Morgan's 12th Birthday!

Our cousin Morgan flew in from Colorado and we had a 12th birthday party for her last night. She is so sweet and we all had so much fun. Uncle John has lots of dirt and rock piles in their backyard, so the little ones were thrilled- Billy went to town in the rock pile. Abi was so excited by the amount of food, and especially by the cake plates that were leftover for her to scavange. Can we say ,"Spalding!"

Of course, no birthday party would be complete without cake in the face. Even cake covered, she's the cutest, sweetest 12 year old girl ever.

Time for Soccer!

Saturdays are now officially soccer-filled. Hayden is on the Yellow Bombers, and Chloe the Green Clovers. We are in week 3, and Hayden's team is pretty darn good and 2-0, while Chloe's team is, well, lets just be thankful they don't keep score for her age group. AC is her coach again, and he has quite the young group.

Hayden is really good this year, if I do say so myself. He scored his first ever goal last week in a breakaway that ended with the goalie on the ground crying and Hayden kicking it in for the point. Good sportsmanship? Maybe not. Goal? Definitely. He really likes to play defense, and honestly, Hayden stops just about anyone heading towards the goal. That's why I love the second picture- Hayden's standing still stopping the ball while everyone else is moving forward. ACs really excited that Hayden likes a position that is usually unpopular. Most kids like scoring- hayden likes stopping.
Chloe started out kind of rough- she decided about 2 minutes into the 2nd practice that she didn't like soccer and wasn't going to play. AC wishes she would have decided that before he signed on to be her coach again. The first picture is from her first game. She'd only be on the field if she was holding Dad's hand.
Suprise! Here she is in game #2, and she decided that soccer is okay after all, and, okay she'll just jump right in there and even (kinda) score her first goal. (it bounced off of her foot and into the goal- my book, that equals goal). I don't know what goes on in her little brain, but fingers crossed that she keeps thinking positive thoughts regarding soccer.

And yes, I did make those hair bows. I guess that makes me a super-soccer mom.

CA Fun

What do you do when your kids have 2 days off from school? Pull them out for a third and head to CA! I picked up H and C from school an hour early and we headed out straight from there. I had to drive into the sun a bit, but it wasn't too bad. And all three kids fell asleep around 8:30, so I had an hour of peace and quiet. It was none too soon, because Chloe talked or sang from the moment I picked her up from school, until she said "I'm tired" around 8:15. I didn't know anyone's vocal cords could last that long. I love her little voice and all, but sheesh- my ears were buzzing.
First stop: the beach. Grandma and Aunt Pam were there finishing off their girls' week. Nothing like crashing the party! It was nice spending time with Aunt Pam. The kids adore her, and were talking at her the entire time!


Chloe was having a little trouble with sand in her pants this time. They were having a heat wave over there, so the water was actually warm enough that all three kids went in. I didn't go in, but nothing new in that.

We ended up buying an annual pass to Legoland, and went on Saturday afternoon and all day Monday. The kids had a blast, it wasn't too crowded, and I only took about 4 pictures. This one's cute- Ellie was not sure of the Ogre on the storybook ride, so big Brother wrapped his arm around her and pointed out all of the fun stuff. Awwww. Don't worry, it didn't last. Five minutes later he was calling her "butthead" then getting charged $1 for the ugly word.

I wish I could say Ellie was sweet as could be the whole time, but she wasn't. We had an unintentional run-in with Annatto, and she had the fits to prove it. It was u-g-l-y. Poor girl. Now we are home and back to our routine, and looking forward to heading back in November!