Zach - Flag Football 2013

Another season, another sport.  Fall for our family means flag football.  We all love being apart of the experience.  It's funny that when we started out the season, it was warm and we were all in shorts and short sleeves, but the time the season was done in early October, we were wearing coats, gloves, blankets, etc.  Welcome to fall in Utah.

Anyway, this year Zach was really having a great time.

He excelled so much that it was really fun to watch each game.

He did so well that half way through the season the team decided to have just 2 quarterbacks and Zach was one of them.

He did really great and ended up throwing quite a few touchdown passes.

One of the best parts was having Jeremiah as the coach.  I just love seeing the two of them out there together.  It was really a difficult coaching experience, but we were glad we did it.

Zach was quite the defender too.  He was always assigned the side of the field because he was great at keeping the other team from getting by him.

His defensive instincts were amazing.

Here's a quick video of him playing quarterback.  It wasn't the best result, but it was the best angle and it shows him playing one of his favorite positions.

He also caught a bunch of passes for touchdowns and had quite a few interceptions.  Unfortunately, I didn't capture any of them on camera, but wanted to make mention of those as well.

We sure are proud of how well Zach is doing in sports.  He really loves playing and we love watching him.  Way to go Zach, we sure love you!

Mommy's Little Cleaning Helper

Can't help but love when someone wants to help out.  And cleaning the house is definitely something I'll take help with!  Tate has decided that he loves to vacuum.  He has a little vacuum toy that he loves to push around, but one day decided he needed to do the big vacuum too.  So I let him turn it on and off he went.

The first time we did this, I had already vacuumed the floor, but ever since, I make sure he has his turn before I do, that way I get most of the middle of the floor vacuumed twice!  Can't beat that!

He also decided he needed a turn with the mop.  

Boy my kitchen floor really sparkled right in this corner by the time he was done!

Love all the help I'm getting from my big boy.  He sure is a cutie and it's fun to see him wanting to help with things around the house!

First Day of School - 2013!

How the summer flies by!  Seems like it went by so fast this year!  Before we knew it, August 20th was here and it was time for the first day of school.  The kids had mixed feelings about it, all 3 of them.  

Zach was not excited about going, but there was a little part of him that wanted to get back to recess, Art, and PE - all of his favorite things about school.

Hailey was really excited, especially since her class was in one of the trailers or portable classrooms as school this year.  She wasn't quite so excited about getting up early and being gone all day long (she's a home body in some respects).

Tate wasn't at all excited about not having the kids around to play with all day, but he was excited (even though he didn't know it) about having the whole house and all the toys to himself all day.

Here are our three kids, the morning of school.  Aren't they all so cute?

I love this on where Tate was leaning against Zach, it was so cute! 

Here's our 2nd grader - I can't believe she's already in 2nd grade!  Wasn't she just in preschool yesterday???  She has Miss McClain this year and is in the trailer - which was such a fun surprise for her!

She got a new Hello Kitty backpack and wanted me to be sure and take a picture of it.

Here's our 5th grader - that's right I said 5th grade!  I can't believe in just 2 years, he'll be heading off to junior high.  Ahh, they just grow up so fast!  Zach has Mrs. Billings this year and is inside the main school.  

He didn't have a new backpack and when I asked if he wanted me to take a picture of his backpack too, he just rolled his eyes at me - yep, definitely in the "Mom, you're bothering me and asking me to do ridiculous things!" stage.

Tate was feeling left out, so he wanted me to take a picture of him on his bike.  At this point, he was under the impression that he was going to be riding his bike with the kids to school.

Here are all 3 of them lined up and ready to go.  We have loved being close enough to the school so that the kids can ride their bikes back and forth, it gives them a little something to make it special since they don't get to ride the bus (which they think is VERY unfair, they both love the bus!).

Off they go, to their first day of school for 2013.

They had a great first day and both came home excited to go back.  So glad they both have such great teachers that made them excited to return.  They are growing up so fast, I can hardly believe how the time has flown by!

Hailey's Fall Soccer Season

Now that our two oldest children are getting older, they are doing more and more activities.  I now understand what people mean when they say like they feel like chauffeurs all the time!

This fall soccer season was Hailey's turn to play.  I have very much loved having just one child in soccer at a time!  Hailey had such a fun team and coach this year.  She loved every bit about the season, even practicing in the August heat!

She has continually improved each year she has played and we have been very proud of her.  One of her favorite things to do was play goalie.  It's funny how all of the kids want to play that position!  The one game she played almost the entire half and I think by the end she was ready to get in there and run around a little bit.

She had the funniest poses when I tried to get her picture in front of the goal.

She continually made us chuckle as she would get ready for the ball to head her way.  (In case you didn't notice, I got a great picture of the back of Zach's head in this one!)

Here she is running up for a goal kick.  Luckily, she never missed - she told me she was always so worried that she would.

The little "beehive" right in front of the goal.

She was really good at keeping her eye on the game and watching for the ball.

She was actually a really good goalie and they only scored on her once - even though she played goalie 3 or 4 times in different games.

Here she is out playing in the field.  You can always tell which one she is because she has on the pink soccer socks!

Chasing the ball.

She was so cute, I can't believe she's almost 8 already - getting all grown up!

I never did have the camera out when she scored a goal, but she scored 3 or 4 goals for the entire season, quite a good number!

She had a great time playing soccer this fall and can't wait for next year when she will get to play again.  We sure are proud of her and how much she is improving each year.  Way to go Sis, we sure love you!

Wanted ...

Do either of these culprits look familiar?  There is an all points bulletin issued in our house for the following:

1st.  Door frame.  Last seen upstairs in the general vicinity of the doorway to the master bedroom.  About 7 feet tall, white, and stationary.  Can be extremely dangerous when near anyone not paying attention to it.

2nd.  Plastic toy boat.  Last seen in the general vicinity of the upstairs toy room.  About 4 inches long and 3 inches tall.  Painted yellow, blue, red, and white.  Can be extremely dangerous when used for push-up instructions.

Before you wonder too much longer about what on earth I am talking about, let me explain.  Last month Hailey had a run in (literally) with the two items above within the space of two days.  Both times she came out on the losing end.  This was the scene shortly after each "run in."

Ironically enough, both the door frame and the toy came out relatively unscathed, while she in turn lost a tooth each time.

Ironically, both were baby teeth that desperately needed to come out.  We had become especially worried about one, so having it knocked out was actually a blessing.  We were on the countdown to a visit to the dentist to have it pulled.

The first tooth she lost while playing around with her brothers, then running into my room without watching.  She actually didn't make it through the door, instead she ran directly into the door frame.  Yep, ouch.  But out popped the tooth we were concerned about and after a bit of crying and bleeding, everyone was happy.  We got the concerned tooth out without having to visit the dentist and Hailey had a tooth to leave for the tooth fairy that night.

Ironically, the very next day she lost another tooth.  She has been into exercising lately and was asking about the proper way to do push-ups.  After trying to explain over and over, Jeremiah showed her how it was done (I'm way too out of shape for that myself!).  She tried over and over and couldn't understand that you didn't let your body actually touch the ground.  So Jeremiah grabbed the closest small toy to place underneath her so she could practice lowering her body just enough to touch that but not touch the floor.  The most readily available toy was this plastic toy boat that Tate had been playing with earlier.  She somehow misunderstood that we meant the toy to be under her chest or stomach and promptly slid down so it was right under her face and tried to do a push-up.  She is a little lacking in the muscle department and on her way up from the push-up, lost control and fell - her mouth crashing into the toy boat, promptly dislodging another baby tooth that has recently loosened.

Now this story gets even better.  How can you imagine?  Well, we had a third tooth that was loose and about to pop out - although I wonder how much of these other two experiences somehow loosened it even more.  So the day after the second tooth loss, she pushed, pulled, and prodded it until it fell out.  Yep, another tooth out.  

Three teeth in three days.

She then looked a little crazy with 3 front teeth gone and two permanent teeth starting to come behind where the baby teeth were.

But if you ask her, it was quite the three days of excitement.  Three different visits from the tooth fairy and three dollars to spend!  Not much better than that!

Since then we've been a bit more careful with playing, exercising, and such.  Luckily no more teeth have come out.  Good thing because I think the tooth fairy was going broke!

Random Pictures ...

I'm a little behind on my blogging, so I'm uploading some random pics taken in the past month or so.

Here's our little builder and the tower he built out of all of his big legos.  He was so proud of it, we had to take a picture and of course send it to Dad to ooh and aah over.  He builds with these legos at least 3 or 4 times a week and he absolutely loves them!

Hailey has been into different hairdos lately and after I saw this waterfall braid on pinterest, I knew we had to try it.  

It looked so cute on her and kept her hair out of her face (something I love).

We've done it quite a few times since then and we've perfected it a bit more with smaller strands of hair and such, but this first time was definitely a success and despite the look on her face in this last picture, she loved it too!

After another fun summer of weekly play dates with Nana, Papa, and the cousins, we had to take an end-of-the-year picture.  Poor little Seton was sleeping and we didn't have the hear to wake him, but he was there with us!  We sure had a fun time this summer playing with everybody!

  After a sleepover at Nana and Papa's, Hailey came home with a new jumper that Nana made her.  She had really been into peace signs lately - that and leopard print.  I'm not sure why since those are usually patterns I stay away from (maybe that explains it, I don't know).  But she was so happy to wear her jumper the first chance she got to church.  I have to admit that although I don't "love" the pattern, she sure does look cute in it and the jumper turned out darling!

This one still makes me laugh.  Zach was being sassy and talking back one morning so he lost TV for the day.  Tate was having a rough morning and TV seemed to be the only thing he wanted to do.  So we had to set up a make-shift eating area in the pantry to keep the punishment in tact and my sanity in tact with my three year old.  Poor Zach, he didn't enjoy eating in there all by himself.  I'd like to say that was made a point and we haven't had any problem since then, but that wouldn't exactly be the truth.  

And last but not least, Tate bought a Curious George monkey with his spending money and wouldn't let it out of his sight for the rest of the day.  That included a few wagon rides that Hailey talked him into doing.  Had to take a picture of these two with George monkey.  Tate was so cute holding onto him for dear life!

I have more pictures coming, but this at least gets some of the random pictures out of the way.  If nothing else, you can say life at our house definitely isn't boring!  :)

Playing at the Park - Soccer Practice

As we neared the end of the summer, fall soccer season began.  Since Zach played spring soccer, it was Hailey's turn for fall soccer.  Although it was hot, we had fun playing at the park where she practiced for a few weeks before school actually started.

Here's our soccer girl all decked out in her soccer gear, getting in a little bit of playtime before practice began.

I don't know what it is about the little zipline, but they all love it!

Zach would go on the zipline, over and over and over again.

Tate fell in love with these little moveable steps and spent most of his time on those.

He eventually was able to go all the way across all by himself - he was so proud!

I couldn't resist some pictures on the spider's web.  Tate wasn't sure exactly what this toy was all about, but he sure looks cute on it for the picture.

And here's one of all 3 of my kids.  I sure love these 3 and can't imagine life without them.  Sitting and watching them play was a fun time for me.

We loved soccer practice almost as much as the games because of all the play time on the playground.  Doesn't get much better than that for these 3!