The Weekend Before Last...

It's in the 90s with humidity requires a pool in the backyard...A won't wear girlie swimsuits as I've already mentioned.

The Reluctant Soccer Player in a rare moment of action...this was his last game and unfortunately, we loaded him up with an adult portion of IHOP french toast right beforehand (he said, "I want to go to breakfast at the place with the acronym" ) in honor of F's highschool friend coming for a visit...

After the game, we went to Chuck-E-Cheez (otherwise known as a Horrible Torture Site for Parents..but it wasn't too bad this time, I actually like playing one game where you throw plastic balls at a screen...yes, that was me elbowing the other children away from it...and this time, I didn't lose my shoe in the soccer game, so that was a bonus).  M got really attached to this jet ski game...and refused to get off it even to eat pizza...

L with Coach Kelly...

"Yaaay, Titans!"

"Cool, Mom!  I got a trophy even though I didn't win the last game!  I want to play again next year!"  This was his very first trophy and Anna spent the whole ride home trying to coerce L into letting her hold it for a little bit...

We also went to the Living Museum's Butterfly Exhibit...who's this peeking up???

"I'm in a chyrsallis and it's my favorite color, green!" 

"Me, too, Mama!  I'm turning into a blue morpho!"  They know that butterfly from an episode of Diego...

Checking out the "Birds of Prey" demo at the Annual Blackbeard Pirate Festival.  Looking at this Red-Tailed Hawk made M want to eat his shirt.  Which he did until we got home.  L was stoked to find out that you only have to be 10 years old to be an apprentice to a falconer in our state...and at 14, you can be a Master Falconer if you pass all the requirements...sigh...maybe he'll grow out of this stage?  Or not...I heard the girls dig a boy with a falcon???  Oh, and the pirate festival is not a place for children, really...it's a place for really strange adults who really, really, really wish they were swashbuckling pirates (and they almost NEVER should be wearing abdomen-baring shirts)...

Getting down to the Pirate Band...L had that look on his face because "Pirates were NOT the good guys, Mom.  They were NOT NICE!"

M started the week out by getting pushed off the front steps by his sister...she kept opening the front screen door until she propelled him into the clay flowerpot on our porch.  Hence, the bump/bruise on his forehead.  It looked much worse when it initially happened.  Then, he was acting out what he thought the plot to the up-coming Cars 2 movie is with L in he hallway while I was cooking dinner and was body-checked into the ground...bloody nose dripping down the stairs all over the dining room floor and of course, he insisted he must have a Band-Aid to make it better...life is hard when you are 3...