Pink and Sparkly

Peyton informed us the other day that she thought we should wrap all her presents in pink sparkly wrapping paper. She is my little girly girl!! We picked her a pink and sparkly outfit for her party and she loved every minute of the day! She loves the Happy Birthday song and sang it to herself all morning before the party. Then during the party we all sang it three times - she was so cute when we would start singing she would stop and get this funny look on her face and just listen and appreciate. What a little doll!! She was excited to get an doll that can go in the bath, dress up clothes, books, finger puppets, a soccer ball, clothes, pen and paper, and a train to go on Remi's Thomas tracks.

She love the wonderful doll cake that grammie made for her! And it was a really, really delicious cake! And we have Neapolitan ice cram along with pumpkin ice cream (a favorite of my families).

She wanted hot dogs so I made her hot dogs but also made chili for people who wanted chili dogs or just chili. And then we had chips and dips and vegi's. And Jackie brought her really yummy cornbread.

She had most all of the people that she loves the best at her party: grammie, papa, Todd, Greg, Jackie, Aunt Janice, Amie, Hailey, Kaitlynn, Remi (and his friend Griffin), Jock and I. It was a great day and I know that Peyton loved it!

Just wait until she figures out that tomorrow is her actual birthday and we saved out presents and the ones from Jock's mom until tomorrow. She will be one excited little girl to get the next batch of presents!

A comparison page and birthdays

I realized I forgot to share my newest page comparing Remi and Peyton. This is them both at 6 months. I love the picture of Remi in his little sweater vest and button up shirt!! And Miss Peyton with her cute headband and chubby arms. Love these kiddos!!


This weekend is Peyton's 3rd bday party. She is sooooo into her bday! She told us last night that she thinks that all her presents should be wrapped in pink sparkly paper!! LOL! What a girl she is! And grammy is making her a special doll cake which she is excited for. I am kinda bummed that a number of my family members are not able to come to the party but it will be fun anyway. I don't really have anything planned - just hanging out and enjoying each other. I am going to make chili and have hot dogs. Peyton really wanted hot dogs so I thought I would make chili to dress up the hot dogs if someone chooses.

Monday is Peyton's actual birth date. We are going to go to kindermusik on Mon which is very perfect because my girl LOVES kindermusik!! And the we will probably let her choose dinner and have cake and let her open her presents from us. I can't believe that she is 3!!! Where does the time go.

On that note, my nephew turns 18 on Sun!! WOW!! 18 - like almost graduating from hs and headed to college and flying this weekend to stay with his girlfriend in CA - 18! How did that happen!!

A Scrapping Day

Jock was off hunting early this morning so the kids and I were on our own. It is a drizzly and overcast day here. Perfect weather for scrapbooking in my opinion and Remi is the guest kid designer for the month of Dec at ScrapAddict and I thought we should tackle his kit sooner rather than later in case it took a few settings. But he was great! He got out a piece of paper and then drew a sketch - yes he sketched his layout before starting! I got a kick out of that. But then he was off. He seemed to know exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted a Christmas picture. And he loved using the rub ons - he said he wished he could use rub ons at school instead of writing! LOL!

And of course, since Remi wanted to scrapbook, Peyton wanted to scrapbook. Luckily there was a pink piece of patterned paper in the kit as well. Now, my Peyton, she loves the deco scissor so she started cutting the paper with those and then she glued it on with a birthday picture. She did a lot of the page herself. I just kept reminding her not to put the paper over the picture. Both kids enjoyed using my new Cricut machine to do their titles. It was really fun and we got their kit done waaaay early which is nice.

"He is a great player!"

That was said this evening about my son by his soccer coach. Now, any parent would be pleased to overhear a coach saying that about their child, but me, I was ecstatic!! You see, while I absolutely love my Remi boy, in general, he is not usually the most athletic nor aggressive kid on the team. He loves sports and really enjoys playing on sports teams but he has really never been one of the better players on the team.

I accidentally missed the soccer sign up deadline last year so Remi didn't play. So this year he was really eager to play. There is a great competitive league in town but I thought, knowing my kiddo I just better sign him up for the city rec league again and see how he did. And from the first practice he got in there and played! He was great!! I was amazed! His team happens to be really good! They are averaging 7 point per game and the other teams score on average 2 points per game. They have only lost one game (and it was the one game Remi missed - says the proud momma). So they are a great little team with quite a few good players on the team and even better they all seem to really enjoy playing together and are great sports.

So tonight we had a game and the other team didn't have enough players so our coach offered to give the other coach a couple of players so we could still play. And I heard him tell the other coach, "Take Remi his a a great player." I did a double take! While people often say what a great kid Remi is he has really not been called a great player before. Yeah!!!!

So he players the first half for the other team playing center forward one quarter and goalie the second quarter - his two favorite positions. And he went all out even against his own team. The he sat for the third quarter and played the last quarter for his regular team and play center forward again. He did so well! I am really pleased with how well he is doing and how much fun he is having. It is a great season!!!

Divorce and its effect on families

Ok, it sounds like a term paper but it is not - it is my life. Well, the divorce part is not mine but a good friends. And wow! this is the closest friend I have ever had that has gone through this and it is terrible!! It does not help that the husband has gone over the edge, but it is really out of control.

These people lived down the street from us. Remi got to be good friends with two of the kids in the family - best friends with one of the kids. We played baseball together, the kids played together and Jodi and I found lots in common. We liked them. And then right before Thanksgiving last year there was cops, fire engines and an ambulance at their house one evening. And from there, it has been so hard. They have been a mess with him drinking too much and being threatening and her just trying to figure out what to do that is best for her kids.

Somehow, we have ended up with a part in the drama. I know that she is doing the best that she knows how for her kids but they have totally changed! Remi has had a really hard time being a good friend to his best friend. But she has been so mean and I know it is just that she is hurting inside and she is really a mess. I worry about those kiddos! Remi's friend was once a nice kiddo and now she says terrible things to Remi and she is just no longer a good friend. We have talked a lot about what it means to be a friend and just how far do you continue to support a friend in a bad situation when you are getting hurt. It is soooo hard on Rem because it is after all his best friend and I can tell he wants it just to be like it used to be. But it is not and now we are trying to help him learn these painful but important lessons. Rem is a very good hearted kid and he is very empathetic to others but by being that kind of kid he opens himself up to hurt in relationships. So, I am hoping that while this has been really hard he will be a better person for it. And in the mean time, we are limiting the amount of time that they spend together and I am almost always with them when they are together so that I can intervene when I need to - and I do. And I do also worry about his friend and the two other kids in the family. The mind games that are going on in front of those kids is amazing!!! And they are just so different and I just am not sure how the good kids are going to get back to their normal selves.

I don't know, I am mostly rambling now, but I just feel overwhelmed by this whole thing - and it is not even my divorce that I am going through! I think that they now are going to move to her home with her family in Georgia. And while I will miss them I am actually glad for them to go for two reasons. One, I think they need to go and get away from the man in the family until he is sober and thinking straight. And most importantly to me, even though I know that Remi is going to be upset, he needs a new friend that is nice to him and not so much work and not so hurtful! I hate it when people hurt my kid's feelings - especially someone who is his best friend.