Our Little Soccer Player

For the past four weeks, Alea has been playing soccer. She had two practices and two "games". I should have known before we even had her play that she is not a soccer player! She did not like the contact part this contact sport. I pictured it differently . . . I pictured all the little ones being polite and taking turns kicking the ball . . . NO, they were really aggressive for little four and five year olds. Not to mention there were three boys to every one girl-if that tells you anything. They would literally swarm the ball like little flies. Alea spent much of the time out on the field jumping up and down watching her shadow, inspecting the grass, planting sunflower seeds (??) and giving us thumbs up. She did make two goals tonight!! Whoo-Hoo-but did I mention it was for the other team? I'm glad she experienced the sport of soccer but I'm convinced she will not ask to play again.

They spray painted parts of the field orange and she was fascinated!

-This is during the game.

Is there really a soccer game going on around me?

-Still during the game.

There's our STAR--just go the other way!

Happy? Birthday to ME

The signs were obvious, though I chose not to listen. I'm getting older. This one seems different for some reason. I'm getting older. Why can't I just stay in my 20's, that seems so much softer than the 30's. I'm getting older. Birthdays use to be something to look forward to and enjoy. I'm getting older. My grandma said I could stay sixteen forever--if only?!? I'm getting older. Oh, embrace and let go, it's already come and gone-I'm 30 and getting older!

If you haven't guessed, I turned 30 (on the 10th). It was so much more fun to pick on everyone else in my family when they turned 30 than to experience it myself. Ug, I thought I'd be OK with this, I've even been practicing saying, "I'm thirty" for a while now and that didn't make it any easier to bridge that gap. I'm not depressed, I'm just not eager to let go of the 20's. I did have a wonderful birthday! Greg took the day off and we shopped, walked, swam and ate. I couldn't ask for a better husband or children to spend the WHOLE day with-they made it so wonderful. Thanks to everyone for all the texts, calls, emails and cards-they helped dull the pain!

Happy July 4th

We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend celebrating our great nation's birthday with family and friends. We were so busy but had a wonderful day. We were in another parade with the church-this time it was cloud covered and rainy (the high was only 67)! We followed the parade with me and my dear friend Amanda trekking off to the outlets leaving the daddys to care for the little ones. We then reunited for dinner and fireworks. Alea was so excited about watching the fireworks she was squealing all evening. Benton did wonderful during the beautiful booms going on all around and we all went to bed happy and tired.

This was our second year to enjoy the local fireworks with our friends, the Charlton family. We are so blessed by their friendship and enjoy many dinners and playdates with them. They are so faithful and encouraging, the kind of friends you can always count on. They help to fill the big empty spot left from being so far from family. I hope we continue to make memories and enjoy each other's families as long as we can. Thanks for sharing this wonderful day with us, Charltons!

Benton Earns Dessert?

We made a cake and have been whittling away at it the past week. During dinner, I did the typical mom thing and told the kids that if they ate all their dinner, they'd get to finish off the rest of the cake. Alea didn't miss a beat and her plate was completely wiped clean in minutes . . . Benton, not so much. He was too busy playing and still had a plate full. I thought it wise to explain to him why Alea was getting cake and he was not. I showed him the empty plate and said, "Alea ate everything on her plate, see, it's empty, now she's getting cake. You will not get cake until your plate looks like Alea's, OK?" He agreed and slowly walked back to their table. Out of the corner of our eyes and amidst muffled giggles we watched as Benton slowly, piece by piece removed his dinner from his plate. Oh, not into his mouth, onto the floor under their picnic table! What a sneaker! He, with a grin on his face, reproduced the empty plate to me, but still did not get dessert.