Are you ready for some...Soccer!

It's soccer season! Ella is playing soccer for the first time, and this is my first experience ever with soccer! Growing up in a small town, we didn't have soccer, so I don't know ANYTHING about it. I told Ronnie that this will be the sport our girls are good at and want to play, since I, who loves to follow and play most all sports, doesn't know a thing about this one. Thankfully Ronnie has had some experience with soccer, mostly just intermurals, but enough to know the basics, or we would really be a mess!
Thankfully, 3 year old "Wee Kick" soccer at the Y isn't quite competitive enough to require a strong knowledge of the sport, so I'm ok for now. :) Maybe I can pick up on some of the rules and positions before 4 year old soccer next year.
So Ella is, without a doubt, the cutest soccer player ever. I love getting her dressed in her uniform each Saturday morning. And thankfully this is the one day a week that I am able to convince her to let me put her hair in a ponytail. So far, soccer is going great. She is making huge improvements each week. Before each game her team has a 20 minute practice session. The first week of soccer Ella did great during the practice. I couldn't believe how much she was getting into it, and she did great kicking the ball into the goal! Then when it was gametime, she became shy and didn't want to stay out on the field. So I did what every great mom does, and bribed her with Chick-Fil-A to keep her out there. ;) Theh second week she was the opposite, she didn't want to practice, but when it came time for the game she at least willingly stayed on the field. (For 3 year old soccer, this is a big deal, and one point our team didn't even have 4 kids willing to be out there, and the games are supposed to be 4 on 4.) Last week she did GREAT! She did awesome during the practice, and then at game time she was running all over the place! She wasn't exactly kicking the ball and trying to score, but she at least ran along with the ball! A little progress each week makes us ecstatic! Maybe tomorrow she will try to run AND kick! :) Here are a few pictures of our cute little soccer player.

Toms!

I've been wanting a pair of Toms for a long time. If you don't know about Toms, check out their website. For each pair of shoes sold, Toms donates a pair to a child who desperately needs shoes. It's really a great company with a cool story. They have really cute shoes, and the prices aren't that bad when you factor in that you're also helping a child get a pair of shoes.
Anyway, while browsing the website I came across "Tiny Toms" - toddler sized Toms. After seeing those adorable shoes I decided that we all needed a pair! We all had fun picking out which pair we wanted. I let Ella look at the website and she chose the ones she wanted. Here are our new shoes!

Ella's new kicks

Kendall excited about her Toms!

This picture was much harder to take than it looks. Unfortunately I didn't get Ronnie's shoe in the picture very well!

We love our new shoes, and are excited that we were able to help four kids get a new pair of shoes!

Pee Pee in the Potty!

It was a big night at our house - Kendall peed in the potty for the first time! As I mentioned in my post two days ago, she has been asking to sit on the potty a lot lately, but tonight was the first time she actually "performed." I was getting ready to put the girls in the bathtub, and Kendall started pulling the lid up on the toilet and saying, "I wan poo, I wan poo."

I went crazy cheering her on, and Ella came running up the stairs and started cheering for her and giving her high fives. Ella was so excited that she even grabbed some toilet paper and said, "I'll wipe her!!" She's such a little mommy.

I'm not actively "potty training" Kendall. She's only 17 months. But any time she wants to practice I am more than willing to let her! She wants to do everything big sis does, so maybe she will end up being trained early!

Kendall is 17 months!

Last week was Kendall's 17 month birthday. I'll be honest, I didn't actually realize it was her 17 month birthday until after she was already in bed that night. It's true, at least for me, that you don't keep up with that stuff as well with the second child. I used to always make sure I took tons of pictures on the monthly "birthdays" and also weigh the girls. I do have lots of great recent pictures to post, but as soon as I got my awesome new camera, the memory card slot thingy in the computer decided to quit working, and I've yet to find a cable that will hook up to my computer to load pictures. Bummer!! Hopefully I can get that worked out soon. Here are a few updates on Kendall from the past month:
- She is talking a lot more. A couple of months ago I was worried about her small vocabulary, but it has really picked up lately. Her favorite words right now are "pizza!!" and "poopy!!" She also likes to ask for cheese (she got this from Ella). She'll says, "I wan chssss, I wan chssss!" The kid could eat all day, and loves cheese. Definitely my kid.
- She wants to sit on the potty a lot. Yay! If anyone is in the bathroom, Kendall will go in and say "i wan poo!" (aka, I wanna poop!) She's yet to actually do anything in the potty, but anytime she wants to sit, by golly I'll let her! She'll figure it out eventually!
- She knows lots of body parts, few animal noises. She can identify most every body part - hands, fingers, feet, toes, knees, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, head, hair. But every animal says "mooooo." Every one. We'll get those animals eventually. :)
- She's all about Daddy! Since Ronnie is around a lot more, she's turning into a Daddy's girl. Every morning when she wakes up she asks for Daddy. If she sees his car parked outside she really gets excited and tries to go up to our bedroom to wake him up, yelling "Daddddddyyyyy! My Daddddddyyyyy!"
- She's mean. Mean as a snake. I'm not kidding. This child is rough. It's usually targeted towards Ella, but I've also been the victim at times. Pulling hair, pinching, pushing...I guess it's because, being the younger child she's always had to stick up for herself, but it's getting bad.
- She's super sweet. I know, I just said she's Lucifer mean, but she can also be a sweet little snuggle puppy. She gives great hugs and kisses and is often very loving. She always gives Ella big hugs when she tells her goodnight at bedtime. Today when Ella got her allergy shots she was kind of upset because her injection sites bled, and Kendall was so worried about her.
- She loves telling everyone "hiiiii!!" and "byeeeee!" It was really funny because at the allergist today one of the nurses said something about her being like a Wal-Mart greeter, because every time someone came in she made sure to greet them about 10 times. I cracked up, because Ronnie and I always used to joke that Ella was going to grow up to be a Wal-Mart greeter because she was so friendly to people. I've always been more reserved and quiet with people I don't know, but I'm glad my girls are so friendly!
- Kendall weighs in around 25 lbs. For comparison's sake, Ella is 30 lbs. (26 months...5 lbs difference, ha ha)
More posts, and hopefully pictures, to come soon!

The Big 3-0!

So last week, Ronnie had a pretty big birthday. On August 24, he turned 30!! He wasn't too concerned about his birthday...not sad, not excited. Just content. I, however, was pumped because I've been working on his present and party for a LONG time!
As soon as the clock struck midnight on the 24th, I gave him his present. Two tickets for us to see the Cowboys play IN Dallas....8 rows up on the 35 yard line behind the Cowboys' sideline. Yeah!! He was SHOCKED and super excited! We will be spending 3 nights in Dallas and mom and dad are going to have the girls. I was also going to get tickets for a stadium tour the day before the game, but unfortunately it was too early to buy tickets. It's going to be fun!!
On the 27th we had his party at our house. I wanted to make his birthday party extra special, not only because he was turning 30, but also because we never really had any type of party to celebrate him finishing residency. He's worked really hard and accomplished a lot in his first 30 years and I thought it was really worth celebrating! He knew he was having a party that day but I didn't let him know any of the details. I rented a huge, blowup, double lane slip n slide for the backyard. When he first saw it he thought it was a blow up bouncy house, and said, "Are there going to be that many kids here?" I said, "No!! It's not for the kids, it's for YOU!" I then had him take another look and explained what it was. It wasn't long before he was out there having a blast! We had food from Bootleg BBQ...pulled pork, wings, baked beans, corn on the cob and twice baked potato casserole. It was all amazing. Those wings are just unbelievable...I see those being ordered in the future for football games! The food was followed up by an awesome "30" golf cake made by our neighbor, Cheri. There were lots of friends and family who came to celebrate with us, many traveled a long way to get here. Thanks so much to everyone who was with us to celebrate Ronnie's big birthday! Here are some pictures:

Ronnie with the slip n slide!

Ronnie and Nic doing what they do best - competing!

Ronnie launching Ella down the slide!

Kendall doing what she does best - eating!

Ronnie and his awesome cake. Thanks, Cheri!

Ronnie getting ready to bust open the pinata!



I forgot to mention, I finally got a new camera!! I LOVE it!! It's a Nikon D3100...I still have a lot to learn about it but so far I absolutely love it! :) 

Fun times at the lake!

Friday, August 26 was a very important day for our family. It was the girls first trip out on the lake! Ronnie would rather be out on the lake than anywhere else in the world, and I quite enjoy it too. He is literally counting down the months (weeks?) until he buys a boat…there will definitely be one around next summer…but this past weekend one of his coworkers was kind enough to let us use his boat out on Taylorsville Lake. We took advantage of the opportunity!
Nic, Toni and baby Grace were able to go out on Friday so we were excited to get to spend the day with friends. A few days before we went out, Ronnie went to Dick’s to get Kendall an infant life jacket. We had already purchased some boat “accessories” that were 50% off – life jackets for the girls and Ronnie for next summer, but Kendall isn’t quite big enough for it hers yet so she needed one that fit. While he was there he found a really nice tube that was half off. Perfect!

Unfortunately, Ella woke up the night before with a 102 degree fever. It was at least 102…she had her mouth open the majority of the time that I was taking her temperature, so who knows how high it really was. I was expecting to have to stay home with the girls while Ronnie went out on the lake, but the next morning she seemed to be feeling much better and was anxious to go out on the boat, so we all went!

We had a great time…well, everyone but Ella! Poor thing, after splashing around in the water for awhile, she became very quiet and actually ended up falling asleep on the boat. Anyone who is around Ella very often knows this is NOT the norm for her…she usually doesn’t sleep anywhere except her bed or occasionally the car. She went out on the tube once and had no expression whatsoever. No cries, but no smiles. I felt so bad for her, she had been so excited! The girls and I only ended up staying out a couple of hours, then I took them home. Ella woke up when we went to put gas in the boat and she was begging to go home, and at that point Kendall was desperate for a nap. When we got home I realized that Ella's temperature was very high again, and she ended up falling asleep curled up in a chair in the living room. I hate seeing my girls sick!

We still had a great time on the lake, and it was a nice little taste of many fun times to be had in the future! Both the girls were able to splash around a little in the water and got to ride on the tube with Ronnie. Toni and I were able to ride on the tube together. And of course Nic and Ronnie enjoyed throwing each other off the tube and the knee board!


Ronnie and the girls sitting on the tube

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Toni and Grace

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Kendall getting ready to tube with Daddy...she isn't nearly as excited as he is!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Poor Ella...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ella and Daddy on the tube

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Me and the girls...poor Ella is sound asleep.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Daddy and the girls

 
 

Ella's first trip to the movie theatre!

Sunday was a big day for Ella...it was her first trip to a movie theatre!! We have been anxious to take her since Cars 2 and Winnie the Pooh came out. For the last few months we thought she was ready and able to sit still for a movie, but we were waiting for something appropriate to come out. We still haven't taken her to see Cars 2, but after church and lunch on Sunday Ronnie and Ella had a daddy-daughter date and he took her to Tinsletown to see Winnie the Pooh.

I'm not sure which she was more excited about - the movie or the popcorn! That girl can throw down some popcorn. Ronnie bought a large tub and it sat in her little lap the entire time. Ronnie said she ate double-fisted, non-stop until it was all gone. Ronnie swears she ate more than half the tub and said he was just waiting for her to throw up all over the movie theatre. She did great during the movie. Ronnie said she sat still and may have said five words the whole time the movie was on. Winnie the Pooh was just over an hour long, so it was a perfect first-time movie experience.

Ronnie and I both love movies...if he isn't working then we most always watch a movie after the kids go to bed. I'm glad Ella is mature enough that she can enjoy trips to the movie theatre now...and we will anxiously await Kendall being old enough to go so the whole family can go!

My camera is broken (which means I will soon be buying the camera I have been eyeing for months!! I've never been so happy for an electronic device to break!!) but Ronnie got a few on his iphone. Unfortunately I can not get them to upload on here correctly...hopefully I can get it figured out soon!