soccer 2011

So, Gennie decided to play soccer again this year. She LOVES it. And this year her coach is one of the guys from church so she totally lucked out and can't wait to get to practice and games. I never thought I'd be a soccer mom but I think this one's gonna stick.
She was a little nervous to start the year because she thought she had forgotten a bunch of what she was supposed to do but after the first practice she was right back in, scuffling with the rest of the kids.

It's a little hard for me to take pictures of her during the games because if she knows I'm there she can't help muggin' for the camera:

(this was in between plays; we kept telling her to watch the ball!)

She almost scored her first goal at the last game, but it went just a little wide and the goalie got to it. One of these days, though! Hopefully I'll have my camera!

maybe I shouldn't have onion rings today

So, is someone telling me onion rings aren't good for me? I love it when the food makes the choice for you!

josiah

So, nothing really newsy to post, just some photos of the boy. The girl is home sick today and we're just hanging around the house so she can sleep. I'll spare her the embarrassment of a photo of her and her barf bucket . . . when you've seen one kid throw up, you've seen them all. Here's hoping she'll feel better tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a cute face for you:

Gennie's 7th birthday

So, Gennie turned 7! This year she wanted to have a friends party at the gymnastics place here in town. The kids had a great time burning off energy jumping and bouncing and crashing into each other:



After they were all jumped out, Uncle Joey busted out the balloon animals:


We all decided that if the History-teacher thing doesn't pan out he has a real future working grade-school birthday parties as a clown. :)


Grandaddy even got in on the action:

Then we went upstairs for the Build-Your-Own Ice Cream Cones! I baked cupcakes in ice cream cones and the kids got to pick out their own toppings . . . the caulking-gun thingy I'm holding had the frosting in it and they got to add colored squiggles and sprinkles and chocolate and peanuts, etc. :

After the great presents and the ice cream cones they all went back downstairs to burn off the sugar until the parents came to collect their kids. All of the sudden there was a pair of ear-piercing screams from below. We all bolted down the stairs to see who had broken what. Thankfully, it was our kids . . . I say "thankfully" because at least we were there and I didn't have to explain why someone else's kid was maimed at my kid's birthday party . . . Gennie and Josiah had run into each other on the bouncy-racing thing. Josiah's head was bleeding and Gennie's mouth was bleeding . . . turns out that when they hit, Gennie took a chunk out of the back of Jo's head and Jo knocked a tooth out of her! Once the bleeding was under control, we began the search for the missing tooth and that's how the arriving parents found us -- with Gennie in tears because "the Tooth Fairy won't leave me anything if I don't have the tooth to put under my pillow! She won't be-leeeeve me!" One of the other mom's finally convinced her that the Tooth Fairy would believe her if she wrote a nice note explaining the situation, which Gennie did that night (and she got her 75 cents just like usual). What a way to end a birthday party!

On her actual birthday we had a huge turkey dinner and pie and she got to open her presents from the family. She got a bunch of chapter books from the grandparents - it wasn't planned, but she got the entire Ramona Quimby series from Nana and Great Grandma & Grandpa, with no overlaps! She was thrilled!

Grandma and Grandaddy got her a fish tank of her very own! We'd been talking about it for weeks, about getting the tank stand and supplies, but she never caught on. She was really surprised:

She got to help them set it all up and get the water ready, then the next day Uncle Joey and Aunt Krista took her to the pet store to pick out some fish.
She was thrilled and picked out some fun ones. Unfortunately we've already had our first fatality: the one she named Tattoo got herself sucked into the filter. But we had her for a good two weeks and with a few tears we moved on.

Gennie already seems older to Kev and me - it's amazing how much more grown up she has been acting. Usually you don't see the difference right away. I've got to say it's kind of freaking us out a little. :) Love that girl!

sister portraits

So, every time we get together . . . ever since my sister's wedding in Aug of 2004 . . . my sister Krista and I have someone take pictures of us. No real reason, just for fun. Anyway, Krista and Joey came out for Christmas this year (photos of that to come!) and we snuck away for a few freezing minutes to shiver for the camera. Joey came with to shoot us and had the pleasure of holding our coats while we posed . . . although I think he was more than happy for the added layers in the 27-degree cold. This first one was a favorite:

And this last one was another fave, both for us and our parents. And you can't even see our teeth chattering! Joey did a great job! Love that guy!

Smith sneak peeks

I got to play with this little cutie the other day -- I had so much fun! She was a bundle of smiles and giggles and loved the camera! Here are my favorites:

Thanks so much, Smiths, for coming over and playing! I had a great time!!

what do you see?

So, when you look at that first photo, what do you see? A shoveling nightmare? One big shiver?

Well, I see a blank canvas . . . for this:

Snow Painting! The other day I took the kids outside, completely burdened down in their snow clothes with only faces showing, and let them loose with color.

I filled up some plastic garnish bottles with diluted food coloring and let them have at it. Thankfully, since the snow is pure white, it only took a few drops of the food coloring to make the colors bright enough . . . thus preventing the staining of clothes. It was a huge hit! Gennie wrote messages for Daddy to find when he came home from school and Josiah made small puddles everywhere.
The bottles lasted just long enough as I was almost frozen solid from the wind. We finished up and went inside, red-cheeked and numb, for some hot cocoa with marshmallows for them and a huge coffee for me.

I'll finally say it: Yay, snow!