Good times, quiet times...

It has been a "quiet" couple of weeks around the Koomen house. By quiet, I don't mean noiseless, but uneventful. I did not make time to blog because it did not seem right to always blog about Carson's funny sayings, Carly's boisterous personality, Caitlin's negative attitude.

Caitlin is still in full "swing" of tennis two days a week. She has started soccer season which her father is still coaching her team. She has been so unhappy the last couple of weeks and she has given Jason and I reason to question our parenting skills. Her life is perfect. She has a loving parents and friends, a great school, excellent health, but still she can find the negative in everything. We are learning, as we do everyday, that parenting is not an easy task. So I spend time talking to friends and looking for things to read about how to get her to snap out of it. There is a lot of emotion to raising a girl, and something tells me that Caitlin will be the easy girl. The last couple of days have improved, we are just taking the "love" approach. Positive reinforcement and a lot of hugs. I guess being the oldest is not the easiest... the expectations are higher and the attention is less. We are working on evening that out a bit.

We went to the zoo on Saturday with 15 of Caitlin's fellow Girl Scouts. I am the fearless leader of the bunch (hmmmm... another thing I said "YES" to) and it was a good time. It was 85 degrees and sunny, not something we have been used to yet this spring. Carson and Carly went around the zoo with Jason. Carson insists that he should be a Girl Scout because he wants to do everything the girls do. OH NO!

Caitlin scored two spectacular goals at her soccer game on Saturday. She was happy and we were proud. Those were her first two of the season, and they happened all within 5 minutes. The field is bigger, the goals are wider, and the competition is stronger... we are having fun!

Carson has been enjoying his new ride, a "Trail-a-Bike." Jason's running partner gave him this tremendous bike for us to have for our kids. It hooks to one of our bikes and turns it into a tandem so that Carson, or whoever, can keep up. Carly sits in the bike trailer still, but Carson thinks he is the big stuff.

Carson has also found out the books with cars, trucks, trains, tools, etc. are things of the past. He is following in his big sister's footsteps and enjoys reading. He loves to hear whatever is being read. He still loves Mr. Roger's - the only TV show he enjoys with the exception of America's Funniest Home Videos. He found Mr. Roger's on the web and I can occasionally hear Trolley dinging in the den.

Carly, the communication giant of the house, is a constant chatterbox. If you don't hear her the first time, she screams it. She is loud and a screamer, where does this come from. She must do everything the big kids do and the trampoline is her favorite. I hear chants of "jump, jump, jump" always coming from the sliding door. She will spend the whole day on there, unless Carson is driving the Gator, and she must have a ride. She has started telling stories and information and she can put together almost any phrase now. Last night at dinner she heard the "ice cream truck" and said it right away. The baby phase is gone, welcome to the two's.... the terrific two's.