sugar and spice until..

You try to shoot on her goal.  

It always amazes me to watch my girls play soccer.

They become these foreign, competitive, rough tomboys.

Mini athletes with little french braids flying as they enter a dog-fight and emerge with the ball.

Little girls unfazed by the fact that most of the opposing team is nearly a foot taller and 50 lbs heavier.

They become strong and brave and confident.

It breaks my heart to see my baby take a hard ball to the belly

 and double over as the wind is knocked from her lungs,

 but then my heart swells with pride as her teammates

 get up off their knees and clap and cheer her on as she juts her chin out and shakes it off.

I see the determination and perseverance this sport is bringing out in her character.

And I see how much she loves it.

 I will be on the sidelines cheering my girls on -

proudly being their Soccer Mom

for as long as they love playing.

I BELONG!!!

I am on the WEBSITE!

I have officially been made a part of Inanna Birth & Women's Care.  

This has been my goal for the last 3 years.  

I think I'll pop a bottle of bubbly now. 

Going to the Lodge...

(insert wolf howl here)

Mia turned 6 years old yesterday at Great Wolf Lodge.

Her birthday was on a Friday this year

which also just happened to be a half day of school.

All the stars lined up and made it seem like the perfect opportunity to surprise Mia this year.

She was surprised, although her reaction was less than I expected when we broke the news to her in the car. 

The real whooping started when we told her that her friend Emma got to come along.

A friend makes everything better.

 We had a "kids cabin".  The room was pretty large - the kids had their own sleeping area that looked like a cabin, with wooden bunk beds on one side and a little daybed on the other side.  Eva got the pull out sofa bed next to mom and dad.  The girls loved the room.  

 Wave pools are always a huge hit for the girls.

 Princess Evelyn.  

 Great group picture.  The whole party.

 The birthday girl reluctantly poses for a picture.  She was too cold to stand still!

 Brief time out for a warm up!

 Birthday girl and friend with matching mini pillow pets.

 We had pizza in our room after swimming and since we didn't have birthday cake, 

I took all 4 munchkins down to the Great Wolf Sweet Shop to pick out a snack. 

 Of course they picked the biggest thing they could find. 

 Huge cupcake!

 Another Krispy.

 Chocolate fudge for the girl with more mature tastes...

 She just dropped!  Not that unusual except that she was in the middle of the cabin room with sisters playing over the top of her while she watched Dora on daddy's iPhone. 

 In the evening, the kids all go to the lobby for story time.  The hotel was packed this weekend. 

 Breakfast buffet!

 Delicious!

 Not photographed with Violet the Wolf:  Eva.  She had the best intentions, but when she actually got up to Violet, she shouted something along the lines of

 "The big bad wolf tryin' to GET me!" and she ran away, shaking.  

happy valentine's day!

I love Valentine's Day.  


We never have any plans, but I just love a day devoted to love and to my favorite PINK.  


I love Daddy.


Last night as we were falling asleep, he jumped out of bed and said, "Should I go to the store?  I didn't get the girls anything for Valentine's Day!"  He would have seriously gone to the store at 10 pm in his slippers in the rain just so the girls had a Valentine's surprise in the morning.  Fortunately for Daddy, I had 3 Bubble Pedicure gift cards on the coffee table with BOTH our names on them.  Which he thinks is ridiculous.  He would get them nerf footballs or more soccer jerseys or something which would have been met with a "... uh... thanks Daddy?"  


I love my sister.


She bought the latest Twilight yesterday and is loaning it to me tonight, thus creating our Valentine's date.  Bedtime can't come soon enough.


I love my sick kids.


Eva has been sick.  Very sick.  Lethargic, feverish, coughing until she gags herself....  Still too sick to go to school today, but starting to feel better and keeping me company as I clean the house.  She has donned her Sleeping Beauty dress and is fluttering about "cooking" in her play kitchen and chugging apple juice.  

My funny Valentine.  

Have a great day friends!

Miss. Mia Mortality

It's amazing how different 3 girls from the same 2 parents can be.

Mia. Mia is a realist. Some might say she is a bit of a pessimist. She is definitely a worrier. She cracks me up.

Tonight we are watching Chopped. One of our favorite shows. The commercial for Disney Cruises comes on and I say "Wow! Doesn't that look fun?!" and dear little Mia says, "Uh, NO. Didn't you hear about the ship that crashed in that other country? I saw it on Gramma's TV. I think 8 kids died. 8! No WAY."

This is the same girl who told us that if Auntie and Uncle Matt build a new house with stairs, she will NOT be staying the night due to the risk of fire. What would she do? Jump out the window? I don't THINK SO.

Updates!

(For Grandpa Mike:  Christmas Photos Finally)

Update:  Christmas

 Gift opening is sometimes a group effort

Little girl.

 For our Cupcake Wars aficionado, her own Easy Bake Oven.   

 A trunk of princess dresses for Eva to share with Prince Piercey.

Big girls.

Update:  Daddy

This handsome man is staying BUSY. 

Joe has put his teaching certification on the backburner for a bit while he works a 9-5 sales job.

He would say "it pays the bills" and for the time being, it works.

In the evenings, he is enjoying being a soccer referee for Stampede Sports (2 nights/week)

and a coach for the Odyssey Soccer Club (2 nights/week).

Update:  Mommy

Where do I begin??

In January, I quit my job as a NICU RN.

I miss my coworkers and the babies terribly, but to be honest, 

after we figured the financial situation out, it was an easy decision to make.

I am now attending clinical full blast!  3 days a week at a clinic in Dallas working with a wonderful CNM who happens to be a wonderful teacher and preceptor.  I am so fortunate!  Her clinic serves mostly uninsured or state insured minority women and the lessons I am learning.... wow.  Invaluable.

When I am not at the clinic, I am home with the girls while being on-call for Inanna.

Inanna Birth & Women's Care is the birth center where Eva was born.

I was unable to attend clinical there, but am THRILLED to be there as a Birth Assistant!

Update:  Social life

That title is so funny to me. 

As if we have one.

The first week of February was special because my dear, sweet, lovely friend Jami came all the way from the Ranch in Nebraska with her hubs and baby Connor to visit me. 

It was Baby Connor's and my first meeting.

It went way too fast, as usual. But I was happy that we got to do all the things I imagined us doing.

On February 6th, Joe turned a year older.

After the big 3-0, we both agreed to leave numbers out of it from now on.

We celebrated with a quiet night at home;

Happy Meals for the girls and take-out sushi from our favorite restaurant for the birthday boy and myself.

Remember the Easy Bake Oven from the Christmas Update?

Mia and Ali cranked out the thimble-sized red velvet cupcakes for Daddy.

The pride they obviously felt was adorable.

Next week, Joe's cousin will be visiting from California.

He is staying with us, but I believe most of his time will be spent with a special young lady who recently relocated from California to Texas.  Conveniently near us.

Update:  Girls

Well, there's soccer.

Always soccer.

Ali is enjoying the recent move to the Odyssey Club.

On her team are many familiar faces from school and from years past playing recreational soccer.

Several weeks ago, Ali came home from the neighborhood park disgusted with the amount of trash scattered about.  She decided to start a recycling club - the "Spic and Span Club" in an effort to keep the park clean.  Her focus is on recycling.

I thought it would be one of those things, ya know?  Initially sounds like a good idea, but passes quickly?

She has impressed me with her follow-through however.

She created fliers and made copies with the help of her 3rd grade teacher and then distributed them in the going home folders of her classmates.

Her teacher is awesome.

Now she conducts weekly meetings at the park with club members 

who get their chores and homework done on time.  

They discuss the importance of recycling and keeping the Earth clean.

When the trash is all picked up, they play tag until their moms call them in for supper.

This has been going on for 4 weeks.

I love it.

Mia has started to attend club soccer practices, although she plans to play her last year of recreational soccer with her beloved Red Racers this spring.

The '05 Odyssey Team is comprised of 5 and 6 year olds, Mia being one of the youngest.  

They will be the youngest team in the club and the league!

But when your sister plays and your Daddy is one of the coaches... you sorta come by it naturally.

Mia is getting to know her fellow neighborhood Kindergarteners well and bugs me for playdates daily.  

She can hardly wait until her birthday in 2 weeks.

Eva is in pretend mode all the time these days.

She is a butterfly.

She is a princess.

She is a baby.

She is called "Sara".

She loves preschool,  Dora the Explorer and her cousin Pierce.

She wakes up in the morning and asks "Where I go today?"

If I answer other than "Gramma's House", she will opt to go back to sleep.

She loves puzzles.

That is all the update for today.  Possibly the month.  I will try to be back soon.  

XOXOXO