ArtPrize!

Kortney and I brought the kids downtown today to check out a few of the ArtPrize entries. It was so much fun! I can't believe how many entires there are - of course a few of them were bizarre, but the kids loved all of the big sculptures and crazy artists running around. The Loch Ness monster in the Grand River and the huge tabel and chairs were tops with the kids. I'm holding off on my favorites till I actually get to check more of them out. ArtPrize is easily the coolest thing I have ever seen in GR! Go check it out!

SCORE!!!

We signed Cody up to play soccer with his buddy, Noah. We didn't realize that Cody's birthdate put the boys in seperate age groups...It went down hill after that. Cody freaked out at practice - he wanted to play on the playground, he wouldn't wear his shin guards, he hopped like a frog downthe field, he hated his jersey number, etc. Almost all of the games are at 8:30 on Saturday mornings, so I was leaning toward to skipping the season and waiting till he was more excited about joining in. I never expected his first game to go so well after the brutal practice session.

He joined in, played, took team pictures with a big smile, & he played soccer (in his uniform- shin gaurds & #3 jersey)! His team even won! He got to play with his buddy Noah after the game on the playground, so it was a great Saturday after all! We celebrated at McDonalds with Cody's favorite cinnamon melts after the game and park!

Yeah Cody!

family picture time...

We had some family pictures taken a few weeks ago. It was a hard task - Charlie was bolting out of every picture...Steve & I were a little stressed, etc.

Check them out!

http://www.katherinetippett.com
click on "clients" & enter "Soet" for the password

the soet's september

I'm slowly adjusting to our new schedule and I'm starting to see what my more seasoned mom friends meant about it only getting busier...I would still rather have crazy schedules than 3 poop diaper machines, but it is quite busy! The kids are doing great in their new classrooms and happy to be back in school!


We spent the first part of this week soaking up time with Big Daddy. He moved back to FL on Tuesday morning and the kids and I will REALLY miss him!!! He has spent so much time with us this past year. I am so spoiled to have a dad that can babysit 3 kids by himself and will tackle it all. Hopefully his plans stay as they are and he comes back for a long visit in Dec/Jan. Cody is already talking about taking a plane to his beach...Not a bad idea!



Lindsey was thrilled to be back in school. She is quite lost on the mornings that Cody has taken off on the bus and she doesn't have school. She tells everybody we see on those days that she is "stuck with Mom & her not-so-favroite-brother until we pick Cody up". She ran into to Miss Deb's room so fast on the first day that I didn't get a good picture. Still, it was such a releif to have it go so smoothly that I hardly minded missing the scrapbook moment!


So the bus stop routine has calmed way down! He doesn't exactly jump in the line of kids waiting there. He prefers to stay and hang with me and the neighborhood moms before boarding. It is quite sweet how the other parents and older kids encourage him every morning and cheered when started getting on with a hapy face! Yeah for living a great neighborhood!!! Cody loves his teacher and it sounds like he is making a few block playing buddies in his class.


I hope to get back to blogging more and not being SO tired out at night. I can't even watch much junk TV without falling asleep...I'm truly deprived, but hanging in there!

Lindsey is ready for school!

Today Lindsey's classroom had an Open House to get the kids ready for school starting next week. Lindsey is beyond ready for school to start- for the past 2 weeks she begs to go to "old school" every time we take the Beltline somewhere. Today she loved getting her new backpack ready and seeing Miss Deb. She even made a new friend, Grace!




My proud mother moment came when Miss Deb asked to take Lindsey's picture with Clifford to put up on the board and she said "say cheese!"....Lindsey very sweetly said "buttcheeks" and smiled ever so sweet and inoccently!

What can I say?!?! She totally belongs to me & Steve!!!

Gettin' better everyday!

So the bus stop boarding process is getting a little bit better everyday. I still have to get on with Cody and hug & kiss him into a seat, but no more tears. It's a goal of mine to NOT get on next week...We'll see!

Now we have to work on getting him to actually eat and use the bathroom before the bus pulls up and we'll have it all figured out!

-Beyond the bus, he LOVES school! He is so happy and charged up when I pick him up everyday. That makes me smile after the bribibg and stress of the bus!

Bus Ride Drama -

So I thought I was going to be more dramatic about Cody's first day - I was wrong! He was hysterical getting on the bus - crying, screaming, kicking, clawing to me, etc. It was awful! Half of the parents at our bus stop thought Iwas asuperhero for sticking to my guns and shoving into his bus seat and the other half surely went home and cried for him... However, the school secretary told me that he stopped screa,ming once the bus door closed and he had a great day in the classroom. All is well that ends well - right???






Cody's teacher emailed out this picture of the class - he is actually smiling in it & I'm banking on that! We went to McDonald's and Target after school, so he was happy & he has toys to share (bribe) other kids with on the bus tomorrow -

I will report....


Thanks for all of the support, sympathy, & advice!

Back to School butterflies-

The big kid took a bath, laid out a shirt for the big day tomorrow, ate a few school bus cookies, & got to bed early. Tomorrow at 8:16, he'll be on the big yellow bus, heading to school for the first time. As a result, both of us have high anxiety! I'm sure that mine is worse than his! I can't believe he is really old enough to ride off to school (with no car seat, no setabelts!) with all of the neighborhood kids that he doesn't know and find his way through his new big school to Mrs. Morris's room...

Alright, I better get off to bed so I stop obsessing....I'll update ASAP!

Lindsey wants in to the GVE Girl's Club

So last weekend, a few girls from the neighborhood came over with the True Blood Season 1 DVD...Lindsey wanted to stay for the girl's club meeting. She was so sad about being sent upstairs with Dad & the boys.

For those of you familiar with the series, you know how inappropriate this vampire smut is for little girls. The next day, she was wearing the wax vampire fangs that I had decorated with & trying to read the first book - I think she was willing herslf to read! Just wants to join the Grand Valley Estates Neighborhood Planning Committee!!!

nothing like boy capris...

Cody came into the kitchen all excited and thanking me for his new firetruck jammie pants. I had just bought some frietruck jammie pants that needed to be shortened up a bit still, so I was pretty surprised to see him sporting "jammie capris" as he put it! Nothing like your 5yr old wearing 24 month PJs of Charlie's and being totally comfortable & flood-ready!