AAHE Soccer

This year Jenni decided she wanted to play soccer. This is the first year she has wanted to play sports. So of course, I said "Sure!" JC has played in years past and loves it. This year our group has gotten a bit smaller. I don't know if it is because we are all so busy or if people have just joined other groups that are doing more. I like our group because it isn't a bunch of extra money to do things. 

  

I am a kind of "coach" for the younger group of kids, ages 9-12. So both of my kids are in my group. We have about 10 kids in that group but not all of them were there on Friday. We had fun doing some drills and then playing a scrimmage. 

JC did great, like he always does. Jenni did great, too. She was quick to run for the ball and even got very close to scoring goals. I was very proud of all the kids. They got right in there and got to know each other and worked together as teams. 

The kids are all eager to play and I know we will have a great soccer season even if we don't have a lot of kids on each team. It's about having fun and making friends. And that is what they are doing. I do wish we had a larger group simply so that we could make even more friends. God is in control of that and will bring more families to us in time.

That's our progress report for today. Thanks for stopping by.

September Birthdays

Jenni is 7!!!

She had a High School Musical party, of course! She was so excited! We her a shirt to wear and a fun cake. We got Disney Channel Scene It and they kids played it. Then we had cake and opened presents!

I had to get a picture with the birthday girl!! I can't believe she is already 7 years old. Where did the time go? She is getting so tall and still a beautiful little girl. We love to hang out together and she still likes to snuggle with her mom (for now!).

She is a total daddy's girl! Every chance she gets she snuggles up with her dad or gets hugs! I know that he is wondering how she can be so big so quickly, as well. Time does fly....

She got some wonderful gifts, four of them Barbie dolls! So it was a good thing we had this wonderful Barbie Doll house made for her! She loves it! It is totaly awesome! It takes up a lot of room but that is ok. It is 5'x5'. We had Steve Hughes make it for her. I got the plans off of ebay and asked him if he could do it. It turned out fantastic! She is in the second grade and is doing wonderful!! She almost always has a great attitude when it comes to doing her school work and finishes by 11 in the morning so she has the rest of the day to do other things.

Nick is 16!!!!!!

He had a Family Force Five disco type party. We had a disco ball and party lights. We had a Wii and Playstation 2 there.

We were able to use the fellowship hall at our church so John and his band set and played a short set. It was fun but loud. 

His friend brought Guitar Hero to play. Thanks bunches!!! They really had a lot of fun playing that game.

I thought I would get in the picture since I am usually taking them! (yes, that is an earring! ugh! Not my choice or his dads. We are hoping he out grows it soon!) It is hard to believe that he is 16. That is such a weird age. They are so close to what the world calls adult and yet so far from really understanding what it means to be grown up. He is in 11th grade so we have 2 years of high school left to get him through. Then, only God knows what is in store next.

So that is what we did for our two September kids birthday's. They both had a great time and we are so blessed to have them in our lives! 

Until next time...blessings to you.

JC Turns 9

Although I am late posting this, it is really not a complete post because we have yet to do the annual birthday dinner (where the birthday person gets to pick the place to eat) and he hasn't had his party (he will do that in May). But I wanted to post some things now before it got too far away from his actual birthday.

It is hard to believe that 9 years have gone by since he was born. There is an almost 7 year difference in him and his older brother. We had two miscarriages between them. So as you can imagine, we were thrilled to finally have this little guy in our arms. Funny thing is when we were first pregnant with him we found out that there were two sacks. But after two weeks we were able to see that one of them was empty and that little one didn't make it. So JC knows that he has someone in Heaven waiting to meet him someday. We have taught him that God knows us before we are born and that He makes us in our mother's womb so he knows that his sibling is with the Lord.

His older sister had just turned 12 when he was born so she was and always will be like a second mom to him. He was a big baby. He weighed 8 pounds 14 ounces. He came after only 3 hours of labor. Not too bad! His older siblings took MUCH longer.

From the beginning he was a very special baby. He was able to brighten everyone's day with his smile. He is still very good at that! He is one of the most active kids I have ever seen. He loves to climb trees and do most sports. He loves music, too. His dad got him something very special for his birthday this year!

John took him to Guitar Center so he could pick out what he wanted. He was allowed to pick a regular guitar or the bass and he had his choice of colors. He was so proud when he came home carrying that box that held his new pride and joy. It is a beautiful blue bass with a lightning strap. His dad has already started teaching him things and he goes out to the music room and works on it several times a day. So now, all three of my guys play the bass guitar! How funny! Of course, there is one difference between JC and the other two, he is RIGHT handed instead of left like them.

Until next time...blessings to you.

Our July Vacation - Part Two - Fishing and Rock Skipping

We found a lovely spot to fish the first night we were at the campsite. We were one mile from Turquoise Lake so we found this nice spot to stop and fish for about an hour before heading back to camp to make dinner on the camp fire.

The two younger kids jumped around in the lake while the older guys got the fishing stuff ready. I spread out a large square blanket towel and took pictures the whole time. 

"Dad, what am I supposed to do?"

Nick went off to the side to sit and fish.

Jenni stayed pretty close to me.

JC was on the other end but not too far from me either.

Here goes the cast.


OK, reel it in!


"Dad, I think I'm stuck again!"


John didn't get much time off to himself. He spent a LOT of his time fixing the kids lines.



The next day we decided to drive around the lake and see what there was to see.

We found a great spot for them to come back and go fishing later that day. Then the rock skipping "contest" began.

Then it was time for John to "show you how it's done".

They really had fun doing that. I just thought it was cute how their dad had his "stance" and that I was able to capture the rings in the photo, too. It was a beautiful day. Tomorrow I will share some of the other pictures of our trip around the lake.

Until next time...blessing to you. 

Our July Vacation - Part One - Camping

The first day of our vacation was spent in Westcliffe, where our land is. We went bowling (which we always do when we are there) at their very new, very nice bowling alley. We had a ball, no pun intended! Then we went to church the next morning before packing up and heading to the campground in Leadville, CO. Sugar Loafin' Campground was wonderful. 

We got a very nice site and went to work right away setting up our tent and other camping gear. We had never gone camping with our kids so we didn't have anything until this weekend. John and I had a great time shopping for the tent and other things. We got this great 3 room tent that he could actually stand in! He HAD to have that. He is 6'2". We got new sleeping bags and air mattresses and some $5 fold out chairs to sit in. We also got a great cookware set to cook on the campfire with. What fun! 

As you can see, John and Nick were quite happy with their work on the tent and were taking a break. It only took them about 30 minutes to get it up. Then we set to work on blowing up the beds. After we made camp we went into town to find a grocery store, which was no easy task, like you might think it would be. We did find one though and purchased what we were going to make for dinner (hamburgers and hot dogs) and breakfast (pancakes). Then made our way back to the camp to put it on ice. 

While the fire was getting ready we roasted marshmallows and later made smores! The kids had never done that before. We also stuck the hot dogs on the sticks (we got kabob sticks from Target) and roasted them while the fire was still getting burnt down enough to cook the hamburgers. The kids had a great time. JC was all for stuffing his mouth full of roasted marshmallows! He wasn't quite sure about it at first but really seemed to like them. 

Nick really just liked roasting them and not eating them. Jenni enjoyed hanging out with her dad around the tent. And never is shy about smiling for the camera! She loved being outdoors and just running around getting dirty!

While the guys went fishing Jenni and I hung around the campsite and relaxed and just enjoyed the quiet. She has such a great smile. I can't help posting them. It makes me smile looking at them.

She decided to practice fishing with the Barbie fishing pole her daddy bought her. She did really great! Caught tons of fish and cooked them up for me and her bear (little stuffed animal that she bought in the campground gift shop). She was even kind enough to let me lay down and rest for about 30 minutes. What a sweet girl! Mommy LOVES naps! Too bad I don't get hardly enough of them.

I thought I would close part one off with the beautiful sunset that I saw one of the evenings we were camping. It was just breathtaking! No one paints a sky like God does!

I hope you have enjoyed part one of our vacation. I am breaking them up into parts to make it more fun and to give you just a glimpse of what we did. God blessed us with a wonderful time together. Not perfect, with 3 kids, are you kidding me? But wonderful nonetheless. What a blessing it is to have time with my family. I can't wait to do it again!

Until next time...blessings to you.

An Almost "Midnight" Trip To Sonic

I was sitting here watching a movie with Jenni. JC had just gotten home from his friends house around the corner. His dad had picked him up before he left for work (He works nights). I got a thought out of the blue. "Wanna go get a chocolate shake?" A resounding "YES!" was heard throughout the house.

Why not? I can run to Sonic for a late night snack at 10 p.m. to spoil myself and my kids ever once in awhile, can't I? Sure I can. Normally, I am too tired at the end of the day to do anything but fall into bed. I don't know why I have a little more energy tonight than normal. It might be because I have been contemplating godly things all day and seeking His will in many things as I have gone through my day. I have drawn strength and wisdom from other godly women on their blogs.

So why did I go to Sonic at 10 at night? Part of it was because I really wanted a chocolate shake. And part of it was because it is summer, my kids don't have to go to school and they can sleep late in the morning if they want to. But not too late. During the summer we go to the free movies on Tuesdays. So we will go see Curious George in the morning and have a good laugh at the movies for free. I am trying to do lots of fun things with the kids during the summer so that we can build some fun memories of their childhood summers. I am big on memories! I sure wish I could find more time so I could scrapbook. I really love to capture my memories that way. Someday....

Night!

Until next time...blessings to you. 

This is it. The new skateboard that I bought for my son last Friday evening. Isn't is nice? And not cheap either. Have you priced skateboards lately? They sell you every piece individually. And then after you pay for it they put it all together while you wait. He was so thrilled to finally get one. He had done some serious shopping in stores and on line to pick out the one he wanted. All of his friends and "so called friends" have one or more already. I feel bad now and wish I would have gotten him one a long time ago so he would know how to use it already. But like a friend told me, I can't think that way because if I had gotten it sooner he would have hurt himself sooner. Yes, it's true........................

What can I say? These things happen. My son broke his arm after having his brand new skateboard for less than 3 days. Since it was a three day weekend his dad didn't have to go to work Sunday night so he took him to the park that afternoon. I thought that was great, some father/son time. They were home in less than an hour. John jokingly said he broke his arm. You might not believe this but this was the first "break" in our family. I have been a mom for over 20 years and have 4 kids and this is the first time one of them has broken something. Does this mean that now they will make up for lost time? I am surprised that more bones have not been broken. My 8 year old is a dare devil deluxe. He will climb doorways, for goodness sake! And he does crazy things on the playground, too. But I never broke anything and lived in a tree until I was 13 and moved to a new house. Now their dad is a different story. He broke his arm because a tree limb broke with him on it.

We didn't take him to the doctor right away because he really didn't act like he broke it. We thought it might just be bruised. So we waited. He told us on Tuesday that it felt better so he didn't want to go get it looked at. But by Wednesday night he was pretty miserable and after talking to some adults at church we knew we needed to call and get something done. We took him today and got x-rays. Sure enough, broken. And in a spot the doctors said was odd. So he went to get it in a cast and the doctor did not set the break. They are hoping it will move into place with it in the cast. If it doesn't then after camp they will have to go in and fix it. I just can't imagine!

Here is something amazing. Remember when we were growing up and the casts that they used were not able to get wet at all? You had to stay away from the pools and stay out of the rain. You had to put a plastic bag over it if you did take a bath. If you broke something during the summer then you were pretty much out for any summer fun. We paid extra but Nick got a water proof cast. I think that is great! He can take a shower (when we can get him to) and he can swim at camp if he wants to. I just think that is an amazing invention.

So how will he do at camp next week? I am not sure. The doctor said no skateboarding but do you think that meant anything to him? NOPE! He is still planning on taking it to camp and going to try to skateboard anyway. When Nick gets his mind set on something there is no changing it. I asked him if they would let him skateboard while he had a cast and he said he didn't know. I asked him what he would do if they said he couldn't. He told me that he just wouldn't skate then. I asked him if he would get upset and he said no. So I guess I will just trust that if they feel it isn't a good idea that he will abide by that and it will be ok. One can hope, can't they? I never know with him what will happen or how he will react. I can just pray for the best and leave it in God's hands.

Now I have to add this because it really bothers me. Above I mentioned his "so called friends". What did I mean by that? Let me tell you. There is a group of guys that come to the church and they all skateboard in the parking lot on Wednesday nights. Yesterday when he took his skateboard to church and they heard that he hurt his arm and wasn't very good at skateboarding they called him names and said he was stupid for it. As if they had been able to get on a skateboard the first time and ride and do tricks perfect! How dare they be so cruel. These guys he thought of as friends. My mamma claws came out and I wanted to turn those not so little brats over my knee and whip some sense into them.

How come people are so cruel to the ones that they pretend to be friends with. What happened to the code of friendship? Isn't there one? Wasn't there one? I used to think so. But it is so different than when I was a kid. I know I wasn't always the perfect friend but I don't remember being as cruel as kids are today. I have seen what my daughters "best friends" have done to her over their teenage years and into early adulthood. It isn't what I would call friendship. And it hurt her deeply. But there was nothing I could do to stop it just like there is nothing I can do to stop these boys from picking on my son. I can pray for true friends to be sent into their lives that they can depend on and grow strong friendships with. Just as I pray for their future spouses to be strong Christian people. That is really all we can do...give it to the Lord and keep praying, just keep praying.

Until next time...blessings to you.