Tre is in love

...apparently. We were in the car last week listening to a pop music station (the kids MUST be listening to music in the car these days... God forbid a commercial comes on the radio...).Anyhow, it's a Justin Beiber song with lyrics about how "your smile is so beautiful and your so amazing just the way you are"...(something like that) and I glance back at Tre who is staring out the window. Tre says, "This song reminds me of Ava" (a little blonde girl in his class last year). I asked him why and he said "everything he says in this song is what I would say to Ava. It's just like how I feel." Egads... the boy is 6! I didn't want to overreact and just concentrated on the road saying "oh, that's very sweet, Tre." That poor kid is going to get his heart broken one day.

edited to add that it's not a Justin Beiber song it's Bruno Mars' Just The Way You Are

It's raining...

I'm glad it's raining. Unfortunately that means no swimming or going to the park etc... So, we're finding other things to do, even if it means watching that Scooby Doo movie for the third time.

We have been checking out all the different library branches lately. Last week we went to a drum circle for the first time and it was so much fun... for me too. The name of the company is Giving Tree Music and it's based in Clearwater (they're on facebook). All the kids had their own drums and enjoyed playing together and dancing. Frankie did some impromptu solo parts and Tre was asked to come up and use his arms to direct us in crescendo and decrescendo. The kids all loved it and we will definitely go to another in the future.

Yesterday we went to Main library and signed Tre up for summer reading. We read stories everynight before bed but maybe I can convince him that for the library program HE has to read to ME. He's a great reader but at bedtime he always wants me to do all the reading. We checked out a book called Sun Bread the other day which was a cute story and had a recipe on the back. We made it last night and it turned out really good. The kids had sunbread for breakfast this morning.

Tre starts karate next week and is very excited. His granny made his ghee for his Uncle Ben when he was boy and it fits Tre perfectly. He'll do karate this summer (thank goodness for indoor sports) and then if he likes it we'll continue in the fall.

One Fish, Two Fish...

After a long busy week (VBS, Greg got in a car accident...) it was nice to have a relaxing weekend. Friday, Greg came home early and we all went over to my Dad's for a swim and a cookout. Friends came over and the kids got to spend time with some of the aunts and uncles too.

Saturday we went to the Holland's and watched the World Cup game, went out for icecream and then had movie night. We all watched Avatar for the first time. Tre made it through the whole movie, but he was definitely scared at some parts (when he would conveniently go to the bathroom to work on his loose tooth). It's a top tooth and it's so loose it's practically sideways and it sticks out too. I'm hoping to get pics taken of the kids soon so I want that tooth to hurry up and come out already. The girls watched part of the movie and whined through the end that they wanted to go home. Granted, it was over an hour past bedtime. Finally they crashed on the floor.

Sunday, Greg told the kids that they could get a fish. He's been talking about it for a while now and of course the suggestion was met with great excitement (not so much by me- the primary fish tank supervisor and cleaner). Of course, I got on board with the kids excitement and we all made the trip to petsmart. We wanted to just get Betta fish cause we're too cheap to buy a big tank with a filter and all that. Greg and I found some little tanks with a divider in them so you could keep 2 bettas together without one killing the other. This was a great idea because it probably kept Tre and Joey from killing eachother over which fish to choose. After some prompting by us that they should choose a lively fish and not one floating, one fin in grave, Tre and Joey chose their fish. Joey's is a female red betta and her name is "Goldy." Tre's is a male betta that is red and blue and his name is "FreddyBlue." We finally transferred them to the big tank today and they are happily swimming. The kids are especially excited, although Frankie would be happier with a dog. LOL

We spent the rest of Sunday making homemade pizza and fried eggplant and watching tv. Then Greg and the girls all conked out and Tre and I snuck off to the grocery store by ourselves. I always love outings with just me and Tre. He's good company and always appreciates our alone time. All in all, a great weekend.

Tre's Triops

Tre got "sea monsters" for his birthday from Uncle Gavin and Aunt Jenni. Today I am finally convinced that we actually have one growing. For the past week or so they were so tiny I wasn't sure if they were some other pond creature of just mosquito larvae, but today one miraculously appeared and it's bigger and actually resembles the picture on the poster; although it's obviously not full size yet. They're pretty exciting. Uncle Gavin came over last weekend and helped Tre create this movie of them. He brought it into to share with his class and told me that everyone clapped at the end and his teacher asked if she could keep it for a while. He says she's going to show it to the principal :)

Happy 6th Tre!

Tre had a Birthday party at the house. 7 kids came over (including a few younger siblings) so 10 kids total. We colored eggs, sent the kids to the backyard while we cleaned up. They came in to drinks and snacks and we sang Happy Birthday and had cupcakes. Then everyone went back outside until it was time to leave. They all took their goody bags and colored eggs home and my house and sanity actually stayed in good shape. Tre enjoyed the party and Auntie Syd came over as it was ending, just in time to help me clean up and open presents with Tre.

Wherein, I brag about Tre...

He'll be 6 on the 30th. He's doing great in school and he loves it. He is supposed to be tested for the gifted program at the end of the month. The other day he came home from school with 2 certificates. He received one for memorizing and reciting all 300 sight words. The other was the "Super Sport" award from PE. I asked him what he did to receive it (he's not the sportiest kid in the world LOL) and he said he got it for helping another child up when they fell down during a game at PE. He just finished his soccer season and I was very proud of him. He received a trophy and even scored 2 goals this season. Most importantly, he really enjoyed it and wants to play again. He's such a nice kid, sensitive, and very bright.

On St Patrick's day, I made the usual corned beef and cabbage for dinner and we had some friends over. Earlier that day I went and picked up a used bike that I found on craigslist. Tre's 12 inch bike was entirely too small for him so I figured we would get him a new one for his birthday. I left it in the trunk of the car and figured I would wait for Greg to get home so we could give it to him together. After dinner Tre said he wanted to go outside and ride his bike so Greg and I figured we would give it to him early. We popped the trunk of the car and Tre looked inside. "A new bike!" Then he looked at me with big eyes in all seriousness and said, "The leprechaun brought it!" I couldn't help but laugh. They was no way I was going to play into it and get stuck buying toys from the leprechauns every year on St Patrick's Day, so we told him the truth. He wasn't disappointed though. I got a big hug and a thank you. Now only if I could get him to ride the darn thing, that would be good.

Yea for warm weather!

Tre had a soccer game Thursday night and scored the only goal from his team. He was so excited. I watched him steal the ball and dribble it in. He turned around to see me and jumped pumping his fist in the air. The coach gave him a big high five and he was just ecstatic. That definitely made up for the fact that I was freezing my butt off in the wind and 50 degrees.

The weekend was beautiful...70 degrees and sunny. I wish it was like this all the time. MIL came over and watched the kids outside Saturday morning and I was actually able to clean my house. She took Tre back to Kissimmee and he went to the Rodeo with his Uncle Ben. Apparently his favorite part was watching the monkeys ride on the dog's backs. Don't ask me... I've never been to a rodeo. Both my girls napped while I prepped food and we had friends over and cooked out that evening.

Sunday, Tre came home and we had a relaxing day of watching the olympics and playing out in the yard. Tre and I tilled a small plot for our garden we plan to start in March and I cut back a bunch of bushes and all the dead stuff from the freeze. It's supposed to get rainy and cold again by the end of the week. I can't wait till Spring.