Party City

These past two weekends we have been partying!  Last weekend we got to celebrate with Gracie and Emma.  Both are 3 and we had so much fun at each of their parties. 

Gracie's party was at Stacey's Dance where Marlie takes ballet.  They had fun dressing up, getting their nails painted and dancing!  I like this pic of Gracie.  She is too cute!

Then it was off to Emma's party at the Little Gym.  Emma was so excited the entire time.  She lived it up!  It was so cute. 

This weekend we went to a Mad Science party.  It was Ryan's 6th birthday and the kids had SO much fun.  The boys loved all the experiments and they looked so cute in their lab coats and safety goggles. 

  Even the parents were excited and wore the 3D glasses too!

After a very hot soccer game poor Marlie was so tired.  We literally had to pull her out of bed and dress her while she was sleeping.  So after the Mad Scientist was done we all went outside and she finally perked up.  I got some cute shots of her playing on the swing set. The pic with her and Annie is so sweet.   I love the last one with her and Cole.  You can tell she loved the chocolate cake! 

 I snapped this photo of Caden and had to post it here because it's so cute!  

 

Our final party was today.  Last but not least...Hannah turned 6 and we went to Juergen's where the kids take gymnastics to party!  I loaned my camera to Hannah's parents so I don't have too many specific shots of the kiddos.  I thought this pic of Hannah and her Momma was cute.  And there's my little Marlie going as slow as possible in a "race"!  She's not in a hurry for anything and Matt is for everything!

Happy Birthday to all!  We had so much fun celebrating with you! 

Have we started soccer!

Soccer season is officially here and we are up and running full force.  This weekend was our second game.   Matt has scored so many goals in both games and he is counting!!  Today was 6 (I think).  I lost count at some point. 

This year we are playing with a new league.  It's 3 on 3 with no goalie.  I think this works out best for this age group.  More action for all the kids and less meltdowns in the goal box when the goalies miss the ball!  We have a great team again with most of the usual suspects and of course the best coaches in the league...Dad and Coach Joel.  These guys should get paid. 

Marlie is the best cheerleader ever and LOVES these boys.  The other day we couldn't leave the house for practice until she had gotten a picture to take to Caden.  And she is already talking lots about Alex.  How she sees him at school and how he did good in the game...too cute.

Here are some pics.  There are so many I want to post but I'll wait until the end of the season and put a nice slideshow together.  Oh this is too fun!!

SMMCS Annual Fund Drive

A few parents from the kids school and I are working on the school's first Annual Fund Drive.  Don't worry I'll be asking you later for money.  But today I wanted to share a picture that I just LOVE!  My friend Sarah went to the school to do a photo shoot so we can select some pictures for the brochure.  She snapped this one of Matt, Caden, Hannah, Alena and Iva and I just can't get over how cute it is.  I had to share it.  I'm guessing it probably will not go in the brochure (since there is absolutely no diversity in this pic) so I'll post it here!  I thank God every day for introducing us to such wonderful friends. 

The Hatters are Here!

After a long drive Friday night the Hatters arrived!  We have had those long journeys back and forth to SA, so we know how exhausting they can be, and with 3 kids the Hatters still came to see us!  We were so happy! 

The kids were so excited for Cale and Hayden (we ended up combining them into 1 person and calling them Caden because we're use to that name) and Baby Livi to come.  I planned for an easy weekend since the kids outnumbered the adults but you would have never known that 5 kids were in my house!  They were all so good and played together well. 

We spent Saturday morning at the pool and the kids had fun!  Hayden loved the slides and even Baby Livi was kicking like crazy.  When I asked Cale if I could take him down the slide he politely responded "no thank you". We took a nice long nap afterwards and later that night went to Tutti Frutti to make our own froyo! 

I took the girls for a walk in the wagon.  It was one of the highlights of the weekend for me.  They were so cute!  They talked the entire walk about what I like to call "very important nonsense".  It's like they had known each other forever!

In this picture it looks like they are all actually playing this game.  I don't think they were but they were so cute and amazingly quiet. 

We tried to take a PJ pic but this is as good as it gets.  Although Matt has his eyes closed in the second pic I love Hayden's expression as her and Marlie exchange glances.  

Other than my walk with the girls, here's what else I loved about the weekend:

• Adult conversation until 2:30am with friends we have had since junior high!
• Matt said his favorite part of the weekend was when Cale was trying to tackle him.  I was so proud that Matt was so sweet and gentle with him.  That's not my typical Matt so I love to see that. 
• Cale called Matt "my brother" all weekend.  Sunday morning I asked Cale if I could help him with something and he said "no thank you, my brother will". 
• When I ask Marlie if she wants a little brother or sister she does not hesitate to respond with a definite NO.   And just in case you're wondering...no we are not having 3!  But Marlie was so good with Baby Livi.  She brought her toys and would try to hug and kiss her.  There was no personal space so Baby Livi had Miss Marlie up close for a good part of the weekend!
• Matt also attached himself right to Mr. Shawn.  Matt was his shadow. 

Thank you Hatters for coming to see us.  Your kids are adorable and we had so much fun!