Tag Archives: boys

Be Having Simple Soccer Family Fun

We are at the stage where we go as a family to all our sporting events and activities. Our boys love cheering for each other and playing on the sidelines.

This spring, we embarked on our maiden voyage of being a soccer family. I am not sure when Sexy Neck and I will need to divide and conquer the boys activities, but for now we are enjoying being in the same boat.

CC is participating in ‘kick and run’ soccer on Friday nights.

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All the boys love shooting on the net afterwards.

JC is playing on his first team ever, practicing midweek and playing games on Saturday mornings.

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CC and OC play soccer on the sidelines. Sexy Neck is helping coach with a great group of men.

Family fun.

Cheering.

Playing.

Positive male role models.

Sports.

Team.

Hardwork.

Friendship.

Hand-eye coordination.

Determination.

Focus.

Soccer.

Be Writing Thank You Notes to New Neighbours

As, Jimmy Fallon from The Tonight Show, sits down to write his own thank you notes, I decided to write thank you notes to our new neighbourhood.

Thank you to Jimmy for the inspiration. Here are this evening’s thank you notes by Jimmy. This is my personal twist of sarcasm at its best! Some points are exaggerated for comedic effect, unfortunately most points are not.

🌀Thank you neighbour for leaving your garbage can, recycling can and compost bin at the curb ALL WEEK LONG. We love watching you put your garbage out in your housecoat as well as watch your kids friend’s play bumper cars with the bins as they try to park their cars beside them.

🌀Thank you neighbour for parking your semi-truck on our street every Thursday to Saturday and driving away without any lights on like we don’t see you.

🌀Thank you neighbour for bringing your son over to play then leaving him at our house for two hours fifteen minutes after we met you. We can see why you needed the break.

🌀Thank you neighbour for calling me by the wrong name every morning at exactly 8:15 when you come out to walk your dog. My name is hard to remember, as it is the same as yours.

🌀Thank you neighbour for not smoking inside your house. We appreciate the stench in our yard and throughout our house, especially when you decide to pull out the ‘pot’.

🌀Thank you neighbour for asking my son if he’s “skipping school” when you saw him at home on a school day. Uhhhh, he was sick and he’s six. He had no idea what you were talking about.

🌀Thank you neighbour for standing on your porch in your white undershirt just staring into our yard.

🌀Thank you other neighbour for walking very slowly down our back fence, like you are doing the wedding march with the groom standing in the middle of our backyard. Next time just pop over for a look so that you don’t hurt your neck.

🌀Thank you neighbour for taking off your dog’s leash as you approach our houses so that it can urinate on our lawn then bark at our dog at our gate. Thank you for finally not allowing your dog to come into our house anymore.

🌀Thank you neighbour for telling me that my mom just gave up and wanted to die. I guess the millions of cancer cells multiplying had nothing to do with it.

🌀Thank you neighbour for using pesticides to kill the weeds on the edge of our lawn bordering your property. My boys sperm count thank you.

🌀Speaking of boys, thank you neighbour for exclaiming in front of my family of four boys the very first time we met you, “Oh, I was hoping you were going to have little girls!” Welcome to my family of big boys. (Now perhaps stunted due to your pesticide use).

Be A ‘Contained’ Pot Gardener

Our garden behind us runs wild like children chasing bubbles.

We are sticking with contained spaces this year.

Big projects cannot be harnessed with our little energy.

The wild garden will be ‘fallow’ this year.

We will still garden though.

The coveted Nana pots are brought out and chosen.

“Boys, take as many as you want.”

Pots and plants are carefully chosen.

20140519-230740.jpgPhotos taken by Sexy Neck as he fixed the clothes line.

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Sitting on the grass.

Soil.

Filling our pots.

Filling our souls.

Watering.

Helping our plants grow.

Helping us go deeper.

The sun.

Oh, the son.

Both lights on this earth.

Ever present.

Holding us together.

Plants in a pot.

Secure.

Protected.

Ah, my sons.

Incredibly hardworking, creative, playful…

Gardener’s that Nana would be proud of.

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Planted by CC and JC

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Planted by Mama and OC

Haha! I just reread my title, we aren’t growing marijuana, just keep everything in pots.

Be Selling Banana Chips

Like Sexy Neck, our boys are idea guys.

They often get an idea in their heads and they are going for it.

On Saturday, this involved a banana chip stand at 8:30am in the morning.

The most beautiful thing was that they had two customers buy their banana chips!

They created this stand all on their own. It even had a cool slot to put change into that made a tinkling noise when you dropped your coin in.

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How many ideas have you had today? Have you decided to run with them or sit on them? After watching my boys, I think I am going to run with a few of my ideas.

Stay tuned…

Be ‘Including’ My Children

A few weeks ago, I received a comment, an innocent comment, that I have pondered and chewed on for weeks.

“Wow, you guys always do such a great job of including your children in what you are doing!”

I am surprised by this comment because:

🌀 On a daily basis, I love including my boys bustling energy of curiosity with what we are doing.

🌀 I never imagine doing anything without my boys hovering near by or asking to help. Even when I am just folding laundry they often help or play hockey behind me.

🌀 If we do ‘want’ to do something without the boys, we will plan for one of us to take them on an excursion outside of the house or do the activity during Naptime or after bedtime. I must admit that these times are few and far between.

Here is our family in action over the last few weeks working together on landscaping, pool opening, crib disassembling and dog training:

20140513-232626.jpgSexy Neck moves one load of dirt then one load of boys.

20140513-232731.jpgJC heard that we were going to take down the crib… One morning he awoke, got the tools, disassembled the crib and brought it all downstairs. He’s seven and had remembered working with Sexy Neck to put it up last summer.

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Loading up the trailer for the dump and then getting a ride in the trailer across the yard.

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Laying brick with Papa Bob.

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Rolling out turf.

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‘Preparing’ the new garden.

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Dog training and walking.

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Before and after: Taking off the winter pool cover.

Working together.

Team.

Family.

Takes longer?

Yes!

Raising boys into men.

Harnessing energy.

Pouring in.

Pouring out.

Sticking together.

Perfectly imperfect.

Patiently teaching.

Creating lovely memories.

Putting down roots.

Together.

Be Keeping Moving (and Surfing Photos)

I went to the grocery store today and wanted to lie down in the aisle when I walked by mom’s favourite balsamic infusion salad dressing… but I didn’t.  I walked on by, asked God to help me and kept on moving.  

Two steps forward.

One step back. 

Still moving.  

Tonight, I looked through some of the surfing pictures that a photographer took while we were in Hawaii.  I can’t get over my boys smiles.   They warmed my heart.    

Holding tight to memories.

Looking at smiles.

Loving my amazing boys.  

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