Family

The end of June and beginning of July ushered in lots of family from all over the place.  Grammy, Aaron's mom, arrived from Colorado.  Aaron's brother & family arrived from California, and a week later Aaron's dad and his wife arrived from Florida.  It was a crazy couple of weeks, but it was nice to see everyone.

During these visits we swam, ate lots of yummy food, played some games after the kiddos went to bed (Who knew Jonathan would be so good at Scattergories and, just for the record, I got more points than Aaron on a music related question.  Have to gloat because it may never happen again.), visited the family farm that has been in the family for 100 years, checked out our new aquarium (a better use of our money than Legoland had been), attended a family BBQ, and fit in a photo shoot since we were all together.  

Little A was born in March so this was the first time we got to see him.  

He's a definite keeper!  Still not sure why he doesn't live closer. Boo!  ;)

Cousin S was not sure about his Uncle Aaron AT ALL.  It appears that he loves him a ton in this picture, but he was actually scared of Aaron most of the visit and using his stealthy strategy in the pic.  His strategy:  if Uncle Aaron picks me up, then I will just be a limp noodle, not look at him, and lay as still as possible.  Then maybe that scary ol' Uncle Aaron won't remember he's holding me.  We got many laughs out of this.  The last day Aaron made progress.  S finally let Aaron read him a story. 

And a few pics from the photo shoot...

The Entire Clan in our patriotic attire

Just the kids-

In the first pic M is crying because the baby messed his pants and she did not want to hold that stinky boy.  We (the mean parents) told her she had to so in the second pic she is giving us an attempted smile.  And we thought she would be the easiest one to get to cooperate in the pic.  Geez!

Finally, almost a real smile from M.

The brothers-

Yes, they picked out their matching outfits (hats and all) just to prove to all of us that they could go somewhere dressed exactly the same.  So cute!!  ;)

Look how much they love each other

Being more serious and then not so much.

The little brother always has to pick on the big brother.  Right?  It IS his job.  

Grammy with her boys

Cute pic of Grammy and M

We love you all!!!  Thanks for visiting.

"Old" Friends

I don't know about everyone else, but I have not kept in close contact with a lot of my high school or even college friends.  It is sad, but true!!  It isn't that I don't care about them because I truly do, but life has a way of taking us all in different directions, growing us, and forcing most of those friendships to become Facebook friends or Christmas card friends.  You keep up with them.  You love hearing from them.  You might occasionally check in with them or see them, but that is about it.  It just isn't possible to remain BFFs with everyone, BUT....there are those friendships that remain.  Those friendships have become "Life" friendships.  We were lucky to spend our June with a few of those friends.  

In early June we had the privilege of going camping with my HS friend Shawn and her family.  Last summer when we were moving, her family was also moving and for once we moved closer to each other.  It was a miracle.  We only live about 3.5 hours from each other, which allowed us to meet in the middle at a campground.  So fun!!!  Our kids are all about the same age and got along great.  

Watching them learn to fish was priceless.  The excitement wore off quickly when they realized how much standing around they would have to do, but M figured out how to cast out her line.  She was pretty proud of herself and she should be.  Tandon tried to teach Shawn how to cast out the line and let's just say she wasn't as good as M.  She blames the teacher, but I'm not so sure that was the problem.    Hehe!!

While we could have used a shower (the showers and bathroom situation were less than desirable) and it was pretty hot on Saturday, Shawn and I did very little cooking (thanks guys), the kiddos enjoyed every second of playing in the dirt, glow stick fun, sticky desserts, and we made lots of great memories.  My kids can't wait for round two!

In mid-June we were then blessed with a visit from some other HS friends.  Our friends Sarah and Adam arrived bringing with them their three girls for a total of 5 little girls running around our house.  Before they arrived both Sarah and I wondered how the girls would all get along.  Would we be pulling our hair out by the end of the week?  The answer to that question was NO.  They got along so well.  Seriously for the entire week, if we were home, they played peaceably in the basement.  The little ones would check in every so often, but other than a few minor problems, the visit was problem-free.  We had an amazing time reconnecting with their family.  We swam at our pool, visited the zoo (pretty sure we almost melted our dear friends in the heat and humidity...sorry guys!), went to the Legoland Discovery Center (which I will forever call Lameland...so not worth the money), Sarah and I went shopping, then the guys ever so nicely hung up all the stuff we'd bought for the walls, and overall just had a blast hanging out.  We will definitely have to do it again!

our Fab Five

playing freeze dance

the guys hanging up the metal "beast" 

that we bought for the wall--it looks great now!

at Lameland

We can't say thank you enough for our precious friendships.

Evacuation

A couple of days ago, I received this picture and text from my hubby:

"but we were packing..."

After giggling a bit to myself and saying a quick prayer of thanks that for once it wasn't me at home with the mess, I texted back:  "Oh. My. Word."

Not long after, I received the rest of the story.  My children (while daddy made lunch) were pretending there was a fire and they were packing up to run away from it.  Daddy said that they had basically saved everything from their rooms including all of the books from M's bookshelf.  They are fast packers.

It is amazing how much children hear and truly understand.  In the past month, my children have heard countless conversations about the fire in our hometown and how people were having to pack up and evacuate their homes.  It was therapy play.  :)

Pretty sure that daddy didn't appreciate this specific therapy session, although I (and the rest of my family that I forwarded the text to) sure thought it was funny.

Soccer Camp

M participated in a Challenger soccer camp the last week of May.  We debated about putting her in the 4-5 year old class, but after reading the description we thought she might get bored (and you don't want her bored) so we decided to challenge her a bit and put her in the 5-6 year old class.  I'm so very glad that we did!  She was definitely the youngest, but it was good for her to try to keep up with the older kids.  The camp was amazing!  They taught the kids a ton of footwork with games, one-on-one time with the coaches, scrimmages, and repetition.  I was muy impressed.  

On a side note, all the coaching staff is from England or Scotland.  After the first day, I asked M what her coaches' names were and she responded, "Mama, I'm not sure.  I can't understand a word they are saying.  They must be speaking Spanish or something!"  I love her age.  I explained that they were in fact speaking English, but they had a different accent.  :)

The second day when I asked she told me that one of the coaches names was Mousey.  In my head I thought, surely not, but on the last day when they introduced themselves he introduced himself as Mousey.  Haha!  What do I know!

M getting some help from Mousey

So much enthusiasm

and determination to learn the footwork

Being the youngest meant that M was not as fast as the other kids and struggled with the foot work a little more, but there was one game they played that she WON.  She was so proud!

It began with the coaches on the sides (the lasers) trying to tag the kids with the balls.  Once tagged a person than became a laser and before kids ran and dodged the lasers they had to put their hands on their hips and listen for the question, "Are you ready?"  Their reply (while rotating their hips) was, "Yeah Baby!"  So funny to watch!  Anyway M was never tagged that first day.  I guess it pays to be little and quick at times.  

Waiting to run

Dodging the lasers

"Yeah, Baby!"

Last kid standing

Dodging the lasers one last time to win

She was pretty tuckered out by the fourth day

Small ceremony-

Coaches said M's group was one of the hardest working, well-behaved groups 

they had ever worked with. 

Great job at camp, M!

This will not be the last Challenger Camp that we participate in.  

Spring Soccer

M also participated in Spring soccer this year.  She was able to play on a team with quite a few of her neighborhood friends and two neighborhood moms coached them.  So fun!

Her last game was the day after we returned from CA.  She was one tired cookie, but still worked hard.  This year we had so much fun watching her.  She had grown so much since last Spring.  Last year at age 4 she did a lot of this:

This year was completely opposite.  She was always on the move and she's FAST.  A complete go-getter.  Her competitive side came out.  She was determined to get a goal (and she did get quite a few).  There were even a few moments where Aaron and I were telling her to let the other girls on her team have a turn with the ball.  I guess we will work on passing to our team mates next season (and she got an early start on this skill at the camp she went to this past week...more to come on that soon).

She is after it

Taking it down for a goal

Then the ref got in the way

and she made her very first goal

Miss Attitude, Serious Focus, and a Corner Kick

Can't wait for fall season!

Way to go, M!!!!!!!