soccer

chet and holden are both playing soccer right now.

chet is on the same team as his cousin, haden.

their team is the teal tigers.

holden is on the same team as his cousins, molly and penny.

their team is the maroon llamas.

the boys are having lots of fun playing, and we are having lots of fun watching them!

holden even scored a goal in his very first game ever.

2 weekends ago, a bunch of matt's family came out to watch the boys play - grandpa larry, aunt jenny, the sherlock family (and the clarkes, hoovers, and us because our kids were playing).

we were quite the crowd of cheerleaders!

it was so special for them to have all that cheering from the sideline.

when one of the cousins would score, we would all go crazy!

it was funny to see the looks the parents from the other games would give us.

goOOOoo tigers and llamas!!

and here are a few other randoms..

we took the boys on the c-train yesterday.
it was hilarious how excited our suburb-boys are when they get to ride public transit.
we rode to the mall to ride the carousel, visit the lego store, and eat some lunch.

mother's day 2016.

this was my favorite mother's day yet.

i just felt very loved by my favorite boys.

hands down, the highlight of my celebrating this year was the mother's day tea i attended at chet's school.

chet has been so excited for it since they started crafting and rehearsing weeks ago.

and, i gotta tell you, the tea party did not disappoint. it. was. adorable.

all the moms met in the library, where the cutest tables were set up with tea pots, flowers, and crafts galore.

each kid made 2 lamented placemats (one for mom, one for kid), a pin for the mom to wear, they painted a flower pot and picked out seeds to plant in them, and made a card.

chet was always telling me how hard they were working in class to get ready for mother's day, and now i know why!

after we were all seated the kids marched in and sang EIGHT rehearsed songs, with actions, and they each took turns telling why their mom is the best.

chet said i am the best because i take him to play with his grandmas!

when the program was over we got to visit while eating pie and cookies.

it was kind of embarrassing (because the songs were not the slow, sentimental type - more the silly, loud type) but i couldn't help from tearing up as i watched those sweet kids singing for their moms.
such love.

i have said this before, but being a mom has not come easily to me.

sometimes feel like it is the last thing i want to do.

and most of the time i feel like i am royally failing at it.

but in moments like that one, i am reminded that being a mom is so special.

i could stare at my handsome kiddos for hours. they are perfect.
i often wonder how we got such. good. boys.

they love me always, forgive me when i'm mean, and worry about me when i'm sad. they make me proud, teach me patience, show me how to be a true friend, impress me with their creativity, and make me oh, so happy.

i am also very grateful for my mom. she is the most selfless person i know. she is patient with me, always willing to help, and has a laugh that is so contagious.

my mother-in-law is pretty darn swell too. she treats our kids like they are the most special people she knows and, heck, she raised the boy of my dreams :)


this was my place setting at the mother's day tea:

and this is chet during the performance:

and the rest of these have really nothing to do with mother's day,

tad in the front, the big boys in the back.

tad found a pretty nice place to nap, under grandma and grandpa's tree.

tooth fairy fail

i am terrible at having cash on me. i just always use a card.

i wish i was better at carrying cash for many reasons.

examples include.. i wouldn't have to use a debit card for embarrassingly small purchases, i would have something to give a person who is in need, i would be able to pay my kids the money i promise them when they do special chores, aaaand i would have money when the time comes to impersonate that dang tooth fairy.

which leads me into the story i'd like to share..

chet has now lost 3 teeth. 2 on the bottom and 1 on the top.

the top one was the most recent one to fall out.

i was kinda sad when that one got wiggly because i knew it would really change the way chet looked (not in a vain way, just in a growing up way).

but once it had been wiggly for a couple days, and eventually got to the point where it was sitting horizontally instead of vertically, i was very ready for it to go!

one night when we were at grandma and grandpa leavitt's house, grandpa larry pulled a sneaky trick on chet.

as we were just about ready to leave, grandpa larry asked chet if he could see how wiggly his tooth was.

chet agreed, grandpa larry got his fingers on it, and POP! that tooth was out.

and then grandpa immediately handed chet a $5 bill.

chet's reaction was priceless!

at first, he wasn't sure if he should be sad about the tooth or happy about the money.

but, since he rarely has "paper money", and his tooth was on the verge of falling out anyways, he decided it was a pretty wicked trade.

when we got home that night, we scooted the kids up to bed, enjoyed some kid-less time, and then realized as we were heading up to bed that we had NO money to put under chet's pillow!

like, literally nothing!

any change we ever have lying around the house is always swiped up by our kids and stashed in their piggy banks.

so we had to make a choice: make the tooth fairy look bad OR put money from chet's piggy bank under chet's pillow.

neither were ideal.. so we chose to steal from our child's piggy bank!

haha so sorry chet!

hopefully next time we are more prepared.

i am regretting ever starting that silly tooth fairy tradition.

we are only 3 teeth in, of the 60 our kids have to loose over the next 10 years, and we already suck. 

shoot!

i am thirty {sigh}.

i was terribly sad about turning 30.

terribly.
i have been stressed about turning 30 since i turned 29!
my sadness has been kinda confusing because sometimes i think..

THIRTY IS OLD!

and i don't want to be old.
i don't feel like i have accomplished many of the goals i pictured myself achieving by now.

but at the same time i think..

THIRTY ISN'T THAT OLD!
but i feel like i have already managed to lose who i am.
i dread questions like, "so, what do you like to do for fun?"
ummm.. well.. i..
i feel like i have nothing i am passionate about anymore!

so confusing, right?

unfortunately, no matter how much i didn't want to turn 30, it has happened.
birthdays are rude that way - they show up even when no one wants them to.

over the past few months, i have set all sorts of goals to help resolve some of my worries about growing up.

matt thinks i am silly for using birthdays or new years as a time to reflect and set goals.
(he just never thinks any time is a good time to reflect or set goals! dork.)
but that's my thing.

i won't share all my goal details, since a lot of them are personal, but i will share one that totally isn't personal!

"hi, my name is pam. and I am addicted to diet coke."

i have been wanting to give up diet coke for some time now.
i have gotten myself into a really unhealthy relationship with diet coke. it's sad, but true!
so i mentally prepared in the months leading up to my birthday that i would give up it up.
and i am proud to say that i haven't even had 1 sip of any soda since turning 30.
day 2 was the worst. i had a raging headache (as do most addicts when ridding themselves of a substance!) but it isn't even that hard anymore. and i am excited to be done with it.
the best outcome of this choice so far has been the amount of water i now drink. i swear it is 10 times what it used to be.
and i have heard that water is good for me.

anyways.. we celebrated my birthday a couple days early because my parents were in town.
i got a couple nice gifts, the boys decorated a cake for me, and matt and i got to go on a couple dates.
so, i suppose, turning 30 wasn't allll bad!
(although i should probably start mentally preparing NOW for when i turn 40 in 10 years, because i anticipate that one being even more devastating!)