor we go. . .

During all of this, I have been battling my own cold symptoms: a sore throat, a cough, congestion. . .

In times like this, I think about:

Sick Days. Remember sick days? Remember calling into work sick and hanging out on the couch in pajamas, watching Oprah? Remember not having to get off the couch for anything except to maybe go to the bathroom? Awesome.

Sleep. Remember when you could go to bed at night and know that nothing, nothing would wake you up before the alarm went off? Awesome.

Good thing I love being a Mom. Good thing I love watching Emma score in a soccer game, watching Macey run to the school bus with her bookbag swinging from side to side because she's so excited to go to school, hearing Molly tell me "Oh, shanks Mom! " when I give her a sippy of chocolate milk, and hearing Braden laugh for no apparent reason. Good thing because sometimes sick days sound . . .well. . .awesome.

Where Did She Learn THAT?

While the kids' MawMaw and PawPaw were visiting in June, they were asking Emma, who is really good at math, some math questions. They then asked her some harder questions, and Macey started answering. The next day, we asked her the same questions and got it on tape. When I read with her, I can never figure out how she has learned so quickly. As for how she figured out math, I have no idea. She's just smart.

They're GREAT!

It's no secret that Garry was not exactly doing cartwheels when we decided to move here. But one thing that he was excited about was being closer to his grandparents. The kids get excited to see their great-grandparents, though the great grandparents might be overwhelmed by the noise when they come over. We have not seen them nearly as much since we brought home #4!

Kickin' It

To say that Garry and the girls have been busy this summer with soccer would be a sad, sad understatement. Garry and I decided that we wanted Emma and Macey to be on separate teams for soccer instead of making Macey play up with Emma's age. We wanted to see if Macey did better against kids her own age.

So Garry decided to coach both teams. And he decided to put Emma into Soccer Academy -- kind of like a soccer camp. A really long soccer camp. And now she's in a goalie class.

Right now in the Cunningham house, it's soccer, all the time, nearly every day. But it's good to have the girls outside and running and playing. Winter will be here soon. Too soon. So we'll let the girls be active while they can. Not sure what we'll do in November when it's done -- wait, oh ya, there is school. . . .

The Day Alicia Beat Garry. . .By A Lot

In our efforts to go out and have fun with the kids, even though the lawn may need mowing and heaven knows the front yard needs weeding, we took the kids bowling. They had little stands for the girls to put their ball on and then push off. And of course they had bumpers. So the girls great!

I did even greater and actually beat Garry on the first game. Woohoo!

But the best part of the night was seeing Molly sport her Size 7 bowling shoes. They were ADORABLE and she rocked the alley with her cuteness.

Mad Skills

When he wants to, Braden can hold his own bottle. He's got mad skills. He does not do it very often, and I have to say, he is the slowest bottle drinker I have ever seen. He loves to be snuggled and held while eating-- really, two of his favorite things all at once!--that he TAKES HIS TIME. He only drinks about 4 ounces at a time, and he takes 15-20 minutes to drink it if he's being held. It's rather ridiculous, but he's so cute, we'll let it slide.

It's All About the Effort

Some mornings, to motivate the kids to get going and get ready, I conduct what is called "Line Up". They line up and tell me all the things that they did that morning: brushed their teeth, made their bed, got dressed, brushed their hair, ate their breakfast all gone, stayed in their bed the night before....For each thing they get a small candy -- like a piece of taffy or a M&M.

Molly always struggles with the "making her bed" category as she is little, little. But the other day she really tried, and I had to take a picture and reward her mightily. I know it's not perfect, but it in a lot of ways, it's absolutely perfect.

The August That Was

Can you believe that I, the superblogger (at least that's what I call myself ;) only posted three blogs in August? It got so bad that even Garry hinted that he uploaded new pictures onto the computer and so I could take a look at them. . .maybe blog about them. . .

August was busy. I started teaching again at Neumont University, and I still do a little work for my brother-in-law. And somewhere during the day I take my kids on an outing to keep them from going a wee bit stir crazy. Days have consisted of kids and work.

I have also had family members get sick and family members going through hard times. I have discovered that I am not a heavy-hearted blogger. But I have great hopes for September!!!