first day of school...

i'm going to completely skip over the vacation we just took, and get to an equally exciting time (well, for me anyway)...THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!! this year all 3 boys will be in school full-time and all 3 will be riding the bus to and from school...JACKPOT!! the only downfall to them riding the bus in the morning is the absurd wake-up time of 6:15am. i'm sure for most people this is a normal time to wake up, but not in our house. if the sun ain't up, we're not getting up either.

the first day was fabulous, considering we didn't even get back from the airport until 9pm the night before from the vacay. C rode the bus to school and refused to pose for any pictures other than the first one. P-Donculous didn't want me to take his picture either, but NoNo was more than happy to have us follow him around most of the day. i'm assuming the day was a success for them as well, because i didn't get any phone calls during the day and they all made it home by 4pm (yep, they were on the bus for more than 45min). it's going to be a little strange having peace and quiet all day, well, at least for the next 4 months anyway...

2:12pm April 16, 2002...

10 years ago at this very moment i was trying my very hardest to push out 6 pounds and 15 ounces of pure joy out of my lady parts. looking back, there's not a moment that i haven't forgotten. i remember watching my family pace around the room anxiously awaiting the arrival of the first born grandchild. i'm not going to lie, the room was a little crowded. with me, The Husband, my mom, my mother-in-law, my nana, a very close friend, my nurse, the baby nurses, the doctor (who really only showed up 5 minutes prior to the big show), and a couple nursing students, you would think we would've been breaking a couple dozen fire codes.

luckily for me, and being my first experience with baby making, it was a fairly easy process. labor really only lasted a few hours and then there were the 2 hours of pushing, but at 2:12pm C finally made his appearance. there was a lot of oohing and awing, a little crying, and a big sigh of relief. he was healthy, happy, and bald. i can't believe they let us take him home 2 days later. we had no clue what to do once we left the hospital. we eventually figured it out, because i like to think we've molded him into somewhat of a good kid.

i've spent most of the day looking through pictures and baby books laughing at the silly outfits, bad hair, and chubby cheeks. i did very well at keeping up with his baby book (not so much with the next 2). one of the entries was a question about his name and what other names we had considered. i honestly don't even remember how we decided on his name, but some of the other candidates i had listed were: Carter, Caden, Camden, and Mason. funny, because i can't see him with any of those names now.

i hope that one day he'll know how much he has meant to us and how proud we are that he has turned out to be such a handsome well-rounded little man. and yes, i can say little, because that's what we are...little. i hope he doesn't hate us for being hard on him about turning off the lights in his room or turning his socks right side out every time he takes them off. i hope he doesn't frown upon the fact that he will probably always be the short one in the group (trust me, it's tough). i hope he appreciates his brothers and never takes them for granted. i hope he knows we love him...

Happy 10th Birthday C!

this week in sports...

here i go again...completing slacking in the upkeep of the blog. i'll keep it short, but there were a few highlights from the last week or so...

P-Donculous started off baseball season with a huge win for their first game...20-3! since it was the first game, we're going to say it was a bit of luck that they completely blew the other team away, and they only played 4 innings. in our small town baseball is kind of a big deal, so they have this huge opening ceremonies shindig where all the teams from t-ball on up to the big leagues take over the ball field. they announce all the teams and have them run the field. it's really kind of cute, but when there are over 500 kids playing baseball, it takes a long time to get all of them out on the field.

in the same weekend we also had to squeeze in a soccer game for C. his season has been going on for a while now, but i took this shot and had to post it. this is a typical play for him. he's become known for 2 things 1) being king of the slide tackle and 2) crazy headers. please take note of how high white boy has jumped and how high is hair reaches off his head. it's almost time to put a ponytail in that mop!

last week was another crazy weekend. on top of the usual soccer games i decided running a relay in the Dallas Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon would be fun. my mom flew in and ran the other half of the relay. i'll have to admit, we make a pretty good relay team. i almost feel guilty about making her run the first half, which was entirely uphill. we made excellent time and finished in 1:49:09 (it would've been a little faster if i hadn't stopped for a beer around mile 10). according to the results we ended up finishing 3rd in the lady relay division...not too shabby...

Trifecta...

it did not even cross my mind that today was Friday the 13th, and you would think as superstitious as i am that this would bother me, but today was a good day. earlier in the week i received an email from P-Donculous' teacher saying he was going to be receiving an award for the 2nd 9 weeks of school. of course he had no clue, but they try and make it a surprise, and i think it keeps the kids from bragging all week in front of the other kids. anyway, this morning we tried our hardest to get everyone ready to be out of the house by 7:45am (almost impossible). i dropped the boys off in car pool line like we normally do, and then i pulled around to the front of the school to park and go inside to position a good seat in the cafetorium. P-Donculous getting an award isn't really a surprise; he's definitely a people pleaser, and most of the awards in kindergarten are all about people pleasing (good manners award for example). but as we sat there for what seemed forever in the overly heated room (i only noticed because i think i forgot deodorant in my rush to get ready this morning), we were quite shocked when his name was called not once, not twice, but 3 times! the first award i was expecting, it was from the Spanish teacher for his achievement in their Spanish class (surprising in itself, because no one in our house speaks a lick of any kind of other language). the second award came from his teacher, it's called the Folsom Friendly* and i think it's given to one student from each class that shows a great attitude towards other classmates and other teachers (but i'm just guessing, i really have no idea what it's for). the third award came as a complete shock. the vice-principal gives an award that she calls the STRIVE award (a really long acronym for being awesome) and only one student in each grade level gets it, so, when she called out for P-Donculous, my jaw dropped and a little tear formed in my eye (okay so maybe it was like 5 tears, but i wiped them away before anyone saw). after hearing all the kids, teachers, and other parents cheering for him as he walked up onto the stage, i knew why he received that award...everyone knows who he is...future politician anyone? i'm so proud of my little P-Donculous...

*this is the second time he's gotten the Folsom Friendly

ghouls and goblins...

well, there may have been only one ghoul this year, but once again my kids have managed to pick out the strangest costumes. okay, so maybe the ninja wasn't all that strange, but the UPS man, really?! what 3 year old says he wants to be the UPS man? that would be my 3 year old.

this is the first year that i let C pick out whatever costume he wanted, and i was extremely happy he decided against the scary creepy clown (they seriously freak me out - see Coulrophobia). i will say that the oozing blood was kind of cool.

i do love Halloween, but it also reminds me that it's the beginning of weight gain season. you know, that time between Halloween and New Year's Day. it starts with bags upon bags of candy, throw in some fried turkey, a couple pies, and finish off with more bite size chocolates all washed down with exorbitant amounts of alcohol. it's a fatty patty paradise...

best picture EVER...

i may not know how to properly use my camera, or even get the fullest potential out of my camera, but sometimes it helps to be in the right spot at the right time. yesterday at our first flag football game this perfect moment happened without me even knowing it until after i got home and uploaded the pictures. P-Donculous definitely exudes the team spirit...

yes, that's him, front and center! couldn't be more proud of him. he scored a touchdown and grabbed 3 flags (the equivalent of making 3 good tackles). Longhorns win 29-12

and we can't forget to mention the rest of the day, because our Saturday wouldn't be complete if we just had one game to attend. we started the morning off with our first soccer game of the season (which we won 7-5) and while we were watching P-Donculous play football, C was off playing 2 back-to-back soccer games of his own. 4 games in one day, and that's only with 2 of the 3 kids playing sports...

it's a Cake & Ice Cream kind of day...

i can't believe that on this day 6 years ago i was on my way to the hospital getting ready to meet a very important man in my life. and i say man, because even from the time P-Donculous was born, he looked like an old man. he's the one child of mine that looks "different" than the rest. not different in bad way, but he's the only one that doesn't look like me, nor does he look like his dad....so, he's always been "the old man". i've known from the start that he was going to be my difficult one, but i've also learned that his being difficult is his way of coping for being the somewhat shorter middle child.

i'm extremely proud of P-Donculous. this has been a great year for him, football, soccer, starting Kindergarten, and even learning to ride a bike (now if i can only get him to tie his shoes). i'm very excited to see what life has in store for him.....

Happy Birthday Dude!

soccer...

i've been neglecting again...my oldest has been playing soccer for almost 6 years now, and you would think i would have tons of pictures of him playing. this is not the case. i'm the kind of mom that gets way too excited and runs up and down the field screaming like a banshee. it's kind of hard to carry around a camera while bouncing up and down. not to mention the amount of sweat produced while sitting outside for hours on end in 105 degree heat. this past weekend we traveled down to Round Rock, TX for a 3v3 tournament and those boys played their little hearts out. yes, the first day was a complete beating. we lost 3 of the 4 games on Saturday, which put us in the bottom of the rankings when it came to seeding for the next day of games. we were pretty much in last place starting Sunday morning, but the boys pulled it out and won the first game! winning that first game put us in the wildcard position which allowed us to keep playing. we then went on to win the next 2 games putting us in the finals. we ended up playing the top seeded team at the tournament, so, it was us, the underdogs, and the best team in south Texas...aaaand....we lost. but really, we were very happy with our 2nd place trophy. 2nd place! in the entire state of Texas? not too shabby boys, not too shabby...

(one of the only pictures i managed to get from 1 of the 8 games we played!)

we like chikin yes we du....

today is Cow Appreciation Day, which means FREE CHICKEN!! and by free i mean we went to Chick-fil-a and ordered our usual (3 kids meals and a #7 with sweet tea) and i didn't even open my wallet. this only happens once a year, so, if you're reading this and wondering how to get your free chicken...gonna have to wait till next summer. of course the place is a mad house, but the kids love it! i think i love it more that i can take my kids out to lunch for free, but that's just me. oh, but wait...there's a catch to getting the free food. in order to enjoy a full table full of goodies for zilch, you have to dress in your best cow attire. for us it's just a shirt and some homemade signs, but it works. (starting to wonder why the homeless aren't in on this idea)

it's now become tradition to dress silly and eat fast food with the Devenny's 

just a frog...

thought i would post a few pics of the kids from the other day. my kids found a frog in the pool (good thing that doesn't freak me out...we've actually found a lot worse in there) and that poor thing was tortured for 20 minutes before it finally escaped. and by escaped, i mean one of the dads took it across the street to the creek to freedom! it was crazy how excited all the kids were to throw it in the pool hold it and have there picture taken. i think all but 2 of the 9 kids we had over had their picture taken, and not a single one of them washed their hands (sorry moms).

(my fave pic of the day - thanks D)

(P-Donculous was so excited to hold the frog)

(NoNo was a little skittish)

happy easter

almost missed the boat on Easter this year. guess i've been so busy with the boys soccer schedules, my running schedule, and trying to keep my kids fed and clothed. their poor little buckets were so pititful, but i don't think they minded too much...we woke up to find a living room full of candy wrappers. too bad dudes, that was breakfast!

the rest of the weekend went very well. yesterday was my 10 mile training run. yes, 10 miles!! i actually was a little nervous about running this week, after last week's horrible sit on the curb and cry kind of run. i actually felt great this week; fundraising is going a little better and the weather is finally warming up. we'll see how long this excitement and comfort with running lasts...next week we have 12 miles on the schedule...

spring break...

if it wasn't for the fact that we were spending time with my sister, this would have been the crappiest spring break ever. when you think of "spring break", you think sunshine and warmer weather, but it did nothing but rain and stay below 50 degrees the entire week. even today, the first official day of spring, it dropped to 35 degrees and started snowing!!

so, we decided months ago that we would make the 12 hour drive to my sister's for spring break, and it actually wasn't that bad of a drive. minus the 50 million stops along the way, 12 hours is pretty good time. we spent the first day just relaxing (E and i went to a movie - during the day!) and then the next day we made the hour or so drive to NASA! the boys were super thrilled to see actual space ships.

we also celebrated Nolan and Miller's (my nephew) 2nd birthday (they just happen to be 2 days apart). it was a busy week, and unfortunately we brought our sick with us when we came and my poor sister came down with strep throat.

after a week at my sister's, we made the 12 hour trip back home, and to the kids surprise GaGa and Papa EJ were waiting for them at our house. not sure who was more excited, me or the kids. we now have the weekend to relax before going back to school on monday...

why do i waste my time...

my hubby doesn't travel much, but when he does he's gone for a week here or a week there, which really messes with the schedule around the house. i honestly get way too lazy (will not post a picture of my disaster of a kitchen) when he's not around. i put the kids to bed and then i spend all my time either eating, watching tv, or doing this.

well, since hubby happens to be out of town now, i had planned on making a delish dinner for the kiddos and myself....AARGH! why make this:

(super delish Asian Noodle Salad)

when all my kids want to eat is this crap:

(sorry Betty Crocker - it may not be crap, but really, wouldn't you choose the other one?)

i'm not going to say i'm mad, because i might have spent all afternoon preparing the super easy dinner that they didn't eat, but i'm not mad...it just means more for me! so you can see my frustration with healthy eating when hubby is not around. i can't stand wasting my time cooking and cleaning when the stinkin rug rats don't even care! at what point do they start to really appreciate good cooking?

52 weeks