No More Soccer Saturdays

All of us, except maybe Marlie, are very sad that soccer season is over.  Matt had a great year, as expected.  The last game those boys were passing and scoring.  Matt would kick the ball in and it practically went to the other side of the field.  We saw so much maturity in the boys this year.  It's fun to watch the same kids play together every year and see how much they improve. 

Matt had his end of season party at the Houlton's house and the boys played football for about 2 hours straight.  They had a blast!!  The boys were excited about their trophies but more excited to go back and play.  Thanks to Dad, Coach Joel and Coach Mike for being great coaches!

Marlie started off the season like a rock star.  We were so proud of her.  Then game 3 came and she fell and her teammate completely trampled right over her.  It was pretty much over from there.  After about 2 games of not much action I asked why she wouldn't kick the ball and she said she was scared to fall down and get hurt.  We finally hyped her back up and by the last game she was almost back to normal.  She blocked several goals and was very excited about that.  We will try again next year but the potential is there.  We just have to find a way to get her about half as fired up as Matt is and she'll be awesome! 

Marlie had her end of season party at our favorite Chick-fil-A!  The girls had so much fun and were SO excited to get their trophies!  Thank you Coach Greg (who gets the prize for having an amazing amount of patience) and Dad for helping these girls!! 

There are more pictures in the slide show.  I did attempt to take a few videos so hopefully I can post one or two soon.  I just get too excited and forget to record!  

Taylor Swift

So I heard Taylor Swift was coming to town.  The kids and I listen to her music in the car all the time and we sing like crazy.  But Marlie is only 4 and it just seemed ridiculous to spend lots of money for tickets.  So I didn't.  But 3 days before the concert one of my sweet friends Aseena (that knows how much we love TS) told me about a group that had several tickets and they were so inexpensive.  The tickets were way at the top, but who cares?  I jumped on it and was lucky enough to get 4 tickets! I told Marlie and she was SO excited.  We invited Hannah and Mrs. Traci to go with us.  Hannah was so excited too!

Hannah showed up all decked out and brought glitter makeup for Marlie too.  Marlie was so excited!

All 4 girls were giggly and ready to go!  Check out these smiles...

The girls sang all the way there and all the way back! We stood in crazy long lines to get in and for tshirts.  Once TS took the stage they were just sitting in awe.  After the first song they finally starting singing.  Marlie danced like crazy for one entire song.  Both girls told their Mom's early in the show that they wished they were sitting closer!  How funny!! 

It was an amazing performance.  She played multiple instruments and every song had a different setting, costumes, etc.  Her song writing is beautiful and yes I cried when she sang "never grow up".  We had a wonderful evening!  Maybe next time we'll sit closer!! 

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween was extra fun this year because Marlie understood dressing up and getting candy!!!  We started off the festivities at Matt's school.  I remember as a kid we always had a Halloween party at school and it was so much fun.  Well...I guess Halloween is not PC anymore but thankfully the Kinder classes secretly participated by having a "character parade".  The kids were to dress up as a character from a book and bring the book with them to march in the parade.  I think the "characters" were supposed to be typical children's book characters but Matt insisted on being Tom Brady because that's who is in his book "Perfect Passers" that he likes to read.  He begged his teacher and she gave in too!!  Tom Brady it is...what a cute Tom Brady he was. All the kids looked great and I got to take my picture with Tom Brady - wohoo!!

Now Marlie had a real Halloween party and party it was!  The room Mom went crazy and the party was awesome!  I have not seen that many cute Halloween treats ever!!  At the end of the party Marlie was screaming, "this is too much chocolate" but they all had fun with their crafts, singing pumpkin songs and eating their treats! In case you didn't see the blog posting a few weeks back, Marlie insisted on being Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates against my numerous attempts to try to get her to be a Texans Cheerleader or Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. 

Halloween night was a blast as always.  The kids looked great!

We start with the usual coolest party at our neighbor's house.  I think Carmen thought of not having it this year and we told her she didn't have a choice.  The kids eat and play before the big trek into the neighborhood.  I didn't get a picture of all the kids this year but managed one shot of the girls.  Here's Marlie with Lyla and Mya. 

We headed out early with the Patton's.  The kids were running as usual from house to house and the girls were trying hard to keep up. 

Luckily our house was one of the first stops...can you see them attacking my Mom?  They are IN the house. It took at least 5 houses before they got the message that you cannot go INTO the house!  By the end Marlie was saying "Mom I did not step foot in the house".  Luckily we know most of our neighbors! 

M&M thought this black cat was awesome and had to take a picture with it...

Along the way we tried a few beverages made by our friendly neighbors...candy corn and jagermonster shots.  Adults and kids always manage to have a blast on Halloween night.  Our neighborhood is awesome and we see kids from other Fall Creek neighborhoods in ours.  On our last stretch there was so many people out in the streets.  It looked like a mini Mardi Gras with everyone dressed up.  Even the Dads dressed up...funny that there was no planning to this.  Everyone was sad not to see Doug is in his track suit this year.  Maybe next year we'll come up with something more revealing!