First soccer pratice & game

Anna's time has finally arrived!  She impatiently watched all last year while her brothers played soccer.  We were so excited that the organization added an Under 4 league last year!  Here are a few pictures from Anna's first practice and her first games.  She is on the Pink Panthers with two of her friends from last year's preschool class.  The girls are absolutely hysterical on the field!  There is one sweet girl on our team that cries every time someone from the other team "takes" the ball from her and another one that randomly walks off the field when she's decided she's had enough. 

 Excited for her very first soccer practice!

Practice was basically a free-for-all of girls running around and kicking the balls they brought.  Anna loved it!!  

This is actually her second soccer game.  The "newness" had worn off, and it was a 9:00 a.m. game.  Anna refused to go out on the field until we bribed her with bubble gum.  From then on, she was a happy camper and had a blast!

Playing with said gum, which at one point fell out of her mouth and landed in the grass.  Her coached picked it up for her (gross) and brought it to us.  Luckily, Anna was content enough to play the remainder of the quarter until we were able to get her a new piece.  :)

Because no soccer game would be complete without an improtu Ring Around the Rosie in the middle of the field.  I love her coach's reaction when they are done.  :)  This is a great little snippet of Anna's interest in the game, which comes and goes.  We are absolutely loving it, though!!   

To show Anna's first date...

Don't you hate it when no one tells you that you tucked your dress into your undies?  :)

First day of school

Since I went back to work this year, I am lucky enough to have all three kids going to the same school... where I work!  It's fantastic because I see them several times throughout the day.  Anna and Austin still run over to hug me whenever they see me, and Aidan just casually waves and gives me the "Don't embarrass me" look.   

Here are the pictures from our first day of school.  This is the fourth year we have done pictures in front of this door.  Jared and I decided we'll have to take this ugly door with us when we move because we love having it to look at how much the kids have grown each year!  

Aidan - First day of 2nd grade

Previous pictures: 1st, K, PK4

Austin - First day of Kindergarten

Previous picture: PK4, PK3

Anna - First day of PK3

Previous picture: PK2

First day back to teaching in eight years!  

Thank you, Jared, for making me pose for this picture.  

I'm sure some day I'll be happy you did!  :)

Interview with Aidan

Continuing with the tradition...
2011
2010
2009

The things I noticed this year about Aidan's interview are how smart he has gotten and how much of a sense of humor this kid has.  We love how much he makes us laugh!!

1. What is your favorite color?
Electric lime (uh, what?)

2. What is your favorite food?
"Shrimp alfredo – the way you used to make it – not the way you make it now.” (Harsh!)

3. What's your favorite thing to do?
Have sleepovers

4. What do you want to be when you're grown up?
"A builder in Disney World”

5. Who's your best friend?
Josh

6. What is your favorite thing to drink?
Chocolate milk

7. What's your favorite animal?
"Let me think… uh, an elephant." 

8. Who's your favorite team?
Florida Gators
(Apparently we brainwashed him back to knowing the correct answer to this.)

9. Where's your favorite place to live?
Some place where it has a Nintendo WiFi connection

(Because that IS important!)

10. What's your favorite TV show?
Ninjago

11. What's your favorite movie?
(Lots of thought here…Harry Potter… 

(I love this answer, but I think he gave it because we're reading the series right now.)

12. What's your favorite thing to do outside?
Jump on the trampoline

13. What's your favorite dessert?
Brownies

14. How many kids do you want to have when you're big?
6
(Ahhh!)

15. How old do you think you have to be to get married?
"18 or up”

16. How old do you think you have to be to have kids?
“22 or up”

17. Where do babies come from?
Their mom’s tummy

18. How do they get there?
From heaven

19. What kind of job does Daddy have?  
The Air Force… I mean, military.   
Yikes - sorry, Jared.  Apparently he doesn't understand how elite the Marine Corps is! :-)

20. What kind of job does Mommy have?
Working at school

21. Is Mommy a good cook?
Yes

22. Is Mommy nice or mean?
Both

23. Who's the President of the United States?
Barrack Obama

24. What's your favorite season?
Winter

25. How old is someone when they're super old?
"2000 – Haha, I’m just kidding.  109 – It’s possible, but they probably would die."  

26. Where's your favorite place to visit?
Disney World

27. How much money do you think a car costs?
$1,000

28. How much money do you think a house costs?
$10,000

29. How much money does someone have if they're rich?
$6 million

30. What are you scared of?
"Yetti’s – they are these ice monsters thingys."  

Happy 8th Birthday, Aidan!

Well, it's September 8, so why wouldn't I be writing a birthday post for Aidan?  Since going back to work more than a month ago, I am only now beginning to feel *a little* more organized.  I am going to play catch up on my blog posting over the course of the next week (or month!).

I can't believe Aidan is eight years old!  It does not seem possible that eight years have gone by since this picture.  Jared and I were just talking today about how we can't believe we're old enough to have an eight year old!!  We don't FEEL "that" old.  :)

But eight years have gone by since this picture, and we can't turn back the clock, so we're try to do our best and make the most of the kids' childhoods.  I get bogged down with things and often look back and wish I did more, but there is one time of the year that I truly go all out: their birthdays.  I'm big on birthday parties and doing everything I can to make their birthdays memorable.  Here are a few pictures from Aidan's 8th birthday.  This year, he had a sleepover party at our house with several of his friends.  And because Aidan's birthday wouldn't be complete without a rained out pool party,  we made plans to take all the boys swimming, and one of the worst lightning storms I've seen in a long time rolled in about ten minutes after we arrived at the pool.  Luckily, we were able to go back the next morning and make up for it.

Austin and I started the morning off decorating Aidan's door while he was still sleeping.  

When Aidan woke up, he absolutely LOVED it!!!  

Right after he broke through, he said, "Best birthday EVER!"

Birthday pancakes have become a tradition here in our house.
This year, I did them in the shape of an "8" with whipped cream.  They were a big hit!! 

Look at that reaction!!  A Lego Idea book from Grandma & Grandpa - an obvious hit! 

We could make some money off his reactions!  He gets this ability from Grandma, not me!

He and Austin have gotten a lot of use out of this bow and arrow!
Thank you, Uncle Sean & Aunt Wendy!

The Harry Potter cake he asked for... quite possibly my proudest moment as a mother yet.

The birthday money that Nana & Guka sent to Aidan pushed him over the $100 mark, so Aidan has been making a list of the things that he wants to buy with all his money.  I haven't listed everything Aidan got that day, but thank you to everyone that helped to make his birthday so special! 

Look what I can do!

Anna was allowed to move up a level in her gymnastics class and is taking her new "responsibilities" very seriously.  Around the house, she is often upside down.  It's hard to tell in this picture, but her head is fully off the ground, which is something she was working on last week in class.  She has been practicing doing this beside a wall and then "walking up" the wall to kick over from her back bend.  It's all the precursor for a back walkover, which is about as far as I ever got in my gymnastics skills.  Anna will surpass my gymnastics abilities before she's four years old.  Haha! 

I'm excited to see all the things she learns this year now that she's been bitten by the dance bug.  And don't worry,  I'm not crazy enough to qualify for Dance Moms... yet.  ;-)

A few pictures

I'm trying to get back in the swing of things after three weeks away from home.  On that note, a big THANK YOU to everyone that helped out during my three weeks in Virginia, especially to Nana and Guka who kept the kids for two weeks for us.  I truly could not have done it without all of the help that I got from everyone.  We are so very blessed to have such great family and friends in our lives.  We love you all!  

Making pudding from scratch

Happy 1st Birthday, Dexter!  

This is a tradition we started with Maddux, so we're going to keep it going since the dogs obviously love it so much!  ;)

A picture from when the kids spent two weeks with Nana and Guka.  Anna no longer needs the green vest she has on in this picture.  She is now fully swimming by herself, and she also dives down and retrieves diving rings - anything to keep up with her two big brothers!!

We spent Fourth of July in Tennessee visiting Jared's brother and his family.  We had a great time while we were there!  On one of the days there, the kids went fishing, and this is them with their BIG catches!  It's always great to be with family!  Wish all of our family was close enough for weekend visits!