US Womens Soccer- Open Practice

One of the things my husband is good at, is being spontaneous.  It's almost always stressful for me because it's last minute and I have to scramble to pack, clean, and get sitters... but it is also always fun!  This time, he called me when he found out last minute that the US Women's Soccer team was playing down in Dallas, TX.  We got tickets for the older kids to go but decided to leave the little girls back with my mom.  It was a good choice!  Even Dallas, TX gets cold in February!  

 We brought along Avery's really close friend and soccer teammate, Peyton Winters.  Peyton's mom found out that there was an open practice the day before, and she also bought Abby Womack shirts for the girls to have signed.  We got there early so we could get good seats.

One of our favorite players is the goalie, Hope Solo.  I loved this pic I grabbed of her.

 The kids were just in awe to be able to see these girls who we had been cheering on in the World Cup now in person!  

 It was worth getting there early... we got front row seats!  However, as you can tell there were lots of people who paid fifty dollars each to stand for the whole practice on the field.  I don't know... I think I would have gotten tired.  Once we got into the stadium and because we were down so low it wasn't cold anymore.  I was really hoping that the game would be the same the next day.

Abby Wombach is of course another favorite, and since the girls had her shirt, they were really hoping for her signature.

Here's my boys!  The practice was a lot of fun, I was so glad we got to do that!  It was a special experience and it really got us pumped up for the game the next day. 

After practice, the players all come over to sign autographs.  This was when those people standing got their money's worth!  Luckily Avery and Peyton were able to pass their shirts down and the nice people standing handed the shirts up for autographs.

Once the players picked a certain area, there was no moving around because so many people were coming to them for their autographs.  We didn't even see where Abby went.  I found Hope signing autographs pretty close so I went over to snap a picture.  It was amazing how many fans were there!

Hope waved good-bye to the crowd as they all left.  We couldn't wait to see them again tomorrow!

Austin's First Basketball Season... Ever

I love basketball. It's inside so you don't have to worry about the weather and you have the opportunity to be fairly close to the court. At this age you are really close to the court. So when Austin expressed interest in basketball I was pretty excited.
Our first purchase for our new home- along with a new television which was bought on the same shopping excursion, was a basketball goal. And boy was it a good idea! Now, I agree Austin needs to work on his form, but that boy loves shooting baskets. He is outside as much as he can possibly get away with.Austin is playing for the YMCA, which is basically the only form of basketball there is in this town. There are 8 kids on his team which means that each kid gets to play every other quarter.Austin is trying to learn the fundamentals, and sometimes he takes what his coach is telling him a little too literally... but I'm proud of him for the way he does listen and the way he hustles.
I was so excited in this particular game because Austin got fouled shooting the ball. He usually makes one attempt each game to shoot, but I'm sure his confidence will grow with time.The important thing is that he loves the game. I think they won one game this season, but Austin has never complained and is always ready to get back out there to play. I'm so excited to watch him grow and develop in this sport.

Our first broken bone

Well, we were a few months shy of making it 11 years without a broken bone. Addie was our first! It was Sunday and she was jumping on the trampoline, of course. We knew it had to be bad because she is usually pretty tough. We let her lay in the chair for a bit but after a while of still complaining, we decided to take her over to our friend who is a doctor. Ryan twisted it around to see if it was just dislocated. She tried to be tough, but she couldn't hold back the tears. The next day we went in to get it x-rayed, and it showed that her elbow was broken in two places.

At that point, they had to decide if a cast would be enough or if surgery would be needed. I couldn't believe that they were even talking surgery, it made me so nervous. Luckily, they decided the cast would be enough since she was so young. I kept her out of school this whole week. Mainly because she was still in pain, but also because it is her right arm and she had to learn to eat, write, and go to the bathroom without her dominate arm! She's doing great and I'm actually surprised with what she can now do with her left arm. Randy told her she should just switch writing arms now. Her cast is supposed to be on for only 2 weeks and then she is supposed to be in a sling after that.

Our weekend in El Dorado

It was Martin Luther King Day weekend, and the kids were out of school on Monday. Amanda Vaclaw said they were going to head down to El Dorado, Arkansas for the weekend and we thought... why not!!! So we jumped in the car and headed down to see Ricky and Anne. We had never been down there and now that they had moved back to Arkansas, we felt we had a second chance to visit them! Our first item of business- Rachel's basketball game!

It was so fun to be able to watch Rachel play and to cheer her on. It's something we don't get to do often enough.

Some more of her cheering section!

They didn't end up winning that game but Rachel played great! It was her first time to play full court, against 5th and 6th graders and on 10 feet goals. We were super proud of her!

That afternoon Ricky and Anne took us around to see their town. It's a pretty small town, and it's crazy how far they have to drive just to go to a mall. It made Bartlesville look like a city! :) After that, we grabbed the kids and headed over to Larry's Pizza. I tried my first baked potato pizza and it was amazing!! Ashton asked to sit by Tyler.

As I mentioned, Tyler and Amanda also headed down to El Dorado for the weekend to visit Lorne and Heather Vaclaw. The first time Ricky and Anne lived in El Dorado, they lived two houses away from Lorne and Heather. This time, they bought a house 6 doors down! So both nights we were there we did game night! The first night it was at the John house and the second night it was at the Vaclaw house. We had a blast!!! Here I am with Heather, Amanda and Anne.

I just love Anne! We had such an amazing weekend. It was so relaxing, we just got to talk and the kids all did their own thing. But Anne did score major points by taking the kids to the Dollar Tree!

It was also great for Ricky and Randy to catch up. One day, Rick took us over to his office while we were there. They have an awesome room at Murphy Oil where the employees can just go and grab a fountain drink, lunch, snacks, etc all for free. Incredible.

On Monday we had planned on leaving early... but the weather was so nice that we couldn't let our kids miss out on a great play day! They played outside all morning! Whether it was flag football,

catching some baseballs,

or shooting some hoops, they were having a blast!

We also put the swing set in the backyard to good use!

Tyler was amazing with the girls! I was so impressed with him and how he took care of all the kids, making sure they were having fun.

He has a MoPed that he would take all the kids for rides on. It was so awesome... I told Randy he could get himself one. Anne even took me for a ride on it!

Another trip around the neighborhood with Austin and Drew!

I hurried and grabbed a pic of Avery and Rachel as they went whizzing by!

Ricky had to go to work on Monday, but we met up with him at this Mexican Restaurant for lunch. It was super yummy... the guacamole was awesome. Look at these beautiful cousins! Not one argument or complaint the whole weekend! Ricky and Anne's kids are just so laid back that it must have rubbed off onto our kids as well! Actually, I have to admit that ours are usually pretty relaxed.

And then it was time to head back home. We blinked and our trip was over! Thank you Ricky and Anne for an amazing weekend. You guys made us feel right at home! It may have been our first trip to El Dorado but as long as you live there- it won't be our last! :)

Introducing... Bailey :)

Not long after Christmas, Randy was looking at a list they have up at work where people sell things, and there were some Yorshire Terrier puppies for sale. Randy is super allergic to animals but my sister, Amy, has one of these dogs and it's never affected Randy as badly as other dogs.

I told him is was completely up to him because I wanted him to be comfortable in his own home. So as soon as the kids got out of school we took off to Copan to go look at the puppies. (Ashton and our friend Kate love Bailey!)

We didn't tell the kids what we were doing.... and we even went into the house by ourselves in case we got cold feet. (Addie loves to hold Bailey... she never wants to put her down!)

But once we saw Bailey, we fell in love. We let the kids come in... and there was no leaving without her at that point! (Bailey knows when Austin comes around, it's time to play!)

We went straight to Atwoods to get all the things we thought we would need... this is our very first pet after all! (Avery loves her dog!)

It really is just like having a baby all over again. I'm glad we waited until after my kids were more grown up. Honestly, there are some nights when she and I are not friends... but by the morning all is forgiven. I mean, look at that face!

The most important part is that Randy loves her. He goes looking for her as soon as he gets home. We signed up for an obedience class and I'm super excited to get her trained and help her learn a few tricks.

Welcome to the family, Bailey!

Merry Christmas to all! :)

We had a really great Christmas this year. In fact, I think it was my favorite Christmas. I've always been all about keeping it more low-key, and I feel like we accomplished that this year. We also had a little help from our special elf. Here is Randy reading the Elf on the Shelf book to the kids, who we named Georgey. Georgey stayed with us up until Christmas Eve, watching the kids and making sure they were staying on Santa's good list!

He had a little fun himself while we weren't watching... and the kids loved catching him in some pretty funny places. Here he is playing with Austin's castle.And it was really crazy when we found him in a Superman cape and mask flying around on the ceiling fan!

An empty milk cup and cookie crumbs can only mean one thing... Santa came! But before that, we started a new Christmas Eve tradition. We got all dressed up (which Avery didn't understand since we were going to be in the dark! hahaha) and went to a matinee. This year we went to see I Bought A Zoo, which we all loved. After that we drove around looking at Christmas lights, then picked up some pizza from Mazzios to take back home. We ate, watched a christmas movie (Elf), read the scriptures about the birth of Jesus, and then went to bed.

Visions of sugar plums were still dancing in their heads by morning. Randy was actually the first one up and couldn't wait any longer to wake the kids up!

And they weren't a bit upset about being woken up this morning! It's so fun to see how excited they get.

Especially about certain things. All Addie asked for this year was a snow globe! She was so excited when she got it! :)

Austin can't believe that he got his Tom Brady jersey!

And Avery wanted nothing to do with the camera when she first woke up. But she was all smiles once she saw all she got this year!

And the last surprise that couldn't be brought inside... they got a new trampoline.

We were so happy to have my brother and sister-in-law here this year for Christmas. We really miss having Jordan and Jen around all the time. And it went by too fast again! We also got to spend a few evenings with Bubba and his fiancee Jenny, who we feel is already a part of our family. They had our name for Christmas this year and were super sweet to us and our kids.

So the kids basically played most of the day. My mom came over to help make breakfast. Later, we went over to my grandmother's house for games and an early Christmas dinner...

and came home with enough time to play some more at home. I really enjoyed having my first relaxing Christmas... and I hope there's many, many more to come! Maybe I'll start enjoying this holiday again after all! :)