Football Season's Over

I know...technically it's not.  The Superbowl's not until February 7, 2010, but the Ramsey (Flag Football) Cowboys are done. Ty loved playing.  He started off pretty shy and wouldn't let me leave, but by the end of the season, he was jumping out of the car and running up to the field leaving me in the dust.

The highlight of the season was the final Monday Night Game under the lights up at the "big boy's field" (MacFarren Field). The whole family went...even the babies.  And Aunt Roo was in from MD, so she and PopPop came too.  Each player was announced over the PA System and they ran on the field as the Monday Night Football Theme Song played in the background.  To top off a great night, Ty scored his first (and only) touchdown!  I was a bit worried that the Refs would throw a flag on the "excessive celebration".  One of his teammates actually picked him up...then they all took turns spiking the ball!

Trophy Day was supposed to be Halloween, but with all the rain, they postponed a week to November 7th.

Thank you so much, to the coaches.  They were great with the boys: Stern, yet fun.  They made sure each of the boys carried the ball at least once each game.  The made a huge committment and really sacrificed to show up every Saturday at 8:30a (even after a late night at the Bruce concert) and again on Monday nights meant a lot.  So thanks Coach Mike, Coach Kevin and Coach Doug for a great season and a great introduction to "town sports".

Our Little Violinist

We're a pretty musical family...in that we like to LISTEN to music. Sure, Shane plays the drums, but is that really MUSIC?

When I was little, I played the piano. I can remember practicing...although I don't remember dreading it...and I don't remember when I stopped...or why (I'm sure my mom would say that's "selective memory" and she'd be more than happy to fill in those details, though.)

This year, Zoe's school offers optional violin to her grade level. I was slightly shocked when she said she wanted to participate. Really? Violin? I told her she had to ask her father. His response was, "if you like hearing 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee', then sure!" She laughed and laughed...and signed up. Even when the teacher called and said there'd be a chance that Zoe would miss her lunch recess every Wednesday so she could have class, Zoe was still gung-ho. Mrs. Clark's only request is that kids stick with the violin for the whole year.

Confession time: In Junior High and High School, I played the clarinet. And I'll let you in on a little known secret: I was a Bando! Yup...Did Marching Band for 2 years. But seriously, it was a bit too hard core for me (we practiced after school 2-3 times a week, competed on the weekends, went away for a week in the summer and even practiced in the freezing cold...outside...at night...for hours on end). And since I liked having a life (and the ability to feel my fingers) I remember quitting. Yes, QUITTING! Don't tell my kids...they aren't allowed to quit anything. Ever. But Zoe assured me that she was "committed".

Thankfully, 2nd grade violin isn't quite as hard-core as Marching Band. Zoe is required to practice a minimum of 4x/week @ 10 min/practice. I can handle that. The first week Zoe had her violin, She practiced everyday. And the only thing she had to do was practice the proper way to take it out of the case, the proper way to hold it, and the parts of the violin. So for 10 minutes every day, Zoe would take the violin out, "feet together, unzip, violin foot back, statue of violin, deep breath in, come in for a landing".

By week 3, they were practicing rhythms and "Mississippi Hot Dog" got very annoying...very quickly.

Now, 8 weeks in, I'm proud to say, She can successfully play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"...sort of.

Last week, while watching the CMA's, I quick ran upstairs and grabbed Zoe to watch The Zac Brown Band play "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". (I'm aware this song isn't the greatest and has some questionable lyrics and even a swear word...I muted it...she was too dumbfounded by the speed at which the boy played to actually listen to the song).

She REALLY likes her violin.

A Weekend Away

An entire weekend away...Friday afternoon until early Sunday evening.  By myself.  Well.  Not exactly...there were about 40 other crazy scrapbookers there.

Yes, I went away to scrapbook for the weekend.  I know, I know.  To many of you, that seems bizarre...maybe even boring.  But not to me.  Aside from the fact that I was kid-free for over 48 hours, I got my own bed!

The next question you all are going to ask, I'm sure, is "who had the kids?"  Why, their other parent, of course: Shane!  He managed just fine.  His mom came and helped Saturday during bathtime...which is crazy even with 2 adults...but other than that, it was just him...and Zoe (come on...we all know she thought she was in charge).  Aside from some crayon on the walls and a few unmade beds, the house looked great when I got home.  Shane even made it to church with all 5 kids!  About 15 minutes before service started, I got a text that said, "On my way to church".  No sooner had I written back that I was impressed, than I got another text, "And now we're on our way home to get the diaper bag!"  At least we know that Super Dad isn't perfect! 

I'd post pictures of the weekend, but I didn't bring my camera.  Okay, that's a lie.  I did.  But I didn't wear makeup most of the weekend, so I don't want to post pictures of me!

Instead...here are a few of my favorite pages.  Don't get too hung up on how young Zoe looks in the pictures.  I'm behind.  FAR behind!  As in "2nd-grader-Zoe-just-started-preschool-in-her-book" behind.

I had some fun being creative in how I cut pictures...

I even got creative with an exacto!

Please ignore the 1974 picture of a little girl with a bowl cut and her Dad next her with a matching one.  That's DEFINITELY not me...don't even ask if it is!

Some close-ups of my exacto work...

And my ALL TIME favorite idea of the weekend...my S'mores title!

See...I told you Zoe made it to pre-school before the weekend ended:

Cole's Latest Hobby

Who said, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall?"  Can I change it up a little and say, "The bigger they are, the more challenging they are"?

Cole was the biggest (triplet) from the start at 5.3 lbs. :

(That's him in the middle)

And it's not that shocking that he's STILL the biggest:

He is the worst sleeper and he wakes up loud!  He can be a bully and a steam-roller...throwing his weight around to get the toy he wants.  He spends the most time in "time out" for climbing and touching "no-no's".  He's also the most emotional...such a big baby!  Tell him "no" and the boo-boo lip comes out.

But, by far, the most annoying habit of Cole's is his new hobby at bedtime...

Yup!  He takes off his PJs, removes his diaper, and wets his crib.  Say it with me, "FUUUUUUUN for Mommy!"  I mean, I'm not doing anything all day, I'd love to change crib sheets everyday!

Well...I best-ed him...

Hee hee hee...backwards pajamas!

Captain Obvious...but not really

Eli loves to point things out.  Most the time, he's pointing out a person who's entering a room, exiting a room, or is just sitting in a room.  Sometimes, he's like Lassie, in that he notices a gate is open and screams, "Oh no!  Mom!  Wook!  Gay oh-pen!"

This morning, it was the cereal box.

Pointing to the Quaker man, "Pop Pop...Daddy...Pop Pop dare!"

I think it's a slight stretch, but okay.

Then, Eli pointed at the mom and son at the bottom of the box..."Daddy...Daddy...wook...Mommy Ty Ty!"

Why, yes, Eli.  That woman is the spitting image of me: Young, thin, energetic, beautiful and happy!

Merry Early Christmas to Me!

It's beautiful.

I love it (and the color.)

(No...those are not all my kids...only 5 of them.  Wow!  I have 5 kids?  That's over 1/2 the Higby Grandkids.  CRAZY!)

Unless you're name is etched in the corner, you're not allowed to touch it.  EVER!

Especially when you consider what happens when little 2-year old fingers DO get their hands on my computer.

Since we're such an eco-friendly household, I decided to recycle my laptop...by giving it to Zoe...since she asked.

Notice what she's "working on" on the screen?
I think maybe I need a new hobby...

Halloween 2009

Yes, it's been forever and a day since I've posted last. I thought the computer replacement process was going to go faster than it has. I was wrong! So do you see that box up at the top that says "I'm busy catching up on old posts"? Keep an eye on it, because I'm going to be "back-dating" old stuff as I get to it.

In the meantime, I thought you'd like to see how we spent out Saturday. Not that we "Celebrate" Halloween, cuz I don't really like to think of it that way. We "Do" Halloween: we have fun dressing up...seeing neighbors...getting candy...giving candy...crashing from our sugar highs. You get the point. But in the Higby Household, you won't see Witches or Gobblins. No ghosts, draculas, mummies, or scary stuff. I'll spare you all the in-depth reasoning. In a nutshell: "We're focusing on the fun, or we're not participating!"

Not really sure what happened to the month of October, but all of a sudden, it was Halloween! Seriously. Ty flipped an flopped on what he wanted to be: Star Wars, Bakugan, Super Mario, Transformer, and back to Star Wars. When I went to get him a costume, I took some pictures and texted them to Lindsay (the soon-to-be-leaving-us Nanny...that's another post for another time...but it's for a happy reason.) When he saw the costumes, Ty picked the Transformer...Optimus Prime.

He called himself "Octopus Prime" for awhile. His reasoning was that one of the other transformers was "Bumble Bee" so why wouldn't he be an animal, too!?! Makes sense...I suppose.

Zoe was another last minute change. She told me she wanted to be a candy corn. Really? Why? How was I going to do that? But then Shane came home from his Japan business trip with a Kimono. Aha! A Geisha it was! (Sidenote: Shane also brought home a matching Kimono for Ava...I'll post pictures soon!)

Originally, the Triplets were going to be pigs and I was going to decorate their wagons in brick, stick & hay. But I couldn't find a pig costume I liked. And Lindsay came home from Orlando with "Thing" t-shirts for the babies. So, we honored Dr. Suess...

Thursday afternoon, the triplets, Ty and I went to Shane's work to show off our outfits. Zoe had Gymnastics, so she'll have to wait until next year to join the fun. As you can imagine, the gang made QUITE an impression.

Saturday morning, our church had a Family Fun Fest. The rain held off long enough for us to enjoy a hayride, some face painting, lots of yummy food, tons of games and a great time in the bounce house. There was even a pinata and prizes. A time was had by all.

After a much needed nap (I so wish I could've taken one too), we ventured out in the neighborhood. By the time we hit the street, the misting started. We made it home before the real rain hit, but it sure put a damper on the fun of seeing everyone else come by. A definite highlight was a visit from Mackenzie (our neighbor temporarily displaced by the fire). The babies were in bed, but Zoe and Ty got to give her a hug and show off their outfits. Next year, it'll be nice to have them back!

I was so thankful for the "Fall Back" extra hour we got Saturday night. Between the crazy busy day, all the sugar, and then the delayed start of the Yankee game, I definitely needed some extra sleep!