First Soccer Season

I can now officially claim the title of Soccer Mom.  We just completed our first soccer season in this house and it was an amazing success.  I can't tell you it was a success necessarily by our teams record as I have no idea in the end what the official record was, but I can tell you it was a success in fun!

JP took the plunge this year into soccer. After spending many, many days on the playground at school kicking the ball around with friends he decided that he wanted to give it a shot and we are sure glad he did.  He had the time of his life.  It was such a joy to watch him run around on the field and every game he had the biggest smile on his face at the end.  He had Coach G and what a blessing he was.  You could tell he truly enjoyed all the children on the team and loved getting the opportunity to encourage them and coach them.

This is JP before his first game.  He was so excited to discover that on almost every team we played he had a little buddy and he would spend some of the time socializing with them and a couple of times got distracted by planes and birds flying overhead.  We also got quite the kick out of his tendency to run parallel to the ball and give the appearance that he was making a move for the ball but in actuality it appeared that he was just trying to stay away from harms way.  Towards the end he finally started to get more aggressive and go for the ball more.  A couple of times he would catch a hard kicked ball in the belly but he would bounce back and keep going at it.  His game and confidence really grew with each game and we are so excited to see what next season will be like.



Congratulations JP!  You were great!!

Music

Today I decided to take a detour from our usual music choices and put on some music that would take me back to a day where times were easier as I was a meer child unaware of all the resposibilities adulthood carried.  That's right....it was time to put on New Kids on the Block.  Immediately I was transported back to a time of roller skating until all hours of the night at a friend's house and hours of dancing and dreaming of meeting NKOTB at another friend's.

As I was singing and dancing my little and not nearly as young heart out Shelby walks into the room and the following conversation insued:

Shelby: "What kind of music is this mom?"

Me: "This is the music that kids listened to when I was younger; around 11-14."

Shelby: "I like it. It's groovy." (insert shoulder shake)



Who You Gonna Call

Shelby: "Dad, when you need your car cleaned you no longer have to call the professionals."

Pratt: "Oh yeah, who do I call?"

Shelby: "Me."

Pratt: "Really, well how much do you charge?"

Pause

Shelby: "Half as much as the professionals."

So, when you need your car cleaned...who you gonna call?

Shelby Reed

(She only cleans the inside.  You will still need to see a professional to clean the outside or do it yourself.)

Last week I had Shelby clean out the car as part of some discipline.  She did a pretty good job of cleaning out all the trash and vacuuming.  She even wiped down much of the car.

A little more training and we've got ourselves our own little car detailer:)

My Little Evangelist

On the way to Kids Club at church on Sunday night:

JP-"Mom, will there always be people on the earth, like forever?"

Me-"Well, not really.  One day Jesus is going to come back and everyone who belongs to him; all God's children, will go on to live with Jesus forever."

JP-"Oh."

Me-"No one knows when Jesus is coming back.  We don't know what could happen tomorrow.  That's why it is important to make sure that we tell others about Jesus when we get a chance."

JP-"I do, Mom!  Everyday at school I tell my friends about Jesus. And Drew, he doesn't believe because his family doesn't believe but Daisy says that she wants to believe and when she grows up she is going to believe and go to church."

(Drew and Daisy are twins at his school)

I just had to laugh to myself and then was challenged by the fact that my 6 year old little boy is having no problem asking his classmates-"Do you believe in God?"

Earlier this year his teacher told me that whoever he sits by at lunch he asks them if they believe and tells them about God and that they should go to church.  I pray everyday that his excitment never fades.  I have a feeling God has big plans for my little guy in impacting His kingdom and sharing the gospel:)

First Day of School

Okay, so I am only a month late, but on August 20th our sweet children started school.  We had a wonderful summer and the children were great but just like everything all good things must come to an end and just like every summer, the end seems to be the hardest part of the summer.  The weather gets really hot, the pool and beach get old, and they just get to the point where they can't take not having a routine and structure to their day.

Shelby was really excited about taking the annual first day of school photos.  She was adament that Pratt photobomb the pictures and of course he is always up for fun and being funny so he jumped right in.  The funniest part was that most of the pictures I got were just the backs of their heads because they kept turing around to see what daddy was doing. 

Shelby: 3rd Grade-how is that possible??  I have a few memories from 1st and 2nd grade, but 3rd grade I have tons of memories from...oh boy!!  These days will be with her for a lifetime.

JP: 1st Grade-he was devestated all summer to be leaving kindergarten and Ms. Deborah behind.  Even the first day of first grade he was begging me to let him go back.  I told him that one of the great things about 1st grade was that there was no rest time (because what kid loves rest time......)  He said, "Oh great!  I need rest time to rest my brain!!"  I guess my kid would be the one that loves rest time.

Shelby and JP, you guys are growing up so fast!!!  I hope that you have a great year in your new classrooms with your new teachers.  You guys are prayed over everyday and I pray that you will always know how much we love you!!!



Wyoming 2013

We had a great time in Wyoming with the family this summer.  We managed to squeeze 7 adults and 2 kids into a three bedroom one and a half bath cabin.  There was a whole lot of love and a whole lot of fun!!  The kids really enjoyed getting the chance to explore the mountain and have tons of undivided attention from whomever they could find.  There was no tv, no computer, no internet, no cellphone coverage; just 100% good old fashioned family time.  What a blessing!!!!

JP and Daddy getting ready for one of many atv rides.  JP loved getting to hang with the men.

Talk about blessings!!  We were so excited to get to spend a week with our Uncle Bill from California.  This was the most time spent with him in my entire life and while I am sure some of the things we did and said probably left him shaking his head, he put up with us and Shelby really, really loved him!!

Good morning world!  The sun stays up light and rises super early in the Big Horns in the summer.  Here are the main men in my life enjoying the beautiful cool mountain morning on the deck.

My heart!

One of the children's favorite activities was to go down to the creek to play in the water and ride the zip line. 

My children and me right before they "accidentally" fell into the creek.  I don't know how they could stand it as the water was FREEZING!!!  But they loved it and a few days later they put on their swimsuits and went swimming!!

My grandpa's boots.  He loved this place and those boots have been there since the last time he visited the cabin. 

Much to my dad's satisfaction, my children may have been talked into being University of Wyoming fans.  Who knows, maybe he will get his wish and one of them will choose to go there.  He certainly couldn't convince my sister, brother or I:)

Going into this trip I must admit I was a bit nervous.  How were we all going to survive and not want to kill each other by the end of 8 days straight of being together 24 hours a day.  Don't get me wrong, I love my family to pieces but it has been a very long time since we have all been together like that and probably the last time we were there was arguing because we were all still living in the same house.  At the end, it was so wonderful and I really hope that we can make a better effort to do things like this.  It was fabulous!!!  Thank you mom and dad for a great summer vacation and tons and tons of wonderful memories!!!

JPisms

JP is coming down with a cold...atleast I think he is.  Yesterday on the way home from the pool the sniffling and coughing started; so you can imagine the long night we had last night trying to keep him propped up and medicated enough to relieve the sniffles.  Let's just say it was a long night....

This morning I expected him to sleep in a little, but not so...he was up and at 'em promptly at 7:00am and came into my room with this information....

JP: "Mommy, my stomach feels different.  But its okay because my heart is still beating like it normally does."

Then later while he was eating breakfast he was all wrapped up in a blanket and he said, "Mommy, I am cold; even my brain is cold.  I must really be sick." (imagine him sitting in the chair with the blanket wrapped around him and up over his head)

Mind you, he really isn't that sick.  Poor kid just has one of those annoying summer colds where you are well enough to do everything but kind of don't feel well enough to do anything....know what I mean?

Praying we get this out of the way before school starts in a a week!