Easter Weekend '12

 We had such a fun and very, very, full Easter weekend!  It started Friday at brunch.  We were invited with a lot of other friends over to Russ and Emilie Vaclaw's house.  Everyone brought food and we had a little feast!  Next came the Easter egg hunt for the kids.  

 The smaller kids went first.  Here are Ashton and Addie with their friend, Blythe.  They are so excited to collect eggs!

 The older kids were sweet and helped the younger kids find the eggs.

 Sora was Addie's big helper!

 And then it was the big kids turn!  I attempted taking pictures of them collecting eggs, but they were too fast!  So this is after their hunt!  Here is Sora, MaryKate, Avery and Mika.

 And the boys went off to their own place to check out their goods!

 Here is our sweet baby Kate... not so much a baby anymore!  She and Ashton were wanting to go ahead and eat everything they had gotten!

 We have such great friends and feel very blessed that they also have kids the same ages as ours.  Here is Evie and Addie.

 Hours later, we changed clothes to dye eggs at my grandma's house with my mom, grandma, Auntie June, Sara, Mika and Sora!  My mom also fixed a yummy lunch for us all!  

 My mom decided this year that each kid could have their own DOZEN eggs!  Austin is loving it.  But I have four kids.... does anyone want any hard boiled eggs?!?!

 Avery had gone with Sara after we left the Vaclaw's house so she was still in her nice shirt... but she found a towel to help protect her.

 Addie was very serious and wanted all her eggs to sit in the mugs for a very long time so they got nice and bright.

 Look at that concentration!  Ashton was painting her egg before dyeing it.  They always love doing this with my mom and grandma and I'm always glad they do it because then I don't have to! :)

 Saturday was soccer as always, and then Sunday morning the Easter bunny came!

 The kids all got pajamas, coloring things, some cool glasses, and of course lots of candy.

 The on-lookers! :)

 For breakfast we made the Empty Tomb rolls.  They were so yummy... however I learned my lesson.  Don't put the biscuits on a flat cookie sheet as the marshmallow in the middle melts out- like it's supposed to- to create the empty tomb.  However it went all over the bottom of my oven!  That was a fun mess to clean up!

 Here are the kids enjoying their cinnamon Empty Tomb rolls.  Happy Easter you funny bunnies!

 Time to get ready for church!  We had bought these outfits for family pictures, so you will see them again soon.  But since that is going to be down in Houston, I figured I could use them for Easter as well!

 I need to invest in a tripod so we can all be in one picture together!  Here I am with the kids...

 and Randy with the kids!

And a quick shot of me with my handsome man! :)

 After church we went home to change and then headed over to Randy's parents house for hamburgers and hot dogs.  After dinner, the kids were given instructions on this years Easter egg hunt.

They little kids got to go first.

 Here is Addie with her cousins Hannah and Logan... waiting patiently for their time to go.  Actually I'm not sure why Logan isn't out there with Ashton!

 And then they were off!  Everyone returned with their buckets overflowing!

 I had a hard time AGAIN grabbing any pictures of Avery or Austin- they were too fast!  I barely got the backside of Avery!

I finally caught up with Austin inside!  They always have such a fun time at Easter!

Avery's 11th Birthday!

 March is such a crazy month in our household, with Avery and Austin's birthdays.  Do you know how many balloons I had to blow up within a 5 day period?!?! 

 Avery's birthday fell on a Saturday.  Normally that sounds pretty cool, but since we play soccer it meant it was a very busy day!

 Luckily my mom took care of Austin and Addie's games, so Randy and I could both be there for Avery.  She was playing in Ponca City, over an hour away.  She really wanted to win, especially since it was her birthday.  Look at that game-face!

 She had a great game... but they ended up losing by one.  It was a hard loss.

Luckily we still had some fun things planned, which included having a few of the soccer girls over for dinner, crafts, and a sleepover.  That put a smile on her face!  Happy Birthday my sweet Avery girl!!  We love you so much!!

Austin's 9th Birthday!

 Wow, I can't believe Austin is actually nine years old!  Since he had a party last year, we decided to just have a family birthday this year.  We started out with filling his room with balloons and decorating his door.  Good morning birthday boy!!

 Next, we hit up the donut shop!

Austin's birthday fell on a school day, so Ashton and I decided to come up to school to eat lunch with him.  He asked for Arby's.  

 And for dinner, he chose Incredible Pizza in Tulsa.  

The kids' gift to Austin was giving him all their tickets from the game room so he could get something he wanted.  Everyone had a great time!  Happy Birthday, my handsome boy!!  We love you so much!

Spring Break '12

For Spring Break this year, since we now had all our camping gear, we decided to try it again!  It was a great way to start our week.  We went with our friends, Russ and Emilie, and Tyler also joined us with MaryKate and Logan.  Evie and Jake weren't feeling very good, so Amanda came out for a couple hours one night.  We found out this week that Tyler took a job down in Houston, TX so it was a sober camping experience.  I can't imagine what life in the 'ville will be like without them!

We went for a couple hikes and walks.  Here is Austin climbing on the back side of the look-out point. The weather was great!  However we found out later that the ticks were also already out because of our mild winter.  Yes, we came home with a couple ticks.  So- it will be a while before you see another camping blog! :)

 Our camping was a little different this year.  We chose a different camp site with electricity.  After all, this was March, and we cannot live without watching March Madness!!!  This is pretty much where you could find the boys at any given time.

We brought our dogs with us this time also.  Maggie and Bailey have been in the same obedience class together so they are good friends.

Luckily we only camped for 2 days, because my sister Amy surprised us by coming into town!!

 It was so great to have them here!  This was their first time to see our house.  We love our cousins!  We went to the movies, 

 to their hotel to swim, 

 bowling, and just hung out with our buddies!!

They brought Macy Gray with them, so Bailey had another friend to play with!  Amy actually gave Bailey her very first hair cut!!  It turned out to be a great Spring Break!

US Women's Soccer vs New Zealand

GAME DAY!!!  We were so excited to get back to the FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, TX.  However, it was even colder today!!!  Luckily during our extra time we hit up Dick's and got some extra layers!

 We loved this beautiful stadium.  We're hoping to be able to go to a few FC Dallas games.

Me and my kids.  It was a fun weekend!

 This is one of my favorite pictures!  What a cute group!!

 Avery snapped a picture of Randy and I.  Obviously from the empty seats around us, we got there early!  We ended up on the wrong side of the stadium for a February game.  We had the sun at this moment, but by game time we were in the shade and soooo cold!

 But when the girls came out, we didn't think about the weather anymore.  The opening ceremony was super cute.  I was actually surprised at how many New Zealand fans were there... either that or we happened to get seats in their section! :)  I guess they are the New Zealand Ferns... because I heard a lot of "Fear the Ferns" being yelled out!  I thought is was kindof funny.

Let the game begin!  Hope Solo has her game-face on!  

 The day before, one of the autographs the girls got was Lauren Cheney.  She had an amazing game and has now became another favorite of ours.

 Here's another great picture of Lauren.  I had so much fun taking pictures of these amazing ladies.  It was hard just picking one snap... so I went for two! :)

Abby Wombach!

 Abby had a pretty good game.  I think New Zealand covered her pretty well, so it was important for the other girls to step up... and they did!

Alex Morgan was the go-to man this game.  I went up to the restroom just before half time.  The line for the women's restroom was ridiculous!  In fact, Randy came up 10 min after I did and I saw him go into the bathroom and come back out before I even got into the doors of the women's restroom!  I think the ladies didn't want to come out of the heated room... even if it was a bathroom!  By the time I got in and out, New Zealand had scored, 0-1.  The score stayed that way for most of the second half.  But with two minutes left in regulation, Abby passed the ball to Alex and she scored!!  The crowd went crazy!!!  We were now tied, 1-1.

Time runs up at 90 minutes but the referee has her own watch that she has stopped at certain times so she has the final say as to when 90 minutes is actually up.  We hit the 90 minute mark and we were thinking the game would end in a tie, when Megan Rapinoe had an amazing pass to Alex Morgan and once again, she scored!!  We were all screaming and jumping up and down and throwing high-fives!!  Within seconds of the next kick-off, the game was over!!!  We couldn't have scripted a better game!!  Believe me, no one was complaining about the cold by this point!!  A memory none of us will forget!  So happy for my husbands last minute surprises!

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.