A 3rd Birthday Scavenger Hunt

This year, for Abigail's 3rd Birthday, we decided to chance the late September Colorado weather and plan on a BBQ at Belleview Park. We found the pavilion while killing time before a summer softball game. 

Abby had been excited for weeks on end! The day finally came.

 The girls helped me bake the cake!

 And Abby helped me to decorate the pavilion. 

Nate was in charge of the grill. He was in good company. 

 Aunt Julie and cousin Caleb came for the celebration!

 Moe and Banjo enjoyed some time in the park.

 Manny greeted me by saying, "it's so nice to see you!"

 The scavenger hunt was a hit with the kids. 

Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Jer helped Jude to find items.

 Shae and Riely are searching for the bonus item on the list: a crawdad!

Doug and Blake also spent some time fishing for crawdads. 

 The Great-Grandfolks and Uncle Mike.

 Abby's summertime buddy, Calend, joined in the fun (and Cheetos and cake) as well!

 Cora and Abigail were attached at the hip all afternoon! They camped out under the table for some shade, and to sneak some candies!

 Caleb sits with Grandma to blow bubbles.

 More determined crawdad fishermen.

 Bruce and Dan were not going to leave until they caught one!

 "Happy Birthday to you!" 

 Henry singing to Abby!

 We had originally planned to have Abby open all of her gifts at home. However, she very sweetly started redistributing gifts to all of her friends so we let her open her gifts at the park. 

It seemed like a tornado hit and five minutes later we were sitting in the middle of a pile of wrapping paper and Barbie dolls! Abby had so much fun opening gifts. When we got home, she got the chance to open up all of the packages and play with each and every toy!

Uncle Mike caught six or seven crawdads! Abby was pleased! 

Thanks to all of those who were able to join us for such a fun and special day! 

A Bittersweet Soccer Story

I won't blog all of Elizabeth's soccer games, but I thought that I would post some better photos that I took this week. Red Lightening played Orange Crush on Saturday and they indeed crushed them! The orange team had some great players. Elizabeth didn't score any goals this week, but she held her own!

 She is one of the only kids on the team that stays focused.  

Go Elizabeth, Go! 

 Half time! The team took a short break to enjoy bananas and orange slices. Elizabeth ate her banana and then got up and started practicing. She was the only one out on the field during half time!

 RUN!

 The coach doesn't typically assign a goal tender, so the kids rush to the goal when the time comes. This strategy doesn't seem to work great, but Elizabeth put in a great effort!

Banjo was sitting, soaking up the sun...

 ...and then the kids swarmed her!

 Get her! I mean...be a good sport!

Elizabeth is such a great athlete. We look forward to her improvement throughout the season. 

Too Cute Not to Share

Because Abigail wasn't feeling great this week, we decided to keep her out of childcare. (Nobody wants to be the parents that knowingly brought their sick children around to share their germs.) Therefore, Abby got to come with me and YaYa to watch Elizabeth participate in Field Day. Other than some random whining spells, she did really good and enjoyed herself as well. I just wanted to share a few of her photos as well. 

 Abigail is turning into such a pretty girl. As she is approaching her third Birthday, she is beginning to look more and more like a little girl, rather than a toddler! 

 Her personality has blossomed as well! She is such a happy child!

Abby kept trying to step in front of my shots of Elizabeth. This just happened to be the right moment! So precious! 

Field Day 2012

Field Day at Peabody is held in the fall, rather then in the spring because there are so many things going on in the spring. So, about six weeks into school, Elizabeth was able to participate in her first Field Day! I joined the PTO this year and volunteered to coordinate the volunteers for both Field Days (split by age), so I had been planning for Field Day, a surprisingly time consuming task, for a few weeks. 

 All of the students had an Olympic sticker with their names and teachers printed on them. 

 There were about 27 stations set up. The Kindergartners only participate in the morning activities, so they didn't get through all of the stations. The first station was the "tire roll". Elizabeth had a difficult time keeping the tire upright. You can see she is using her tongue to concentrate! 

 There was a hoola-hoop/jump roap relay race. 

 Elizabeth had a lot of fun!

 There were hurdles to jump! Elizabeth was soaring over the hurdles with confidence and ease. Until....

 ...you can see her foot catching here. This shot was taken right before she wiped out! She dusted herself off and finished the rest of the hurdles. She's tough and it wasn't the last time that she would trip and fall throughout the day!

 There was a ribbon-twirley-thing activity! 

 Beautiful! 

Honestly, I posted this photo because something had just happened to the boy behind Elizabeth! There were no balls involved in this activity, but I'm pretty sure he just got hammered with one! 

Elizabeth is a very fast runner!

Schools don't like to condone competition and feelings of inadequacy, so all of the children were winners! They all got to take home cool "Field Day 2012" dog tags!

Ya Ya joined us at Field Day and then for lunch at Noodles and Company, Elizabeth's favorite place! It was great to take part in something that I always enjoyed as a child. Now I get to live vicariously through my children and it's so much fun. 

And then there were five!

It has been a long time coming! Nate and the girls have been trying to convince me for a very long time to get a puppy! We tried a couple Christmases ago when we purchased a boxer puppy who was too rambunctious, even for Abigail! We had to take Vedder back to his Mom and wait for the right time. 

(That's Vedder. He was sweet, but A LOT of work.)

The right time was yesterday! 

Nate has always loved hound dogs and had been keeping his eye out on Craigslist! He found a ten-week old Majestic Tree Hound (a cross between a red bone and a blue tick) and we had my Mom watch the girls while we went to scope her out. 

Needless to say, we both fell in love with her.

We met the gentlemen who sold her to us and then drove her over to my Mom's house to introduce her to Abby and Elizabeth! They were thrilled! We are all thrilled!

 This is Banjo! It took us a while to arrive at a name, but when she was sitting at Nate's feet while he practiced his banjo, we knew it would be a great name! Elizabeth wasn't sold, she wanted Lisa (she eventually came around).

 We brought her into our home, introduced her to her new friends and family (including a very cute Amann friend) and let her settle in. She has already been a great dog. She's mostly trained to use the bathroom outdoors and has hardly found any trouble yet. 

 She sleeps....

 ...and sleeps...

...and sleeps! 

She's a very lazy dog but still enjoys walks and playing outdoors.

I wasn't sure about getting a puppy because I was afraid that I would be the only one taking care of her, but so far the whole family (especially Nate who didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night) has taken great care of her. 

And yes, in case you were wondering, she's going to get big! It's likely that she will get to be about 80 lbs.!

We are happy to have her as a part of our family now!

Soccer Stud

In addition to Abigail's ballet class, we decided to make our lives busier by signing Elizabeth up for soccer! I made a terrible Mommy mistake and misread the start date on the registration. Therefor, Elizabeth was incredibly dissapointed when I told her that she would have to wait one more week. 

They say that money doesn't buy you happiness, but when I took Elizabeth "soccer shopping" I began to distrust the statement! 

 Elizabeth picked out the blue and orange soccer ball, blue tie-die socks, shin guards, cleats, and a soccer bag! She wore her practice clothes nearly all day while she became acquainted with her new ball in the front yard.

 Elizabeth's league is ages 4-6 years. Since Elizabeth is 5 1/2, she's the oldest, tallest, and most focused child on the team. Elizabeth voted for Red Bullets as the team name, but Red Lightening prevailed!

I praise the volunteer head-coach for leading practices twice a week and Saturday games!

Because I got the schedule so mixed up, I had to miss Elizabeth's very first soccer game. And, of course, she scored FIVE goals! The Red Dragons won their first game! We are very proud parents!!! The two shots above are the best of those that Nate took! (He's a very proud Daddy, but action shots are not his strong suit!)

I will be at next weekend's game, cheering Elizabeth on! 

GO RED LIGHTENING!