Lucky Number 8: Soccer, Swing, Scooters, Spring

Let's see what the older boys have been up to over the past couple weeks, shall we?

Now that I'm six weeks recovered from having a baby, I've begun to attempt kicking the baby weight. Over the past few months I have completely undone all my hard work from last year. I justified all my reclaimed unhealthy habits on pregnancy and now I'm having to make up for it.

Enter white bean deep dish cookie pie. The perfect trick to curb your sweet tooth whilst secretly supplying your four-year-old-who-refuses-to-eat-any-vegetables a healthy dose of fiber.

The trampoline is up and in use!

The trampoline is the perfect setting to defend the world against evil Moorbots under Dr. Morocco's corrupt command with high-powered kicks, punches, and lots of shouts of, "Power up and ENERGIZE!"

I signed Eli up for soccer in a carefree moment of pre-three-kid euphoria. After all, think of how cute it would be to see Eli chasing after a spotted ball amid a herd of fellow preschoolers? How great would it be for Eli to get his first introduction to team sports? How fun for Eli to have his own little activity to take pride in?

Did I consider the fact that March is Jeff's busy season, or that having two evening plans a week would be a big commitment, or that I would still be trying to manage life with a new baby before I signed Eli up for soccer? No. I can confidently say I did not.

I unintentionally thrust myself into the hard-core circle of soccer moms. Eli and I showed up to soccer practice on the first day severely ill-equipped for our evening. It wasn't until we got there and I saw EVERY OTHER KID fully decked out in soccer gear that I remembered things like shin guards and cleats exist. Eli was sporting some basketball shorts, a t-shirt and some tennis shoes while his entire team was head-to-toe soccer-ized. I took in a deep breath as I started coming to terms with the fact that this soccer deal was going to be much more legit than anything I ever expected it to be.

Meanwhile, poor Eli goes to try and kick the ball around with this group of die-hard soccer tots only to discover he doesn't know the first thing about soccer. His coach spent most of the first practice yelling, "DON'T TOUCH THE BALL WITH YOUR HANDS!" while Eli spent the evening frantically trying to figure out the ins and outs of the game. I spent the night giggling at Eli's interpretations of his coach's instructions while he tried to act cool and fit in with the rest of the kids.

My favorite thing that happened is Eli kept picking up the ball with his hands, so his coach finally said to him, "You got pockets?" Eli looked down and was discouraged to find his shorts were pocketless. The coach continued, "That's okay. Just pretend like your hands are in your pockets." Eli soaked up every word of guidance his coach gave him and then promptly glued his hands to the sides of his legs and loyally ran around like that for the next twenty minutes -- even when the coach had them all gathered around to talk, Eli was standing there with hands unnaturally stuck to his sides. It was so cute to see his valiant efforts to do a good job.

Eli got a uniform at the first practice, and then we promptly snuck over to the store to buy him the appropriate gear for our second attempt at soccer practice. Eli had a fun time and was so eager to go back that he wore his soccer uniform all day leading up to day 2 of soccer.

The weather! It has been so nice. Thank goodness because I wouldn't have survived the last month with all three boys had the older two not had an outdoor outlet.

A baby carrier has been my secret to success so far. It doesn't even feel like I have an extra little person to worry about when I have him strapped to me, allowing me to remain handsfree.

We're still keeping Lincoln locked up, but Eli, Carson and I escaped one Sunday to go to my grandma's to celebrate Spencer's birthday with the coolest cake that ever was.

I caught Eli doing ninja moves in the kitchen. When I asked him what he was doing he said, "This is my sword and this is my shield." Well, obviously that's what those things are.

My grandma let Eli and Carson have all the candles to blow out to themselves on one of the cakes. Eli was so excited, he made this face in anticipation of his big moment for a good 30 seconds before he actually blew the candles out.

Spencer has sent two letters to Eli over the past few months which Eli has completely loved. The first included slivers of paper to make up the world's most challenging puzzle, and the second one was a birthday card that the boys found absolutely hilarious and made me read it to them approximately every half hour for the whole week after they got it. So Eli made Spencer a birthday puzzle in celebration of his big day.

These boys are so sweet. Seriously. We've come a long way from this post. The boys run off together all day long playing/crime fighting and periodically disclosing to each other, "You're my best friend" followed by laughs, hugs and pure brotherly happiness. Basically I only see them when they get hungry. It's so fun to see them developing the brotherly bond I always dreamed of them having.

The boys use our garden as a "sandbox" during its off season. One afternoon Carson kept trying to come in the house with a bunch of filthy matchbox cars pleading with me when I wouldn't let the cars come in that they needed a car wash. I resolved to giving him a bowl of water for him to dip the cars into to wash them off. It was the most brilliant idea I'd had all day.

That bowl of water kept the boys happy for the next two hours. Boo yeah!

I can see a lot of myself in Eli's personality. One thing we have in common is that when we decide we are going to do something, there is no unconvincing us of our decisions. So when Eli persisted that we take him to a skate park despite us trying to tell him the skate park is kind of for bigger kids, I knew it was only a matter of time before he'd win out.

The night of Eli's third soccer practice, he started putting up a fight about not wanting to go. After 20 unsuccessful minutes of trying to coerce him into his soccer uniform, I finally bribed him with a trip to the skate park if he was cooperative for soccer for the week. That whipped him right into shape. Come Friday, he was sure to constantly remind me of my agreement and made me pay up. To the skate park we went.

Eli was pretty brave! And I have since invested in some helmets, so forgive me for my unhelmeted children in these pictures.

Carson quickly surrendered to any attempts at making it up or down a ramp on a scooter, so he used his legs and bum as his vehicles of transportation.