track n field part 2

today was ben's track n field day

it was a PERFECT day outside!
an afternoon jam packed with ...
a soccer kick ...
a long run ...
a bean bag throw ...
an egg race ...



a gunny sack race ...
(where i took part in the 'mom race' and i think i may have found my hidden talent! and ...ya ... i know ... nice hair. stupid hairband.)



the long jump ...
an obstacle course ...
and just having fun outside.

not sure if i've mentioned ... but his class has 16 boys and 5 girls.
so you can imagine there is a WHOLE lot of energy ...
and a WHOLE lot of fun to be had when it comes to outdoor events!

they finished the day off with a tug of war against the other kindergarten classes ...

and then a final tug of war against some of their parents!!
(can i just say ... it is not very easy to let the kids win! it seemed as though they ended up falling all over each other and basically giving up before we could even give them control of the rope!)

nice job, ben!
you rocked!

the scoop ...

tonight was ben's baseball night.

team mullen decided to come cheer the boys on near the end of the game.
SO ...
we decided that was the perfect excuse to go get some ice cream!!

("we" being ...team mullen, team barnett, and team sculthorp)

we went to our local ice cream shop and it was really good ;)

(aside from the fact that i had to help alex keep up with his cone -
and his chocolate chip ice cream was not NEARLY as good as my praline)

i can see this becoming a very dangerous habit ;)

come cheer us on more often, k, katherine ;)

a little friendly rivalry

ben and his friend, wyatt, had been planning this day for MONTHS!

a while back - i had both boys in the back of my car ...
they had recently found out they were both playing baseball, but were on different teams
they began talking about it ...
and this is how it ended ...

wyatt: hey ben ... i promise that when my team plays your team ...
i won't get you out if you won't get me out.
ben: ok, deal.

NOW ...
you'll notice ben is playing first base in the blue ...
and wyatt is safe on first in the gray ...
now .. i can't say that it was intentional ...
but ... i can say that ben held up his end of the bargain :)
(both boys did actually ... and ben's team won ... still undefeated ...GO BULLS!)

bugs ... bugs ... and ... more bugs ...

this week was field trip week at our house ...

on friday i got to go with drew's class to the nature center.

now ... a nature girl i am not ;)
BUT ...
it was still fun to be there.
it is seriously THE PERFECT field trip for boys.

they HAD AN ABSOLUTE BLAST catching bugs on 'the prairie' -
(i already went and bought some bug nets so the boys can do this behind our house ...
i forsee many hours of fun ...
and many ticks ... ewww..)



they got to crawl around in the 'forest habitat'

and they got to use nets to try to catch whatever they could out of the 'pond habitat'.
(i can say it was a successful day simply because no 2nd graders fell off the dock!
although, i heard someone did from the group that went the day before! OOPS!)



it was a beautiful day for a field trip!
(much better than the day ben got)
it was a GORGEOUS setting and it was packed full of super fun activities!

it was one of those days that i was reminded why boys are so fun.

they love bugs.

they can, without hesitation, get completely into a field trip centered around them.

AND ...

most importantly ...

they are brave enough to fight off said bugs when they get too close to their mom :)

when the zoo is a zoo ...

today was ben's field trip to the zoo.
it was packed!
i am pretty sure that every other school around planned for their kids to do the same thing we did.
it was also VERY chilly for a late may day!

we spent the morning walking around with ben's friend, wyatt, and his mom.
we let the boys do their thing for a while ...
but once we finished lunch we decided
a. it was WAY busy
b. it was WAY cold
and
c. our kids are definitely not lacking in the 'i've been to the zoo' department
SO ...
we asked if they'd rather play together at home for the afternoon
and
thankfully, it didn't take much convincing :)
we enjoyed the 'class' part of the field trip in the morning and then created our own fun for the afternoon.

there will be plenty of days to go back and enjoy the zoo ...
and i'm fairly certain ... they'll be when it's warmer than 60 degrees!

a visit from 'big alex'

our weekend so far has been packed full of fun ...

my brother and his girlfriend, michelle, came to visit for 2 days.

we started out with an afternoon at the zoo ...
(as you can see they fit in real well with the monkeys)



after that ...
we watched the twins show the brewers a few things about baseball.

(and we watched drew teach big alex a few things about making a bet.
next time, alex, if then you could please remember to use the i unbet bet symbol so you aren't out 5 bucks when your team loses!)

while at the game i learned that the boys actually enjoy going for the game now!
AND ... i learned that when trying to keep a 2 yr old busy at a baseball game there is nothing better than an all star ballot and a DS pen with instructions to 'punch out all of the holes'



this morning we spent time hanging out and playing ...

and then ended the weekend with a round of golf for the boys and shopping for the girls ...
(although ... somehow i ended up with no clothes for myself but 7 shirts for drew!
go figure!)

thanks for coming to visit uncle alex and michelle!
i think it's safe to say everyone had a good few days ...
and had a lot of fun!

well ... except ben ...
his day today might be questionable...
he got sick at the golf course ... and ended up spending his entire afternoon napping on the cart.

and, yes he is really sleeping like that.

A is for apple.... OR ...

i just gave ben an apple ...
moments later he got a big smile and then told me that the top stem twisted off on 'A'.
so i asked him what that meant
(totally knowing ... but wanting HIS explanation)
he said ...
"it means my girlfriend has to start with 'A' - so ... Allison"
(Allison is a girl in his class who he thinks is 'cute')

sorry katelyn ... sorry quinn ..
you are TYPICALLY the girls who hold his heart ...
but today ... it's all in how the apple stem twists.

a not very nice bug

this interruption in blogging has been brought to you by ...



1 little boy

1 nasty bug

5 days

104 degree fever


4 baths per day at least

3 naps per day at least

4 rolls of paper towel we've gone through cleaning up

5 trips to starbucks (for me)

3 calls to the doctor

1 doctor visit

and

more loads of laundry than i can even attempt to count

--------------------------

just when we see an end in sight ...

he throws up and it starts all over again ...

SO ... until we can figure it out and get his body operating somewhat normally ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM - 3 days late.

and ...

know that HOPEFULLY i'll be back to blogging as usual again some day soon.

history according to ben

ben always has a story for everything.
sometimes these stories are real ...
sometimes they have a little 'imagination' behind them.

the latest?? ...

ben informed my friend kelly that his grandpa was in the war between the pilgrims and indians.
he was on the pilgrims side (because they won)
and he fought with blow horns and needles.

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

now...ben, i'm sure any of your grandpas could put up a good fight,
although i'm not sure they would use blow horns or needles ...
and i realize that the liquor store has stopped carding me ...
but come on, buddy ... i'm not THAT old ;)

silver lining

most of today was spent loving on alex.

he was up most of last night and was sick all day today.
he was running a high fever and was unable to keep things down.

thankfully he is doing much better now

BUT ...
what's crazy is ...
looking back at today ...
as much as i didn't/don't want to get what he had ...
i couldn't get enough of snuggling with him!
it isn't very often that i have an excuse to do nothing but hold him.
SO ...
to have him want me laying next to him ALL day long.
to feel his WAY too hot little body close to mine
and
to just do nothing but enjoy holding him ...

made the fact that he was absolutely miserable ...
and
the fact that we got very little sleep last night ...
seem not all that bad.

------------------------

ON A SIDE NOTE ...
i talked to my friend kelly tonight and it seems as though adi is coming down with what alex has.
apparently they should have spent more time playing at the park yesterday
and less time sharing germs ;)