the best of soccer practice

new booster seats

In an effort to accommodate our growing family and lower our monthly gas expenditures, we recently bought new booster seats for the Civic with the hopes of driving it more frequently while traveling as a family (30 mpg vs. 15 mpg in the Expedition!) This means we needed to find a way to fit 3 car seats in the back seat...not an easy task. So, we finally figured it out (kind of -- my recommendation to you would just be to stop having kids after you reach two and if you must have more than two children, just give in and buy a mini-van) and Jay finally found an extra minute to install them in the car. Of course, the boys immediately started exploring their new surroundings and the following conversation ensued (as retold by Jay):

LOGAN: Whoa! New car seats!
GRAY: Wow!
LOGAN: What's this, Daddy?!?!?
GRAY: Those are hold-cuppers, Logan!
LOGAN: Huh?
GRAY: You know...hold-cuppers! It's where you put your juice!
LOGAN: Oh!

How the heck do you work this thing?

Rather than read the manual (that would be too logical of a thing to do), I just keep playing around with the new camera to try to figure out how to work it. Can you tell the kids are getting a little sick of it?

You know it's time to have your baby when...

...you can successfully balance your other baby on your belly without holding her!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JENNA! I hope your birthday wish comes true -- in the form of a special visit to L & D! Come on, Finn -- what's the hold up?

Happy and Grumpy

We've got two of the seven dwarfs right here in our house. Happy was eager to have his picture taken with Mommy's new camera, but Grumpy in the background was having none of it!

(Really I just posted this to show how AWESOME this new camera is. The Allison's have decided to upgrade since we take 1,000 pictures every month. Of course, it would help if I knew how to use it, but check out how Logan is blurry in the background and Gavin is in focus! Love it.)

Baby Keegs

He just loves his "Baby Keegs" so much!

Go 'Noles

McLovin

Lovin' those Noles!

"we're not keeping score"

The Deerlake Blazer's had their first soccer game against the Astoria Hobbits on Saturday. It's been awhile since I've seen anything as funny as this. Twelve 3 and 4-year olds running around the field while their parents make a spectacle of themselves, yelling and cheering from the sidelines. I wish I would have counted the number of times I heard a parent yell, "Other way!!!!" It was HOT with a capital "H", so we're looking forward to an earlier game next week.

Logan, in fact, scored the first goal of the game...for the other team, but Coach Daddy (and everyone else from the Allison/Coddington clan along the sidelines) was still proud. No score was kept since it's all just for fun at this age (final was 3-3, including Logan's score for the Hobbits, so really we probably should have won!), but we played very well.

kiss your babies

Over the past week or so, I have been involved in helping our students cope with a tragic bus accident in which many children were injured and one little girl, unfortunately, did not make it. I received a call last Friday afternoon as I was leaving for the weekend and headed over to the crash site to assist with reuniting the uninjured children with their parents. Monday morning, I reported to the affected school to break the news to the children and assist in any other way I could. This would have been a tragedy anywhere, but in a town as small as Tallahassee, it hits especially close to home. After two exhausting days of helping the children work through their grief, I went for a run to let off a little of my own stress. I hadn't realized my own need to process little Ronshay's death and work through my own emotions. I'm certain that Ronshay is in a better place, free from pain, but my thoughts keep drifting to the 26 other children that have witnessed such a tragedy. I'll never forget their stories and illustrations -- some so detailed that I continue to have dreams about them a week later and find it difficult to get them off my mind. I'll never forget going into Ronshay's classroom, seeing her name written on the board, and having to break the news to her class.

So, I apologize for the sad post as I usually try to keep things upbeat on here. Even psychologists need to decompress sometimes and mine came to me in the form of a good run and a blog post. The point is: Ronshay's mother kissed her goodbye, sent her to school, and then never got to hold her child again. I cannot imagine a pain that deep. So, stop reading this and kiss your babies and show them how much you love them today!

For my psychologist friends:

We all hope this is never something we have to deal with, but it happens. Fortunately, not very frequently. For most of the other psychologists I work with, this the first we've had to deal with something of this magnitude (a teacher died of cancer at one of my high schools last year). We had the weekend to think about how to handle it, but that might not always be the case. If you find yourself in this situation, NASP online has a wealth of information including activities for the children, suggestions of how to handle the media (and boy were they out in droves), memorial ideas, and information for parents to help their children cope. They also have information on how to address suicides. I think it was well-handled by our district and the school's principal and would be happy to share in the unlikely event you find yourself in a similar situation. You know how to reach me.

the exersaucer...another great invention

Say cheese

It's picture day at Betton Hills!

Logan cooperated, as usual, allowing me to wet and gel his hair. Gavin on the other hand...well, it was all I could do to convince him to put on this shirt!

the plague and other bits of news

THE PLAGUE

(3 little sickies)

Last Saturday, Logan brought home what I now refer to as "the plague". New year, new school, new illness, and boy was this one a doozie. Logan started with it on Saturday. One minute he was fine and the next...he had a fever of 104.2! On the morning the plague took up residence in our home, I faintly remember Logan repeatedly telling me he was freezing, to which I replied (with a hint of annoyance), "Well, go put some clothes on then". Then, it was just too quiet in the playroom. You know, the kind of quiet that sparks your mommy-radar and makes you think someone is either dead or up to no good. So, I went to check it out. Logan was lying on his bed...very quietly...under all of his covers...watching a movie. This might be normal for your child, but it's not normal in my house. Usually, they boys like to act out whatever movie their watching. And they're usually watching Kung Fu Panda, so they're usually jumping off of furniture and practicing their karate moves. They are not quiet movie watchers. Long story short, Jay rushed him to Urgent Care (my kids only get sick on the weekends when we have to wait in long lines to see the on-call, non-pediatrician doctors), and two hours later we found out that it was viral. He then threw up in the car on the way home and, despite the towels that Jay thoughtfully brought along, he proceeded to get it on his clothes, the car seat, and even the car. It ran its course in about 2-4 days -- fever, vomiting, sore throat, repeat with next family member. Fortunately, the baby and I were spared...or at least, we got only minor versions of it. Eight days and a bottle of Lysol later, I'm proud to say the plague has left the Allison household.

GO DEERLAKE BLAZERS!

The boys have their first soccer practice this Thursday. Jay signed up to be an assistant coach, but no one signed up to be the head coach. So, that makes him.....you got it! Actually, they have now assigned a college student to help him out, so I guess Jay is officially just the assistant coach again. I can't wait! I've been waiting my whole life to be a soccer mom!

KEEGAN IS TEETHING

So, he escaped the plague, but now he's teething. I don't want to talk about it. I should be using this time to sleep.

GAVIN'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

I finally booked Gavin's birthday party for Chuck E. Cheese next Wednesday. Yes, his birthday was a month ago, but I promise I was not procrastinating. I was purposefully waiting until school started and he made some new friends so we could actually have kids there besides Gavin, Logan, and Keegan. It's a Spiderman party (and incidentally he wants to be Spiderman for Halloween and we already have a Spiderman consume, so it's a win-win situation as I will not have to drop another $30 on a costume this year).

the power of praise

So, last week Logan contracted "the plague" from his school, and it has been circulating through our family ever since. Tonight, after a long week of cleaning vomit off of everything from floors to couches to carpets, we are healthy again and Gavin finally seems to have his appetite back. We repeatedly praised him for eating all of his chicken nuggets, fries, and peas this evening -- with extra enthusiasm, high fives, and the whole nine yards. After dinner, he was given ice cream for dessert, which he inhaled and then finished Logan's too.

(I walk out into the dining room after putting Keegan down for the night)

GAVIN: (running up to me excitedly) Mama! Guess what!?!?!??
ME: What?
GAVIN: I ate all my ice cream! (said as if he just ate a plate full of broccoli)
ME: Really?
GAVIN: (proudly) Yep. I'm really good at hungry!