Where has the time gone?

I can't believe I haven't posted since October. Since then, I've managed to survive Shane's birthday party (a success), hosting Thanksgiving and putting up the Christmas decorations. The boys are thriving in school and are finally into the new routine and I'm even thinking of adding an extra half day of school to Shane's schedule. What we are looking forward to this month:

*My dad visiting from South Carolina and an early Christmas celebration with him.

*Christmas break from school! Ok, more like the boys are looking forward to this and I'm wondering what I can plan to keep the fighting to a minimum. Baseball camp perhaps?

*Another year of both the boys fully believing in the magic of Santa. How many more years can I get away with the "Santa is watching" bribery?

*Celebrating the season with my awesome family and friends.

My Soccer Fanatic

Ever since Shane joined our family, he's existed in his older brother's shadow. It was never intentional. Bobby just has one of those outgoing, hard-to-ignore personalities. What can I say? Older brother provides pages of writing material.

Midway through soccer season, the sibling dynamic has changed. Both boys started soccer this year, though Bobby could have played for the last two years. And while Bobby still lacks that aggression to steal the ball away from the other team, Shane has been a soccer dynamo since day one.

The kid averages three goals a game.

He dribbles with both feet.

He insists on wearing his soccer cleats and shin guards to all of Bobby's practices as well...and actually scrimmages with the older boys, holding his own.

Shane falls apart when the fields are closed due to rain. Stomps the ground if the soccer ball sails wide of the goal. He would play day and night if he could.

And I'm thrilled my little guy has found something that he excels at, that he even outshines his brother at. As my mom said at the beginning of the season, "Shane needs this."

I couldn't have put it better myself.

First Day Anxiety

Bobby started first grade this morning. How come I have been the one so anxious, anyway? I've had anxiety dreams for over a week. Me forgetting to pack his lunch. Me forgetting he was in school and not picking him up, having the poor kid wait in the office for hours as the secretary tried to track me down. Then last night, me taking the wrong kid to school and realizing at lunch time that Bobby was supposed to start.

Bobby was brave and had no such cases of the jitters. He marched right into class without looking back, a repeat performance of him starting kindergarten last year. He has several good friends in the class, which doesn't hurt.

Another repeat performance: Shane once again stealing the spotlight on his big brother's first day. A huge tantrum while I tried to get everyone dressed and fed this morning. Another meltdown as the parents walked their kids into the classroom and hovered around the desks like vultures to listen to the teacher explain the routine for the day. Did I hear anything? Not really. I was too busy trying to shush Shane while he whined that there were no cars in the classroom like last year. Ya, this isn't kindergarten anymore dude. First grade is serious business.

My anxiety has yet to go down. Will Bobby behave in the cafeteria? Will he listen to the teacher? Did I do enough work with him over the summer so he won't be totally lost in class. I don't know. And I have all day to worry about it....

Shane in his first tantrum of the morning...

Dodging Warrants from the Mommy Police

Summer is still going strong, but apparently, my discipline skills and household routine has all but deteriorated. I've been breaking rules left and right, some that I realize are okay to let slide over the lazy days of summer. Others I rules I never thought I'd break. Combined, I'm feeling a bit like a mommy outlaw....

*Firm 8pm bedtime is a haunting memory. Now it's giving in to allow just one more movie, in hopes they fall asleep to the hum of the television (another broken rule!) Bobby had to be forced into bed after 10pm last night and I actually felt guilty about it. Wow. Just last year I had them bathed and read to by 7:30 with lights out after.

*House filled with sugary cereals. Ack! I never thought I'd be the mom to buy Cocoa Puffs and Fruity Pebbles for an actual breakfast option.

*I failed to convince Bobby to sign up for the Library Reading Game, the one thing his kindergarten teacher advised us parents to do to keep the kids up to speed on their school skills.

*I just recently busted out the workbooks I optimistically stocked in early June with hopes of working every morning with the boys on their letters and numbers.

*I have not made one batch of play dough, slimy goop, fingerpaint or homemade cookies.

*I constantly nag the boys to clean their rooms, yet my own room is total disaster. And the nagging is really only getting toys shoved from one end of the room to the other, so it is futile.


There is more, oh so much more, that I someone could report to the mommy police. We haven't made it over to the cool swim center downtown this whole summer. Video games are taking over my front room. No regular bike rides or trips to the beach. Have barely taken advantage of the East Bay Regional Parks pass I was so gung ho about a few months ago.

But I'm letting myself off the hook, I suppose. I still have a month to whip things back into shape over here. I'm sensing a trip to the library is in store today. Or maybe I'll just set a good example and clean up my own room!

San Diego Road Trip: The Awful and the Awesome

"This isn't awful, guys, this is totally awesome!" ~ Bobby, age 6, said right before a historic, Shane tantrum at the San Diego Railroad Museum in Balboa Park.


San Diego Animal Park, Day 3


How would the Pollard Family's first official vacation go down? During all the planning, I honestly didn't give a thought to the reality--being, the boys' unpredictable behavior. I was more concerned with lining up tickets and hotels and building itineraries. But this is what happens during a seven hour road trip and five nights, six days away from the comforts of home.....


* Legoland, Day 2, totally awesome. Highlights were the Technic roller coaster that scared the pants off Shane and gave the rest of us a thrill, the intricate Lego buildings in Miniland USA, the water rides and the apple fries in the Knight area.

*San Diego Wild Animal Park, Day 3, totally awesome. Because of so much advise from San Diego locals and frequent travellers, we hit the park on a whim before heading down to La Jolla for our third night. I'm always one to get slightly depressed at zoos, peering at wild animals in cages who always seem to be generally pissed off. Ya, I know that zoos do important work of preserving species, but the Animal Park was way cool. It's basically a breeding ground for endangered species, that they can ship around the world and to the San Diego Zoo. My only regret was that we didn't splurge extra for the jeep ride to get even closer to the animals roaming around.

*Minivan meltdowns, Day 1-6, totally awful. Why is it that two boys can't keep their hands and feet to themselves? Punching each other, stealing toys, throwing toys, kicking the back of Dad's seat (not a good idea!) and generally ignoring the box of DVDs and the Nintendo DS. No, it's much more fun to make obnoxious farting noises on your arm for an hour nonstop. Duh.

*Seaworld, Day 4, somewhat awful. Although Dad and Bobby hit the massive water rollercoaster while I stayed back with Shane who was still damaged from his ride experience at Legoland, the rest of the park was a bust for us. We arrived and barely missed the afternoon Shamu show (what I wanted most to check out) and had all intentions of hitting the 5pm show on our way out. Every single exhibit has a gift shop that you must walk through to get back to the exit. Tantrums, trauma, oh my! Let's just say we missed out on Shamu.

*La Jolla, Day 3 and 4, total mixed bag. Smack in the middle of the trip was when Team Pollard started to become unhinged. Luckily we scored an amazing room at Hotel Parisi right in the village. Not so good, the boys were too unruly to take down for dinner. Hello takeout. Good--our hotel was walking trip to La Jolla Cove and Children's Beach with the softest sand I've ever touched. Not so good, the boys were even more unruly and we were whisking them off to Seaworld. Should have just stayed in La Jolla for the day, my bad!

*Gaslamp Quarter, Day 4-6, mixed bag again. The cleanest and coolest downtown I've been to in awhile. We stayed at the historic Keating which was close to all the main attractions. We hit Hard Rock Cafe (barely---Shane and Dad almost had to stay in the room due to another meltdown). As the boys slept right after in our room, my husband and I stared longingly at all the adults walking the streets and stepping in and out of hip bars with live music. Next time, we'll check it out without the kids!

*San Diego Zoo/Balboa Park, Day 5, meltdown day. There were highlights for sure: who can not be amazed by the adorable pandas? The skytram in the zoo was also fun. We hit the Natural History Museum, Railroad Museum, the train and carousel, but it was an all day event of the boys trading off whining sessions or games of hide and seek (from us, not good!).

I own up to some of the drama. Maybe if we would have skipped Sea World and allowed more down time, the boys wouldn't have driven us so completely insane. But I think it was also a case of bad timing...Bobby and Shane simply have not been listening to us lately, making outings like this tough. After coming home Sunday, the tired parents agreed that we needed a vacation from the boys just to recover. On the plus side, we were able to reconnect with some extended family in the area and also just spend time together as a family.

Ah, but it is so great to be home!!!

Welcome to Camp Pollard

I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month. May is always hectic for us, and this year especially, when I turned the big 3-0. I celebrated all month with my wonderful family and friends and honestly feel like the luckiest girl alive, though I wasn't so lucky on our Tahoe trip...

The boys are officially on summer break so this will be my space to brag, vent, laugh and sigh at the crazy things we are up to this summer. Will I survive two+ months with the dynamic duo underfoot? Let's just see how creative I can be in keeping them entertained without leaning too much on television, video games and McDonalds bribery.

On tap:

--both boys have FREE bowling all summer long at the bowling alley in town. They figured out today on our first trip that real bowling is very different from bowling on the Wii.

--tour of the East Bay Regional Parks. I splurged on a parking pass so intend to get my money's worth. Although there will be plenty of trips to Del Valle and Shadow Cliffs, I'm determined to hit as many parks in the area as possible. If only the weather would cooperate!

--July trip to San Diego. This is our first family vacation that lasts longer than a weekend. I am stoked to soak some rays at the awesome beaches, hit the touristy spots like Legoland and the zoo, and catching up with family that lives down there.

--library reading game. Free events all summer. Need I say more.

Signs Your Son Is Growing Up

Bobby's sixth birthday has come and gone. It seems like I blink and he grows at rapid pace. Examples are:

*Declaring that he is too old for baths now. He wants to shower every morning like Daddy

*Losing his two front teeth in the space of a month

*Reading his kindergarten sight word books with more fluency

*Selling his train table and Thomas the Train sets at our garage sale to spend the earnings on video games, Legos and action figures.

*Ditching the yellow blankie he's slept with since he was a newborn, saying that I need it more than he does. (At this point, I think he's right!)

This big guy continues to amaze me with the phrases he picks up at school, questions he asks me and projects he conjures up. Hard to believe this kid is the same one that refused to gain weight as a baby.