Spring Soccer

 This is probably our last year to have all four kids play soccer.  Ashton enjoyed a season off and has come back to play on the Sounders again.

 I think she enjoyed it, but she said she doesn't want to play anymore.  She got the ball a few times but her aggressiveness in the game has slowed down.  She scored a few goals but the older they get in co-ed the more aggressive the boys get and for her it didn't make her try harder.

 I loved watching her play, and she had a couple friends on the team.  I think she's wondering why Thomas is sitting on the ball!  And Sam is getting a kick out of it too!  When Avery was this age, I always pushed her to be more aggressive.  But now that I have the more aggressive older kids, its fun to watch this age and see that they are still just having fun!  Isn't it funny how our perspectives change with time.

 Addie took a season off too, but said she would play if I would come to all her practices and STAY!!

 Addie is naturally good at soccer and I love watching her play, but she's so nervous about us leaving her, and I'm not sure where this has come from.  We've never left her anywhere!

 I really wish she enjoyed soccer because she is really good at it.  However, she also has voiced her opinion as to not playing so we will be taking some time off.  Hopefully we can find a sport that she enjoys because she is very athletic.  Don't you love the tongue hanging out?  Reminds me of her brother!

 Austin is at the age where competitive soccer has began and since soccer wasn't at the top of his favorite sports, we chose not to go competitive.

 He played on a recreational team this season and really enjoyed it.  I was surprised at how well he did after taking a season off.

 He even scored a few goals!  But practice started overlapping with baseball so we missed a lot of practices toward the end of the season.  We decided to take a break after this because we want him to be able to be committed and dependable which is hard when the sports are overlapping so bad.

 Avery has been our one true soccer player.

 She is still playing up a level and still playing competitive.  She is the captain of her team and shows it on and off the field.  So proud of her and her accomplishments!

She has a great coach and enjoys the game so much!  Won't be long til she will be playing for the high school team.  Oh how time flies!

Happy Easter!!

 Happy Easter!!  We hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!

We started our holiday with Nana making Easter Eggs!  The kids love doing this so much and Nana is so sweet to continue this tradition with them.

They also love hunting Easter Eggs!!

It was nice to spend the day with my mom, my sister Sara and her girls!

No matter how much they are growing up, they still love to hunt Easter eggs!

 And they also love a visit from the Easter Bunny!!

They had just a little time to look through their baskets before we had to get ready for church!

Avery Madisen John

Austin Edward John

 Addison Elise John

 Ashton McKay John

Spring Events

I thought I'd just talk about a few things that happened this spring in one big post!  Yes, sadly still catching up but almost there!  We've had a busy spring but have enjoyed many memorable moments.  Randy and I attended a Mardi Gras event that supported one of our friends nonprofit businesses in town, Mary Martha Outreach which was started by Susan Murphy.  We were happy to be there with Kevin and Kelly Murphy and help support this organization.  It was really dark in the Community Center so the flash was blinding... hence the "I wear my sunglasses at night" pose by Randy!  hahaha!

I found my sister too!  Her mask was so adorable and we handled the flash of the camera like pros!  

Addie will be turning 8 this year and we attended a "Great to be 8" fireside where she received a lot of instruction, a new white towel with her name on it and some cool cookies!

 We also enjoyed a special moment with my mom remembering our wonderful Grandmother.

 Ashton has such a fun personality.  On April Fools day, riding home on the bus, she asked Austin if he would like her to make him some brownies when they got home.  Well, of course!!!  She ran to her room, and came back out with a paper full of brown e's!!  APRIL FOOLS!!  She got him good!

 Austin has always been really good at drawing so I wasn't surprised when he told me some of his artwork would be on display at the mall.  It was fun going over there and finding his work among other students from all the elementary schools in town.  Great job buddy!!

 We love attending all the Bruin basketball games possible!  Ashton loves that we get to sit with one of her close friends, Kate Hubbard.  I used to watch Kate when she was a baby and Megan was still working.  I'm wondering if some of the John genes rubbed off on her!  hahaha!  I call these two my twins!  Kate is actually a year younger but they look so much alike!

Ashton and I attended Avery's induction into NJHS, National Junior Honor Society.  

 Here are all the inductees from her grade.

 We are so proud of her and the hard work and effort she has put in to her schooling.  She knows how important her grades are and I love how responsible focused she is!  Keep it up, sweet girl!  We are so proud of you!!

 Randy would have been there but he was down in Houston for a business trip.  Work all day, play all night!!  Randy's parents happened to be down there as well, and Randy got some really great seats to the Houston Astros game.  This picture of Randy, Ed and Robert was actually taken from the television.  They were on ESPN that night.

Ashton was able to help out with Senior Night again this year.  But this year was extra special because my cousin Mariah is a senior this year, so she got to walk with Mariah.  Kaitlin also plays on the soccer team.  Mariah scored 3 goals this game!  I was so happy to be there this night and see both of them play, they are amazing!

 Garrett Hartzfeld is also a senior this night.  Ashton has walked with Garrett through many of these nights but this night they had him lined up with someone else.  He still wanted a picture with Ashton and also bought her a little gift.  He's such a sweetheart.  He will be serving his mission as soon as school gets over and we are so proud of him and the example he is to our children.

 Ashton's Kindergarten performance was so great!  They sang lots of patriotic songs, of course my favorite was Oklahoma!  

 Ashton also had an Authors Night which was so fun.  We began in the auditorium and then they took the students out while we listened to the principle and then we were able to go find our "authors" and read their books and see their biography on themselves.  I teared up when I saw her book called My Mom and Me.  Such a fun night!

 And then of course there was the highly anticipated track meet!

 Here is Austin with some of his buddies.  Ranch Heights did great against the other schools.

 Randy and I were just excited that this year Austin competed and the 400 yard dash and the 200 yard relay!  Much better than the team walk and softball throw from last year!  hahaha!  We love this kid and I love how his confidence is growing!

 Last choir performance of the year!  The Spring Concert is always my favorite because it's not so formal and the songs are a little more upbeat.  This year was all things Disney!  The girls had a hard time not singing along!

Avery's 13th Birthday!

On one hand, it feels weird to have a teenager.  I mean, I'm not old enough to have a daughter who is taller than me and looks the same age as me right?!?  Just kidding!  I've actually felt for the longest time that I already had a teenager.  And I mean that in a good way!  Avery has just always looked older and acted more mature than girls her age, at least to me.  Avery's absolute favorite place to eat is McAlister's, so I took her out of school and we headed over there for a nice birthday lunch.

 Jill Keeler is like a second mom to Avery.  She's always been so sweet to include her in so much that they are doing.  Their family goes traveling around to find roller skating rinks and that's where Avery's love for roller skating came from.  We decided to have a little surprise party for Avery.  Jill took Avery, Jayden and Jessie (her daughters) up to the roller skating rink.  Once they were gone we had Avery's soccer friends meet at our house and we drove them up to Coffeyville, KS where they were roller skating.  Luckily Justin Keeler was still home because it took all three of us (Randy, Justin and I) driving our vehicles to get everyone up there!

The girls went running in and started singing Happy Birthday.  Avery and Jayden were out skating and as soon as they saw the girls, they came racing over for a big group hug.  Avery was so surprised!  She started crying.  I mean, look at the turn out!!  Everyone loves Avery, she's such a good hearted and fun spirited girl!  Most of these girls are in a grade above Avery so there are times when she feels like she just doesn't quite fit in at school.  Even at church, her friends are either a grade above or a grade below.  But I just hope she always knows how much she is loved by so many people!

 And now, on to the skating!  We don't have a roller skate rink in town, so this isn't something we do very often!

 There were a lot of lessons being taught!  Avery is helping Megan Kirchner.

 And some of the girls picked it up pretty quickly!  Here is Emalee Hough, Alex Dickson, and Jayden Klose.

Austin is holding on to his best friend, the wall!  He did a little better this time around!  Randy was out skating fast and even doing the shuffle!  I'm telling you, he's good at everything!

 I was always holding someone's hand, mostly Ashton!  Austin and I skated some couples skates together.

 The littles taking a break: Addie, Jessie and Ashton.

 Luckily there was also a game room so the girls took a couple of breaks to play in there.

But Ashton really wanted to learn how to skate on her own!  The Keelers are really good at skating, they did a great job teaching her!  Here is Jessie, Justin and Jill.

 Kennedy was deathly afraid of putting skates on.  She mainly watched from the side.  Cassie is keeping her company.  We did get Kennedy to put skates on her feet, and she even stood up, but that was as far as she went!  What made me so happy is that even though she knew she was heading to a skating rink, she still came to be there for Avery and her birthday!  That meant a lot to me!

 Avery is such a special girl and I hope she felt the love of her family and friends today!  I'm so grateful for all she does at home to help me.  And even though she is one of the younger kids on her soccer team she is still a captain, and that is because she is a leader and we are so proud of her for that.  She is a great example to everyone around her and we love her so much!!  Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Happy Birthday, Austin!

 I can't believe Austin is in 5th grade and turning 11 years old!  He's such a good kid and such a good sport.  This is how he got woken up on his birthday.  Balloons all over his bed, light gets flipped on and all of a sudden he's attacked with tickles and a birthday song!

 And yet he's still smiling!  We feel super blessed to have Austin as part of our family.  He's so quiet and reserved and self-sufficient that it's easy to let him just go do his thing but we know he needs that attention from us as well, even if he doesn't know that's what he needs!  hahaha!

 Austin started his morning with his favorite breakfast from Daylight Donuts... chocolate long john and sausage wraps.  Just like his dad!

 This boy cleans up well!  He's so handsome!  This was one of the shirts he got along with some shorts, and elite socks but the weather isn't quite ready to handle shorts just yet!  Austin loves playing sports, he loves being in the backyard on the trampoline and throwing the football around.  He loves shooting hoops out in the front yard and he loves watching sports movies in bed before going to sleep.  He's great at school, especially math and social studies, but hates hates hates homework! 

We grabbed Austin out of school for lunch at Mazzios and he had friends over for a sleepover that night.  I hope he had a great birthday and always remembers how much we love him and are so thankful he is part of our family!  Happy Birthday, buddy!