September 29 - Geemo & Max

Geemo and Max have been staying with us since last Wednesday (his parents are our friends and neighbors) and it's been quite an adventure. 

Geemo
Geemo is a sweet old man (my guess is age 10 or 11). He is also big. As in 120lb big (I think he's half lab, half great dane). Amelia looks small next to him! After pooping in the house twice within his first 5 minutes here, he has been pretty fantastic. He quickly got into the morning and evening walk routine as well as pre-school drop-off. He has also bonded with JD and gets super excited when he gets home. He and Amelia get along great. 

Max
Ah...the 'little chew-all-la' as Luke calls him. We had a rough few days when Max first got here. Our fence had some holes in it and he escaped twice (it's amazing how fast he is for someone so little) so I couldn't let him out without a leash on. You may be thinking, okay, what's the problem? The problem is that he's a tiny 5lb skittish munchkin who runs when you go near him so it would take around 30min to get the leash on. In that 30min, he inevitably peed somewhere in the house. Amelia has done many things in her 9 years, but peeing in the house was never one of them. However, after JD fixed the fence Friday afternoon, Max has turned into a wonderful little dog who sleeps almost all day and loves to run around the yard. The kids are obsessed with him. Obsessed.

After trying to get Max to come to me for what felt like hours, I leave to run an errand and come back to this. Unbelievable!

Geemo waiting for JD to come home

Blank and tan

Pre-school drop off!

Morning cartoons with Max (Amelia is thinking-what am I, chopped liver?)

Hannah and Max (Amelia is thinking-this little girl usually tries to put headbands on me, why is she ignoring me?)

Hannah and big man G

Mom, we love Max! Can we get one?

It's tough being a dog at our house

September 26 - TGIF

TGIF! It's been a fun but busy week with soccer, dance, after-school science, meet the teacher night at Luke's school, Girl Scouts, room parent meetings as well as the usual work and school. We are also dog sitting until Tuesday so it's been a little crazy in the Yamo house. I have a lot of dog photos so I'll save those for another post. 

The weather has been gorgeous this week and we've been trying to eat dinner early and then go for a family walk/bike ride. Luke is obsessed with his bike so he's excited about exploring. Julia has also become friends with a fellow first grader who lives a few blocks away and they had a play date after one day. The girls walk home from school together almost every day and they had fun. 

Julia, Kendall (new neighbor friend) and Kendall's little sister

Blurry but funny photo of the crazy Yamo's!

It almost looks like real fall

September 22 - A Case of the Mondays

You know those days where everything seems to go wrong? 

Last Monday...

8am: My car battery is dead in the Mazda, JD jumps the car

8:30am: Repair place near my house grossly overcharges me for new battery

2:30pm: Take Luke to the doctor for a staff infection that won't go away

3:30pm: Doctor finally comes to our room and informs us she's putting him on a new antibiotic and he needs to sit in bleach baths every night for 30min (hot bath with a cup of bleach). She thinks he may need surgery (no joke) because he now has several boils and it's almost impossible to get rid of them. 

4pm: work drama involving sales people complaining about bonuses

6:30pm: I take JD's car and drive Julia to soccer practice. JD and Luke meet me there to pick up Julia (I had a book club meeting). Luke runs up to me and says "Mommy! You left the lights on, the battery is dead in the Honda." I tell him that can't be true, I didn't even turn on the headlights. Well, turns out the switch under the break that controls the break lights broke and....car battery was dead. 

6:40pm: JD jumps the Honda

7pm: things are looking up, I'm at book club discussing one of my favorite topics, books

8pm: Powerful migraine hits and I practically run out of the restaurant before I get sick

And folks-that was a bad case of the Mondays. Let's hope today is better!

September 15 - More Spooky!

Fantastic news everyone-this past weekend was AMAZING. Simply AMAZING. You may be wondering why it was so fab? Well, 2 main things. No sun and no bugs. You heard that right. No sun-it was overcast and we had highs in the mid-70s both days. It was perfection. I actually wore yoga pants all weekend and didn't sweat at all. Julia had her first soccer game Saturday and it was cool (okay, okay...low 70s but that is cool for September in Texas) and there was a light breeze. Yesterday, the kids and JD went on a long bike ride (Amelia and I met them at the park) and we played outside at Hannah's house for a long time. And after several weeks of having to douse ourselves in bug spray to walk outside...barley any bugs! It was wonderful to smell like a human instead of sweating Off! all day. 

So, as mentioned above Julia's first soccer game was Saturday. They decided to call their team 'The Jaguars' and they did great. This league is all girls, ages 6-8. A game consists of 2 fields playing at the same time, 4 against 4 with a few subs. The games are divided up by skill level and I was surprised Julia was playing on the more advanced field. She has a lot of work to do on her ball skills but she is one of the fastest girls on the team. She scored 1 goal, had 2 assists and blocked 2 goals. It's been a long time since I played soccer but she looks like a natural defensive player to me, most likely a sweeper. At this age, it's just important to have fun and she is having a blast! 

Luke's birthday is coming up and we need to start planning everything. I think we are going to do a party at the house with a few of his friends from school and he wants a super hero cake. Should be fun! He is enjoying his new class at school however he does not enjoy the mandatory nap time. He is still loving gymnastics and video games. 

In other news, we started decorating the house this weekend for Halloween (I'm ready for fall!). We made the poster for the mantle, hung up a spider web on one wall (I'll post a picture another day) as well as some skeletons flanking the office french doors. The kids keep saying 'We want it more spooky!' and we're going to add a little more every week. They are so excited for Halloween (they already have costumes!). We have cinnamon scented pine cones on the kitchen table, a cinnamon broom hanging on the front door and pumpkin candles burning. It smells amazing in our house!

Like Father, Like Son

Bikes!

I went to bed the other night and look what I found..

September 12 - Don't Freak Out

Yesterday on the way to hip hop...

"Mom, don't freak out on me." - Julia

"Okay." - Mommy

"Seriously, don't freak out." - Julia giggling

"Okay." - Mommy

"I met a handsome boy at school today." - Julia giggling uncontrollably

"Okay." - Mommy..thinking she wouldn't hear this kind of stuff until 5th grade at the earliest

"Is he in 4th or 5th grade?" - Mommy

"He's so handsome!" - Julia yelling/giggling at the same time

...Mommy stays silent and waits...

"He's in pre-k. I think he's 4. He's super cute just like Luke. Really little." - the giggler 

....Mommy does not freak out....

Cutest little man west of the Mississippi

Funny video from our NC trip I forgot to post, enjoy!

September 8 - Bug City

Happy Monday everyone! It continues to rain here almost every day and the mosquitoes are horrible right now. Horrible. I've renamed Houston "Bug City" until they clear out. Which is until the city sprays or the weather turns cool...so let's hope they start spraying soon! 

We had a nice relaxing weekend and spent a lot of time playing at home. We organized the playroom, cleaned out some toys, make a big tent fort and played several board games. JD and Luke even did a puzzle, which Luke loved. The kids watched the first Harry Potter movie for the first time and loved it. Julia also got her first pair of sneakers with laces and she is super excited to wear her 'super fast shoes' now.

September 2 - Talk to the Hand

Happy Tuesday everyone, hope you had a wonderful long weekend. The kids both had gymnastics, went to a birthday, bbq and we had several play dates. It was very busy and super fun! 

Last Monday was the first day of 1st grade and in classic Julia style, she was excited to meet her new teacher and get started (no tears for her). Her current teacher is young and super sweet. The room is very organized and the kids are evaluated on their behavior daily both individually and at lunch. Their lunch table is rated green (good), yellow (okay) and red (bad). If they receive 5 greens in a row, their class earns some sort of prize. I'm not sure what since they didn't receive greens last week (they had 1 yellow day). For their individual behavior, if they are rated down they lose time on the playground during recess. Julia told me they are not allowed to talk in the classroom and it's 'much more serious than kindergarten. But's that okay Mom, because we're big first graders now.' 

Julia also started soccer a few weeks ago. She is playing in the combined U7 and U8 league which is first and second graders. They had a time trial last weekend and will be placed in teams based on their times. She is the youngest one in this age group (she is actually playing 'up' a level, their cut off is 8/1 for some reason which is why she was the oldest last year) so she is definitely being challenged to improve her skills by the older girls.

In other news, Luke doesn't want to do any activities except for gymnastics (and ride his bike, he LOVES riding his bike). He started his new pre-school class last week as well, and his teacher is Ms. Farah, who was Julia's teacher the year before kinder. We love Ms. Farah and are excited Luke has her this year. Luke generally enjoys school but he does not enjoy nap time. 

First day of 1st Grade

When I grow up I want to be a veterinarian

Silly soccer girls

Learning some skills

Luke chillin' at soccer practice

Mmm...crazy cheeks and chocolate

 Amelia

If you are wondering why I post more pictures of Julia than Luke...this is what most of my photos are like of him. Talk to the hand!