DAMN my batteries for needing to be charged! Hayley is in her room right now making up a rap song about how she’s “Hayley the strong, and nothing is wrong, my muscles are long because I’m Hayley the strong”.

I can’t stop giggling.

Last night George stayed home with Breanna and his dad and I took Hayley to her second to last soccer game. There’s one more game next week, and then the season is over although I think our team may be participating in an extra tournament. I’m sad that it’s almost over. I enjoy soccer although at this age it’s nothing like the older teams. Her team consists of girls ages 4-6, they only play four against four, there are no referees, and there are no official goalies (of course any of the girls can run in front of the net to try to block it like a goalie would). It’s not about competition, it’s about having fun and learning to play as a team. It’s kind of funny because none of them really get the concept of passing the ball to a teammate, so it’s just a bunch of girls running up and down the field, randomly kicking to get the ball down to the goal.

Hayley really likes it too. For awhile I was thinking of not re-enrolling her next year because she didn’t seem that enthused. If you asked her, she would insist she loved it, but out on the field, she would run half-heartedly and more often than not she would suddenly throw herself dramatically on the ground, claiming that she “fell” but it was just her way of being the class (team?) clown. Between the dramatic tumbling and the fact that she would do somersaults any chance she got, I was actually thinking of foregoing soccer in favor of gymnastics next year.

I don’t want to overwhelm her with activities, and with school starting in just two weeks (!), I don’t want to sign her up for anything in the Fall. In the Winter, I’d really like to get her into swimming lessons, and there’s an arena nearby that has extremely reasonable prices and is apparently quite good. I’ve also always wanted to get her involved in the Sparks/Brownies/Girl Guides organization because I loved it as a kid and bet she would too, but I don’t think that will happen until next year.

Either way, i had pretty much written off soccer as a possibility.

And then, wouldn’t you know it, with only two games left in the season, something suddenly clicked with Hayley and she got it a bit more. She’s still very hesitant when there’s a group of girls kicking to get control of the ball all at once; she’ll run up and then stop because she doesn’t want to get into the middle of it. However, last night she was more assertive than I h ad seen her all season. She did goof around a bit, she did talk to her friends too much on the field, but she kicked that ball too. Twice she was the one who kicked the ball back into play after the ball went out of bounds and she delivered a good, strong kick each time. And several times, when the ball found its way to her she kicked them ball, trying to get it towards the goal. (One time she kicked the ball the wrong way in the confusion of eight girls trying to get to the ball, but even if she had scored on her own team I would have applauded anyway, just like we did when one of her teammates actually DID score in the wrong net.)

It’s a shame that it took until almost the end of the season for her to gain enough confidence to really start getting involved. If we had another month of twice-a-week games left, I think she would even get to a point where she would be more willing to chase after the ball. I think it’s partly an age thing; a couple of the girls are older, six years old, who were playing for their second year, and they were the ones to aggressively go after the ball and get it down the field.

We have until next February to decide what we want to do for next year (and of course, we’ll ask Hayley what SHE wants to do) but I’m not opposed to doing soccer again next summer; now I’m seeing how she might understand better next year and have even more fun.

I know I’m going to miss it after the season closes, either way. It’s been fun screaming and applauding on the side for all our girls. Good thing I won’t have time to miss it too much since I’ll be so distracted with SCHOOL starting. Sheesh.

I swear to God, with all the recalls that are going on these days with kids’ toys, usually involving lead paint or magnets, I’m going to stop buying toys altogether and only make their toys myself out of rags that I wove together with fibers I grew myself. It’s like nothing is safe anymore. And although none of the recent recalls have directly affected anything that we currently own (a miracle since I have Dora and Elmo fans here), it’s still making me look suspiciously at our toys, wondering if they’re really okay.

In related news, when the hell are all these toy companies going to stop using factories in countries that do not share our safety standards? I realize that money is the motivating factor for all the out-sourcing, but are they really even actually saving money anymore what with all they have to pay for these recalls?

Bah.

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Over in my review blog, I discussed the very nifty KINeSYS sunscreen.

This is totally awesome – If God had used computers to create the earth. It takes a few minutes but it’s worth it.

I fully intend to keep myself very busy with this site.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I thought back with great fondness to being a kid myself. My whole family was really into playing board games and there were many evenings of Battleship, Clue, Sorry, Aggravation, Life, and the like. I loved it As my sister and I grew older, we moved onto other games like Monopoly (UGH), Scattergories, and Balderdash.

I couldn’t wait for board games with my new family.

Right now, board games aren’t a family thing though. Breanna is way too young for games and only wants to touch the pieces. When either George or I want to play a board game with Hayley, we have to wait until Breanna is napping. Then we break out the Candyland (my favorite), Cariboo, Snakes & Ladders (that game is WAY more fun for kids than parent), or a game which is technically not a board but a fun and active game called Hullaballoo. Frequently, George and Hayley will also play Go Fish.

When it comes to family play time though, we get creative. Whether it involves the “throw the kids on the couch, wheeee!” game or a pillow fight, or playing My Little Pony where all George and Breanna do is make the ponies fart while Hayley and I cry from laughing, we get our play time in. A lot of times either George or I will play with the kids while the other is busy working/cooking/cleaning, but when we play all four of us together, it gets loud and silly and someone – usually me – always ends up in tears of laughter.

That’s why I knew I had to take part in the current Blog Blast courtesy of the awesome Parent Bloggers Network. They wanted to know how everyone plays together as a family, and the randomly drawn winner will win a Nintendo Wii console plus a copy of Wii-Boogie. I’ve never tried a Wii but with everything I’ve read about it, I know we would love it – I love the fact that it’s not a passive video game system but rather one where you have to get up off your ass and interact. It’s the perfect compromise between providing healthy activities and pleasing an entire family of geek fans.

Keep your fingers crossed and maybe this family can add Wii-Boogie-ing to our list of ways to play!

Why did I only find this video now?!

I can remember things in pretty decent detail if they happened awhile ago or if they were particularly big, important events. The little day-to-day inconsequential thing, though, dribble straight out my ears.

An example? I drink our tap water (gasp!) and I even find that our water tastes good, better than some of the bottled water we have gotten on occasion. I don’t even use a filter for it. However, I do have to let it run for a couple of minutes for it to get fairly cold and to avoid having a lot of air in it when I fill up my pitcher. I know it’s not good for the environment to leave water running but it’s better than eight trillion plastic bottles.

Just a few minutes ago I made a second cup of coffee and remembered that my water pitcher was empty. I turned the cold water tap on to let it run and headed off to the bathroom to pee. I came out and I could hear a weird trickling sound. I immediately thought, “crap, one of the air conditioners is leaking!” I rushed over to the one in the living room which is more important since we have carpet in there. Nothing. I went to the dining room window to check that one (still important but at least the floor is ceramic tile and won’t get ruined), and it was also running just fine.

I stood there in confusion. Was the fridge leaking something then? It’s not raining right now. Where the hell is that running water coming from?!

Oh. Right. From the tap where I turned the water on so it could run for a couple of minutes to fill up my pitcher.

You know, it’s hard to remember stuff you did a whole two minutes ago.

Back when Breanna was born, almost two years ago, we bought Hayley a Big Sister present – she got a Cinderella outfit. Back then it fit her somewhat loosely. I can’t believe she can still fit into it now, but she certainly looks older in it than she did back then.

Now:

Then:

We tried the princess thing with Breanna that day too, but she was so hot and sweaty that she just ended up looking like the Saddest Princess Ever.

At least they were both happy to humour me with a quick group photo before bed the other night. Note that Breanna is rockin’ the 80’s ponytail.

And since they’re both big Daddy’s Girls (especially Hayley), they’re always happy to pose for a photo op with him too.

A couple of days ago, it was still pretty hot out so Breanna was hanging out in just a diaper. All of a sudden she went to the hall and put my shoes on, then she grabbed her Dora tote bag, and paraded around the room shouting, “Out! OUT!” Clearly she thought she was ready to go.

I wish we could all just go out like that, it would save loads of time.

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I have a new review up if you’re interested in a DVD to help your young children learn to read.

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I have a ton of pictures from the weekend since we were out for most of it but I’m trying not to overload Flickr all at once. Perhaps tomorrow!

Tonight, at the dinner table, Hayely and I were talking about school. I told her how excited I am for her that she starts school in just a few more weeks (and that’s true – *I* am not excited but I’m excited for her because she’s been wanting to go for over a year now). She said she was excited too.

Then I told her that besides getting her uniform and maybe some new shoes (she has perfectly good running shoes but if we get her a skirt or tunic, she’ll need some little Mary Jane style shoes), we have to get her a backpack (red, naturally, as it’s her favorite color), some supplies as per the list, and we’d have to get her an appointment to get her hair cut. Although I did a great job cutting her hair last time, I think she might enjoy the whole experience of getting it washed and conditioned and cut and frou-froued at a professional salon.

She said, “Oh no, no, no. I don’t want my hair cut.” When I told her she had to (mostly because I’ll be damned if I’m going to fight with her hair at 7 am every frickin’ day), she then went the opposite route and told me she wanted it cut like a girl on her soccer team who has a very short, pixie-ish cut. I told her if she really wanted to she could, but that once it’s cut you can’t change your mind. Then we said maybe we’d get it cut like one of her friends who has an adorable chin-length bob – short enough to be manageable but long enough for her to do stuff with it.

Out of the blue she then told me, “Maybe I’ll never cut it again. I’ll let it grow and grow and grow. Then you’ll have to stop calling me Hayley and call me Rapunzel instead.”

I laughed and said, “Good one! Wait. Rapunzel. How did you know about her?”

She said, “I just know! She had long, long hair.”

I asked her, “Did I tell you that story? I didn’t think I had.”

AND THEN she said, “No Mommy, I saw it on TV.”

Good God. I am a failure as a mother. Rather than having it read to her, she learned about Rapunzel on TV. Probably on Dora or something. Gah.

So I told her the full story in between bites of my spaghetti and she was very interested and thought it was hilarious that the Prince climbed up her hair to rescue her.

Then she got quiet and asked, “Mommy? How did they get out if he went up the tower?”

I said, “I’m not sure, I guess he helped her climb back down her long hair.”

And she looked puzzled and asked, “Well then why didn’t she just climb down herself instead?”

So maybe I’m not a failure! Because clearly I am raising a feminist who doesn’t need any stinkin’ Prince to rescue her resourceful self from the tower!