Friday, April 12, 2013

outside, outside



The weather was awesome for soccer practice last night! 


The weather has been awesome for us to play outside after school.
Hayden got a golf lesson from dad.


Lily loves running and playing outside. 


The trees are blooming and the grass is greening up!  We are thrilled to finally have weather warm enough to enjoy the outdoors again.


Wednesday, April 10, 2013

You're never too old for a long flowing gown


I just love gowns.  


I love gowns on little girls.  


You can never have to many gowns right?!



  They are so soft and flowy and they look precious on a little sassy girls.  I have taken so many pictures of Layla in all her gowns.



  I hope my sassy little girl knows how much I love her.  She is pretty special and I know she has been through a lot this year with us moving across the country.  I think she has handled it well and maybe even better than me!





Sunday, April 7, 2013

we had a fun spring weekend

We started our weekend on Friday night by attending a birthday party for one of our friends here in our new town.  The party was a scavenger hunt.  All the kids at the party broke off into groups and had a list of fun things to conquer before returning to the pizza place!

It was so much fun.  I loved it because every step of the scavenger hunt had to be photographed.  I was all over that!!  haha!  The party was so fun and it was a great way to start the weekend!


Saturday morning we got up early for Hayden's soccer game.  It started at 9:00 and it was cold!


I sat in my chair the entire game covered in a blanket.  Brrrrr!  The sun was shining, but it was still really cool outside.  


Hayden's hands were so cold!  He fell down while going for the soccer ball and another player accidentally stepped on his hand.  


I felt so bad for him.  He was so upset.  Poor guy.


Daddy made it all better.  

Gary was standing on the opposite side of the field, but Hayden found him and cried it out.


After a quick drink and a break he was back out on the field ready to play!


It is so funny watching these kids play.  They are all over the place and they all seem to fall down or trip at the some time.  They look like dominoes falling in perfect rhythm.   Hayden does seem to understand a few fundamentals the coach teaches them.  Hopefully he will stick with soccer and enjoy playing in the future.  Right now he just likes to see how fast he can run up and down the field.

  

After soccer Hayden was starving.  He ate 3 brownies and drank a whole glass of milk.  He worked up quite the appetite!



Sunday afternoon we played at the park.



The weather was amazing!


Hayden had another soccer game on Sunday afternoon.





I'm not sure what they are looking at on the sideline.  They are all so cute!  They make me laugh.  Four year old soccer is quite comical.


Layla enjoyed herself at the game, can you tell?  I think she was a little bored.  She used Hayden's soccer ball as a pillow.  She was a bit whiny about having to watch his game.  I finally had to remind her that she played soccer once and Hayden had to watch her at every practice and every game.  I think she is leaning towards playing again!  She won't be able to play until the fall, but I hope she still wants to by then.  I love watching her play soccer!


The weather was grilling weather!  70 degrees and sunny.  It was a bit windy which made me cold throughout the day, but it was still nice to see the sun and fell the warmth!  I love grilled jalapenos! I ate so many of them.


The kids requested cheeseburgers on the grill.  Gary made his burger super tall.  The kids thought it was so funny!  I'm not sure how he ate this tall burger, but he smashed it down and ate it up!  We had pea salad, baked fried okra and baked beans with our burgers.  It was a great spring meal.  

Layla saw a show on TV and they were making a coconut cream pie.  I thought we should make one for dessert.  We bought cheater pie ingredients.  We used a graham cracker crust, coconut Jello pie filling and frozen whipped cream.  Well....I didn't read the directions on the pudding container.  Layla and I mixed up the pudding and poured it right into the pie crust.  Gaahhhh!  It didn't get firm and was still soupy.  I grabbed the box out of the trash and realized we were supposed to boil the pudding mix.  I tried to fix my mess up, but the pie was still soupy. I'm sure it will be just fine if it sits overnight.  The piece the kids sampled was coconut cream soup. 

Everyone was ready for bed early.  The weekend packed with fun activities wore our family out!  I'm thankful for springlike temperatures and all the fun sunny activities to come!  The spring weather  is also making me excited to house hunt.  Whether we buy or rent I am ready for a house with a bigger yard so we can cook and grill and play outside all summer long.


Thursday, April 4, 2013

soccer! soccer! soccer!


Today was Hayden's first soccer practice.  He has been looking forward to playing soccer for years, but Gary and I didn't want to start him until after he turned four.  He asked to play when we lived in Texas, but it just worked out better for us to start him here this spring once we moved.  












The little guy was so excited.  I didn't even have to ask him to get ready for practice.  I looked up from helping Layla with homework and he already had on his shin guards and he was asking me for help finding his socks.  He put on his soccer cleats and then asked me to tie them.  He grabbed his ball and was ready to roll!










I wasn't sure how he would do at practice.  The attention span of a four year old isn't very long.  He really listened to his coach and seemed to understand what he was saying.  He followed directions very well, but sometimes he got a little side tracked.  All in all he seemed very focused.  Towards the end of practice he told me he didn't like the game they were playing.  I reminded him that practice was almost over and he ran back to the field and finished up.










And of course....










I was THAT mom....








My camera in my hands and I was clicking away.








I love taking pictures of my kiddos and I don't see me stopping anytime soon!










I guess he got hot because he took his jacket and hat off and headed back onto the field!






















This is Hayden's serious face.  Tongue over to the side.  It cracks me UP!














After practice we jumped in the car fast to go get Layla from her dance class.  Hayden was jibber-jabbering all about practice and how he thought practice was okay and that his game on Saturday will be even better!










I wish I could explain how great it felt to be outside.  I was a bit cold towards the end of the practice, but I could see the sun setting.  GAhhhh!    I love to see the sun set.  I loved not seeing buildings all around me.  I loved the fresh air.  In the down-town-ish area we live we don't get to see all the wide open area like at the soccer fields.  It was awesome!  The weather is warmer and I am thankful, but I'm ready for higher temps and lots of outdoor activities. Being outside is awesome and I crave that fresh air.










Thursday nights are our crazy run around wild nights.  Both kids have activities and so they ate cheeseburgers from Wendy's for dinner. (I got the apple pecan chicken salad and it was great!)  Layla got a frosty!  She lost her 7th or 8th tooth at school yesterday.  If she were awake I'd ask her for sure.  I'm sure she will read this and let me know if it's 7 or 8!  She keeps me in line y'all!






Monday, April 1, 2013

April, our house in Texas and getting back into our routine

I am so thrilled about April.  I am ready for spring time and spring weather. ( I know, I know, I sound like a broken record!)  Even though it was a bit breezy today I went outside in the backyard to get some fresh air and soak up some sunshine!  The sun was amazing and if the wind wasn't blowing today would have been perfect.  I won't complain though.  We love SUN! 


I can't explain how cranky I get when I have to think about our house in Texas.  It is for sale again after the tenants we had in it moved out.  They signed a short lease and we are hoping the house will sell this spring.  I know leasing it was the only option at the time and us leasing here was the best option, but I am over this whole housing mess.  I want to feel like we have a home again.  I've never felt totally at home in this house in Ohio.  Hopefully, we will find something more suitable here and I just know someone will fall in love with our house in Texas!  There aren't many things that get under my skin, but I really let that house get to me.  It makes me feel all grouchy!


The kids will get back to school tomorrow after a fun week and a day off.  We had so much fun and I am thankful for our time.  Honestly...I'm ready to get back into our groove.  The kids were starting to drive me a bit crazy today.  We stayed home all day.  I was literally covered in laundry and they were tired from our eventful week.  They were bickering and fighting. They were loud and didn't listen when I asked them to be quite while I was on the phone.  I may have lost my temper a time or two.  I'm thankful for school tomorrow and I know they are ready to see their friends.


Spring break was like a free pass for me to eat everything in site.  I was starting to get burned out with counting calories the week before spring break.  I think I needed to splurge for my sanity, but I also realize how yucky I felt several nights after eating everything in sight.  I've noticed a huge difference in my body since I started Zumba.  I have been logging my calories in MyFitnessPal for months and months, but I really think monitoring calories AND working out has made a huge difference in being more toned.  Both together work for me and it works better than just riding my beloved stationary bike. I love that bike.  Also, I don't eat perfect.  I eat junk and have a few drinks, but in moderation.  Moderation works for me.  Sometimes I don't need an entire snack bag of chips.  I can eat 6 Doritos and be happy.  And now I am rambling....the point....I'm ready for my routing back.  I never knew how much I liked routine until I had kids.  My kids have taught me so much!


I love these pups, but we slept in until almost 9:00 this morning. (They were still on their mini-vacay from our trip.)   Gary and I asked the kids to sleep late, or stay quiet so we could get some much needed rest this morning.  It was awesome.  Lily has to potty really early in the mornings, so one of us usually gets up to let her out.  I can't remember a morning I woke up so refreshed!  Sleeping in rocks!  I hope Lily and the kids will sleep in this summer.  I know one day I'll have to beg the kids to get up, but for now some days I just wanna snooze in!

Who wants to come help me fold the millionth load of laundry for the day?  Hey, I'm folding while watching Dallas.  It's a great show. 

Night y'all!