I'm a soccer mom!!

Last Saturday was Jackson's first soccer game. I think I was even more excited than he was! I really like Jackson's coach - the focus is purely on making sure the kids have fun and they get equal playing time. The score is meaningless. Just as it should be!

Just before the start of the game, each kid drew a card to determine who was going to play first. What a great idea!

Getting ready to play. Jackson seemed so proud to be in his jersey and to have so many routing for him. He kept looking back at us with his proud smile just to make sure we were still watching.

Jackson's favorite part of the game/practice still seems to be the water bottle. I didn't think this would be a huge issue. After all - it's warm and you've got to stay hydrated, right??

As soon as it was time for Jackson to play, he said he had to go. Immediately. So off they went! I thought this might have been just a coincidence. However, now we're wondering if it's nerves or becoming habit. He has yet to play a game or practice without having to leave the field to take care of business - regardless of when he last went!

Jackson out in front. Doesn't he look like he's leaving everyone else in the dust?

We have a team of incredibly polite kids - none of them want to get in and take the ball from someone else! Some of the parents and I were laughing about it this past weekend. We tell our kids every day to share, take turns and not take toys (or balls) away from people as well as not hit knock anyone down or bump them. But as soon as we get them on the field, what do we say? "Get the ball....take it from them!" or "bumping, kicking, and getting knocked down is just part of the game". No wonder they are confused!

Jackson has started doing his "old man" run or a slow-motion run. You can tell he's doing it here as he's just cruising along. When he finally hears that he needs to run fast, you can see him kick it in overdrive!

Every so often, Jackson would turn to us and give us the double thumbs up.

3 and 4 yr old soccer is the best. Your ab muscles get a pretty good workout. I'm so thankful the coaches are out there - though it is like herding cats! Some of the kids are following the ball, yet others are multitasking at the same time - picking flowers for their mom or playing stellar defense, such as the kid in the first game who (while the game was in progress) knelt down in front of the goal and starting digging a hole. Genius!

At the end of the game, the coaches taught the kids how to be good sports. I love how some of them seem to be walking on a balance beam with both hands out straight.

After the game - snack time!!

Pamma, Papa, Johnnie and Reese made it to Jackson's game last weekend. Reese really wanted to go after the ball on the field! The team mom who brought snacks had some left over and also gave some to Reese. She sure has her hands full!

After the game, we decided to go to the park for a bit before lunch.

After the park, we headed to Sprouts for lunch and some more play time. Sprouts is this great play cafe that Katie found a few weeks ago. She and her son, Ben, met us there on my birthday for a morning playdate. It is a great place! It has nice tables and chairs for the moms to sit, talk and have some coffee (or lunch) while the kids play in the play area or go in the art room, which are both supervised by employees to watch over the kids. It is wonderful! Jackson (and Ben) had a great time. Jackson now calls it his "fun place".

So, we decided to check it out again with Reese. Reese got a little scared by all of the strangers, so she needed a little moral support. Pamma stepped in to read them a story.

After a while, Reese got more comfortable. Jackson showed her how to balance on this fun play toy. I think Johnnie was about to have a heart attack as Reese was balancing and walking. Johnnie let out a sigh of relief as Reese decided upon a new way to cross the wavy balance beam.

After Sprouts, we came back home for a little nap. We wondered if Jackson and Reese would be able to take a nap together in Jackson's bed.....but that didn't work out too well. They had a blast together, though. They started out acting like they could do it. But then Jackson said he needed to read Reese 2 stories. How could we refuse that? So sweet! The next thing we hear are a few bumps....and then quiet. I went back in the room and found Jackson reading some books out loud while Reese comes out of the closet with some more toys. We put them back in bed and tell them they need to go to sleep after 1 more story. After several more distractions, we finally came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to work.

While us girls were out doing some birthday shopping for spring decorations, the boys (and Reese) went upstairs to play.

Later that night we all went outside to play. Jackson loved showing off how he could ride his scooter and his bike!

They took off for a ride around our neighborhood.

But the day wasn't over yet! One more ride around the neighborhood, except this time they had Papa do the hard work.

A fun day isn't complete without bubbles!

Thanks again for coming up! We had so much fun - what a great day! We're looking forward to Grandma and Granddad McGillen coming up next weekend to watch Jackson's soccer game, too. I'm loving sports season! Hope Jackson continues to have fun playing - I know that I'm enjoying every minute of it!

Spring is coming!

The weather was great this weekend, so we took advantage of it by playing outside. I'm happy to report that Jackson loves riding his bike and is really good at it, so no late night bike training sessions here! After a good bike ride and a trip on the scooter, Jackson decided he wanted to pull all of his nap buddies around in his wagon. As he was pulling them on the sidewalks, he'd exclaim, "They're so happy! They're having fun!"

Our attention span doesn't last too long, so 5 minutes later (or 1-2 trips to and from the neighbor's house), we had to switch to the truck. Jackson is still a little scared of this and wants someone by his side at all times. He finally started going down the sidewalk and into the neighbor's driveway when he got scared and told Tom, "I'm going to crash into the door!" Here Tom is trying to explain that Jackson just needs to turn his steering wheel to get back to the sidewalk. Looks simple, right?

Ummmm.....No. Jackson decided that it would be much easier to push it and physically turn it using his brute strength.

Finally Tom convinced Jackson to get back in the car. Tom steered the truck while Jackson pressed the gas pedal. Somehow I don't think this is what the manufacturers intended for this toy! On the bright side, I don't think we'll have to worry about Jackson begging to drive our car anytime soon....or hopefully within the next 13 years.

Next he tried his smaller vehicle, but he's getting too big for it. Jackson doesn't seem to understand why it suddenly got so much smaller!

Once he got tired of that, we moved back to the wagon. Only this time Jackson wanted to ride with his nap buddies, too.

Since he hadn't ridden his small trike yet, he decided his nap buddies should get a front row seat to watch him ride it around the driveway. I love the focus and deliberate placement of each of his friends that he's showing here!

A little while later, he rearranged them so that they each got a different view. Once he got them the way he wanted them, he said "Mommy, take a picture of me!" .

He decided to try the truck one more time that night. He said Woody, Buzz and Jessie wanted to come, too. Aren't they so cute sitting there in the seat with him?

We had another big first this week - Jackson's first soccer practice! We went to Academy this weekend to get him some cleats and some shinguards. We also picked up a water bottle (Thanks for remembering, Tom!) so that he could actually have something to drink at practice. We kind of felt like it was the first day of school - what should he wear to the first practice? Is it going to be a full practice or more of a get-to-know the coach and team with a little bit of kicking the ball thrown in? Should he wear tennis shoes or cleats? Does he need to wear his shin guards? Where is the field? So many questions....no one to answer them. (OK, we were prepared for that last question. We drove to find it the night before. See, we really are treating it like the first day of school!)

We did what any prepared parent would do - we brought it all with us! (and yes, even though I don't have treats in the car and I don't carry puffs in my purse with a sippy, I do count myself in this crowd for at least one night!)

He was so excited to go to practice. He told all of his friends and his teachers that day that he was going to play soccer. He told me "Holden will be so happy." Apparently Holden really likes soccer, too! Jackson picked out his shirt special for this great day. But with all of the new things going on, Jackson was most excited about......his water bottle.

When practice started, Jackson jumped right into the crowd. It was so cute watching him with the other kids and the coach. Jackson is definitely a pleaser. You could always count on him being right in front of the coach when the team came together for a talk. Here is he stretching as far as he can to get ready to practice.

Next it was time for some drills. I was surprised how good Jackson was with his footwork (look at me talking like I actually know something about soccer - it sounded good, though, didn't it?).

Patiently waiting his turn to knock down the bowling pins (aka orange cones) with his ball.

1/4 of the practice was spent like this:

Next they practiced kicking the ball up and down the field. Jackson was really fast.

Here's a video of Jackson and his teammates practicing kicking the ball into the goal. It was really windy, so I apologize for the noisiness of the video!

About halfway through the practice, the coach had them scrimmage - 4 against 4. There were only a few issues:

1. No one knew each other, and had no clue who was on their team (do 3 and 4 year olds really understand the concept of "team" any way?).
2. Rules.....who needs rules?
3. The goal they were aiming for was the one directly in front of them....even if it was on the next field (or two) over.

Jackson was really fast and could easily catch up to the pack, but he didn't seem to want to get into the crowd to try to get the ball. He got bumped a couple of times, which he didn't like. He got pushed down 3 times, which he REALLY didn't like. The last time he got pushed down, he started bawling, and it took us about 5 minutes to get him to stop. Fortunately, we had the water bottle handy, and he went back to his coach to tell him that he had 2 drinks. Not 1, but 2! When we asked him after practice how he liked it, he just kept saying that people hit him and knocked him down. I'm not sure how well this is all going to go. We tried to keep telling him that he was ok, and that getting bumped or knocked down was going to happen - everyone is going for the ball, and sometimes people get in the way! So stay tuned...not too sure how this one will turn out!

I've posted all of these pictures in an online photo gallery. Hopefully if you click this link, you'll be able to download any pictures that you want on to your own computer.

https://picasaweb.google.com/TMCGILLEN?authkey=Gv1sRgCPuwi7K1np-t7AE

Minnesota Trip part II

On Sunday morning after the wedding, we drove up to Minneapolis for a little mini-vacation. We figured since we were so close, we couldn't miss going to the Mall of America and visiting the Minnesota Children's Museum.

I forgot how big the Mall of America really is. And how big the amusement park inside the mall is! They had changed all of the characters since the last time I was there - probably 20 years ago! Camp Snoopy has now become the Nickelodeon Universe. Jackson was so excited when he first saw some of his favorite characters - the Backyardigans!

The first ride he went on was Blue's Skidoo. We were expecting this one to be a little quicker than it actually was. Jackson did like getting to sit on Blue, though.

After Blue's Skidoo, Jackson decided he wanted to drive a truck. Fortunately, the Monster Big Rigs were right down the aisle! Each seat had its own little horn to press throughout the ride. Jackson really got into both driving and honking the horn, as you can tell here.

Most of the rides were designed for kids a bit older than Jackson. We weren't quite sure how he would do in the dark, but then we thought back to his excitement over laser tag and figured he could handle it. He was all in once he heard that he got to shoot a laser gun again! I love this picture of the two of them in their little car.

He doesn't look too scared!

Next he wanted to ride the bumper cars. These were designed for younger kids with a set height limit, so he had to do it on his own. We were a little nervous how he would do by himself, since he has had difficulty driving his own toy cars at home. He was excited to sit in his own car, especially since there was a cute little girl in the car next to him. Notice his cute smile to her in the picture below. I have a feeling he's going to be quite the charmer!

Here's a video of Jackson driving his bumper car all by himself. He did really great in the beginning. Unfortunately, the spot where he finished in the video is pretty much where he ended up the rest of the ride! He had trouble figuring out how to turn the wheel all the way while also pressing down on the pedal. We still have at least another year before he's ready for this one!

After the bumper cars, we finished up the rides at Nickelodeon Universe with the hot air balloons. This ride was lots of fun. We went pretty fast in the air and had a lovely breeze blowing through our hair and on our faces - it actually felt like we were flying through the air!

Next up was Lego Land. The models they had created there were pretty incredible. Jackson was really enamored with the helicopter flying above the store until he saw Woody.

They had an area with 4 tables that kids could play with the Legos. Jackson really got into it until a mom arrived with her twins about a year younger than Jackson. As soon as we saw them, Tom leaned over and said to me, "they look like they are going to be future bullies." He was totally right (except for the future part). As soon as they got to the table, one of them came over and just started hitting Jackson. To Jackson's credit, he didn't hit back and just looked at us like "what is going on here?". The mom of the kids didn't say anything other than pulling him back on his side. Less than a minute later, the kid again was hitting Jackson. Then the other kid began knocking over Jackson's tower. Tom and I couldn't believe that the mom didn't once tell the kids "no" or take them away for a timeout. We have no doubt why the kids were acting so poorly - their mom gave them absolutely no boundaries or sense of what was right or wrong! Jackson was getting upset and so possessive of his legos that we decided it was time to move on. We were so proud of Jackson for not hitting back!

Because Jackson had so much fun playing with the Legos (at least before those two kids came), we decided he could pick out some legos to take home. We found out quickly that Legos are so expensive! We spent $100 on three sets of Legos plus the Lego board. However, they have proven to be quite the hit. Legos were the first thing he wanted to play with when we got back to the hotel, and we've played with them for at least an hour every day since! Tom and I actually have fun getting to build things, too.

While at the Mall of America, we had to make a quick stop at Nordstrom Rack. There were 2 1/2 ROWS of cute shoes. How was I ever going to pick?? I narrowed it down and found 4 (yes - 4!) pairs of shoes - 1 pair of high heels, two flats and pair of black strappy sandals. I was in heaven. They even have 4 sales a year just dedicated to large size shoes. Someday, I am going to find out when they are and go to the nearest one (either Dallas or St. Louis) for a weekend trip. It was awesome.

Jackson didn't get a nap that day, and all of the excitement over the past two days was catching up to him, so we headed back to the hotel to rest. We had fun playing Legos in the hotel while eating a Minneapolis brand pizza. Yum!

The next morning, we went to St. Paul for a quick visit to the Minnesota Children's Museum before getting back in the car to head home. Minnesota sure knows how to do Childrens Museums! It made our Kaleidoscope seem extremely amateurish by comparison.

The first room was focused on art and letting the kids become part of the famous paintings. Jackson had fun pretending to cook and eat in this scene.

Who doesn't want to pretend to be Mona Lisa?

In the same room, they had also set up a tent with a cot and a fire pit. I don't know how they did it, but the fire pit actually smelled like a real campfire! One of the activities in the tent was to shine a light and pick out the different leaves laying on top of the tent from the shadows. It all looked pretty real.

The next room was set up to look like a little community, complete with restaurants/diners, a doctors office, art gallery, shoe store, houses, grocery store and a post office. In one little area, they had little cubbies for various professions within a community, each of which had a costume that the kids could put on as they played in the city. Jackson quickly grabbed the postman's uniform and set off to deliver mail throughout the city.

Jackson showed no fear and went up to several parents and museum volunteers to deliver mail to them.

They even had a play bus, complete with real bus seats, an official bus steering wheel and a digital map in the windows that would change pictures as if you were really driving by.

After playing mail carrier, Jackson decided to try being a fireman. I think the boots came up to his hips!

Next he decided to cook in the restaurant. He made a yummy dish from potatoes, rice and orange juice.

In the upstairs room, it was all about science and how things work. Here Jackson was a construction worker and got to play with a mini crane that actually worked when you moved the levers.

Jackson loves bubbles, so he was pretty excited to make some monster bubbles in the water area.

It was getting close to time to leave, so we tried to make a quick spot in the Habitots area designed for kids 6 months - 4 years old. Jackson loved the slides - especially when he realized he could pretend to be a beaver in the beaver dam.

Checking to make sure his tail made it down, too. Yep, it did!

If you are ever in the Twin Cities area with your kids, make time to go to the Children's Museum. It is pretty incredible! We probably could have spent at least 2 more hours there, but unfortunately, it was time to get on the road to head home. Jackson did pretty good in the car. Dill pickle chips helped pass the time for Jackson. He LOVES them! We were glad to finally get home, though. Jackson didn't want to miss costume day at school on Wednesday. He dressed up as Woody and told everyone he passed by that he was "Woody the Cowboy Sheriff". So cute!