Spring Break

Our spring break started Friday at 2:30 when the girls were out of school.  McKenzie went to see her teacher from last year after school with a friend and then we came home and got ready for weekend soccer!

Alex had two games this weekend.  They tied both of them.  It was a very rainy weekend and the games were pretty wet.  On Saturday, we drove down to Sammamish for the game.  I had a car load of girls and it was pretty fun.  They watched Frozen on the way down and listened to Disney songs on the way home!  I love that 14 year olds still love Disney! :)  

After we got home on Saturday, these three cuties came over to spend the night!  Richard had a birthday party with friends so they got to hang out with Grandma!!  We watched Frozen :) and had dinner, popcorn and M&M's.  Then we had BATH TIME!!  The boys LOVE bath time!  They run down the hallway leaving random pieces of clothing behind them.  Here a sock, there a shirt, next is a pair of pants...a little trail of clothes that lead to two little nakie bodies with their socks on, ready for bath time! :)  They make me smile!  Elizabeth is catching on to this game...She doesn't take off the clothes yet, but she hightails it down the hallway as fast as she can and tries to climb in, fully clothed. 

Rub-a-dub-dub three cute grandkids in a tub!!!

When Alyssa came over on Sunday to pick up the kids, she brought over Maximus.  He is six weeks old and is the cutest, smallest kitty ever! :)  

Katherine came home for a week visit.  She came home on Wednesday and went straight to camping with friends.  After they came home on Sunday, we met at Lorenzo's for some yummy dinner.  It was fun to hang out and catch up.  Mom, Dad, Mike, Katherine, the girls and I all met there.

I was dumping my pictures on my computer and since I didn't have very much room on my computer, I was going through all of my pictures and deleting and moving them.  Merlin decided to help me.  He wanted on my lap and I told him no.  This was his compromise.  He kept inching over, closer and closer, until he was almost on my lap.  Silly kitty.  It makes it very hard to use my hand with a cat on it!

Today, we went in to the mall before McKenzie's soccer practice.  The girls wanted to go shopping and look around for a bit.  Alex has been looking at curling wands since before Christmas.  She has asked all her friends what kind they use, where they got it, how they liked it.  She has been finding out prices and where the best deal to get them is.  At the mall today, the kiosk with the curling wand had a 50% off sale and they did their hair for them.  We took our money that we had been saving for a curling wand/straightener and bought the set! :) 

Very beautiful girls!

I am not sure what the rest of our week holds.  I know I have a few things to get done.  I think mostly it will be relaxing and play it by ear. McKenzie went over to Emily's tonight to spend the night.  Alex's friend asked her to come over Wed-Sun, so we will see.  They still have soccer practice and games this week.  I hope the sun and nice weather hold out for most of the week.

My published author is published!!

Spring soccer

Wet and windy

Cold and rainy

Drenched

Soaked

Spring soccer

That is my spring soccer poem! :)  I took Alex to soccer practice yesterday and it started POURING down rain right after I dropped her off.  I sat in my car and read a book during practice and this is the view from my car.  The rain was coming down sooo hard it was crazy!!  

This is Molly earlier in the day.  The sun was shining, it was about 60* outside.  Beautiful spring weather.  Molly climbed to the top of the little slide and fell asleep for a little cat nap! :)

Crazy Washington weather!  

It is official!! She picked up her book today!  She got the email from the library that the book was in and she could pick up her copy whenever she wanted.  She asked me as soon as she came home if we could go down to the library and get it.  There are 39 poems in the book and they are mixed with some drawings.  Kids from all over Whatcom County in Middle & High School were able to enter their poems.  Judges went through them and picked out the best ones.  McKenzie was one of them! :)  She was pretty excited!

This is the poem that she wrote.  She wrote it last year in 5th grade for a writing assignment, but she had it in her poem portfolio this year.  It was one of her favorites so that is the one she picked out.

The library publishes holds this contest twice a year.  They publish the book and give each student a copy and they have extra copies at the library for check out.  They have been doing it for two or three years now.  I think it is a great idea!  It lets kids enter a contest and some get published.  Fun!

This morning was a pretty gray and rainy day.  Merlin was not going to go outside at all.  I came into the livingroom and found him all snuggled on Alexandra's pillow, curled in a little ball, sound asleep.  Very cozy!

March birthday madness continues

March has so many birthdays in my family!

My niece Miranda turned 19 on the 9th, my nephew turned 20 on the 23rd.

My brother Michael is on the 24th and my dad is on the 25th.

(By the way, I LOVE this picture of the two of them!  It is not very often I can get good pictures of my dad, he tends to flee or make goofy faces when I bring my camera out!)

My son-in-law, Richard, is also on the 25th.

(This was taken at Tennent Lake last spring.)

 My cousin Brady had a birthday on the 20th.  This is my Uncle Lyle and Brady in May 2013.

That is what I can remember for family birthdays in March.  I may have forgotten somebody (sorry!!) and I didn't even write down friends birthdays for March!

Crazy busy birthday month!

The girls have a half day today.  Which I think is a little bit silly since they are out of school all next week for Spring Break.  If they are going to have a half day, make it Friday and start Spring Break a little early! :)

Alexandra has a strings concert tonight after soccer practice and she stayed after school to practice with her group.  They are playing Gauntlet tonight. I have heard them a few times (they played it at the Solo/Ensemble Contest) and they are amazing!  It is a beautiful piece and they play it very well.  It is a group of 5 of them (Alex is 1st violin) that have been together since 5th grade strings and each year they play a special piece together that they get to work on.

I am off to go cut up a watermelon now! :)  McKenzie has requested watermelon in slices and not cubed up.  She picked one out at the grocery store and has asked me to cut it up...in slices...every day.  I am now going to cut it up for her!  She will be a very happy camper!

Have a great day and enjoy that spring sunshine out there!!!

Beautiful sunshiny Monday

Today was such a beautiful day outside!!  It was about 65* out today.  

Beautiful sunshine, warm weather, gorgeous day! 

Happy Birthday to the bestest little brother ever!  I love you Mikey! 

March 23-25 are some busy birthday days for our family.  My nephew was yesterday (Happy Birthday Daylon!) My little brother is today! and tomorrow is my dad's and my son-in-law's birthday. (Happy birthday Dad and Richard!)

Our family tends to have birthdays in little bunches. It makes for a couple of crazy days, but I like that instead of all spread out.  My sister and I are all by ourselves (her in April and me in August) but the rest of our family is all bunched together or on a holiday.

In other news, today was Alexandra's orthopedic appt.  She has had some off and on knee pain for a while and her soccer coach suggested that we go get it checked out.  State Cup starts this weekend and we just needed to make sure she was good to play.  She went to the regular doctor a couple weeks ago and had an x-ray done (came back normal) and they referred her to the orthopedic dr.  We went today and he said everything looks good and it is most likely "growing pains".  She has grown so much in the last couple years, that her bones, tendons, and muscles are still catching up.  We are to go back if there is anything else wrong, or if she gets injured, but for now, she is good to go.

This is her knee x-ray.  She thought it was gross and didn't know why I wanted a picture of it.  I thought it was cool.  As long as there aren't any broken bones, I don't mind looking at x-rays.

She even got to wear really cool shorts!  The nurse was laughing at her posing in her shorts and at the end of the appointment, she gave her extra pairs of the shorts to share with her friends!  :)

They are pretty attractive!

Lazy weekend

This pretty much sums up my weekend!  The girls didn't have soccer this weekend.  Spring season is over and State Cup games start this weekend.  

Alexandra went camping with a friend.  It was Bella's birthday and she invited a few girls to go camping (in a trailer at a campground) this weekend.  They had a lot of fun!  They went swimming, walking, playing, and even got to see the new Divergent movie that just opened.  Alex was pretty excited about that!

McKenzie and I stayed home.  We cooked, cleaned and watched movies.  We also went for a walk.  On Saturday afternoon we went for a walk.  She wanted to go bowling so I told her to ask her dad to take her.  We ended up walking down to her dad's house and they went bowling and I finished my walk.  We came home about the same time and had some dinner and watched Parent Trap 1 & 2 (with Hayley Mills).

Alex came home this afternoon and we watched Bringing Up Baby (with Katherine Hepburn & Cary Grant).  The girls have seen it before, but not for a while.  It is one of my favorite movies.  Katherine Hepburn is one of my very favorite actresses.  The girls loved it!  They kept laughing and laughing!  They even requested to watch Philadelphia Story tonight! :)  I told them after dinner and homework we would watch it.

I am pretty excited!  Two of my favorite movies in one day and both of my girls want to watch them with me!  (they usually roll their eyes at anything black & white!)  

Ranger Night 2014

Each year the Ranger Club puts on a Ranger Night to celebrate the end of the season and honor all the graduating seniors.  This was the first year we were able to go because of a scheduling conflict last year.

Both of the girls were so pretty!  I can't believe how quickly they are growing up!

Both of my girls participated this year.  McKenzie was GU12 Gold and Alexandra was GU14 Blue.  All the girls are supposed to get all fancy and the boys are also supposed to dress up nice.  Most of the kids do and it is so fun to see them all dressed up.  It is sometimes hard to recognize some of the girls when they are not in their soccer clothes and their hair is not in a pony!

My beautiful soccer girls

My girls had fun getting dressed up.  They both wore dresses!!  (Thanks Alyssa!!)  Alyssa is my dress girl.  She loved the dances and getting fancy and wearing dresses.  Alex and McKenzie...not so much.  Alexandra doesn't own a dress of her own, but Alyssa did leave a couple of her old dresses here that Alex will use on occasion.  She doesn't mind getting dressed up and doing her hair and makeup.


Now, McKenzie on the other hand, does not own a dress.  Will probably never own a dress.  :)  She found one and had a lot of fun dressing up and even getting her hair done.

The girls both had fun.  Each of the teams in the Ranger program from RDL to U18 had a turn to  hop up on stage.  All the teams were introduced by the captains or a team representative.  It seemed to go on forever, but it went pretty quick.  We went to Mallards after for some ice cream to top off the night.

Spokane travels and cute boys

This is how the pass looked as we went over it on Friday night.  Very clear roads and tall snow on the sides.  Two weeks before this, the pass was closed because of the snow and cold and we had to reschedule the game.  I much prefer this weather!  

McKenzie played on Saturday and they won 7-0.  She played an awesome game!  Her coach wasn't able to make the rescheduled game because he also coaches boys high school soccer and had a conflict.  We had another coach help out and the girls loved him.  He will be helping out during April for State Cup when our coach has any conflicts.

We got to Spokane late (10 pm) on Friday night, checked in to the hotel and pretty much went right to bed.  Breakfast was early the next morning (7AM!!)  I was already up, because I did not sleep well at all!  I usually do ok in hotel beds, but not this trip.  After breakfast the girls had a team meeting with a homework assignment.  They all went back to their rooms to do their homework and rest and then met at 9:45 to go over their homework and go for a quick team walk.  After the walk it was back to the hotel for a quick and little lunch before checking out of the hotel and heading to our game.

We played at Gonzaga Prep School home of the Bullpups. Yep. Bull pups.  Gonzaga University is the Bulldogs, so the Prep school is the Bullpups.  We thought it was cute.  Not intimidating, or fierce, or tough.  Cute. :)

The team we played was bumped up from Division 4 into our Division (3) this Spring.  They had not yet scored a goal this season.  We did not let them get one during our game.  It was a shutout.  7-0.  So nice after such a long drive!

This is the part I dislike most (except for the snowy pass) about the drive to/from Spokane.  The very long endless stretch of road.  Very. Long.  Endless.

It is pretty for a bit, but after a while I get tired of looking at brown ground and blue sky.  I have to put my car on cruise control because of all the sneaky cops waiting to catch a driver going to fast.  Those sneaky cops caught quite a few.  Almost every one I saw had somebody pulled over, or was chasing someone to pull over.

We got home around 7 on Saturday.  Showered, ate, brought stuff in from the car and went to bed so we could get up early for our home game at 10.  Sunday was a bit rainy but the girls played another awesome game.  We won 4-1. With our two wins, goal differential, and .....We placed FIRST!!! in our division!!  The girls are very excited!  They worked so hard for this.  In Fall we placed second and lost the play-in game and had to stay in our current Division.  Now we move up to Division 2 in the Fall.

On Sunday I went over to Alyssa's to get the key back from her cat sitting while we were gone.  I got to hang out with these two super cute boys.  Their sister was sleeping.

After playing with their toys (I got to be tiny Ninja Turtle) we headed down the stairs and ran into mommy!  So we hung out at the top of the stairs and took pictures with our phones. :)  Ryan and Aiden love to take pictures with phones and are quite good at it.

I love this one of Ry-Guy and mommy. :)  If you ask Ryan what his name is, he will tell you Ry-Guy. :)

I have so many pictures to go through and edit, these are just from my phone, that I better go do a few right now so I can upload them.  Alexandra has her last volleyball game today and it is a home game, so I am going to watch that tonight also.

My daughter, the published author

McKenzie during the Federal Way game last week.  Header!!

Last night as McKenzie and I were working on her homework and talking about this weekend, she told me that her I.S. teacher told her to enter one of her poems in a contest last month.  Last night she showed me the email that says she will be published. :)

McKenzie,

 Congratulations! Your poem was chosen  for publication in our 2014 A Forest of Words teen poetry anthology!  We hope to have the book printed by April and will send a copy with your name on it to your library branch.  Look for a follow up email in the coming weeks to let you know when it is in and ready for you.

 The best part of being a winning poet for A Forest of Words is a paid attendance to a teen poetry workshop taught by poet Matthew Brouwer.  He is really an amazing teacher – teens enjoyed the workshop last year and we’re excited to bring him back. 

 Tamar Clarke

She was pretty excited about it, and so was I!  I haven't seen past issues of the book, but I will be going to the library to check them out! :)

Today, my list includes laundry, packing and more packing.  We are off to a "quick" trip to Spokane this weekend for soccer.  

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for good friends who will meet you at Woods for a treat and talk.

I am thankful for friends who do not judge.

Especially when that was dinner.  Yumm!

I am thankful that Alex has a bunch of crazy soccer friends that jump in the cold water in March for a "winter challenge" that is going around facebook.  

I am also thankful that it wasn't snowing! :)

Some fun volleyball and soccer pictures

I have a hard time with indoor gym pictures.  I have not edited these yet.  I put my camera on manual and played around with some different settings.  

This was during the warm-up.  Alex did a great job spiking the ball! :)  She did way better than my camera shows! ;)

During the game, they all have to be in their correct positions, however, sometimes they need to switch sides after the ball is served.  Alex and Logan are ready to switch sides! 

I love watching my girls play soccer!!  They love the game and it shows.  These are from McKenzie's Federal Way game.  I love the intensity that she shows when she is attacking the ball.

...and the concentration she shows when following the play and tracking where the ball is.  Getting ready to make her next move.

My favorite is when she is walking off the field after the game! 

These are from Alex's games this weekend.  I also love her intensity on the field.

No, she is not pushing this girl in the back...she is just going for the ball and the girl got in the way.  ;)  This girl, #3 from the other team, was Alex's mark during the game.  Alex was on her like glue.  She made some great blocks and tackles.

During the game, one of our players had a hand ball in the box.  That is an automatic red card and they are out for the rest of the game.  The other team got a PK and our goalie (Logan) made an AMAZING save and did not let them get the goal!!!  Yeah Logan!

This is Alex and Logan celebrating the amazing save!

This weekend we are on a road trip to Spokane for soccer.  Fun times!

Enjoy this beautiful sunny week we have been having.  I am so ready for Spring!!!

Weekend recap Soccer & Seuss

We had two soccer games on Saturday and two games on Sunday.  Both of the girls had one each day.

All the pictures are still on my camera.  I have not had time to upload and edit them.  There are a lot!  I was able to see three games and took pictures at those three games. 

Jay took McKenzie to her Redmond game on Saturday.  Both girls played at 1pm in different cities, so I couldn't watch them both.  McKenzie had an awesome game!  They won 4-1.

Alex's team also did well.  They won 1-0 with an own goal.  They dominated most of the game but had trouble getting it in the net.  It was rainy and windy and the wind tried hard to move the ball around.  They had a shot on goal and the goalie blocked it, but then she dropped the ball and accidentally kicked it back into the goal.  

Saturday night after soccer we came home and had some dinner and warm showers to warm up.  The girls were pretty drenched from all the rain.  We were going to just stay home and watch a movie and relax, but Ferndale High School was putting on their yearly play.  This year it is Seussical the Musical.  

So. Much. FUN!!  There was not any seating left when we got there.  People actually had to leave because even with the extra chairs there was not enough places to sit.  Alex had some friends save her a seat, so she got to sit down.  McKenzie and I stood on the edge near the back.  There was a single seat right next to us and one next to that with a reserved sign on it.  I was telling McKenzie that she could sit in the empty seat and I would just stand next to her, when an usher came up to us and asked if  we needed seats.  I asked if they had two that were together, and he took off the reserved sign and let us sit right there!  It was in the way back, but we got to sit in seats next to each other. :)

The picture is taken with my phone from our way back seats, but it was so colorful and bright I had to take a picture.  They are also playing it next week, (Thurs, Fri, & Sat) and I highly recommend it!  I LOVE Dr. Seuss and the Ferndale Drama always does a fantabulous job with their productions! 

Sunday, was more soccer.  McKenzie and I left at 6am for Federal Way for her 10am game.  Well fought and well played.  They were a pretty aggressive team and fought just as hard.  We ended up with a tie 1-1.  After the game we made a quick pit stop to Subway for lunch and headed back up to watch Alex in her 2 pm game.  We made it with 30 min to spare!  

Alex played a great game.  They ended up losing 2-0.  In the first half, one of our players had a handball in the box and got a red card. :(  It was not intentional, but the rules say any hand balls in the box are red carded.  She had to leave the field and was not allowed to play the rest of the game.  We also had to play one player down, because we were not allowed to replace her.  They got a PK and our goalie made an AMAZING save and block the ball from going in!  We played very hard, but between being down a player and having only one sub (because of injuries & sickness) we just were not able to get it in the net.  They played great and are so much fun to watch!

We are now home and getting ready for our week.  Finishing homework, working on papers, eating dinner, and just relaxing.

I am off to finish my paper and edit some soccer pictures!

Friday flowers

Yesterday (Friday) when I took the girls to school, it was like SPRING!!  It was warm out, the birds were singing, the frogs were croaking, and I looked into my garden and saw these little flowers! :)

My garden needs a little bit of work,but just last week, this was all covered in snow!  I am excited for a little bit warmer weather so I can go work in my yard.  (and yes, I know the weeds are taller than the plants!)

 Last night, Alyssa asked if I could watch the kids for a bit.  Her and Richard wanted to go out.  We went to indoor soccer (Alex had a game) and then went back to their house.  The boys love Mac!  She was sitting on the couch and Ryan climbed on her back, then Aiden climbed on Ryan's back.  They thought is was great when she stood up with them both on her back!

Then it was Ryan's turn to give piggybacks.  He stood up and told Mac, "Get on my back now".

This weekend we have four soccer games.  Saturday, McKenzie is going to Redmond with Jay and Sunday I am taking her to Federal Way.  Alex has home games both Saturday & Sunday.

Off to get ready and packed for soccer!  

Thankful Thursday

First, I am very thankful that this snow is all gone! :)

I love to watch the snow fall.  I love to see all the trees covered in fresh snow. I love how quiet and peaceful the snow is.  I don't love driving in it.  I love how everything looks clean and new and fresh.

We also had some very cool icicles on our house.   They got pretty long.  I was very thankful they didn't fall and hurt us! (Actually, Alex was playing with one and it did break and fall on her cheek.  It didn't hurt too bad! )

We had so much snow!  I am very thankful that we have green grass again.  

I am also very thankful that my foot is not broken.  I am thankful I can wear tennis shoes again (even though they are very loose! :))  I am thankful that most of the bruising and swelling is gone.