Ashton's 2nd Birthday!

I can't believe my baby is 2! There are many good things about being the youngest child... but there are also downfalls about being the youngest. One of those downfalls is that I'm soooo done with birthday parties!! So for Ashton's birthday we made it a special day with the family. It started off with donuts, of course! However, since it is summer and the kids are diggin' sleeping in, I ran over to get them before Randy left for work. Ashton's favorite is still donut holes, so we stuck a few candles in them and let her blow them out.
Randy got Ashton to answer the question, "What's today?" with "It's my boor-tay!" SUPER CUTE! She just loved all the balloons and streamers in the house. My mom came to help with the kids while I ran out to pick up the young women in our church from camp. She got Ashton this cute dress and AJ had to put it on right away. When I got home, I took the kids to McDonalds for lunch and some play time.

After McDonalds, we went over to the nursing home to visit Gum-Gum. The kids are a big hit at the nursing home. Recently Randy and I went up to Utah (more on that later) and my mom took the kids every day up to see her. My mom said the residents would know what time they would be coming in and they would be there waiting for them. They not only would brighten Gum-Gum's day but everyone else there! Gum-Gum got Ashton a princess sleeping bag which AJ was sooo excited about! Addie has the same sleeping bag and when we got home they both got there sleeping bags out on my bedroom floor to "nap" and watch a movie.

When Randy got home from work, we took the kids to Mazzios for dinner. Avery had her own birthday party to go to so we dropped her off first. Grammy Alyson, our dear friend who has taken our kids in as her own, met us at Mazzios with some adorable outfits for Ashton for her birthday. Once again, Ashton tried to take her clothes off so she could wear one of them. However, this time we were in public so I had her hold off on that!

After Mazzios we went over to the Kiddie Park to ride a few rides. As you can tell from Ashton's hair, it was super hot and humid! This was our first trip to the Kiddie Park this summer and AJ was a little nervous about riding the rides, but she finally got on the airplane ride.
And here is my poor little two year old completely wiped out from a FULL day of fun and absolutely no nap! For the next couple of days Ashton would still say that it was her "boor-tay". She is so adorable and we are so lucky to have her in our family. Happy Birthday, AJ!! You are such a light in my life!!

Swimming Lessons

The YMCA was having a special promotion this year for kids going into the second grade to have one free session of swimming lessons! Luckily for us, Austin is going into second grade! I wasn't sure what class to put him in because the classes are different than at ConocoPhillips, but they said they would evaluate on the first day and put them where they needed to go. I was a little worried when I saw what they were doing their first day, but they kept him where he was and I think it really challenged him to do better. Here he is doing the breaststroke.

I have to tell on myself. I got in trouble for taking these two pictures of Austin. I guess you're not supposed to take pictures in the Y, even if it's your own kid. I was talking to one of my friends and I just can't believe how bad the world has gotten. It was just a few years ago that I was taking pictures of Avery and Austin with my camera AND video camera of their swimming lessons and in these few short years you can't even do that anymore.

So after my incident at the Y, I was really worried about having my camera at Addie's swimming lessons. I hurried and took one picture of her and then put my camera away! Addie is a starfish and she did so good this session! I was so proud of her. It amazes me how different kids can be from one summer to the next even though we never practice between summers! Addie has been the most timid of all my kids with the water but she had some great teachers and really learned a lot. I have Austin and Addie in one more session of swimming lessons- this time they will both be a ConocoPhillips. We'll see... maybe I'll be brave and bring my camera!

Austin's Golf Clinic

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa John, Austin was able to participate in a free golf clinic this summer. I say thanks to Grandma and Grandpa because the clinic was right at the same time as Avery's soccer camp and Addie's swimming lessons so there was no way I could have gotten him there. The clinic was three days, so each night we would take Austin over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to spend the night and they would take him and his cousin Tanner up to the golf course. I snuck up there on the last day in between soccer camp and swimming lessons to get a picture of Austin. They were still listening to their instructor at this time. I couldn't stick around long enough to see him take some swings because I had to hurry on to Addie's swimming.

Here is Brandon, the assistant golf pro, talking to the kids about golf. Austin really learned a lot and when I would pick him up after Addie's swimming he would always go outside with practice balls and show me what he could do. He has a pretty good swing! One day I asked him how golf was going and he told me that he did good cause he hit the ball over the fence. Well, it must have been a good swing because the fence is high, however it also must have gone sideways so I'm not sure how good it really was! But I was glad that he had fun and was excited about learning. This is a sport he and his dad can always play together!

Competitive Soccer Camp

Last week Avery participated in the Competitive Soccer Camp. It was a great opportunity for her to gain new skills from some of the great coaches in town.

Two of the days it was raining, but luckily our school built an indoor practice field this past year so they were still able to have their camp.

Avery had soccer camp Monday thru Thursday from 9:00am-11:00am, soccer practice Tuesday and Thursday from 7pm-8pm and then participated in another soccer 3v3 all day Saturday playing 6 games. I stayed home from this tournament and sent Randy so I didn't get any pictures from that. Needless to say, soccer has been a big part of our summer!

Here is Avery with some of her friends, Liza and Peyton, who were with her at soccer camp and at the tournament on Saturday. She has made lots of great friends this summer and has really improved her soccer skills too!

Kick it 3v3 Soccer Tour

Avery played in a 3v3 tournament this past weekend. This was her first tournament in Tulsa, and we weren't sure what to expect. We did know it was going to be SUPER hot and humid and that we would be there all day. In preparation for that, my mom kept Addie and Ashton and Randy's parents kept Austin. When we got there we were a little taken back by how many people were there! The field was in the middle of a neighborhood and the parking lot was full with the streets full of cars on both sides! It was madness, I would have hated to live in that neighborhood! We took two Bartlesville teams in Avery's age group. Randy coached Avery's team which consisted of Keeleigh, Margaret, Kalyn, Avery and Kiera.

We were guaranteed 4 games. They were played in 12 min. halves on small goals. Randy made sure and explained the rules to me because he was afraid I would start yelling at the referees. He knows me way too well! The first game we won 7-4, the second game we lost 3-5, third game we won 4-2, and the last game we tied 2-2. Avery played amazing! It's a very fast pace game and she didn't hold anything back.

They made it into the championship round which guarantees you two more games. The first game they lost 2-4 on some pretty bad calls, and the second one they won 8-1. So in the end, they got 5th place. Our other Bartlesville team got 2nd place. It was fun because we cheered them on while they played and they cheered us on while we played. I really enjoyed being able to just sit and watch Avery, not worrying about where the other kids were. Did I mention how hot it was... I was especially glad that I didn't have kids climbing on me and making it even hotter!

Avery had a BLAST! She enjoyed getting to know some of the girls from the other Bartlesville teams that she usually just plays against. Between games they hung out with each other, making some great friendships. Even though she was so worn out afterwards, she said she wanted to do it again! Good thing, because this week she has soccer camp and another tournament next weekend! Stay tuned!

Coach Pitch

Austin's Coach Pitch season has finally come to an end! It started off rough... this was the first season that Austin had to try-out for. This was not to get on a team but mainly to split the talent up so the teams were fair. Try-outs were in the middle of a basketball tournament here in town that Randy was helping out with so I had to take Austin to the try-outs. Austin was so far out of his comfort zone and I was doing everything I could to get him to go out there and hit a few balls for the men. I think he saw all the men and boys and didn't want to go out there with his mom. I got him out of the car twice only for him to go running back to the van. After an hour of this and him ending up under the back seat of the van, I finally had to call Randy for reinforcements. Randy got there, Austin got right up from under the seat and went out there with him to hit some balls! That's when I knew this was Randy and Austin's sport!

After the teams were formed, Randy was asked to coach the team Austin was placed on. We went back and forth on this decision, but ended up saying yes. We knew Austin would feel much more comfortable with Randy up there pitching to him. Austin had a great season- rarely did he not get on base. The team, however, taught Randy a good lesson on patience! Not exactly the team Randy would have recruited had he been the coach from the beginning... but they did win their very last game! At least it ended on a good note and Austin never complained about not winning. In fact, he never complained about baseball overlapping with soccer or soccer camp! I was very proud of him for that!

Austin looked so handsome in his baseball uniform!! It reminded me of watching Randy in high school and college in his baseball uniform! I never got sick of watching him play and I'm sure it will be the same with Austin. Baseball is a relaxing sport to me. Luckily we are all baseball fans in our family. The girls loved going to watch Austin play too. They also loved going to the concession stand!

As I mentioned, Randy was the coach and pitched to our team. He did a great job of reading where the kids where swinging and aiming right at their bats! Especially those kids that would just swing at the air! I think Randy and Austin grew a lot closer through this season. They would go out and practice together and of course spent a lot of time together in the car and in the dug-out. The other day Austin was debating on spending the night at a friends house. I told him if he stayed home he would only have girls to play with cause there weren't any boys in our house. Then he said, "if I go, then I won't have dad to play with." Awww, melted mine and Randy's heart! I'm so glad that Austin has such a great dad that spends time with him, lifts him up, and is a person Austin wants to hang out with! Thanks for being such a great dad, Randy!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great, relaxing Memorial Day weekend, but sadly I forgot my camera everytime we went anywhere! I did take a couple of pictures of Ashton with goggles on with my camera phone that weekend, so that's the picture we will be looking at as I talk about our weekend! Plus she's so stinkin' cute in those goggles! Our friends, Russ and Emilie went up to the lake for the weekend and offered their pool for us to use while they were gone. We took FULL advantage of this opportunity! We swam the WHOLE weekend! We have some new friends from Utah that just moved down here, the Hansen's, who we invited to swim... and our friend Tyler joined us with his youngest two for one of our swimming sessions. The kids all had a blast and even though we were there for hours every day, we still had to take them away kicking and screaming! My brother and sister-in-law, Jordan and Jen, also came into town for the holiday weekend and we took them swimming too.

On Monday we had a cook-out over the John's and then went over to the Ahlert's house for another cook-out and yup, more SWIMMING with Tami and Clint, Tyler and Amanda, Lori and Jeff. Wow! What a great weekend! Some people use this holiday for home improvement... but we used this weekend for rest and relaxation!