First Soccer Game 2014

Soccer season has begun! This year we have all three girls playing soccer. Brooke is so excited to finally be old enough to play after all of the years watching her sisters play. And if this isn't the cutest 4 year old soccer player I don't know who is!

Macy is playing up with the 3rd-4th graders this year.  It was a difficult decision since this would put her playing on the full field, but keeping her on her level would mean 3 practices and 3 games on Saturdays for our family. She really wanted to play with her sister so Marc decided to go for it. They also have goalies at this age bracket. Macy was super excited about that opportunity.  She has always been good on defense, so we'll see how it goes.

Not sure what she found to look out.  Doubt it was the soccer ball. :)

Cheering each other on.

Waiting for the game to start back up after a water break. 

After an hour long break at the playground it was time for Brooke's game.  There were only four players that showed up for the game so they all played the entire time.  They were super worn out by the end.  One of the players was scared to be on the field and the other just wanted her parents. That made for an interesting game!

I'm so proud of our little soccer star! She got right in there and played hard!

She even scored a goal in her first game! The picture is quite blurry, but I had to post it on here. 

One soccer weekend down, seven to go!

2nd Grade Summer Cookout

Early in the summer a couple of the upcoming 2nd grade parents wanted to try and set up a summer get together. I offered up our house and it was decided that our house was somewhat in the middle of this very spread out class. Well summer happenings happened and the get together turned into a back to school cook out. One family brought an inflatable water slide, food was coordinated, and then almost 60 people gathered at our house for a few hours for some fun and fellowship.

When everyone had left Kayla came up and said "that party was so much fun!" That's saying a lot for a girl who only had one friend at the party. :)

Happy Birthday to Me

Last Saturday was my birthday and probably the last one I'll count.  Several weeks ago Marc mentioned that I would be halfway to 70 this year.  I think he knows now that he probably shouldn't have said that. At least I can mess with him about it. But because starting next year I'll be over the hump towards 70 I think I'll just quit counting and stay 35 forever.  I think I can live with that.

When asked what I wanted to do for my birthday I said nothing.  No really, nothing. I have been so busy with school stuff that I wanted a day to do nothing. I didn't want to have to think about taking the dog out, cleaning up her messes, or "saving" the girls from when her puppy biting turns a bit too aggressive. So I was greeted Saturday morning with breakfast in bed. I took it easy and then went and had my nails done. After a yummy salad Marc made at my request I was lazy until we left to stop by the outlets (without kids complaining) and then to Pappasitos for dinner. I was very much looking forward to my fajitas for dinner. My mom was out of town so we were going to do my family birthday dinner later. I thought it was going to be just the 5 of us for dinner, but Marc surprised me by inviting our dearest friends to join us. It was truly a great day of doing "nothing."

First Day of School 2014

This year was a big "First Day of School" for our family. Kayla is in 4th grade and Macy is in 2nd. But the biggest change is I have also gone back to teaching for a few hours at their school and Brooke is in the preschool! Everyone was excited for school to start, but especially Brooke.  She's been counting down the days all summer.

I'm excited to be back in the classroom.  I LOVE being at home with my girls,  I LOVE homeschooling them, and I LOVE the school we are a part of. I wasn't planning on going back into the classroom until Brooke was in school, but the Lord made it clear that He had a position for me there this year.  I am teaching 3rd grade language arts and history 2 afternoons a week. I love the Lord's sense of humor.  When I left the public school system American History and math were my favorite things to teach.  When I started teaching at the Timothy Ministry He provided me a position teaching science. It wouldn't have been my first choice, but I grew to absolutely love it. So coming into King's a math/science position would have been perfect.  Instead He gave me language arts and ancient history. While it wouldn't have been my ideal choice, I know that He will develop a love for these subjects in me as He has done in the past. This summer has been a ton of work.  I have come home from work exhausted. I barely have time to teach everything I need to. I have lost my days to run errands and hang out with my baby, but I know that I am exactly where He wants me to be and there is great comfort in that.  While I would love to have my lazy Mondays and Wednesdays while the older two are in school, I am so thankful for the Lord's guidance and provision for our family.

Ear Piercing for Kayla!

A few weeks ago Kayla decided that she was ready to get her ears pierced. This was right before Marc and I left to go out of town so we told her she would have to wait.  When we returned she mentioned it again so I told her we could go the next day, Saturday.  Her response was, "umm, how about Wednesday." Guess she had a few more feelings to work through before actually going. :) We decided that we'd take her on Friday.

There is no other place I would take her for ear piercing than to the jewelry store I worked in for many years.  They have changed names and moved locations, but David Douglas Jewelry holds a special place in my heart.  As it turns out my former boss was there and able to pierce her ears.  We did quite a bit of ear piercing at the store when I worked for Doug.  And when I say "we" I mean the store. Not me.  I pretty much said from day 1 that I would not be doing any piercing.  I was great with giving customers the information and preparing their ears for the piercing, but there was no way I could bring myself to click that gun. It really was never a problem.  There was usually always someone there to do the piercing. For some reason Doug had forgotten this and tried to get me to pierce Kayla's ears myself.  He was shocked when I told him I had never pierced any ears and didn't plan on starting. I guess he couldn't believe I had worked for him for 6+ years and gotten out of that job.

Kayla did such a great job.  She held it together so well after the first ear. I was quite impressed. 

And after the second ear she buried her face into me and shed a few tears.  I was so proud of that girl. She is doing such a great job taking care of them and she is counting down the days until she can change the earrings out.

Day 6: Coming Home

Our amazing trip came to a close early Wednesday morning. We made our way through the Rome airport and boarded the plane for our 10 1/2 hour flight home. It was only 9 hours to fly out there, and I thought that was a long night! While I wasn't able to sleep on the way to Italy, it was an overnight flight so I did relax and rest.  The time went by faster.  Thankfully I did manage a 2 hour nap on the way back. 

Anyway, I'm not usually one for taking pictures outside of the airplane window. Nothing wrong with that, it's just usually clouds and if I have one cloud picture I have them all. When I did take a peek outside I saw the beautiful Italian coastline. Snap a few pictures.  Okay, good. Back to the movie.

A little while later I decided to take another peek.  This time we were nearing the mountains.Okay, snap a picture. Done.

One more peek let me see these beautiful Alps. The only other time I was in such awe from the plane was when we were flying over the Grand Canyon many years ago.  I remember looking out the window when someone said we were passing over the canyon.  Honestly I wasn't that impressed. A little while later I realized that the other passenger was incorrect.  That "little" canyon was nothing compared to the Grand Canyon.  I was so amazed at the vastness of it that I couldn't even begin to comprehend what it would look like from the ground. The same thing for the Alps. I know I have flown over the Rocky Mountains at least once, but it was dark outside. 

God is truly a God of wonders. His creativity is the design of our world is beyond comprehension.  I love traveling and I'm thankful that Marc does too.  The girls enjoy it as well and I know once they are better able to appreciate the beauty of our world we will enjoy some fantastic travels.

I am so thankful for this opportunity to visit Rome.  Three weeks before we left the trip wasn't even on our radar.  When the business trip popped up for Marc he didn't even hesitate to give up his first class ticket so that the company would pay for both of us to fly over there.  Well, as far as I know he didn't hesitate. :) A trip to Italy has always been on my "bucket list", and while I would love to go back and explore other cities, I am so thankful for the time we were able to spend over there.