What a week!!

OK I know that I am not the most consistent blogger in the whole world but what is one to do. I have had a good week with only a couple of things that went wrong. Last Friday night Tracy took Hunter camping over night and I stayed home to go to an awesome evening with the girls from work and to take the girls to their soccer games. I was really bummed when Tracy and Hunter left because my camera is somewhere in la la land and I have not been able to find it for about 3 weeks. I am down to one more room to turn upside down. So I wish I had cute pictures of Tracy and Hunter camping and riding quads, I have to find the camera soon or I might go crazy.

As far as soccer goes ... (for those of you that I have been less than faithful in keeping in touch with my kids have been playing soccer for about 5 years now and LOVE it) Abby's team tied their game she played hard and was a great sport. Caroline's team actually won their game 5-4 she always seems to be on teams that are full of girls about her same size (short) and play teams that are much bigger than them. This week though they didn't let the size of the other team intimidate them. We were really proud of them. (first win in three years, they have tied but not won)

Friday night with the girls was so much fun. It was great to get to know them on a more personal level. We laughed so hard that our cheeks hurt. Thanks ladies for a great night;)

Caroline's idea of Heaven

I would have to say that this is Caroline's idea of heaven. This is her and the next door neighbor's baby. She loves to play with and hold the little ones. It is sometimes hard to beleive she is that old because there is no way that I am old enough to have one her age.

Sometimes I wonder!!

Sometimes I wonder about my kids! They have this very silly game that they play with Tracy. He has a small nerf basketball and they will all line up and wait for him to yell, "GO". Then they all take off running in a straight line and he throws the ball at them. The kid that gets hit then is out and the rest all line up again. The last one out gets the one on one,if he throws it that last time and misses they win. After all that do you think that they stop? Oh, no they all get back up, line up, and then taunt him that he won't be able to get them this time. Personally, sitting on the sidelines, it is really funny to watch but I think that they are a little crazy for doing it. You gotta love the daddy!!

Lilyann

We have some very good friends with some really cute kids. Thier youngest, Liliann, was wandering around the house and found Abby's soccer uniform and convinced Tracy (not that it was very hard) to put it on her.
HOW CUTE IS THAT!!!
A little saggy but she was lovin it.

I love being a mom!!

I love those little moments that make you say Ahhh! Last week while I was driving Abby to soccer practice, just the two of us, she piped up in the back seat and told me, "Mom, you're so lucky to have me." I tried hard not to giggle and told her that I agreed but I wanted to know why she thought so. She took a deep breath and then told me, "because I love You." I love being a mom so much and those little moments make the job all the more precious.

Grapes Anyone?

Is he a boy or a chipmunk? Maybe Hunter thinks that he needs to stock up for winter. This boy makes me smile!!

First Day of School TAKE 2;)

OK, so we had a slow start to the school year!! There we were, a little early for school, (for the first time ever on the first day of school) camera in hand and lo and behold a dead battery. Between getting the kids all ready for the start of school, getting me ready to go back to work and the house still being under construction someone dropped the ball and the camera did not get charged. Now we are two weeks in and I decide that we are getting the pictures anyway. I set out the same outfits, took the time to drive them to school rather than have them ride the bus and made them do a "First day of school" picture.

How do you convince him that he really does like his sisters?
That first day (and every Monday after that) they do flag raising, so every year all we get is them standing in a big group and if we are lucky we can get the teacher as well.
Caroline 5th grade

Hunter 3rd grade

Abby 1st grade

Lesson Learned!!!

Call me crazy but I think that Abby learned her lesson not to start a water fight with Grandpa. She was washing dishes on Saturday morning when my dad came over to see them and, being Abby, she decided that it would be funny to take the ladle that was in the sink and splash Grandpa with it. She was warned not to but did it anyway. I think that the pictures say it all. While he had a small wet spot on his shirt she had a small dry spot on hers.

GRANDPA 1 / ABBY 0

Trip to the zoo

Last school year Abby was invited to go to the zoo with two of her friends from school. I just got pictures from Jayne's mom and so I thought that I would share her adventure. She had such a good time and really has such a cute friendship with them. Nathan, Jayne and Abby talked about their trip together for weeks. I gave her some money and she got to go to the sting ray bay "with my own money", she had to remind me, and she could have stayed there all day long. Between the sting rays and the monkeys the day was a resounding success. It was probably better because I didn't have to go!!

Camping at the Rim

We enjoy camping as a family and one of favorite places is up on the rim. It is so beautiful. This year it seems that we got more rain before we went and it was so green. Almost every year it rains at least a little while every day but this year it rained before we got there and again after we went home.














The kids love to go for quad rides with the dads and this year was no exception. They took a ride down the trails to a small pond to find water dogs (these are salamanders that have stayed in the water so they still have gills and webbed feet.)

Smoors are a must when out in the woods, around a campfire. We decided to give them a new experience and along with the traditional gram cracker and chocholate they had the option of putting the marshmallow in between two chocolate chip cookies. I don't think that they could decide what was better. My vote is the cookies.

On our hike we found a cave that the kids could climb through. It was perfect, not too big and with seperate enrtance and exit. The kids went through a few times each and thought it was exciting to explore. It was more like follow the leader but for them it was exploring still the same!













Caroline, Hunter and Abby got really good at riding the little quad and loved every minute of it. I think that they are truly addicted.

THE HAMMOCK (need I say more?)