First Soccer Practice

Aiden had his first soccer practice this past September 15th ( yeah I know this post is a bit late.). We were the first to arrive at the field and when we pulled up Seth could tell that Aiden was getting g nervous. He tried to hide it, but when we started to get out of the car he started to get a little teary eyed like he was really afraid. We told him that it was just for fun and that there would be other kids on the field as well for him to play with. It was definitely good that we were early so that Aiden could have the chance to get out on the field by himself and warm up a little. 

There were about 20 other kids that were in the class. They started off with kicking the ball to each other and they also did a little bit of “dribbling” with the ball down to the little nets. That went on for about 30mins and then the last 15mins they had a small scrimmage with the kids. It was too cute watching the kids trying to go for the ball. Kicking it in the wrong direction. Scoring on their own goal. Aiden definitely likes to be on the offensive side of the field as opposed to the defensive side. He got all mad when we told him to go get the ball. Stopped and yelled that he can’t get it that another kid has the ball. We told him that he needs to go get in there and take the ball away from them. I think he liked that aspect.  Overall he did really well. I know that it’s just a beginner class, but I noticed that he was the only kid out there with cleats on. Maybe he doesn’t need them yet? I don’t know, but the field was wet from it raining that morning and a few of the kids that were just wearing sneakers did slip on the grass. I figure if he is going to play a sport then I’d rather he wear the right stuff from the beginning. The coach did say that their shorts were on order and they should have them soon.

 Getting some pointers from Daddy.

 Rebecca stretching too.

 Run around the filed for a warm up.

 post practice scrimmage

Wordless Wednesday

Happy New Year!!!

Wordless Wednesday

 Why yes that is a large tree branch that fell in my yard last night during our wind storm.

(sorry for the crappy photo)

More Shrub Work

Why yes I did just plant 2 new shrubs after ripping 8 two weekends ago. In my defense, the ones that were ripped out were the plain jane, standard evergreen shrubs that are in front of everyone’s house.  What I planted were more ornate bushes.   

  They are called Tor Spirea.

 

 Spring flowers

Fall Leaves- a few of ours are currently a dark purple at the moment.

I really wanted the Goldflame Spirea (below) because those have leaves that turn a red/gold color in the fall and have a magenta colored flower in the spring. 

I probably could actually still get these if I were to cut down the 2 ratty looking Azalea shrubs.

The Tor spirea has a white flower in the spring and the leaves turn red/purple in the fall. I think it will add a nice touch to the house to have something a little different. This October once everything starts to go into hibernation I am going to be relocating my 3 butterfly bushes.

 (yes there are three bushes squished in there)

 I didn’t realize they grew so large when I put them into my garden circle last October, so they are going to be moved to the side of the yard where they can grow larger and hide all the overgrowth on the property that is next to us. My hydrangea will then be moved to the front of the house where it will have more sunlight and will be able to grow better. It should be a lot bigger then it is right after 3 years of having it. I’ll probably also move my blackberry bush to the spot where the hydrangea currently is because while there is not a whole lot of sun over there, it does get a decent amount of sun in the afternoon and it will be easier for me to watch the berries to hopefully get them before the birds do.

The School Bus

I'll admit I'm not a fan of school buses. They drive slow. They stop every 5 feet. And they can make you late for work or wherever you need to go. That being said I really need to change my tune on this because come next year my child is going to be on one of those buses I loathe and I'm going to want to know that he is safe on there. I don't have the luxury of being able to drive him to school or pick him up due to my work schedule so if that means that someone gets stuck behind  the bus he's riding going 15mph then so be it. As long as he is safe, I don't care how slow the bus drives, but then again ask me this question next year and I truthfully hope I have the same answer.

First Dentist Visit

Aiden had his first dentist visit this past Wednesday. Seth took him because with my awesome vacation schedule I don’t have any time to take the kids to the doctors anymore unless it’s for a sick visit. Mind you I was under the impression that the first visit entailed the teeth getting counted and little else being done. Boy was I wrong. After check in, Aiden was brought back to the cleaning chair. They counted his teeth. Looked over to see if there was any plaque buildup. I guess one tooth had a tiny amount on it. Then they did a fluoride treatment and it was off to have x-rays done. The whole shebang like an adult has at a cleaning. And he just sat there and let the dentist do what they needed to do. His only concern the whole time he was there was that he was in the yellow chair and he wanted to sit in the blue chair instead. He picked out a new toothbrush and Seth set up an appointment for 6mos from now. They said that his teeth were pretty much perfect. That makes me feel better that we are doing well at making sure that they stay healthy. He does get candy on occasion and cookies, but for the most part we try to stick to fruits, cheese and yogurt for snacks. I wasn’t blessed with awesome problem resistant teeth so I hope he doesn’t inherit any problems from me in the future. We’ll just keep up with what we are doing and hope for the best. 

Cool shades from my teeth cleaning.

  

 Getting x-rays done.

 Seth took him to the store to pick out something for being such a great patient.

Landscaping

When we bought our house, it had a very well established shrub/hedge system as you would call it.

(sorry for the snow. Its the only picture that has the full view of the front of the house)

At first it looked nice until it came time for them to be trimmed.Then we wondered what exactly was the woman thinking the owned the house prior to us with putting in all these bushes. Bushes are nice, but when you let them get so big then its a bit ridiculous. The first year we had a bush cut down in the front yard that became one of the gardens in the front. We had a large tree cut down that was pretty much dead and then we had a giant cone shaped bush cut down that became my garden in the back.

Spring 2009 we had half of the far left tree cut down in the bottom picture. We also had the 3 small shrubs cut down behind it and then the inside Rhody was cut down in the middle under the window with the AC in it.

Spring 2010. We had another tall cone shaped shrub cut down on the other side of our garage since Seth kept hitting it with his car and we were going to be putting up a fence there before Aiden's birthday party so that Aiden couldn't get out of the yard.  And we had second Rhody in the backyard cut down in prep for the patio to be built.

Spring 2011. We had the front half of the shrubs cut off under the bay window in the living room.

Sept 2012- This is now what the front of the house looks like. Last weekend we had another 8 shrubs cut down and we are considering taking out 2 more smaller ones since we don't think they will survive if we have them moved to a more spacious location. So we are not sure what we want to put in. Something different. Most of the flowering bushing around the house are either rhodies or azaleas. We do have a white mountain
laurel on the side of the house. I did see a shrub that I liked that did not get too big so we may go with 2 of those, but the house looks so much better now that it doesn't look so overgrown with shrubs. You can actually see the house now. And it looks a little bit bigger as well.

Side of the house

 Much cleaner now.

You can see how the tall bush in the middle was being pushed over by the huge corner bush that used to be there. We're hoping that in a year or two it will start to fill out in the back. I might have to stake it with some rope to get it to straighten out.