Cal's Birthday Party

Cal and his friend Will had their birthday party on Friday. This is the second year they have had their birthday together. This year the boys wanted a soccer party. The YMCA has an indoor field that you can rent. The price includes this WONDERFUL man named Brian who will entertain the party goers for a small cost. Seriously, Matt and I and the other mom and dad and all the other parents were sitting in the bleachers watching this guy totally entertain our children. AWESOME!!!!!! Once all the children arrived (except the 2 who didn't make it since their parent's thought it was on Sat., not Friday-oops). Brian sits them all in the middle of the field and then they line up for games. He played several games with them then it was time for cake, they ate cake, then went back out on the field for a few more games then it was time to go home. As one mom said, "a red face means a tired child". The pictures are not so good because the facility was sort of dark. One of Cal's favorite gifts was a face painting kit Matt's mom gave him. They had to have their face painted as soon as we got home.

Since Mom was here, Matt and I were able to squeeze in a date night. We had been wanting to try a new restaurant called Wintzell's and the Alley Bar. We had intended to eat then go to the Alley Bar, but with an hour and a half wait at Wintzell's, we went to the Alley Bar first. We enjoyed them both and we highly recommend the oyster sampler platter at Wintzell's.

We got up and enjoyed a lazy Saturday morning with new birthday toys then mom, Matt, the boys and I all went to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. We decided with all of us going it would be the perfect time to take Brady to his first movie. We saw the 3D version and the boys loved it. Cal did not move the whole time and Brady did well until the last 10-15 minutes when he said the movie scared him. Matt graciously took him out and waited on us to finish the movie. I am not sure I would have done the 3D with Brady again because he didn't want to keep his glasses on and if you don't have your glasses on the screen is blurry. However, Matt said that his favorite part of the movie was watching Brady as he figured out that the glasses made the screen move.

Cal will have his birthday chapel and birthday snack at school on Friday because his class is going to the pumpkin patch on his actual birthday next Monday. His class went to the fire station last Wed. and it was so much fun. Of course I forgot my camera, but took pictures on my iPhone. Looking into how to get my pictures from my phone to my blog??????

Brothers

This picture is of the boys out on our patio watching T.V, sitting in one chair. We decided to move a T.V. to the patio so we could watch football and enjoy the wonderful weather. Brady asked to watch a cartoon before the football game started so I said yes, and turned something on. Cal came out to see what was going on and thought watching T.V. outside was fantastic. I go inside for a minute and return to see the two of them in this one little chair. You can see in the second picture that there is another little chair one of them could have sat in. They are so cute together (most of the time)!

The picture above is of the boys making "homemade" chocolate pudding. Cal wanted chocolate pudding (the little cups of chocolate pudding). I tell him we are out, but will pick some up the next time I go to Publix. He, my precious chocolate lover, is certain he needs chocolate pudding right then. I open up the pantry door and tell him we can make pudding. He is very confused by this.......................didn't know you could make pudding at home, thought it only came in the little cups! Ha! We make the pudding, put it in 4 little glass desert cups, put it in the refrigerator for 5 minutes and all sit down at the table to eat their "homemade" pudding. Cal eats a bite and declares that he thinks he likes the cups of pudding better (homemade pudding effort down the drain)!

Soccer and Football....all in one day

I should title this rain, rain go away!!!!!! It has been raining here for a week straight and there is a chance of rain everyday this week until Friday!


The rain did let up enough for Cal to get in his first soccer game. He is on the Stingray's this season. We still need a little help in the running and kicking department, but he was cute non the less.









We left the soccer game, drove through Starbucks and headed to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama game. They played Northern Texas and beat them 56 - 7. We only went to the second 1/2 since we had Brady. You will see the picture below of Cal eating cotton candy and Brady playing with Matt's iPhone. ****small plug for the iPhone...............they are fantastic and the boys love playing games on them. Matt loaded the same games on both of our phones so there is no fighting. The boys had a great time. Cal loves the whole "game day" atmosphere. He likes to say Roll Tide to people, but checks with them first to make sure they "go for Alabama". Brady kept saying, "This Alabama football????"









We left the game and went to Matt's grandmother's house. We watched football, ate and played at "Mimi's" until bedtime and planed to head home, but on the way out of town the boys spotted the Tuscaloosa Veteran's Memorial. It is a memorial for local vets. Matt's Grandfather Calhoun is listed on the Army Wall. There is a huge helicopter, plane, tank, jeep and several guns. Really pretty neat. We have promised to take them back next time.

I'm A Big Kid Now

Here is Cal on the first day of MMO. He was so excited to be starting a new year. He wanted a GI Joe lunchbox, so Brady inherited his old Spiderman lunchbox, which in Brady's eyes is AWESOME!!!!!! If you were wondering why there aren't any 1st day of school pictures of Brady.................he was not quite as excited about school as Cal was.




Here is something Brady would get in front of the camera for................he is wearing new superhero underwear, which he picked out at Target himself. I figure since it has been almost 2 weeks, it is safe to say we are potty trained!!!!!

Big Day

It has been a big day in the Bennett house. Brady has used the potty all day long. We are up to 6 tee tee's and 2 poo poo's (only 1 accident/just excited that Matt was home from work and we were going outside)! Very exciting. We will see if this continues tomorrow. Not sure how he will do starting MMO on Wed. He has the cutest "I DID IT" dance. I am not sure how to load video, but if I can figure that out and he is still doing the dance tomorrow I'll post it.

Also, I have just joined Facebook.

Note: Yes, for the record I did say I was not a blogger or a "facebooker"!

August Wrap Up.....Fall Here We Come......

Not that I am counting down, but my children finally start back to MMO next Wed. a.m. That will officially be the end to our summer. We don't really have any Labor Day plans, except maybe one last trip to the pool and maybe a quick trip to the lake! Cal has been with me since May, so I am interested to see how he does starting back. We are excited about his teacher and the children in his class this year. Brady, I have discovered is not going to be one that warms up to his teachers, so I am just hoping that he doesn't cry every morning from Sept. - May!



I am happy to report that Cal took his first "private" tennis lesson today. He has been to a few group lessons where they play tennis games for an hour, but through my proud mom eye's did I see that he is actually gets the ball over the net more often than not, so I decided that he would benefit from a private lesson or two. He loved Coach Dani and did really well. He did want Dani to play the group games, so I realized we have to keep going to group lessons. He is going to play soccer again this fall. Hopefully he will understand it a little better than he did last fall.



Last weekend we went to Atl. to be with my mom since it was the anniversary of my dad's death. Mom did really good and it helped to have Cal and Brady there. We also took the boys to see Dora Live at the Fox. It was wonderful. We have seen the Diego show and the Dora show and they have both been great. Diego did make an appearance in this show as Dora did in the Diego show. We met some friend's after the show for dinner at The Varsity.



I am headed to the beach in the a.m. for Beach Bunko! Matt and the boys will be having "Dude's Weekend"!



As the weather man said last night, this Saturday will be the last Saturday w/o football! So as we say in this house Hotty Totty, Go Dawgs and Roll Tide.



Happy Fall and Happy Football!

Cheese Heads and a 1/2 Marathon

We left last Wed . for Waukesha, WI to visit my sister and her family. Cal has flown twice, but this was Brady's first plane ride. He loved the airplane. They both did great on the flight up and were so excited to see Aunt Kristy, Kendall, Morgan and Marshall when we landed. We spent Wed. getting settled and visiting. On Thursday we woke up and headed out for a 2:00 Brewer's game at Miller Park. Bob had arranged to get us a suite (I highly recommend this route with two 2 year old's and a 4 yo). They loved it and the adults thought is was pretty great too! The Brewer's won and we headed home. The kids swam until it was time to eat dinner. Here is where I need to note that even with a heated pool it was chilly. Chilly, as in you needed to get out and go get in a hot shower chilly. Yes, even in late July. In June and July combined, the Milwaukee area had only had 20 days above 80 degrees.

Matt woke up on Friday at 4:30 a.m. to head to Whistling Straights golf course. This was the high-light of Matt's trip. The course they played will host the 2010 PGA Championship. While the guys were playing golf, we went to the Milwaukee Co. Zoo. It was hands down the best zoo I have ever been to. The kids had a great time. Cal realized there was face painting. I really wish he had done the face painting b/c there were some really cool animals to choose from, but while we were waiting he realized they did tattoo's that would last for 7 days. He was sold. He picked out a dragon that was black and red, but told the guy he wanted more colors. Cal told him exactly what colors he wanted where. I am only a little concerned that he is designing his own tats at 4!

On Saturday everyone except for mom, Brady and Kendall drove into Chicago. Mom and the babies had their own special 2 year old day back in WI. We spent the day hitting the main Chicago sites. Cal loved the Hersey's Chocolate store and Navy Pier. When we left Navy Pier we headed to Giordano's for deep dish pizza. This pizza was another high-light for Matt. The pizza was excellent and I am normally a thin crust girl. After pizza they dropped Matt and I off at our hotel and they headed home.

Matt and I were up the next day at 5:30 a.m. to make sure we were lined up with 20,000 other runners for the Chicago Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon. Here is where Matt and I should individually blog about our race experience. This was my 2nd race and Matt's 1st. It was PERFECT race weather and a cool course which ended with you running along Lake Michigan. Matt did not love the race, but we finished in 2:20 minutes. Not bad since we had only run 6 miles 3 times. Not near the training we should have done(if you do the math that is not even 1/2 of 13.1). We showered and took a taxi to lunch. We were feeling better after lunch and decided to do the Miracle Mile walk down Michigan Ave. back to our hotel. We were able to fit in a little shopping and made it back to the hotel for 2 o'clock check out then took a train back to Milwaukee. Such a fun way to travel. I would love to be that close to Chicago!

We had a great trip and flew home Monday afternoon. Thanks Sister for hosting such a fun trip.

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