To all the Soccer moms out there...

When Abby started begging to play soccer last spring you can imagine the joy that filled Paul's whole being! So, I signed her up to play in the city league that started at the end of July. In all of Paul's enthusiasm to have a child playing sports he decided that he would like to coach the team as well. I was a little apprehensive about this but went ahead and checked the box. Sure enough, because who volunteers to coach 12 4 and 5 year olds, we were named coach. So as we now near the end of our season I have decided that while coaching wasn't all that bad, it did have it's moments and I think it would be more enjoyable for me and Paul if we just let someone else do it next year so that we can cheer on our little athlete from the sidelines!!!Abby fully enjoyed playing- loves going to practice, kicking the ball around in the back yard with Dad, and especially getting all geared up in her uniform complete with "tall socks" cleats and shin guards.From the very beginning she loved getting out there with everyone, determined that they would win(even though we don't keep score and I have to keep reminding Paul of this also!). At the first game she proved to be a little timmed when it came to kicking it (she didn't want to hurt someone else, or have them hurt her!) But as the weeks have progressed she has done much better, even though she still laments not having scored a goal. I just keep telling her, while that is true, she has been able to dribble the ball all the way down the field and tried making a kick at the goal- so much progress from the first game!
I have to say that with one more game to go next week I am sorry that Abby will be done with a very fun activity that she really enjoyed. However, I am glad to be done, the sister's are glad to not have to sit for an hour on the sidelines and not bother mommy while she subs players, and Paul, I think, is glad to not have to take care of 12 rambunctious kids anymore, not to metion the early game starts!!

Until next year round soccer ball, until next year!

PS- Thanks to my Mom and Dad who came to a game and took pictures for me!!

PPS- I find it very funny that nobody could tell who was in the pictures in my previous post!! I had better make sure to identify in the future- by the way, it's ABBY in these pictures!!! HAHAHA

Sunshine on a clowdy day

While the rain that has befallen the valley has it's down points- it canceled my swim last night, and probably tomorrow mornings as well, wet shoes tracked across my floors, trying to find a bug for Abby to bring to school in her bug house for science (nearly impossible in the rain) and the bottom ridge of my pants getting wet in the grass, etc. There is a bright side. Not only being able to open the windows and smell the freshness lofting in on the breeze or listening to the thunder crashing while all snuggled up with Liv on the couch, but this of course:
Watching these two run up and down the street together laughing and giggling while I sit in the doorway and smile!

It's off to School she goes!

As stated before, Liv started Preschool on Wed. She was so excited to be a big kid like Abby and go to school. She has started getting herself dressed in the morning, which is good and really not a problem because she has a great sense of color and flow, she has always picked things that match. Naturally the first day of school was no different, so not the dressed up photo I would have liked (she has started to LOVE wearing shorts everyday, no dresses, now this is different!) but she matched and was very pleased with what she picked and I am proud of her independence.Then we made the walk through the neighborhood to Mrs. Sherrie's school and found that Liv isn't the fastest of walkers!! It took us forever with all the stops to admire peoples flowers, pointing out every bug in our path or jumping over every crack in the sidewalk- you got to love her!So today we had her ride her bike which sped her up quite a bit and she thought it was great to wear her backpack and ride at the same time, not to mention leaving her bike on the porch until class if over and then riding it home, she felt so cool!!!

I have been able to get back to scrapping this week, which has been very nice. Here are a couple of pages for Abby's book, sorry about the drought of creativity around here lately :)
Have a good weekend all, ours is a busy one as usual!!

I know, I know...

I have not been a good blogger! I can't believe that a week has gone by already, where does the time go? I guess when you are dealing with a new schedule and routine mixed in with a sickly husband for four days it can sneak past you pretty quickly!!!
We are all better now and I have started to scrap again (hallelujah!) so this is just a quick post to say we are all still alive! This last week it was discovered that Eva's hair has finally reached a length in which we can do more than just one pony on top, yeah for versitility! The girls decided that they wanted matching do's and because it was a soccer day for Abby (who INSISTS on NO bangs for the game) they all had them pulled back. I almost didn't recognise them all day!!! Don't they look like such fun sisters!I will be back soon because Liv starts preschool tomorrow!!!
Have a good one!

And it begins...

Today marks the first day of the rest of her life! Abby officially started Kindergarten this afternoon.
She will be attending American Heritage School that my mother has been teaching at for years. She is so excited to be going to Grandma's school and that her cousin Asher (Cory's boy) will be in her class!
She was a little nervous this morning, I know this because every time she has something big going on she complains to me that her tummy hurts and she gets a little flushed and sweaty! So we talked about how her day was going to be, that Asher would be there and that Grandma would pick her up at the end of the day and they would drive home together. That seemed to ease her nerves and we were able to get her hair done and some lunch into that unsettled tummy and we were on our way out the door. First hurdle, Jill called and said that Asher was sick today and wouldn't be there! I told Abby who let out an "oh noooooo!" But after talking that one out a bit and telling her that he would be there tomorrow and that she could help him know what to do she was ok! Then we walked into the school only to see all the kids carrying the paper cut out of themselves that they were all suppose to make before school started and return to the teacher- well being the great mother that I am, I had forgotten hers back at home (it was completed, we had just forgotten it)! "Oh, nooooooo!" After explaining that they weren't going to use them today and that we would for sure bring it tomorrow she settled down again with the group to hear the story that the Assist. Principle was reading them.
They meet everyday in the Library until their teacher's come to pick them up when their morning class is done.I then proceeded to walk out to the front of the school to get pictures of the sign etc. for the scrapbook and wouldn't you know, out marches those cute Kindergartner's with their teachers to the flag pole to meet the principle and say the pledge while he raised the flag!It was the cutest thing and I am so glad I was still there to see it!

The best part was when they were all done and the teacher announces "Fold your arms, make a straight line" and Abby immediately does what is told and very nicely marches with her class back into the school to start her day! She is so obedient- she gets that from her dad!!!!

Oh, and these silly two thought the flag raising was pretty great as well! And Eva asked all through lunch "were Abby?", Yes they will miss her!
I am not one to get all mushy when it comes to these kind of things, but it is very momentous. It is the beginning of a new chapter in her life. For the next 13 or so years she will start school every fall. She will change, and learn and grow up this year. I am so excited for all the experiences she will have, the friends she will make, the knowledge she will obtain. My life from here on out will change. Three days a week Liv and I will have three hours of one on one time while Abby is at school and Eva is napping. We have NEVER had that much time together just the two of us, I look forward to it!!! Twice a week I will have three hours to myself while Abby is at school and Liv and Eva are both napping!!!! Oh the anticipation of that time!!!!! I will be carpooling to school everyday, volunteering in the classroom, helping the room mothers and going to parent meetings. Yes, our new life of following the school calendar has begun and Abby will spend less and less time with me. However, I don't approach it as loosing my first little baby but obtaining a school going young lady and all the wonder and imagination and creativity that it will bring!Doesn't she just look so cute in her little uniform!!! I can barely stand it!!

No sleep and weddings and goodbyes OH MY!!

We all know that I lead a pretty boring and uneventful life! That is completely OK with me! I like doing things on my own schedule and not feeling pressure to be here, or go there. Of course I only started feeling this way after I started being a stay at home mom and realized that it was the perfect life for me! So when I looked at the schedule this week and saw that it was completely jam packed with places to be and things to do I kind of started to panic!!! Just for a moment though! This last week was really very fun and enjoyable, but tiring and I am glad to say that I was able to finally get some of my usual sleep this morning (after going to bed at 3:00am) by sleeping in until 10:00am (no I am not that horrible of a mother, Paul was able to do some work this morning from home and very nicely got up and shut the door as to let me sleep while he took care of the girls, best thing he could ever have done for me!!!). Then we took a leisurely morning out in the wonderfully pleasant air having a baby doll tea party and riding bikes! Really, this is the life for me!
However, it is starting to set in that I only have one more week of this and then my life changes forever as Abby has her first day of Kindergarten next Monday and Liv starts Preschool after Labor day!!! Naturally, I have decided that this week will be lazy week (I know, not much different than other weeks!) and we will enjoy all the dressing up, picnics, library days, park play and backyard swimming pools that we can fit in!!!
Of course one of the major events of last week was my brother Trace's wedding to Amber on Friday! It was such a beautiful day and she looked absolutely amazing! I really do love weddings and it was even more great to witness my baby brother marry his sweetheart in the temple with all their family there! I was reaffirmed the knowledge that being sealed together for all eternity is such a wonderful thing. That only by loving each other, working together, and putting OUR relationship first in our lives we can reach perfection and exaltation together. Marriage is a partnership, designed to bring out the best in both, to pick up what the other can't and to help lift and motivate each other. What a wonderful thing! It was so great to see Amber and Trace take this first step together on that road!
Here are some pic's of the girls at the temple, don't they all look so cute! (I didn't get a picture of the boys with their matching tie's, but I am sure it was just as cute!)
The reception was at the Sun River Gardens and it was so beautiful with all the flowers, greenery, and fountains! I was able to get the traditional picture of my sister's and I together! Hillary lives in Missouri and we haven't been together since Christmas and I just love and miss her! It was great to sit and visit and catch up and just be together!Liv wanted this picture taken more than anything- right after it was snapped she said "Print it so I can put it on my Maget board!" (of course that is Liv talk for Magnet board!)This is the picture that I love! So cute!
Congratulations you two!!!
Saturday we had a going away party for my other brother Randy and his wife Megan. They left yesterday on a LONG drive east to Iowa with their moving truck and two little girls in tow! He will be pursuing his PHD in Statistics at Iowa State and they will be gone for 5 years!! We are so sad to see them go, but very excited for them in this new life they are just starting. Last night my parents brought over Ann and Ruby to play while their parents rested up for the drive. We had farewell ice cream cones and played outside for hours!Good Luck guys!! We will miss you terribly!!!!

Playlist

My workout has been rejuvenated! Taking a nudge from Jerianne's post a while back when she listed her running play list I decided that having only two albums on my player for the last two years has become somewhat lack luster and tiresome!!! So last night, at midnight, I decided to have Paul help me (I am so technologically stunted) load in some new songs for my morning run. Well of course we got all caught up in new songs we love, old songs we love, memories... so I finally got myself to bed a little after 1:00am which of course led me to set my alarm for 6:50am, but not turn it on, and slept in until 8:30am!!!! I do this all the time, and it is also starting to get old! So I had to dust off my treadmill that I haven't used in four months thanks to the wonderful weather outside that I have loved taking advantage of! I wasn't all that excited about this change of plans but with the new songs, I found myself almost dancing on the tread and the time just flew by, in fact I had to run 5 and 1/2 miles just to finish listening!! So here are my new songs and why I love them- my brother Cory, sister Hillary, and brother-in-law Will, all have my same taste in music and I think they will agree that it is a good one!!!

1. Metro station- Shake it. Fabulous to warm up to, I love it because every time Liv hears it she immediately stops what she is doing and begins doing a butt shake dance!!
2. Collective Soul- Heavy. This song is great because it reminds me of Paul who LOVED these guys when we first started dating.
3. Guster- FaFaFa. Such a catchy song! Loved it the moment I heard it driving around with Paul and Will one night after a movie in 1999.(Last album I actually went to a store and purchased, knowing Paul will do that to you!)
4. Hoobastank- Crawling in the dark. Perfect for when I kicked it up a notch to my fastest speed!
5. Kylie Minogue- Outta my head. Perfect running beat, but it reminds me of Abby. While still in my tummy, she would kick to the beat every time this came on the radio during my commute to and from work!
6. New Radicals- Just can't get enough. First song on the first "Mix Disc" Paul gave me while dating- it is a great one that reminds me of a fun time in my life!
7. Vertical Horizon- Everything you want. We saw these guys in concert and LOVED them, and then they just disappeared, really good album. Actually it reminds me of Hillary because I had her listen to the album and she started really liking them too!
8. Incubis-Dig. Just a perfect running beat, love it!
9. Rhianna and Maroon5- If I never see your face again. My current favorite song!! Whenever this song come on the radio my entire car starts rockin and all five of us are car dancing with hand and arm movements!!! So if you see us you will know why!!!! I had to listen to it twice!
10. 3 Doors down- It's not my time. I had no idea these guys sang this song but I have been really liking it lately!
11. Pearl Jam- Evenflow. The best song ever made from the best album ever produced "10"!!! Who is with me? My actual favorite song by Eddie is "Yellowledbetter" but it is too slow for running, maybe I should put it at the end for sit ups and stretching... Takes me back to high school driving around with Tina, Rachel and Kerrie in the Chevy Sprint Hatchback on our way to the club to go dancing, good good times!
12. Kylie Minogue- Fever. Perfect up beat song for the cool down. Makes me want to start dancing, did I ever tell you that Paul and I met on the dance floor, we can cut a groove!!!

So that is it- find them, listen to them and get inspired!!!! During my run today I was thinking about how these song remind me of all the people that I care about and it really helped me to run longer, faster and better- for myself, because I just feel better- to be the wife that Paul most certainly deserves(in looks and attitude) and to be a better mom to my girls, with more energy and a happier disposition, not to mention healthier to be around longer for all of them!

What are some of your favorite songs? What inspires you, makes you happy or makes you remember good times? Funny how a song, when you hear it, can just take you back to an exact moment and bring along all the feelings, thoughts and sounds entangled with it! Don't be shy, I will be needing to update my play list again soon, and yours just might make the cut because variety is the spice of life!!!