Kickin It

Ella loves soccer. She talks about it all week and packs her gear days in advance. Although her game isn't until 1 PM, she is dressed, shin pads and all, by 9 AM. Her tiny feet move so quickly through the drills  as her face beams with the praise from the high school student assistants. She bumps up against girls twice her size with only the occasional wince. She is proud of herself every time she plays,

 and that is all that matters. 

Little Brothers

Who Me?! 

A story for the books blog....

It was finally the day for Ella's Birthday Party. Postponed a week due to a stinky virus, she could hardly stand the wait. 6 of her best girl friends came over for gingerbread houses, a dance party and some good ol' crafting. Drew and Tyler received several pre-party lectures. They could participate, if they did so nicely. Promises were made. 

The party was going along great - crafts a success and dancing in the dark basement with light sticks to all the worst pop music little girls could only dream about. Next, time for cake and ice cream. The girls were gathered around the table chatting about gymnastics and Santa letters when suddenly a little pig tailed cutie shrieked! 

"I ate dog food!!! AHHHHHH!!" She ran spitting and gagging to the garbage. 

The table erupted! Girls were yelling and running everywhere! "There is dog food on my cupcake too!!" 

Sure enough there was one piece of brown dog food nestled into each of the chocolate frosted cupcakes. 

Guess who was the culprit? 

Christmas 2012

 (can you guess who is on the naughty list?)

Christmas 2012 - I love how our season starts at Thanksgiving and like a snowball gathers steam and momentum all the way to Christmas. We celebrated our 3 birthdays with 3 different parties and traveled down to NJ for Pop Pops 70th Birthday. There were class parties and tree hunting trips and lots of help wrapping and crafting.

 It was a Christmas with letters to Santa - several drafts! Ella asked for stuffed animals and art supplies and then less than a week before Christmas pulled a list out of her hat (literally!) on Santa's lap. This list had items never mentioned before and sent me on a scramble through the stores...lesson learned! Drew's list had Shoe Horns, sports equipment, and Pokemon books. Tylers list had sports figures, and everything else that Drew had :) Colby wanted a Blue Ball from Santa and he yelled it out loud and proud anytime Santa's name was mentioned.

 It was a Christmas season that found Ella, Drew and Colby sick on the couch one at a time throughout the month. It was heartbreaking to reschedule Birthday parties and cancel holiday activities planned for weeks. On the bright side, we settled into home. We crafted so many gifts and the kids wrapped almost every gift we gave. It opened up conversations about giving and how good it really feels.

Christmas Eve at Uncle Johnny's was the party it always is. The kids were so excited to tip toe over ice to jump into the Hot Tub. Sitting around the big table and looking at all the faces of the people we love was the best. Christmas Day was fun, and busy, and quiet and exactly as it should be.  It was a great Christmas, as it always is.

(and there is more to come...New Jersey, we are coming!!)