Challenger soccer camp

What an amazing week we had.  Not only did G have a super fun time at camp, meet new friends, hang with 2 of his best buddies, and FINALLY wear his new Adidas "cleaks" (comma somewhere in here)  we got to host one of the coaches... 

...Oli.

 

  We all hit it off with Oli. He was great, a fabulous house guest. The kids loved him, G loved showing him all his toys, the sites, having a little keeper practice, and show him how he rides a 2-wheeler.

Ailee was a little harder to win over, but I think the daily tots from Sonic finally did the trick. He LOVED Sonic. Dang you, happy hour...

Another added bonus was our niece was able to participate in the camp for the 3 days they were here. Score, indeed :)

Oli, thanks for being so sweet with our kiddos.  It meant so much to our little guy. 

No matter what they wanted to do, you were a good sport.

 

 At camp each kid brought an item to dress the coach up...result above.

Here's G's coach...above and also cousin, G, bustin' a move :)

Black canyon

 

 

Coach with the two Gs.

 

Lastly, Griffin received this very special "kit" from Oli.  It's from his tryout with Norwich, the premier team.  He signed it for him and we promised to get it framed and put in his room.  That is still in the works.

 

Such a great experience all around.  After camp, G gave the 2 thumbs up for fall soccer.  Good times to come!





Honey, Bee sweet :)

 And here's the party...

She was sweet enough to help us prepare the cookies for her cupcakes.

We did use a new paint brush, btw.

 

 Over the last year, our girl has LOVED honey.  She loves honey on EVERYTHING.

Honey on:

cereal

popcorn

bread

apple

veggies

anything she can put it on she will...

 Her love of honey inspired this little party, which lead to a cute little honey bee celebration.

It must be said, that I of course couldn't do this without some serious help.  Huge thanks to my Mom, D, my Mil, Cousin, and friend who helped make our girl feel celebrated.   

 A serious honey bar (with Nutella, of course)

Grandma and Ailee :)

too bad we didn't get one with Mema :(

She was a bit shy at first, but then kept requesting it be lite over and over again.

August 1, 2012

Ailee, you are sitting on my lap as I type, and I love these moments when you sit long enough to let me kiss your head over and over again.  I breathe in deep the sweet smell of your freshly washed burts bees hair.  We love you with some serious craziness. 

I don't think I prepared myself for the depth of your personality.  You, little lady will do WHATEVER you want to do.  We believe in you, but mostly it comes from the fire in your belly.  You have fun to the extreme and you also take sassy to a whole new level ;) 

When we are away from each other, I dream about your potential...I know you will do this one given life well.  That's just who you are.  My prayer for you, the last few months, is a heart of joy and gentleness.  My hope is that with your strengths and my Mama prayers, you will have a heart that's open to our Father's voice.  He longs for your obedience, because he knows you, loves you, and wants all your gifts to be used the fullest. 

I absolutely love seeing your personality grow.  With that growth your Mama grows.  I grow in patience, adoration, in prayer, in frustration, in excitement, and mostly more in love with you.

Over this next year, as your rock it, dance through it, and say"NO" a hundred times, just know that we will love you through every season.  I'm thrilled to see what this year holds for you! 

HAPPY

 2nd

 BIRTHDAY,

 Ailee Mae.

(all the photos are in order of how we spent her birthday)



Nitro Circus update

For those of you wondering, unfortunately, no we didn't win tickets to meet Travis, but Griff did win a signed hat.  He doesn't know yet, maybe we'll save it for a special gift.  Here's the email we received from NC.

Hey,

You won a Nitro Circus hat signed by Travis Pastrana! Thank you for promoting Nitro Circus 3D!
All that we ask is that you please post the following text to your event page:
You can now get tickets to Nitro Circus 3D here: ???
Also, send us your shipping address and we'll get the hat shipped to you in a couple of weeks. Thank you again!

-The Nitro Circus

Thank you to everyone who helped us in our efforts, it means a lot to us to know that you all support what our kids loves.  The other sad part was we found out that neither our town nor GJ are showing the movie.  Total bummer. 

With 2 days to spare...

she does it :) 

you see, we have this thing about July...

2010: Griff was potty trained

2011: Griff learned to ride a two-wheeler

2012: Ailee potty trained

For the last two months, every time I changed her diaper I would tell her at her 2nd birthday party she was going to get undies, and no longer have diapers.  This makes it a reward rather then a burdon.  (I read this approach somewhere or overheard it at the park, not sure where)  Somehow she translated that to Minnie undies, which was the beginning of her Minnie love.  As the time was approaching, I was starting to worry that she wasn't getting what I was telling her.  The day was going to come and she would just be going to the bathroom in her underwear.  So, I had to take it to the next level...

The week before her bday, we spent the week at home.  She wore only a shirt.  It was a bit like having a puppy.  I had less messes to clean up then the fingers on one hand.  As soon as she would start, I would whisk her away to the potty and if she got any in the toilet, she got a jelly bean.  Within the first few days she had it figured out.  I was blown away.

Complete success and so thankful. 

The things that made it less stressful:

no facebook updating ;)

no plans for a week

no baby seat on the actual toilet

keep the portable potty in the car with wipes and diaper trash bags for the mess

jelly bean/reward

got Griff onboard (he got a treat everytime too, so he encouraged A LOT)

& came through with Minnie undies wrapped up on the morning of her birthday.

Ailee girl, we are so proud of you.

As many of you know, if Griffin loves something, it's motorcycles.  We love it because we didn't pick it for him.  It's totally his own thing, which makes that much more special.  When you think motor cross you think Travis Pastrana.  To Griffin, he's possible the coolest thing that ever lived.   Nitro Circus, Travis and his friends, have a new movie coming out where they do crazy and amazing stunts, which our boy loves.

  There's a contest that ends tomorrow on facebook.  Whoever has the most attendees joining their viewing gets ticket to LA and also gets to meet Travis.  We realize it's a long shot, but thought we would give it a try for our guy.  It's the stuff we do for our kiddos :)

So, would you please click on the link below and "join" our viewing party. This would blow my son's mind if he got to meet "travis." You don't actually have to see the movie, just join our event.

http://www.facebook.com/events/365271506877830/

he eats, sleeps, and plays with this toy.

 In case you missed it, a few bdays back, we had a travis/red bull party for him.

First day on the job

Griffin loves all things Daddy.  When he FINALLY got to go to work with daddy, like his buddy Brayden does, he was all smiles.  This morning he didn't want to eat, 'cause daddy doesn't eat much breakfast, he got his Car Quest shirt on and even willingly wore non sport shorts.  This guy was ready to do some deliveries.  We are thankful for this new business and all the blessings it has brought to our family and those that work for us. 

 

He got back three hours later with a full report of his duties and the remains of some serious spoiling done by daddy.

Jury Duty

This is what happens when you show up to jury duty at 8:15 and they say some issues still need to be worked out before being brought to trial.  You grocery shop while your kids are still with a sitter and the rush your buns home to gather them up, spread some peanut butter on a tortilla with honey and you throw them in the car and hit the POOL.  These are the things I hope they remember :)

All pictures are brought to you by the good ol' instagram/iphone.

I'm just so proud of this girl, she's so brave and has such a fun spirit.  She's spirited, that's for sure.

Ok, come on, tell me you are not dying over this cute suit and those buns?

 Get this, I called this chick on the way home from the store to check in, see how things were going, and invite her to join us at the pool.  I had to leave a message.  I haven't talked to her in about 3 months.  Guess who I parked next to? You got it! Cor.

Have you seen a cuter Mama?  She has two little beauties too.

 It was such a treat to see her lovin' on her babies and to catch up.  We.Must.Do.This.Again.

Looks who's back from a 3 week vacation?  Griff was super excited to see his buddy, Liv, today.

4.5 yrs

They were coming up with some pretty sweet moves. 

And just for fun, um, when did this happen? 

18 months



21 months