ok girls.

Remember these anthropologie shoes I liked? Sorry for the small-ish picture, but that's all I can muster right now.

I found these knock-offs yesterday for a mere fraction of the price.

(Keep in mind I am NOT a shoe model)

Yay or Nay??

What do you think? I am honestly not quite sure. The cute little high school fashionistas at my church said I must keep them.

But, I am a bit of a shoes minimalist, so if they are not cute enough, I will most certainly give them the boot.

Would I have bought them if I hadn't have seen the other ones first? I don't know. Knock-offs can be tricky like that-they cloud your judgement.

So that's where you come in. I need some unbiased opinions. I won't be offended. I have not worn them yet, so they can go back. I'm kind of leaning toward "no".....

TGIF

It's been quite the week.




There was a roadtrip to visit the fun and free-spirited Ally,

where someone decided to paint without mommy's permission.

We went to AWANA for the first time. Calvin is a cubby. We put Finn in with the sparkies--we shall see how that goes. He's very motivated to memorize his verses but he looked a little lost during game time. People kept asking if Finn was really 5. It didn't help that I put his wrong birthday on the registration form:6/03/06. That would make him 2. I'm not scatter-brained or anything.

We had fun swimming with friends and family.

We had another fabulous drum lesson and are still LOVING Mr. Canaan. He brought an electronic metronome and showed us how to mix the levers to sound like a DJ. I thought it would be fun to get Finn one of those instead of a gameboy. Would that make us too eccentric??

And we had more soccer "lessons".

With all of Finn's new lessons, Calvin informed us that he was going to take *bubble lessons*.


It was a fun week, but we are glad that it is friday.

Yes, we are more than ready for the weekend:)

Soccer

Last february I took a walk on the wild side and signed Finn up for soccer. I felt a little apprehensive. We would no longer be foot-loose-and-fancy-free. The little hippie on one shoulder was frowning while the little cheerleader on the other shoulder was doing back-flips.

After purchasing the cleats and shin guards, John and I formed our initial hypotheses.

John's hypothesis: Finn would be doing cartwheels on the the soccer field during practice.

My hypothesis: Finn would stand in a daze while all the other boys raced by him.

When we arrived at the first practice, I felt at home amongst the other shaggy haired boys. Coach plays in a men's league 2 or 3 times a week and his little son Alex was a complete professional in his Beckham jersey, doing the whole "kick and slide". Very Impressive. But we were most charmed by little Joseph, who kept picking up the ball when he wasn't supposed to, or kicking it the wrong direction cheering, "I won!". To my surprise, Finn was able to keep up with the pack and dribbled here and there til little Beckham swooped in. So my hypothesis was wrong. Finn was not in a daze. He was actually quite the willing participant.

During some of the drills, the open green field was too hard to resist and it wasn't long before Finn was doing cartwheels. So John's hypothesis proved correct! And then little blond Beckham decided that cartwheels looked like fun and joined Finn. I held my breath for a split-second, wondering how coach was going to react to his super-star-son-turned-tumbler. But I had no need to worry. Coach is a softie and just smiled and tousled his son's blond mane.

Back at home, Finn is a new boy. He informs me that "soccer is his new favorite game". He requested a shirt with a number on it, so everyone can find him on the field. This was no easy task! I drove Finn to 4 major sports stores, searching in vain for a little jersy. We finally found some at Target of all places. I handed him a little red and white jersey with a #9 on it and he clutched it for dear life, all the way home. This is the new sight around my house.

He wears it ALL THE TIME. He even wanted to wear it to church, so everyone there would know he plays soccer. I am NOT used to his new found wardrobe opinions. But I am so happy that he loves playing soccer. He dribbles everytime we go outside, and John even resurrected the old pvc-pipe goal.



The other night I tried to dribble with him at the park, and it was quite the workout.

I fully expected soccer to be boring watching all the klutzy little guys struggling to handle the ball. But, I find it to be wildly exciting and my heart pounds as I watch my "tiny Tim" dribbling down the field.

I was sort-of dreading Finn turning 5 and doing all this big-boy stuff. But for all you moms of babies out there, I will tell you one thing.

--Not to Worry--

Your babies will still be as dear as ever when they get bigger. Trust me. I have never been more fond of my Finn boy:) There's just something about a boy in a soccer jersey.

Finn wearing his back-up jersey--not his favorite, because it does not have a number on it.



**Finn was just sitting like this, I was not trying to get him to pose:)

I was right about one thing though. Organized activity does have its draw-backs. Our very first practice went way over and I was ridiculously late to a friend's dinner. And I missed an impromptu extra practice, because I went out of town to visit a friend. Tis ok though. All is well.

Little Red Drums

Remember the post where Calvin hopefully anticipated the arrival of his drum set every time the brown truck drove by? Yet no drum set ever came. So Finn packed all of Calvin's toy drums into boxes and staged a delivery:

And then put forth his best effort to make Calvin's dreams come true:

Calvin was very pleased with this set. However, duct tape has its limits ,and before long, Finn's masterpiece crumbled into ruins. And so Calvin still clung to the hope that one day, he too would get a real set, just like his big brother.

And Finn encouraged Calvin's hopes day after day. Every time the brown truck drove by, the boys would work themselves up into a frenzy of excitement. "Gege, your drums are coming", Finn would squeal. And then they would run to the front window and jump up and down. And every cardboard box they saw at every supermarket, contained these alleged drums.

"Please John?" I would ask. "Just a tiny kid set? Calvin's birthday is coming up...look at those big, sad, puppy-dog eyes."

But the answer was always the same. A big fat NO. " We don't need two drum sets in our house" he would say. Understandable.

So you can imagine my surprise when a few weeks ago, John found the perfect little drum set on Craig's List. John finally caved to the sad eyes. Or he couldn't resist the smokin' deal.

On the afternoon of the 11th day of August, I whisked Calvin away to Vons to get his birthday balloons, while John and Finn staged the final brown truck delivery. Anticipation was in the air.

We got home and immediately escorted Calvin to the entry room for his big surprise. He could not believe his eyes, when he opened the boxes and saw real live drums. Both boys went wild. Surely this was Christmas in August. They raced back and forth, putting this new set together. And while Finn's hand-made sets will always hold a special place in my heart, here is the next best thing.

Finally, a set that is proportional to my small boys.

Everyone loves playing these little red drums, even Mr. Canaan--he made a beeline for them the minute he stepped foot through the door, and started tuning them. Throughout Finn's lesson, this little red set came in handy. Sometimes Finn was playing them, other times Cannan was playing them...they did duets and grooves together.

But most importantly, Calvin loves them. He rarely tries to sneak onto Finn's throne anymore. He's completely satisfied with this set. If anything, it's the other way around, and Finn is trying to usurp Calvin's throne, as you can see in these photos!

A tumble weed must have gotten in my camera in this shot above. I prefer to use my imagination and pretend that it's a fisheye.

How's that for cheesy smiles?

Ollie says, "Hey guys, what chord are we playing?"

Wild mashugana!

Ok, next time I need more shots of Calvin. After all, they are his drums:) However, he was in desperate need of a hair cut. And he kept running away. Excuses, excuses.

And now, if I could just get my act together and put my pool table for sale on Craig's list, maybe I will have room in my house for these dueling drummers! Calvin is on first video, Finn is on the second one.

sock-ings and skunking

"FI-INNN!", I hollered, upon entering his room. "What are all your socks doing on your mini-blinds", I asked in complete exasperation.

"I'm decorating my room with socks, just like you decorate the fireplace at Christmas" he explained.

Now how could I resist his attempts at decorating?

***************

"FI-INNN!", I hollered, once again.

"Why are you spraying me with your spray bottle?", I demanded.

"I'm skunking you", Finn happily replied, with his squirt bottle pointing out his tail end. "I'm just like the skunk on Curious George", he explained, quite pleased.

On the outside, I reprimand him, but inside I am snickering:) I really am sorry,though, if you've been skunked by Finn.

Meet the Kin-der

I've had some very special visitors...

I am so excited to FINALLY introduce them to you, I could burst! It's been a year since I last saw them. I wasn't even a blogger yet!

Without any further adieu, meet the kin-der!!

My sister Jessica and her 4 girls!!!(oh and her husband Steve came too)


Tacy, the first born. A ballerina, avid book-worm and Pollyanna to the core. We love our Tacy-Face!
-

Emily Blemily. If mischief arises, you can be sure a feather was involved. Or a closet. Or yummy hand soap.

Sporting her "fun and exciting" hair knots, that she thinks are "neither fun nor exciting". I had to bribe her with candy to wear them!



She's the sweetest thing ever and can get along with ANYONE, no matter their age. Just ask my boys.



And here is my blooper submission. Yup, that pretty much sums up my Calvin Jack:)



Kate. The spitfire. This spunky little thing is the friendliest talkative chatterbox ever. I could just eat her right up with a straw!

Ansley. The baby. With her curly hair, sweet smile and big eyes, she melts me in 1 second flat. How we love baby!




With 7 kids under 1 roof for a few days, we had wild fun. There was always a kid underfoot. Finn kept saying "I'm having so much fun with my cousins". It makes me so sad that we don't live right next door:(




I wish my sister were here everyday so we could lug our kids around together. I love helping her pick out clothes for her girls--you'd think they were my own!

Ring-around-the-rosy,


Pocket full of posies. Ashes, ashes,


We all fall down!

I love them so much and miss them already. I can't wait to squish back on the couch together!