Soccer time!

We tried out another sport this summer, soccer.  This was just 3 weeks of a soccer camp through the city to see if Maddox wanted to sign up for soccer this fall.  She says she does.  She does really well running around and chasing with the whole group of kids but doesn't really get in there to kick it.  She doesn't kick very hard anyway when they practice kicking but she got better.  Good exercise anyway.  She's the tiny one in green to the left of the two pink girls with the braid down her back.

 Now she's right in the center, maybe tapping the ball, but probably not.  She spent most of her time chasing Ian around the field (the boy to the left of the kid in red) and helping him up when he fell down.  They're buddies.  During water breaks I kept telling her to let Ian get up on his own and instead chase after the ball, unless Ian was crying and needed her help.  It didn't work.

 Animatedly telling me how she hurt her arm when she fell down during the game.

Princess Dance Camp

A groupon came out this spring for a week long Princess Dance Camp through a dance school here for half off, which made it $28 I think.  Totally worth it!  It was 5 days and 2.5 hours each day and she had such fun!  They did some tumble (bear crawl here)

 And some tap (with no tap shoes, just intro to it)

 And then performed a Cinderella ballet for us.  They started out in their scrubby clothes doing Cinderella's work then turned into princesses that went to the ball and danced.

 After the ball they went home to bed to wait for the prince to come with the lost glass slipper and get married.  That's Maddox's cute little bottom in the blue in the center back... always next to cousin Emily who got to do dance camp too.

 Maddox and Emily and their class.

She loved it and wants to take ballet this fall.  Guess I better start checking out schools and get her signed up!  She was pretty good at it too for her.  You never know if she's going to be completely shy and just stand in the back and do nothing or if she'll do what she learned.  She did a little of both for the performance on Friday.  It's good for her though and as long as she enjoys it then it's good for me!

My Own Birthday

Yep, I'm 35 which now means I have to round up and that's a little depressing...     If you look carefully it says 31 but there's 4 balloon candles to add on to that.  

 I have a pretty awesome husband who actually threw me a surprise party for my birthday.  He invited our small group from church and many of our neighbors to be at PF Changs before we got there.  I was suspicious but walked into the restaurant to a table full of people with menus hiding their faces and was still pretty surprised!  Surprised that Jeremy would go to the trouble of doing anything out of the ordinary for my birthday and surprised that friends made the time to come and celebrate it with me!  After a yummy meal  we went to Suzy's house nearby to have my favorite cake (Better than Sex Cake-- and yes, it's a close call).

Below is our small group friends Carl, Debbie and two of their 3 kids Bethany and Caleb.  In the middle waving is our neighbor Jason.

 My other weird neighbor, and Jason's roommate, Mitch.  I've got no pictures of all the people that came to dinner (the Lowes, Irwins, and Carlsons) but thanks to everyone!

 And the birthday girl, another year older and another year wiser...

Tee Ball

Maddox started playing tee ball this summer.  She's been pretty shy about it but does pretty well with her Dad coaching and being nearby on the field.  She can hit the ball (although not far) and run the bases fine.  It's the field that she has no interest in.  Of course at this age if a ball is hit just about every player on the field runs after it which is a little overwhelming for Maddox.  She usually chooses just to hang out and watch the other kids run and fight over the ball.  Jeremy did get her to field a few last week by being in a position where they came straight to her and he handed her the ball and she threw it to first.  The last ball she retrieved and threw to first on her own.  She only has two more games so we'll see what she does.  But she says she enjoys it and looks forward to it every Tuesday so that's all that matters at this point.

Best Birthday Gift

MN Birthday Part and Minn. Marathon (pt.2)

Saturday night we had a late, and very abbreviated, birthday party in our hotel room with the Lowe's.  For crafts everyone got to color a mask which we actually did while we waited an hour for a table at the Spaghetti Factory.  Lots of people want pasta before a marathon I guess.

 I cheated and bought a cupcake cake at a grocery store up there so I wouldn't have to bring one with me.  Worked great!

 The next morning was the race which started at 6:30.  Jeremy did the marathon and Suzy did the half which started an hour later.  I made 4 signs to entertain the runners for their long jaunt.  This one was fitting for Hadlee.  One guy offered us Gu instead of candy when he ran by.

 Mile 6, feeling good!

 All done!  A PR for Jeremy at 2:57:04 but not his goal, and 11th overall.  We'll see if he gets motivated to do it again and try to meet that goal, but for now he's good with some shorter or different races.

 After packing up we went back to MOA and went to the aquarium to waste some more time before having to drive back home. It was a really fun weekend and I am SO proud of Jeremy!  He is such an awesome runner and so fun to "coach" and cheer on!

Hadlee's Birthday and MN trip (pt. 1)

So, let's pretend it's June 1st now....   We drove to Minneapolis on Hadlee's birthday so before we left we let her open her big gift that we weren't going to take with us.  It was a water table which has gotten lots of good use.  I don't know what she thought was going to happen as she tore off the paper but she was a little worried with each pull.

 Once we got to Minn. we went to the Como Park Zoo (FREE!)  It was a really good zoo considering it was free and we had a great time.  We enjoyed some cotton candy.  I felt bad Hadlee was so messy so I joined her.

 Rode the old antique carousel at the park...

 Yes, Jeremy was there too...

 On Saturday we went to the Mall of America to the amusement park.  I got to ride ALL the rides with the girls since my stomach is a little stronger than Jeremy's is.  Or my mind is stronger than my stomach, whichever the case may be.

 Poor Maddox was brave and did this one alone but was terrified!   I felt terrible for her the whole time!  She was absolutely panic stricken!

 Not panicked on this one though.  This was her favorite!  We did it twice and even got Jeremy to do it with Hadlee!

Memorial Day Fun

For Memorial Day we invited the Lowe family over and our neighbors Jason and Mitch for a cookout.  To earn dinner first I made them all do slave labor and plant some plants around my shed. The kids played in the pool and on the slip n slide and ate lots of watermelon!

 The adults sat around and imbibed on some alcohol... well some of us did.  I don't know where Mitch and Jason are, they must still be working.

The Hattens

When we went to St. Joe for Shelby's graduation (May 20) we stayed in the Hatten's back yard in our tent.  A pre-season campout of sorts.  My kids absolutely LOVE staying with the Hattens.  They are so much fun for them!  This trip Mr. Hatten made us homemade ice cream, which we did our best to eat all of before we left, and crepe-like pancakes in the morning.  I came out of the bathroom to find this--Hadlee, Maddox, and Mr. Hatten on the kitchen floor mixing the pancakes.  Now Maddox let's me hear it every time we have pancakes.   "Can I help??? Mr. Hatten let me help.  Can I break the eggs?  Mr. Hatten let me break the eggs."                         Thank you Hattens!!

Last day of School

Yep, back in mid May....   Oops.  Maddox finished 3 year old preschool and had a little program for the parents.

Spring Train Ride

Early this spring (I know, I'm WAY behind) we went on a train ride in Boone, IA.  Maddox had been asking for almost 2 years and found out that it wasn't nearly as fun as she thought it would be.  But it was still a fun family outing.  Except for the girls being scared (mostly Hadlee) of the very loud train whistle.

 And Jeremy being scared of the very high trestle bridge.  Looks a little tense huh?  Hadlee...not so much.