Saturday, January 18, 2014

Activities

The kids keep us busy in general, but even more so now that we try to get them involved in activities.  While we have tried not to over-schedule them, both to ease our wallets and our schedules, we still seem to have lots going on. Dance, soccer, music, and art have all been a part of our weekly schedule in various forms.

We tried soccer for the first time last fall for Hayden and Eliza. We were able to enroll both of them in a Friday-only program for 3-5 yr olds that was a basic intro to soccer. You just practiced and did some scrimmages with your own team, and only on Friday evenings. We were excited to finally have the girls play soccer since it is a favorite sport of our family. One of them liked it a lot, one of them did not. I'll let you guess which was which after you see the pictures...
Hayden chases down the ball
Eliza opts out of chasing the ball down. Check out her outfit...
Water is VERY important for good soccer.
She drinks like a pro
official pic - note the emotion on her face
official pic - note the emotion on HER face
entertaining Molly during practice was a sport unto itself
best part of practice - when it was over and sisters could play!
Molly works on her skills
 Can you tell?! Hayden LOVED it, Eliza was not a fan. It may have partly been the coaches - they were on different teams and Eliza's team was huge and did a lot of standing around waiting for turns - but I think it is partly just personality and age. Hayden loved getting to run around like crazy, bumping into people and being rambunctious. Eliza didn't want to wear anything resembling soccer attire or run around with these crazy people. I think both of them could be love it in the future - Who knows which one will be a soccer star? 
so proud of their medals!
More recently, Eliza got to take gymnastics on Saturday mornings. She was much happier going to gymnastics than going to soccer! She liked running around to warm up, learning to do different movements and skills with her body. Today was their mid-season showcase so the parents were invited in for the whole class and the kids showed off their tricks.
on the bar
such concentration on the beam




Finally, Hayden has been taking ballet on Wednesday afternoons with our carpool buddy. She seems to really enjoy it and last week we got to watch them put on a little show. Hayden was one of a brother and sister pair who played in the woods, then fell asleep and got woken up by dancing fairies. It was fun to watch her perform!
watching the rehearsals from the doorway before we were invited in
taking a big bow at the end

And of course, we also keep busy with our own activities. Like visiting playgrounds while we play with our new camera lens...

just hanging around
catching the wind
playing on the bumpy wall
who's up there?!
who's down below?
 Sometimes we even let Jason in on the fun - like when we dress up as puffy vest buddies! 


That's all for now. I'm sure it's time to go pack up some snacks and water bottles for our next adventures!

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Christmas

Hi everyone! It has been a while.  Have you missed us? With travel and holidays, baking and celebrating, the blog wasn't very high on the priority list. But now we're on in to 2014 (2014?!?!), so it's time to get back to the usual, like blogging. There are a few posts from the fall that might appear in the near future, but for the moment, let's stick with recent events - Christmas! We had fun, as you might expect with three kids in the house. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking about our holiday adventures... enjoy!
Our one photo with Santa - we waited in a long line (at a Y event) b/c E deperately wanted to see him. Then we finally get our turn and M freaks out (not pictured) and E stays in his lap long enough to snap this (notice she is reaching to get down). She refused to speak to him.
our house light display (yes it's a terrible pic but J got the lights really high!)
at the Parkwood Christmas parade - we waited a whole hour for it to start. We were literally walking to the car when we heard it coming (over H's tantrum about leaving) and decided to stay. It was (mostly) worth it!
Christmas tree head!
cutest dimpled Santa ever!
Breaking from usual holiday tradition, we picked out our tree in 70 degree weather. (and matching polka dots!)
tree decorating got a little out of control when the Christmas plaid ran rampant...
curly girl!
and finally it was Christmas morning! Santa brought a lemur.. and a zoo!
opening stocking presents
fruit strips from Santa - yay!
J got Dragons love Tacos (picked out by H at the school book fair) and he had to read it RIGHT AWAY. (yep, my kids interrupt present opening to read books. that's how we roll.)
hat and mittens! thanks Monnig family!
and guess what I got for Christmas - a new camera lens! (but I still have lots to learn...)
an unwilling (yet smiling) practice shot that turned out well!
After Xmas, Lacey and family came up. We got to meet Chili, their new dog.
Helping Popop open presents.
 and now for some practice shots with my new lens...
Hayden!
Jay!
Charlotte! (snazzy boots!)
Molly! (check out that blurry background, yay new lens!)
the cousins, taking a break to pose for me (yet unable to all hold still all at the same time)
taking picture of all 5 while they watch the Grinch. Well one of them was watching me...
 Now a quick montage of 5-cousin-pictures taken the last day...which one is your favorite?
top of the steps (love Molly's "cheese!")
down the steps - almost age order
middle of the steps
all hug Molly!
down the steps in age order.
 Merry Christmas everyone!