First forray into organized sports

One of our favorite things to do after we clean up the kitchen from dinner every night is to divide up into teams and we "play" soccer in our upstairs den. A good game can easily last for half an hour or more, and its become something that the four of us love to do together. So this year, when we realized that they were old enough to begin playing soccer with the Y league we thought they would both really have a fun thing to do on Saturdays AND it would be a great way to introduce them to team sports.

A few weeks before the first game we got an email saying that our team needed a coach, so Michael volunteered to do it. I mean, how hard could it be, right? After all, they're 4 year olds. So, we had a couple of practices before our first game, and those both went surprisingly better than I ever dreamed. They listened to what Michael told them to do and tried their best and seemed to have fun. And then....we had the first real game. And that was another story entirely.
So he huddled them up, and the team decided their team name should the "The Swipers" (you know, from Dora). He had tried to explain to them the concept of the two teams of four running after the ball and trying to kick it into the goal. But I guess that felt much different than our nights of playing two-on-two in the den. Because that first game there were many tears over not getting to kick the ball in the goal and falling down, a little bit of timidity when lots of other unknown boys started running towards them, and generally not wanting to play on the field at all. Thankfully, we had a little boy on our team who had played the previous year, and he knew just what to do. He was our star player for the first couple of games, and then all the rest of the boys caught the hang of it. We had several games rained out, but once we started playing them again, they seemed to really enjoy it. Drew was hilarious and went after the ball every time he was on the field, cheering for all his buddies. Ben, very true to his nature, took a little while to get used to the idea of the game. When it was his turn to be on the field he ran right next to Daddy the whole time, cheered for his teammates, and avoided the ball (and any attention). I think that he finally did kick the ball once during the last few minutes of the last game. The way the Y has this age group set up is really great for introducing kids to the game. They don't have goalies, they don't keep score, every body on the sidelines cheers for all the kids, and at the end of every game all the kids get to run through a little tunnel made by the parents while we cheer for them. (But just so you know, we did win every game by a ton of goals....they were little star athletes, all of them, and - even though they didn't know it - they were by far better than any of the other teams we played. And no, I'm not biased at all.)We got to make a few new friends that we really enjoyed getting to know.......but one of the best parts for Ben and Drew was getting to play on the same team as Brax. (Doesn't he look so tough waiting for the ball here? Yes, that is a black eye he's sporting here. But its from an unrelated incident. That's another story for another day....more in the next post.)One of the best parts for Michael and I was getting to spend our Saturday mornings hanging with our good friends Josh and Darci...and any of the other spectators that came out for some good entertainment (BeBe, Jeff, Aaron, Bobber and we can't forget Brody).I confess, I stole this picture from Darci's camera. But I just couldn't resist putting it on here because it was just so cute. A little good-luck booty bump from a buddy.And a good-luck-hug-turned-wrestling-match on the soccer field followed by lots of laughing.
And what sporting event would be complete without your very own trophy? They were SO proud and thought they were pretty big showing those off.

And here's our team from left to right: Cooper, Jayden, Ben, Michael, Drew, Jackson and Brax. I've never had so much fun cheering on my three favorite guys. Luckily they really enjoyed playing, so I think this was the first of many chances to be their cheerleader and biggest fan.

First Spend-the-Night Party!

So, Michael's busiest travel times are during the spring and fall. And I figured that while he was away on one of his trips to China, that that would be the perfect time for a spend the night party with one of their best buddies Brax.

They were so excited! We made a special trip to Target and I told them they could each pick out one thing that they wanted to share with him (I'll just say that the three of them polished off one whole box of cereal straws in less than 24 hours, and leave it at that) and we came back to get the house ready. We worked to transform their bedroom floor into a bed for the three of them to share. They chose 5 (yes, FIVE) blankets to lay down for the palate to make sure it was "comfy enough" and chose two favorite movies to watch (which we didn't watch at all because there was so much else to play with and do.)

Here are a few of the before-bedtime pictures I took:

The three macho tough guys with all of their loveys that none of them can sleep without. So adorable!I will say I was prepared for the worst - crying at bedtime, up all night, maybe even some fighting over toys. But none of that happened. In fact, it was so much fun I told Darci and Josh that I wasn't sure why I hadn't thought of this before. It was really the best of all worlds: something fun and special to pass the time while Daddy's away for us, and a small break for Josh and Darci.

Maybe next time I'll be brave enough to invite Brody too!

Gone Fishin'!

Right before school began we took one last quick trip down to Mimi and Pop's house for a quick weekend visit to wrap up the summer. Since the day we found out Michael and I were having boys, my dad has dreamed of the taking his grandsons fishing. It was something that he and his daddy always did together, and even something that he and Granddaddy enjoyed taking Brittany and I to do too. So we went and got them their very own "big boy" fishing poles, lures and tackle boxes and ventured to some good friends' house from church.

They have a really good sized pond behind their house, complete with a pier, canoes, rope swing and slide. We baited our hooks, cast them out and it didn't take long for the fishies to start biting. Here Michael shows them each how to wait for just the right moment to reel them in. And here Pop lets them see their first catch They never pass up a chance to run at full speed and play outside
We all had so much fun! Thanks to the Lassiters for being so hospitable and sharing your pond with us. We had such a great time, and made some special memories...both for the boys and for Pop.

Missouri

We wanted to get one last trip in to Missouri to visit the family before we officially said good-bye to summer and began another new school year. So we headed over for a long weekend and a great time. As usual, we crammed as much into our few days as we could.

Pretty much from the time we get there till the time we leave Drew, Ben and Dresi are inseparable. They adore each other, and I'm so thankful to have her in our lives. She's just the sweetest little thing. And because she loves them so much (and therefore talks to all her friends about them all the time) they are pretty well-known in Centralia. One of her little friends came over to play at MawMaw and PawPaw's house one afternoon, and after listening to me talk for a while (don't guess she'd ever been to the south before), she whispered to Michelle "Is she from England?!" and Michelle looks at her and said "No, sweetie. She's just southern." HA! I laughed till I had tears!

We got to do some really fun things while we were there, like the slip n slide:

Playing with MawMaw:Playing at Uncle Dan's daddy's farm with the dog and the duck. The kiddos all chased the duck around and even got to feed it some treats. That little duck is the cutest thing, and loves people like most dogs do. Children of the corn
And - upon Dresi's request - we took them all to play at this place called Bonkers. I'd never heard of it, but just think 'kids climbing gym meets pump it up meets chuck e cheese' and that's basically what it is. Needless to say, they all had a blast!

We had such a great time just visiting and hanging out together. We always do, though. Our only complaint is that our time flies too quickly.

Jerkins Family Reunion 2009

The morning that Ben got to take his cast off (he actually got to take it off himself. It was kind of like a very firm ace bandage. He thought he was pretty cool.), my parents, grandparents and whole extended family came in town for our annual family reunion.

But before we could head over to the festivities, we had to get a couple of shots of our apple tree with Papa. Ben and Drew had been waiting to show it to him, since they know that he grows just about everything at his house. They actually asked Nana if she could make them some jelly from the apples. She just didn't have the heart to tell them no (Great Grandparents are even bigger suckers for the grand babies!), so she told said 'maybe when they get ripe.' and then leaned over to me and said she'd bring some apple jelly she already made next time she came. So sweet.

My Papa and his brother (who lives here in town) are the last two remaining siblings living of the original four. So about 6 or 7 years ago, they decided to get everyone together. Since then we've done it almost every summer, and we always enjoy it so much. Since many of us live here, and it is kind of the middle for the rest of the family, we have the reunion at Gary and Karen's house every year...they are so kind and so hospitable to open their home up to all of us. Gary gave each of the boys a really cool soccer ball that they ran around with the whole time. Michael was pit master on the grill, we churned lots of homemade ice cream and the boys rode their hot wheels all over the tennis courts.....they really loved that. Drew, Ben and Baby Thayer were definitely the center of attention and we basically all just had so much fun catching up and hanging out.

The proud Aunts and the three nephews:

All the Mamas cooking away:

Relaxing on the patio:Grilling on the other patio:Drew and the other Brittney...they really bonded over their shared love of Little Bear:Ben and Cousin Becca:Aunt Geraldine, Stephen, Nana and Cousin David:

Eating ice cream:What the end of the day looked like at our house:

Ben's Surgery

We've known for quite some time now (like about a year or so) that Ben would need surgery on his thumbs. He developed trigger thumb, which basically means that he didn't have mobility in the middle joint of his thumbs. It usually didn't bother him at all, was never swollen or red, and he was still able to use it. So - under the guidance of our orthopedist - we opted to wait till the middle of this summer to correct it so that it wouldn't hinder him during the school year.

Well the time came, and we headed to Vandy early on Monday morning to have the surgery. George (his monkey) and Lammy (his lovey since birth) went with us, and even got matching hospital bracelets to match all of ours.

Ben did great while we were getting ready for surgery...but then again, we had been talking to him about getting his thumbs fixed for a while now. We'd been to see doctors, we'd read kids books about hospitals and played with our doctor kit to "fix" all of our stuffed animals thumbs. I felt good about how he did going into it because I knew he was prepared. We got a great surprise in that we were fully prepared to have both thumbs operated on, and once we were checked out that morning by his surgeon we only had to do one! The left hand thumb had corrected itself! Here he is in the holding room while we met every person that would be with him:

Showing me his thumb before:Playing with some glow in the dark bracelets:

So they gave him the "happy" medicine and he and Lammy went back with the doctors all by themselves, leaving a tearful mommy and a quiet daddy to wait together in the waiting room. They took him back at 7:45 and we met with the surgeon for a report at 8:50. At 9 he was in recovery coming off the anesthesia and we were holding him and crying happy tears of joy and thankfulness by 9:15. None of us were prepared for what would happen as he came to: he was scared beyond what I thought he'd be, he didn't remember where he was, he didn't remember that he would have a cast on one hand, he was very uncomfortable with his IV line, he was groggy, his voice was raw from the breathing tube and he was not quiet at all in letting us know all of this. There were lots of tears and screaming for what felt like an eternity for Michael and I.

But we made it! We finally got him calmed down (with a little help from some meds) and we were able to take him home by around 10:45 - MUCH sooner than we'd planned.

Mimi and Pop were gracious enough to come up and have a special day with Drew while we were at the hospital. They took him to do some really special things: breakfast at McDonalds, a trip to the park, and a trip to the Dollar Tree to get some special get-well presents for his best buddy. I couldn't be more proud of how he handled the whole situation. He really is such a loving boy with a sweet heart and spirit. My mom said that all day long - even though we had prepared him just as much as we did Ben for what would happen - he never really did act like himself, and kept asking where Ben was. This was definitely one of the longest stretches they've ever gone apart.

They were so happy to see each other once we got home. Ben -though still a little woozy and out of it - was excited to show off his cast, and Drew was so happy to give Ben all the balloons and other presents he'd picked out that morning. Here are the boys watching a movie in Mimi's lap:
Later that day we got some more balloons from MawMaw and PawPaw, Aunt Chelle, Uncle Dan and Dresie. So they both had a great time using those as punching bags and eating all the candy they could.

After all of the drama of the day we were all exhausted, both physically and emotionally. So the boys just chilled on Daddy for most of the evening after dinner and we all headed to bed early.

So the next day he woke up feeling great and back to his old self. He even felt good enough to wrestle his brother (try as I might to stop them, it was useless) and he quickly learned how to use that cast as a weapon. I needed to get them out of the house and stay busy without using his hands, and without getting his cast wet. So we headed to the zoo and BeBe met us there for some fun. Here are a few pictures:

And finally, here are the only pictures we got of Ben unraveling his cast at the end of the week. He only had to keep it on for 7 days, and it wasn't the kind that had to be cut off. It just slowly unraveled, and he was feeling pretty proud of himself for doing it like a big boy.

We are so blessed to have been able to go through two surgeries (the first when they were both three months old) and come out perfectly each time. God was surely with us and we were covered in prayer. We cannot say enough how thankful we are to Him for these boys and the fun we have by getting to spend every day with them. Thanks to everyone who walked with us through this...from the friends who prayed with us and over us, to the family who was and always is there for us, to the friends who brought us dinner: you are so loved and appreciated...we could not have made it without you!!!

Now that that's all over with maybe we can set a goal of staying out of a hospital for at least 6 months. I mean, a whole year without going to a hospital would be great. But I won't push our luck. We'll just hope for 6 months! ;)