let me explain...

"see what had happened was..." - a quote from an old Bill Cosby standup routine. love it.

One of the truths is this. Stella was playing a game on my laptop. I told her to put the laptop away and get ready for school. She did it immediately. But she put it "away" on the ottoman. Rex followed behind her and threw my laptop on the floor. My laptop (lifeline) didn't kinda break. The apple store called it "worst case scenario." What?

It was an arduous journey through computer repair/nerd land. If Mark said, "Well I am Mark, I am the data recovery specialist" one more time!

The other truth is that I lost ALL of my pictures. The weird part is that I asked (paid) Mark-I-am-the-data-recovery-specialist to recover them specifically and I still didn't have them. Long story. Now I do. Some of them I even have in sextuplicate. Is that a word?

The last truth is that I got out of the routine.

Anyway. We are back now and my little babies are so good.

I'll start with SJ. I firmly, firmly believe in The Birth Order Book. Stella is precious and smart and amazing. However, we are opposites! She is type a all the way, bossy, competitive, obsessive. At the same time she is creative, sweet, caring, compassionate, patient, and very thoughtful. For example, she wanted to learn to snap. I showed her how. She let it marinate for about a day and then she got it. She didn't just get it, she got blisters on all of her "snapping fingers" on both hands. She snapped non stop for 2 weeks. WOW. I had no idea you could snap blisters onto your own fingers. Thats dedication and its typical Stella Jane. Stella is very opinionated, scientific and thinks way ahead. She is always hypothesizing and running experiments. Its really cute (scary) to hear her rationalizations. Yesterday after watching Bambi she said, "This movie is so sweet because when they all get to be teenagers they match up with girl teenagers." So many things race through my mind when I hear these comments from my little girl. Sadly, its already clear that she is boy crazy. I do not know why. But Bambi? Thats all she got out of Bambi? Well no. That wasn't all. About 30 minutes later she said,

"Mommy is it called 'buttheads'?

"Excuse me?"

"When Bambi and that other deer get into a fight with their horns?"

"Oh... yes." Buttheads. Butt heads. Huge difference.

Love her to pieces.

Yatesie. This boy is a new man. No more tantrums. Stays in his bed at bedtime. He is pure boy though. See his one knee kneel picture below? Have you ever seen a little girl do that? No. He is also sloooooooooow motion man. (Thank you again Birth Order Book) Basically if Stella likes it, does it, says it, reads it, breathes it, eats it, drinks it, Yates will NOT. He refuses to eat lunch or dinner. He refuses to tee tee at school. He does love oatmeal, cheese sticks, yogurt and nutri grain bars oh and calamari. Thank goodness or he would starve to death. Last weekend he spotted calamari in the frozen foods section at Costco. Talk about needle in a haystack. Needless to say we bought them and he wants calamari for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He loves to jump, run, climb, smash, crash, be outside and annoy. I think S and Y are learning so much about gender relations having each other. What a huge bonus. Yates gives the best hugs. He says he learned them at school. Please. Love that boy.

Rexie. What a sweet little baby. He had his 15 month checkup today and was hilarious. He sat in an adult chair and let Dr. Neely listen to his heart and check his ears all by himself. Dr. Neely was shocked at his compliance and at his huuuuuuuuuuge feet. Said Rex will be tall. Yay! He is wearing Yates' shoes from last summer. (reminder, they are 2 years apart) R has learned to be loud, very loud. He calls me Daaaaaah-deeeeeee and can really get loud with it. He calls Michael Dadee too. Somehow its a little bit different. Rex loves to eat. As soon as I get him out of his highchair, he runs to the pantry and begs for something else. We are working on that situation. Rex loves to climb, has learned to run and as I always say, he is so patient. He gets the short end of the stick every day. He gets his meals at odd times, he gets woken up from naps and crammed in the car, he gets abused by his older siblings. But he still has a huge smile. Love this boy too!

I will try to do better at blogging from this point on.

Busy, busy, busy

Daddy came home from work early today. Blizzard of 2011. I'm sure the neighbors love us : ) Or feel sorry for us for being completely loony...

I have been so busy trying squeeze in all of the things I want to do with all of the things I have to do. pant, pant, pant. I'm doing it. I'm doing it. It can be done... Me and Mrs. Phaedra Parks "really can have it all"... if only I could say it like she does. Totally kidding, but I do loooove me some real housewives... all of them... all of the cities... love!

New Toy Tamer Shelf... built by me, all 425 lbs of it : )

The kids are all fabulous. Stella is her usual literal, bossy, domineering self. We like to think its not her fault. Its her birth order/ only girl/ little mommy complex. We really do stay on her to keep her from absolutely crushing her brothers with her sheer presence. She is precious, perfect, thoughtful, loving, sweet and most always has the best intentions. Its just that people don't always want their stories finished for them or their imaginary game rules changed or the light switched flipped 1/2 a second before they could reach it on their own or to be talked over or overruled or wrapped in beads or reeled into a race or surrounded by unusually high volume/and rate of motion. She is a force for sure. Brilliant as ever, she asks questions like, "Mommy what is mortal?" before I even open my eyes in the morning... and she's only warming up.

Yates is still reveling in his birthday glory. He loves to push the boundaries as far as he can. He is dying to know what happens when you get to the 3 of 1,2,3. He doesn't mind being corrected for the same issue 2 million times a day. It just doesn't phase him at all. He will wait for ever for his chocolate milk if he isn't quite ready to ask for it politely. He likes to ask for something (without the please) be corrected for the missing please, then just say, "please." I think he is totally cheating the system. I'm onto it and it isn't going to fly. New rule. I need the whole sentence with the please all bundled up into one polite package. We do this literally 8000 times a day. Wouldn't it be simpler to just say please the first time? You'd think. Y is still very cautious, but strong willed at the same time. He completely lost it the other day when I wouldn't allow him to shimmy/tiptoe (barefoot of course) along the 2" outer edge of the cooktop, barely holding on to the ventahood while I was boiling a pot of water. Really? Does anyone else see this as uber dangerous and completely out of the question? Y rationalized that he had no intention of falling and hurting himself so why couldn't he just walk around up there with the boiling water and FIRE. Call me crazy. Y has started gymnastics and really loves it. He is the only kid in his class and I think its good for him. Lots of attention!

Rex, oh Rex. Another force, tasmanian devil in the flesh on a permanent seek and destroy mission. Now he can wreck some stuff... like we needed any help. He really loves all things crash, smash and bang. He really ought to look into adding a word or two to his vocab. uh-uh-uh isn't descriptive enough. He picks up on everything swirling around in here, knows how to hold and shoot a toy gun and is a professional truck scooter arounder complete with sound effects. If you can make truck sounds, you really should say a word or two. One of the cutest things he does is start waving when he is tired. Nap time or bed time he will get his paci and giraffe binky and just start waving. See ya! Another funny thing he does is pull up on his shirt when he wants to be taken out of his high chair. He is the perfect candidate for baby sign language. Someone ought to teach him that...

teensy little side note. starting a new blog, cause i'm so current with this one, for my new art expedition ; )

Yates is 3!

Happy Third Birthday Yates!

I really don't know where the time has gone with Mr. Yates. It just doesn't seem like he should be three. He is delighted to be three and we celebrated his big day as hard as we could. Stella suggested to Yates that he should have a fireman party and that was all it took. We had a great day and a super fun party with all of our friends and family.

Sitting in the firetruck with Stella

We had some of Yates' favorites, pizza and brownies and lots and lots of firetrucks. A fireman friend, Brian, loaned us all of his real fireman gear and gave us fireman coloring books and crayons. He even included a real patch (that Yates wore on a tshirt) and a Dallas Fireman tshirt. So, so generous! We rented a huge firetruck bounce house that was super fun. I think Michael played in it for at least 2 hours. The biggest surprise was having the fireman from our local fire station stop by in the huge fire engine. Bop and Gabby delivered a bribe earlier in the day and begged them to stop by if they were available and they did. I had already given up on the idea after calling every Dallas Fire Dept # I could find and being told "no way" over and over. Leave it to Bop. The kids loved seeing the fire engine and getting to climb through it.

The dudes hanging out with the firemen

Aside from the fabulous celebration we have the real Yates. He is a very sweet and sensitive "big" boy. (He is not little if you ask him!) He is a non-conformist for sure. He is coming out of a very frustrated stage that we are still working through. With a super sized personality as a sister and baby brother I know Yates feels the squeeze no matter how special we try to make him feel. Luckily his daddy is a middle child and turned out fantastically. Yates has an amazing imagination and plays soooo hard. It is so cute to listen to him playing and to the scenarios he is creating. He is so thoughtful and gives the best hugs. He says he learned those hugs from his school... really? Yates is a master noise maker and does the best helicopter sounds among many others. He "does not like his bed" and sneaks down stairs like a silent ninja multiple times eeeevery single night. He loves going to the grocery store and detests school mornings (understatement of the century). He has the best laugh and gets tickled so easily. He is my sweet big boy. He has taught me so much about raising boys and about how far patience and understanding will go. Happy Birthday Yates! We love you!

Climbing/screaming on the awesome jungle gym from Gigi and Gabby

Happy Birthday and Good Morning Shot #3

Buzz Lightyear Birthday Bike

The Men Playing Firetrucks...

Happy Belated New Year...

So doing a better job at blogging obviously wasn't on my New Years resolution list. I do want to do better but a resolution probably won't help.

It has been a loooong time. Rex turned one on Thursday!!! We celebrated with Bop and Pink and a highly inappropriate kids birthday dinner at NHS Grille. The adults enjoyed themselves as best as we could. The kids just hung in there. Luckily Yates loves calamari (strange b/c he is uber picky) if you can order it plain, Stella loves mac and cheese and bread and Rex will eat anything that he can catch. We had a group birthday cake baking effort and opened presents.

I love taking the babies pictures when I wake them up on their birthdays. Here is Rex's 1st of many...

Rex doing his 1st Birthday masterpiece. I love these so much...

Having a little birthday cake with Stella and Daddy

Opening a present

Yates documenting...

Our little mini party pales in comparison to what a precious baby Rex is. He deserves fireworks and a full circus, sweet, sweet boy. He loves his big brother and sister and tries all day every day to be and do just like them. He actually keeps up really well and is going to be one tough cookie. He is almost always in such a good humor and does so well putting up with our hectic schedules and the terrible nappus interuptus situation. Rex is always smiling. He is very good at making copy cat sounds, but doesn't have any actual words... except Dada. When I ask him to say Mommy, he says Dada. Michael loves it and its fine with me. He is our sweet little baby and can just stay that way.

I don't know what it is about the turning of the calendar but it is fabulous. Whoever came up with resolutions, thank you. We all know that resolutions are hard to stick to, but just the idea of a fresh start, another chance is such a relief. I have wiped my slate clean from 2010 and am trying desperately to work every day on my resolutions. I am desperate to focus on art and creativity this year. I enrolled in an abstract art class and hope to hone my art and really find my true style.

2011 is also the year to go as natural and organic as I can. I have always had a preference for fruits and vegetables and whole/healthy/unprocessed foods. The thought of what is actually in processed foods just turns my stomach. Pesticides, chemicals, meat processing, high fructose corn syrup... all of that irks me. I hope that offering my family "real" food will teach them the correct way to eat and make them all healthier overall.

And finally, I want to work on my stress management... whatever that entails... I will be doing it. Lots of deep breaths and counting to 10 I guess. Happy New Year!

Taco Info

Yates: "Mom, when I get bigger like you and Daddy I want to eat a taco."

Me: "OK. You can eat a taco any time. You don't have to wait until you get big."

Yates: "No, I do, because I want some spicy stuff on it."

Me: "You do?"

Yates: "Yes, not just cheese."

Me: "Ok, just let me know when you're ready."

The Baby Is...

WALKING!

10 months and 1 day and Rex just took 4 steps! He's been standing without holding on alot and has been taking 1 step for about a week, but tonight was his best so far! Michael said that it must be the feet dangling behind his unzipped footed sleeper giving him a little extra balance. Of course we missed the four steps, but here's a little video. At least you can enjoy his outfit.

Yates

"Mom, I saw a lawn mower man wipe snot on his shirt."

"What? Where?"

"Outside."

"Sick!"

"No, it was awe-ome. That's what mans do."

This comment was after Yates found the pretend ghost hiding behind my bathtub and needed me to spray it with ghost (hair) spray. It was also after Yates carried Rex from one room to the next by the throat, feet dangling. And after he exploded bubble gum toothpaste all over my face and clothes because it was too spicy. And after he came completely unglued because he wanted me to order him a mocha at Starbucks and after Mr. Too Spicy ate 3 adult sized bowls of actually spicy gumbo for lunch. He followed it all up with, "Mommy, take a video of me sitting in this chair." Talk about an action packed video... He is one hilarious full time boy and all of that was before noon. Whew!

My Birthday

Today is my birthday. For my birthday I am collecting baby items for a dear friend, Robin Hancock, who is the founder and director of Acacia Tree in Uganda. She has always loved babies and now saves lives every day.

"We focus on giving loving care to abandoned, orphaned and severely malnourished children under 3 years old. Whenever possible, we try to help infants stay with their families by providing formula, bottles, clothing, etc. AcaciaTree will also provide a home for up to 10 babies who have no one to care for them." -AcaciaTree.com

I will be picking up baby items on Friday, Oct 29th, then delivering them to Robin's family in Fairfield on Saturday. If anyone has things I can pick up please let me know.

I asked for a list of items from Robin and here it is:

we have babies 0-3 years. Most of the kids are so malnourished when they arrive that they wear size 3-6 or 6-9 months no matter how old they are. We could use sleepers in that size. Boys & girls.
Here are a few other things:
-toys for 6-18 months
-FuzziBunz cloth diapers size Large (a dozen)
-bibs (for babies just starting to eat but with plastic backing to stop food soaking through!)
-toddler bibs with the pocket to catch food
-travel swing

Also, we are fundraising to pay for our rent a year in advance. Right now we are paying every three months and struggling a bit since its $2400 at a time. We'd love to pay for a year and not have to think about it until next year! So if people you know would like to get involved that would be a HUGE HUGE help to us! Our rent for a year is $9600. We'd love to have their contact info so I can send them my monthly email update too!!

If you don't have baby items you can give, you can make a donation here- http://www.zembakids.blogspot.com/

http://acaciatreeuganda.com/#/home

La Ti Da

Sometimes when I have so much to do, I get stuck. Right now I have so much to do and I am stuck. Since I'm stuck I'll just write a little.

Things have been so crazy. Seriously during the day I don't have a spare second. Nothing ever gets finished. I can't remember what I was doing or what I was about to do or why. Luckily Michael swoops in at the end of the day and does the dishes and helps bathe the dirty babies and gets them to bed. Total life saver. I wish the pace wasn't so frantic. I honestly try to maintain a calm peaceful atmosphere at home, but sometimes there is no use. At dinner this evening Michael, Rex and I dined to the ear drum splitting hysterical over tired wild animal lunatics that had invaded my children's bodies. We had a soccer game @ 5:30 on a school day and lets just say they were beyond coo coo. They both decided that they weren't hungry and decided to play out the last drops of energy they could muster at full throttle. I didn't realize how loud they could be left un-shushed. Michael did the close-the-eyes-with-a-slight-upward-head-tilt and said, "Pencil me in for later. We can talk then."

Our weekend was nuts. The highlight being that we had our family photos taken by Kelly Pollard. We love her! She is an amazing person that happens to take phenomenal photographs. Sometimes I get a really specific idea in my head and I did for these photos. I chose a new location and didn't even really have a chance to tell Kelly what I was wanting. But no surprise, she captured the exact feeling I was hoping for. The kids were beyond exhausted and didn't perform as well as they could have but the results were still so great. I got a phone call from a decorator friend today complimenting me on the photos and she used all of the buzz words I had in my head. You have no idea how that made my day. She totally got it. If she's the only one, I am happy.

http://www.lala-photography.com/blog/

This weekend Stella was eating pez out of a Jesse from Toy Story pez thing and she said, "Daddy how does this work?" Michael said, "You tilt her head back and... wait! What do you mean? I see you eating them. You know how it works." "No Daddy, I mean the construction and the gears! How does it wooooork?!?" I don't know if I have even seen a daddy beam like he did.

Corn Dogs at the Fair...

She honestly neeeever stops talking and I physically can't hear it all. Other people talk sometimes too. Last night she was going on and on and on about her new "hair salon" she was opening. She's never even stepped foot in a "hair salon". But anyway, everyone was going to get a job. "Mommy is going to help me design the hair. Daddy is going to be in charge of putting the sign up so people will know, you know, where we are and if we're there and stuff. Yates is going to cut the hair. Daddy can also brush the hair. Bop can comb the hair. There's not going to be a 'payer' though. Its free." Great. Free hair cuts. We will all work for you for free while you boss us all around. Sounds like every other day of my life. I mean its this non stop!

Mr Yates Grabham is a nut. He is super sneaky smart and has us all confused... just the way he wants it. He is a major tidy bowl and I hope its not going to fester into crazy lint roller guy or something. Now that I say that he does lint roll the couch for me... Today after picking him up from school he said, "Mommy can we wash our jeep?" (Referring to the toy escalade parked alongside my car in the garage) "Sure. How do you want to wash it?" Y: "I had a broom that went like this and it didn't get it." M: "So do you need a wash cloth?" (He carried a wet wash cloth around for about 4 hours yesterday cleaning... the floor, the wall, an army man the ottoman...) Y: "Yeah!!" M: "Ooooo-k" 30 minutes later... still at it.

And Rex. He is a different kind of dude. He looooves to throw balls and chase them over and over. He eats like nothing I've ever seen, ravenous. I mean in one sitting he will eat an applesauce cup (adult sized serving not baby), an adult yogurt, 10 grapes, 20 cheez-its, 4 chicken nuggets off someone elses plate, a cheese stick... whatever I can throw at him. I eventually just take him out of his hair chair. I think he'd sit and eat all day. Yesterday he had already had an applesauce, grapes, strawberries, goldfish, pasta and blue berries and he was screaming b/c he wanted Yates' peanut butter and jelly. I thought. Ok fine. I'll make you one. If you don't like it or have a reaction and have to be rushed to the ER I'll just eat it in the car. He ate the whoooole thing. Crust and all.

?

Can I blog from my phone?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

who are these people?

Yates and I were running into CVS yesterday to drop off a prescription. The drive through window was "broken" of course. So Yates' no shoes situation became an issue. I had forgotten that he didn't have shoes until he made his way to the car door to climb out...

Me: "Yates! You don't have any shoes! Oh well, come on. I'll just have to carry you."

Yates: "Ooooh maaaaan. Now I'm not going to be able to do any man stupf in there."

...really? I wonder what that was going to include...

Fancy Nancy Party, and thats Kelly Raspberry in the corner!!!

Stella was wearing super hot fuzzy footed pjs the other night and said, "Look these pjs have stoppers on the feet. Like tentacles, made out of scratch."

...what?... what?

"Gun Safety" in the house with Daddy...?

Yates: “Mommy, why are you putting your makeup on?”

Me: "Because it looks pretty."
Yates: "It doesn’t look pretty. It looks like you have yucky stupf all ober your face."

...thanks.

S and Y playing outside used to include them coming in and out every 30 seconds whining and tattling. I didn't realize playing outside needed a how to lesson. But it did. First I told them not to come in until I told them it was time. Then I locked the door. It sounds harsh, but it was and is now glorious. (and I don't have to lock the door anymore)

Stella: "Mom, is there any way we could have like breakfast for dinner, like pancakes and fruit and stuff?"
Me: "Well, we don’t have pancakes or fruit b/c I am going to the grocery store tomorrow, but we do have waffles, apple sauce and orange juice."

Stella: "Ok, fine. That will work as long as you’ll agree to letting me have syrup on the waffles. Will you agree to that?"
Me: "Yes, I will agree to that."

Stella: "OK. Great."

...this girl is all business.

Rex has been fighting sleep a little lately, so I was trying a technique I saw on Super Nanny about 10 thousand years ago. I was desperate to keep him quiet b/c I had just gotten Yates down for a much needed nap. So I laid down on the floor next to his crib. He was very amused by this and began launching toys at me. The first couple I thought were no big deal. But then I realized he was really throwing toys AT me on PURPOSE repeatedly. He would drop down in his crib rummage around and come up with something new... push, pull, drag it over the rail and bombs away.

... I seriously underestimated this little baby. He's probably thinking, duh, mother. I can totally strategize and execute all by myself. I'm 8 months old...

not good... but he loves it!

Mr. Food Foot. Take a bite, rub some on your foot, another bite, more on the foot, at every meal.

...Why? He has been a foot propper upper since day one. I guess I will look back at this and remember that he has always had to put his feet up on things, me, the highchair, hopefully not his desk at school.

Me: "Aaaaahhh!"

Stella: "What is it mom?"

Me: "We just hit a bird!"

Stella: "With what?

Me: "Our car."

Stella: "Where?"

Me: "On the windshield."

Stella: "Cool."

... what? cool? I don't think so.

Stella's school had Blessing of the Pets Day yesterday, St Francis Day. We took Sasha and Oscar to school and Sasha got an extra special blessing from Chaplain Rhonda. Hopefully she'll be 100% very soon.

2 Stories...

just a swangin'

Story 1 - Sensitive...

On Yates first day of school, he cried and cried when I dropped him off. It was heart breaking. I hate that part of school. He stopped before I even got to the door and I knew he would be fine. The next day... Thursday, he walked in happily and started playing. It was great! I was so relieved that he was happy to be there and didn't have to go through the sad part.

Stella, Rex and I got back home and I immediately put Rex down for his morning nap. When I came downstairs, Stella said, "Mom, some lady called you." What? Where? When? I was totally confused. Apparently someone had called my cell phone and Stella answered it and "took the message." She has never answered my phone, therefore doesn't know what to say on a phone much less how to take a message. I kept asking Stella what she said and what "the lady" said and all she could tell me what that she (Stella) said, "what." Not very helpful. So I looked at my call history and it was Yates' school. Oh no... Thats the worst call. So I called them back and they informed me that Yates had thrown up in the classroom and that he was waiting for me to come get him in the office. Oh no... Ok. I called Michael on the off chance that he could run pick Yates up and he did! Yay!

So Yates walks in the door in his backup shirt from his bag and I asked him if he was feeling ok. He said he was feeling fine. "So what happened? Did you throw up?" "I did! A boy pooped in his pants and I barfed aaalll ober da place!" Oh... ok. So you smelled poop and threw up and had to have your daddy bring you home. oh, yates...

Needless to say, the boy is very sensitive to smells, to temperature, to bug bites, to noise. He interviews whoever is going potty and wants to know what they are doing in there to make sure its safe for him to breathe. He goes potty with a can of air freshener on his lap and sprays little squirts around the bathroom until he's finished. And no one is allowed in the bathroom while he is in there. He says, "Go in nere! I dont bant you to smawill it." Ok. If his food is 1 degree above cold, its way too hot and he will cry. If he walks outside of the house, he WILL get a bug bite. If a bulldozer, garbage truck, helicopter, airplane, dump truck, back hoe whatever is in a 2 mile radius of his ears, he perks up, opens his eyes wide and says, "sssshhhh, listen... I hear a _____." Sensitive... or super powers.

Yates "Bightyear"

Story 2, Ridiculous...

Several weeks ago, SYR and I went back to the pottery store to paint a gift for Pink and Bop's anniversary. As we were painting Troy Aikman and his daughter walked in. Let me just add that when/if I see a celebrity, I try to ignore them b/c I think I would be so annoyed with people looking at/talking to/bugging me all the time. So I just made sure I turned my back to him and his daughter so they could paint their pottery. I just really didn't want to be annoying. Too bad... So Yates decided he needed to go poop, bad, right now! Ok fine, we walk over to the bathroom. It is just a single door, single bathroom situation that opens up to the painting area, near a little sink you can use to wash your paint brushes. We start to go into the bathroom and STOP!!! There is a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge disgusting roach right in the middle of the floor. I have issues and I can NOT go in there. I start to back out and Troy and his daughter have come to the sink area to clean up. I need a man to help me with this roach and lucky me, here is a man. I had made such a conscious effort to not bother him and here I go... "Excuse me. I hate to ask you this, but there is a huuuuuuge roach in there and I am petrifried. I need a man to go get it and you're the only one here..." How dumb does that sound? Dumb. He said, "uuuuuhhhh, yeah, i'll get it." He was thrilled let me tell you.

Now if you're thinking I need to get help with my fear of roaches, you're right. I do, but I do not want to. After the Troy Aikman incident, I had to have a neighbor come get one we had imported from our Florida trip. Its bad. I know it. But I'm fine with it. The poor dudes I rope into exterminating for me are the people who really get the short end of the stick. Thank you men who pick up bugs. Thank you Michael for realizing that I am not kidding about being scared of roaches... after 5 years of marriage, and for getting them for me.

sweaty girls after the game