A little frog goes a long way

Well, we had a bit of excitement in our house tonight. I got home from work, changed out of my work clothes, then let the dog out like normal. Evan came out with me and grabbed a bucket on the way out as our raspberries are coming in like crazy! We were picking some raspberries, feeding them to Sage who LOVES them, and eating some ourselves. All of a sudden, I noticed a small little tree frog on our raspberry bush. One would have thought that the sky opened up and rained candy- the kids were SO excited! So, we got the poor little tree frog in a bucket and brought it up by the house. Emma declared that it's name was Suzie and instantly started putting dirt, plants, dead bugs in the bucket for little Suzie. Evan, one to always copy his big sister, started to do the same thing. However, he wasn't nearly as careful as the girl and I was scared many times that he was going to smother poor Suzie. Yes, she did try to escape a few times, but whenever Suzie would slowly make the trek up the sides of the bucket, Evan would go all dragon on her and let out a big "ROAR" to scare her back down. (Well, that was the intent. It didn't work, but I got a good laugh out of it.) Emma, eventually, got the nerve to pick her up and then, would not put her down. "Mama! I picked her up! I cannot believe this is the first time I picked one up!" Finally, it was all done when Emma wanted to see if Suzie could swim. Alas, she could not. We saved her before she drowned and then we sent her back home. Emma exclaimed "Ah Mom, she will be happy now with her family again." I am not so sure that Suzie found her family again, but I am sure the poor frog was happy to be away from the crazy kids.


Yesterday, it was a soccer match between the Heuer Hurricanes and the Kellogg Cougars (yeah, they did change their name. Last year, if you remember, it was the Kellogg Sparkles; which, I think had a better ring to it than the Kellogg Cougars, but whatever.) The game always starts out with the proper stretching and then some laps around the trees. Then, the game started... and ended about 5 minutes later. My Emma is a bit more aggressive than the neighbor girls and they did not care for the competition. She did try to steal the ball from them and they were not happy about that. They went home soon after that. I must say though, Emma does okay for a 4 year old. She has to be reminded not to use her hands at times, but she does kick and follow the ball okay. Evan was in on the action also and had fun playing "soyker". He had his own ball and would kick it up and down the yard. He loved it!

Here are some pics:










Emma running along the field. Yes, those are potted trees that are serving as goals. We are really not that advanced yet in our game.





Evan saying cheese! I get out the camera now and he automatically says cheese.

The kids are happy because they scored a goal:

Emma is tired from all the exercise.


The kids together and I have to mention that Emma is wearing her new favorite outfit: her workout clothes. I have some that match closely (no, mine do not say Love Cheer on them) and when I workout, she has to put her workout clothes on as well so we match. The kids now like to run with me, even Evan exclaims "Run! Run!" when we are in the yard.

And Evan in his favorite jammies - his ball jammies. His old ball jammies were getting too snug, so I bought him a new pair. This was taken last night and he was totally distraught because I did not get him his bedtime snack right away when he wanted it. Funny story.... last night the kids had chocolate gold fish crackers and milk for snack. Emma gobbled hers up quickly and started whining because she did not have any left.

She asks Evan: "Evan, can I have some of your goldfish crackers, PLEASE?"

Evan, smiles slyly, squints his eyes and looks over at her, "Nope!"

Emma: "Come on Evan! You have a lot left and I am hungry!"

He, with the same sly expression on his face: "Nope. Mine"

She, exasperated, looks at me "MOM! Evan is NOT sharing!" So, I explain that she does not always share her things with him and that he doesn't have to share his snack with her. Emma tries one more time. "Please, Evan?!"

He, once again with the cat that got the canary expression, smiles and says, "Nope!"

Priceless... it really was. I wish I could capture the inflection in his voice because it was so funny to watch. In the end, I did give Emma a few more crackers and she did share them with her brother.