Football Friday - Week 1

I slacked (sorta) today in getting pictures like I did last week of my cute Belle all decked out in her Govs gear! Actually, I got pictures but had to take them on my NEW Olympus E-450 and since I have only had it a few days and life is busy I do not quite know how to use it so well. But I did capture an image or two and hope to post them soon. And I hope to get familiar with my new camera tomorrow. For now enjoy the picture I took probably 2 years ago of the field. Ha ha. It's pretty much all I have for now as far as football goes!

The Govs play at home tonight and again rain has been in the forecast for the day. It's rained off and on but for now seems to have stopped. Let's hope the skies open up completely by kickoff at 7:30pm!

I'll be taking the kids to the game tonight and have promised Miss Annabelle that she can use my "old" camera to take some pictures tonight! She is really excited and I am hopeful that it will make for an easy game for me! :)

Let me just say this.. every week on Thursday night the offensive linemen come hang out at our house after the team meal. I made 2 dozen cupcakes at first and while Annabelle and I were at her swimming class Hubby texts me and says, "Cupcakes are gone!" Now the guys usually get there around 7pm and it was only about 7:05 when Hubby sent the text. 5 minutes and 2 dozen cupcakes were gone! ha ha boys!!! Well, hubby decided to make another 2 dozen cupcakes and I swear within minutes of me frosting them and saying, "They're ready," those 2 dozen cupcakes were gone! 10 minutes and 4 dozen cupcakes! How many boys were chomping on the baked goodies? Probably 7! You do the math! Now, my 3 yr old eats like a little bird but I am afraid that in the years to come he will catch up and eat me out of house and home.

Okay...good luck to all of you with games tonight!

GO GOVS!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Lil Diva

For the Love of FOOTBALL!!! **Giveaway**

It's that time of year again.... FOOTBALL SEASON!!!

Do you have a little football player or cheerleader in your life? Does your hubby (like mine) coach football? Or do you just LOVE FOOTBALL like *some* of the rest of us??

If any of these applies to you then keep on reading!

I am happy to announce my second giveaway on my blog.

I really enjoyed doing the Back to School Giveaway earlier this month and hope my football giveaway will be just as much fun. :)

I will take entries until Friday, September 4th and will select the winner on Saturday, September 5th. I will use Random.org to select the winner. No international entries this time...I'm sorry please don't hate me!!

You will be have the chance to enter a few different ways! Please leave a different comment for each entry.

1st - Leave me a comment

2nd - Follow me (if you already follow just let me know)

3rd - Blog about my giveaway or post it in your side bar. OR BOTH!! If you do both leave a separate comment!

Now what exactly is included in this giveaway you ask!?!??

You will win:

*2 cookie cutters - a megaphone and a football

Fun for your cheerleader and football player!

*Wilton Touchdown cupcake liner papers

*Football party plates and napkins

*Football cupcake picks

*Edible football sprinkles

*Edible football helmet sprinkles

Peanut's new school

Isaiah has been in daycare since he turned 1. We had our fair share of good and of course bad experiences at daycare. Ideally I would love to keep my sweet little children home full time with me BUT reality just doesn't work like that in the Emert house and it takes 2 full time incomes to make things work. Major bummer in my world some days. :(

Anyway, as some parents do Big Daddy J and I had to make a tough decision this year. We had to decide whether or not we would take Peanut out of his regular full time daycare and move to part time preschool with some extended care hours or just leave things alone. We decided (based on several important "issues") that we would make the move and are hope that we have made the best choice.

Today Mr. Peanut and I went to his "special day" at his new preschool from 1:00 - 2:30. He was able to meet a few of his new friends and play. It was so much fun. The new preschool is going to be great. I could tell from the time we walked in the door. My little guy was super excited and when it was time to go he and the other kids didn't even want to leave. Major positive!!

He will start regular class next week! I have such a great feeling about the new preschool especially after our visit today. Peanut walked right in, said "hello" and went about his business playing like he had been there his whole little life. I'm sure most of you moms will understand when I say that my heart just swelled with pride and all the greatest feelings just seeing and knowing how happy my sweet boy was in the new place. :)

Here are a few pics from our fun day at preschool!

Peanut with his big boy backpack!

Ironing! He learned that from Daddy!

Ironing is more fun when you wear your hard hat!

Peanut loved snack time!

Football Friday!

Tonight is the first regular season game for the Govs! I got Annabelle all dolled up for school today in support of her Daddy and "his boys." At first she wasn't too thrilled because she said she wanted to wear something pretty. She said she wouldn't look cool in what I laid out, SOOO I had to get creative. I took some ribbons and tied up the sleeves and of course had to make a cute ponytail for her! This made her more excited and when Daddy brought the camera in (because he knew I needed to blog :) thanks honey!) she ran straight for her pom-poms! Then she did what every girl would do and started striking the poses!

Anyway, the Govs play away tonight and while I am looking forward to the game I am nervous which I guess is expected after a rocky and rough season last year. I haven't talked to Hubby much today which is normal for game days (especially the first game of the season). I know that he will be looking for me as he always does in the stands. I love how he knows just where I will be and when he spots me he blows a sweet little kiss my way. I get excited about that every single game!

I'll be heading to the game solo tonight! This makes me even more excited about the game as I won't have to keep so much of an eye on the kids (bad mommy) and can concentrate more on the game. I won't have to run to the bathroom or concession stands 57 times before the half! I won't have to listen to cranky children when bedtime starts to roll around! And I won't have to be so concerned about whether or not it rains! It's in the forecast for tonight and while I am not excited about that at least I won't have to deal with the kids and the rain in case it does decide to show up. :)

Good luck to all of you out there with games tonight!!

GO GOVS!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Peanut taking a break from a hard day at work to look out the window and watch the cars go by.

RTT- football, facebook and failure

It's Tuesday as most of you are well aware. It's also time for Random Thoughts hosted by TheUnMom. Tuesday is your (and MY) opportunity to be as random as we need to be. And trust me folks with the blogging slump I am in about all I have in me today is Random-ness!

Football- tis the season! I both look forward to and dread this time of year. Those of you that follow me and have been reading my blog for a bit already know how tough this season has been thus far. Friday night was the Football Jamboree. This is where all the teams in our country (and the ONE lonely team the next county over) get together and play one quarter each and during "half time" there are different contests. I missed the Jamboree this year. It's not one of my favorite football festivities to attend because it is SO hot and I just feel jamoboree's don't prove a whole lot about the upcoming season anyway. Hubby knows how I feel about this and was "ok" (I think) with the fact that I didn't feel like dragging the kids out in the heat.

Saturday we held our "Annual Senior Cookout" at Coach Emert's house. We have been doing this the last few years before the regular season starts and it is a lot of fun to get the senior guys together. I didn't have it in me to take any pictures since we only had a few seniors this year and they would probably think I was nuts for taking pics in the first place. lol

On Thursdays we usually have then entire O-line over after the team meal to just hang out and relax, too. We've been doing this for the last few years as well and it is a lot of fun. We really enjoy being involved in the lives of these young men. They usually bring over video games and I make sweets for them to munch on while they hang out. They have been known to even do homework and study! Imagine that!?! The first regular season game is this Friday! I'm hoping (and I know hubby is too) for a great season.

Facebook- it's become rather addicting for me. Farmtown, Farmville and now Farkle!! Ack. All you fellow Facebook'ers know exactly what I am talking about. 'Nuff said!

Failure - This is me this week. And yes, the week has just started. I hate to even post any sort of negativity but it is what it is, right!? Sometimes as a mom I just feel like I don't qualify for the job I signed up for. I love my kids with all of my heart but lately they are testing me to my limits and then some! And the then some is HUGE! I've been to the point of tears with them this week and YES I have felt like I should be "the mom that locks herself in a closet just to escape them for a while" because there have been those moments that I just do not know what else to do. It makes it hard when other people criticize parents for some of the things they do and think it is funny/acceptable/okay to do so. You don't know what goes on day to day in one parent's life or what happens behind closed doors so why is it okay for you to be so judgemental about their parenting style? Ugh. It really frustrates me that people, OTHER PARENTS, do this. Shouldn't we as mothers/fathers/parents be helpful and give advice rather than harsh judgements and criticism. It makes me want to say, "Have you ever had a bad day? Or a bad week?" Heck, there are some of us who flat out have had bad years!

Sorry about that rant. I was set off this morning by something I read that really bothered me especially given what I have gone through with my kids the last few days. So to those of you that are "SuperMoms" why not share the secret with the rest of us that feel like such failures?

On a positive note I will be hitting my 200th post this week! Stayed tuned for another giveaway! :) And if you are a football fan like me it is one you will likely enjoy!!!

Just another day at the office

Peanut's new preschool doesn't start for another couple of weeks and our regular summer sitter (aka Mamaw) is out of town right now. This makes for quite a fun day at work for mommy (*major sarcasm*). This morning started off with a bang when I had to answer a phone call and after I hung up the phone I turned around to find my wild little guy had used one of my stamps to "tattoo" himself up both arms. As you can see he did a fabulous job! It made for quite the conversation at lunch with a friend today.

My office looks like a disaster area. There are printouts of Wubbzy, Bob the Builder and Lightening McQueen scattered about. My husbands 1979 Bell System Tonka bucket truck is laying over on it's side where it crashed into a mountain (aka cardboard box). There are pieces of broken PopTarts, apple peels, and crumbles of Peanut's morning biscuit left through the place like a little trail as if he were imagining he was in the play Hansel and Gretel. Along with my actual work I have two McD's dinosaur toys and a miniature Tonka truck residing on my desk.

It's been a busy yet unproductive day at the office for at least one of us!

Wordless Wednesday - circa 1981

Guess who?! (lol)

Back to School Giveaway **WINNER**

Using Random.org I got #13! I could not for the life of me figure out how to get the widget or even a "still" shot of the screen to post in my blog! And most of you know how un-tech savvy I am and I hope you will forgive me! Please?? ;)

Anyway, the 13th comment was made by:
Semi-SlackerMom

Congrats!! Please email me at kimert@comcast.net with all of your info so I can mail out your Back-to-School bucket of goodies this week!!


Thanks to everyone who played along! Be on the lookout SOON (like maybe this week or next) for my next giveaway!! It's going to be lots of fun, too! :)

5 Things I Love About Summer!!

Stacey over at McCrackensX4 tagged me for this post! She is a fellow coach's wife and I love reading her blog! It's nice to "know" there are others out there who understand what a coach's wife goes through. Check her out. I love summer except for the fact that our summer has suddenly become too short these days! And in case you didn't already know our summer is actually officially over now. School started for us this week. Bummer. Anyway, here are my 5 Fave things about summer! Oh and these are in no particular order.

I love the beach! Our family has taken a beach vacation every summer for the last 4 summers! It is my absolute favorite vacation. I can't wait to start thinking about or planning next summer's family beach trip.

Youth track. Annabelle has participated in the Knoxville Track Club's youth track program for the last 3 years. It is always a fun time (HOT, but fun). I love seeing how she improves from year to year.

I love that my wonderful hubby is home more during the summer. He is always SO busy with school and the sports he coaches throughout the year that we don't see a TON of him. But in the summer, before football gets crazy busy, he is home more. And we all love that! :)

I love going to the pool! YES, this picture is taken on one of the Saturdays we were at the pool. NO, my lil Peanut doesn't swim but he does love to play outside while the rest of us swim. Hopefully next year he will turn into the little fish his big sister has become.

I love that Annabelle's birthday is in June. Having a summer baby can be fun! We've had so many possibilities for birthday parties. We are usually always on vacation for her birthday too and that makes vacation AND her birthday even more fun/special.

Peanut's Facial

Do you have a junk drawer? Heck, maybe you have 2 junk drawers!
My sweet babe's Mamaw (hubby's mom) apparently has an endless junk drawer full of wonderful surprises that seem to always entice my children.
I don't know about your kid's grandparents but mine seem to have a hard time telling my kids NO! It's a simple two letter word that really requires no explanation, right!? Yeah, right. Ha ha

Well, my kids are always bringing home "goodies" that Mamaw has given them out of whatever drawer, purser, bag or random hiding place she has at the time. This week just Peanut has been with her and Tuesday he brought home a whole bag full of goodies.

As I was driving home that evening I keep smelling something in the car the reminded me of Vicks' Vapor Rub. I kept thinking, "Man, what is that minty odor wafting through my air vents?It really is cleaning out my sinus cavity." I was on the phone with my sister and did hear Peanut tell me, "Look what I got Mama." And I do remember giving him the thumbs up in my rear view mirror. And NO, I didn't even look back there to see exactly what he had because I assumed it was some kind of toy or card or something. Something was right.

I heard my son saying, "oooh that's hot, that's hot! It's in my hair and all on my face and it's hot!" I quickly told my sister I had to go. I looked in the rear view and sure enough my son was covered in that something his Mamaw had given him. I called her and asked what exactly was in the little tube she gave Peanut. She said, "Oh it's just some lotion." I proceeded to tell her it smelled rather minty but that he had dropped the tube after he covered himself in it and I couldn't really see what it was right then. She said, "Well it was probably just some foot lotion!" Oh great! My son is giving himself a facial with foot lotion! Lovely. I continued on my way home (it was not far, I promise) and once I got there I just had to take pictures!

I also found the container of goodies. And here is my son with his special facial!

And there you have it! Peanut's new motto:

Clean and Clear & Under Control

Wordless Wednesday

Clownin' Around

Dove chocolate told me to go buy flowers for myself...

and other random musings.

I didn't go buy the flowers my ONE little Dove Chocolate told me to go buy for myself. Although the main reason is the big storm we are currently under. I actually enjoy a good storm. I just wish instead of listening to Wizzards of Waverly place and meeting every demand (read - NEED) of my two precious wonderful loving (sarcasm) kids I wish I was in my bed for the night. Too bad it is only 7:00 pm. Too bad my hubby is at a football scrimmage. I wonder if they are waiting on the storm to blow over to finish or if they decided to call it a night?! I am hoping for the latter of the two options.

I haven't updated my whole weight loss/working out stuff in a while. I really hate to even talk about it. Right now it has me down. Way down. It makes me want to scream. Part of me wants to pig out on all things bad while the other part of me wants to starve myself until I lose thirty plus pounds. Ugh. I guess I will be honest here.. I haven't ran or worked out once since my 5k on July 25th. Yes, I know how bad that is and yes, I am disappointed in myself. I was excited because last week I got down (weight down) and I was at a point where I was proud of myself for how far I had gotten. Then some mean awful "thing" came to visit for a few days and caused me that normal bloat and with that I was UP 2 lbs at my weigh in Saturday. Darn her!! Today I weighed thinking now she is gone so all will be good. WRONG!! up again. :( I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream but mostly I wanted to call and gripe to the one person I knew would (or might) coddle me for one second and say, "Whatever it takes. Let's just do whatever it takes to help you meet your goal." Too bad, so sad. That didn't go as I had hoped. Anyway, I guess I will keep pushing. I'm not ready to give up just yet.

Don't you just love the things kids say? I do. This evening on the way home Annabelle was (I guess) looking out the car window as we passed various little shops along the way and she says, "can we go in one of those way back shops sometime?" Of course I didn't know what a "way back shop" was so I asked her. Here was her answer, "You know, Mom! A way back shop is one of those old buildings that looks old and they have old things. It's people who weren't born when we were. Instead they were born way back when." Clever clever little girl! I assumed she was
referring to an antique shop.

Annabelle also informed me today that her boyfriend broke up with her. He was holding hands with another girl on the playground today. His new girlfriend doesn't like dogs and loves cats so Annabelle said she didn't really think the girl was all that special. (it's what she said!) She also told me that she herself LOVES dogs and cats. She also thinks another little boy in her class is cute. Her teacher informed me of their new relationship when I picked her up today. Thank goodness her daddy and I are smart enough to tell her that boys should be the least of her worries at 6 years old! ;)

*Don't forget about my giveaway! Checkout my sidebar for info. Enter by this Friday. I will be choosing the winner Saturday!!!!

First Day of School

Sweet Girl started her first day of 1st grade today! It's kind of bitter sweet as I am sure most of you other moms know. Last night we packed all the new supplies in her backpack, picked out a special "first day of school" outfit and I tried to get most of the stuff prepped for her lunch to make things easier for this morning.

I made sure both kids were in bed by 8. Good gracious, do you know how hard it is to send kids to bed when it is still daylight out??? Bless her heart, Annabelle was asking me, "WHY do we have to go to bed during the day?" Ugh. So hard to explain that while it looks like it is still day time out it really is night. But both kids pretty much went to bed and fell asleep like champs! I sure hope we are onto something.

I am so proud of my daughter. She was pleasant (for the most part) while I was helping her get ready for school this morning and was even better while I was taking her picture. :) As far as how things went when we actually got to school... one little meltdown but Daddy came to her rescue and made things better. She was super excited that her best little buddy Aaron is in her class but sad he doesn't sit at the same table with her. Hopefully the tears are few and her day goes well. I will report back on that! :)

This is her first day of Kindergarten pic. She was so little!

I cannot believe how grown up she looks in the next few!

In front of her cubby in Ms. King's 1st grade class!

Annabelle at her table. She had a little school house dot-to-dot to work on.

Annabelle ready to go with her backpack and lunch box. :)

I've been widowed!

And of course I totally expected it. I just wasn't prepared!

This week started 2 a days for my hubby and the football team for which he coaches. What does that mean? Well, it means that he was out of the house most mornings this week before 6am! 6 am!! So, big deal you say.... yeah, yeah. For me that meant that I had to do things solo in the mornings while getting myself ready for work. Again, big deal right!!?? I know, I know. Many women have to get up, take care of the kids alone and get ready for work. They also have to drop the kids off before making it to work too. I admire you women that do this without griping about it, I really do. But for me it can be a tough task since I am used to most of the responsibilities of home being split between my hubby and I.

Normally, I am lucky enough to have a great deal of help from my hubby with simple things like getting clothes together for the kids, making sure they brush their hair and have on shoes before walking out the door. Not so much this week. I've been totally unprepared before leaving for work this past week. Annabelle probably brushed her hair a total of one day and Isaiah never walked out the door with his shoes on the right feet and I am positive that one day this week he left the house without even wearing shoes. I was late for work everyday this week and the ONLY reason that is ever even acceptable is because I am lucky enough to work for my father in law.. Whew!

The morning routine was hard enough but man the evenings... oy. Where do I even begin!!? I get spoiled during the summer really before 2 a days start because hubby is home early, the kids have been picked up and dinner is usually started well before I get home. I had been able to make the gym at least 3 nights a week and our yard was mowed twice a week. This past week none of that happened. None of it, I'm serious.

Last week hubby was home anywhere from 9:00 pm to even as late as 11:30 pm. There was practice, meetings, and yes, ladies hours spent watching football films. Fun times at the stadium. Where was hubby during the day?? Ha ha.. He teaches too so from 8:30 am until 3:30 pm hubby had the pleasure of being in in service all day. He enjoyed the day they took a school bus to tour the areas of our county where the kids live. Isn't that right, honey? You just loooooved touring an area you know like the back of your hand?! ha ha

So, anyway...the evenings didn't go at all like they have most of the summer. The kids weren't home early with daddy and dinner wasn't started on the stove nor did I make it to the gym a single day. What did I do? Well, I managed to get the kids picked up by at least 5:30 this week and we got home around 6. The best I could do for quick dinners was grilled cheese sandwiches and a piece of fruit. Gourmet Mom..that's me. Ha ha I did get the kids in bed most nights before 10. Not too bad considering school starts this week!

Where am I going with this major long story??? I have become a football widow.

The term football widow comes from a group of us football wives who can totally relate to what each other is going through during the fall football season (which in reality happens to be pretty much 12 months long!!). It means we rarely see our husbands during waking hours (does that EVEN make sense?), dinner is usually spent alone or on the fly (if you have kids), late nights for the hubby to be home because of practice, meetings, and other football coaching "things" going on throughout the week. It means my kids rarely see their dad unless it is first thing in the morning or on the football field right before game time during football season. It means that I kind of take on the role of a single parent during at least 12 weeks of the year. It can be quite a stressful time but it is something that I do absolutely love. I am proud of my hubby for the wonderful job that he does with the kids he not only coaches but that he teaches as well.

So, here's to a great season!