Mo Mo Takes On The Soccer Field!

When Molly was one, we went to my sister's house, and she went into the backyard to play with her sisters and cousins.  My sister has a small soccer field in her backyard and a million soccer balls, waiting to be kicked.  I watched Molly dribble a soccer ball down the field.  Holy Cow.  Even at one, she had pretty good ball control.  I have been waiting two years to put Molly into soccer.

This last Saturday was her first soccer game.  She did great!  She played when her coach (her uncle) told her to come out and play, she fought for the ball, and with the help of her little teammate, she scored a goal!  Yea Molly!

I was proud of her for not giving up.  She kept playing, she kept fighting to get the ball and to get a goal.  At the end of the game, she was one of two players that still wanted to play.  Everyone else was done.  She was a little agressive and was told to stop pushing and elbowing, but Garry is excited that she is aggressive.  It's easier to tell an aggressive kid to dial it back a notch that to teach another kid to be aggressive and competitive.

I am so excited to watch her as she progresses in this sport.  I think that she will be fabulous!

A Crisis Seven Years In The Making

I've been going around and around for the last seven years on the following thought pattern:

"I cannot buy those pants. I'm pregnant. Soon I will not be able to wear them."

"I cannot buy those maternity pants. I'm having the baby soon. I will not need them in awhile. It will be a waste of money."

"I cannot buy those pants now. I still have not lost the baby weight. Hopefully they will not fit in a few months."

And around and around I have gone.

Until this year I woke up and realized that I do not have any pants that work. It was a stress every morning to put an outfit together that worked: something that was comfortable enough to let me work around the house but not so shabby that I would be embarrassed if someone came to the door.

After wearing the same shorts for three days in a row, I broke down today and went to Old Navy and was overjoyed to discover that the pants I liked 8 years ago are back in fashion. No more ridiculously low waists. No more tight, tight thighs. Hooray! Well worth the wait.

Anniversary

Last week Garry & I celebrated our 9th anniversary.

We are planning a big trip for our tenth and was not quite sure what to do with this one. . .nothing to expensive. . .nothing too time consuming. . .

So we planned a her night/his night where we each planned an evening. I planned Thursday night. I bought a ton of snacks and drinks (gummy bears, Junior Mints, popcorn, nachos, Dr. Pepper, Root Beer, Raspberry M&M's, chips and guacamole, and even an apple crisp) and planned for a "movie marathon" night. I am embarassed to say that I made Garry watch New Moon and Eclipse. . .again. Yes, he's a good man. But though those Twilight movies are gooey, there are some action scenes to keep even Garry awake and interested. I have to say, I still hate Eclipse.

Garry planned Friday night. We went on a progressive dinner with an appetizer at Rubio's (is that the name?). They have a soup there that I LOVE. Usually I only like creamy soups, but this is a coconut milk soup, and it is yum.

Then we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse and picked up dessert at a pastry cottage on the way home.

Okay, who planned the better date?

Go Big. . .Or Go Home

This Easter my kids participated in three, yes, count them, three Easter Egg hunts. . .all before 1 pm. The first one was an accident. Every Saturday Garry takes the girls to Smiths for groceries. This Saturday he found out that they were having an Easter Egg hunt at 8:30 am. It was a really good set-up as the age groups were broken down by aisles and kids could get candy or coupons in little plastic eggs. Great time had by all!

Then we went to my sister's house for our annual Easter Egg Hunt. We have a tradition of talking to each other on the phone, determining how many eggs we will hide and how many pieces of candy we will have in our eggs and then my sister does whatever she wants. Annually we get upstaged. This year I thought that we agreed on preparing 80 eggs each. I went behind her back and actually did 110. Unfortunately, she came over the night before, saw my egg stash, promptly went shopping, and prepared 200 eggs. We had six kids participate in the hunt. It worked out to be over 50 eggs per kid. It's getting a little out of hand, but, hey, go big or go home.

We also went over to the retirement community where Garry's grandparents live. They had an Easter Egg hunt as well. It was really well done and the kids had fun!

And they had a TON of candy by the time it was all done. I am doing my part and trying to eat a chunk of it for them. Especially the chocolate chunk.

Someone Is Missing. . .

I had great hopes for Spring Break! The weather was supposed to continually warm up and there were bulbs to plant, rice crispy treats to make (and eat!). Instead, I had a little crisis with work and needed to go out and get a new piece of equipment in order to keep working. It was frustrating. And expensive. Two of my least favorite things.

But Garry saved the day by taking the kids to the zoo. He even took my niece for a little bonus. That's right. Count 'em. That's five kids. The oldest being eight.

He said that everyone kept looking at him, wondering where his wife was. What in the world was he doing alone with five kids?

Now, I've taken SIX kids to the zoo before by myself and no one blinked an eye. In Utah, I guess I am just normal but Garry is Dad of the Year! The kids loved, loved their outing!

The Phone Call

Though I have only had the girls in Elementary School for two years, I have never gotten a phone call from a teacher.

Until yesterday.

Emma's Chinese teacher called me yesterday afternoon. Ugh. No one ever wants this phone call.

But, it was good news as her teacher was inviting her over for a playdate with her son, who is in Emma's class.

I thought this was a wonderful compliment to Emma as we are on Spring Break, and I think that if I was a teacher, on Spring Break, I would not want to have one of my students over to my house. I would take my five day break and run with it.

Emma is a great girl. She works really hard and is obviously well liked by her fellow students and teachers alike. She was also one of the students chosen to perform in a special Chinese choir next week when some officials visit the school. She is one of just twelve students who were picked, and her teachers specified that she was chosen because she is a great student. She's a fabulous kid! Keep those phone calls coming!

Braden Is One!

I had such mixed feelings as my little boy turned one. I am excited for him to get a little more independence and learn how to walk (he is up to about three steps at a time now ;) and understand what his toys are for. And, let's be honest, if he could learn to love the television, that would be awesome as well.

But, I am so bummed that he's not a baby! He does not especially want to be cuddled and his clothes are just so huge! It is really hard for me to clear out the small sizes. Though he is now wearing 18 mo. clothes, his drawers are still full of 6 mo or maybe even a 3 mo outfit because I just cannot let them go right now. Yes, I know, TLC's Hoarders, here I come. He's just getting too big too fast!

We started Braden's birthday with cinnamon rolls. Then his sisters had a playmate and we went to school to pick up Emma so we could go to Barnes and Noble and get a hot chocolate, a cookie and to pick out a book. Then we had pizza and Braden got his own chocolate cake.

Every first birthday I have made my kids their own chocolate cake. They all seemed at such a loss of what to do with it. Braden knew exactly what to do with that cake -- insert hand into cake, insert hand into mouth. He's got mad skills.