Sprinkler Babies and Rolling Fun

Saturday was a pretty hot day.  After soccer games, Megan's nap, and shopping the kids said they wanted to run through the sprinklers.  Okay, they really wanted me to get out the swimming pool, but I told them it wasn't warm enough for that.  But I said we could turn on the sprinklers and they could run through them.

They really like that idea and happily got on their swimming suits.  Tony just picked up Megan's new swimsuit that he ordered on-line and she was so excited to wear it.  Tony found it for a good deal at Sears but for free shipping we had to have it shipped to the store.

After all the kids had on their swimsuit and the goggles where put on, Tony turned on the sprinklers.  I got out the camera and got all ready to take some fun and wild pictures...well the water was too cold and they didn't want to play in them anymore.  Tyler went through maybe twice, Tony took Megan through once (she did not like it at all), and Josh wouldn't even try going through at all.  It was a total bust.  I guess we waited too long and they weren't so hot anymore.  Next time maybe.

After the kids all changed back into their clothes they still wanted to play outside.  This is typical at our house.  We are almost always outside on nice days.  The front yard is nice and cool and we look visiting with our friends and neighbors that we see.

So Tyler got out his roller blades and Josh and Megan got out their scooters.  We decided to have the kids ride their blades and scooters over at Max and Dona's house because their drive way is really smooth and nice.  They live across the street from us.  It makes learning to ride on roller blades a lot easier then on the bumpy road.

Tyler is getting better on the roller blades, but he still freaks me out sometimes when I think he is totally going to biff it.  No major accidence yet, knock on wood. He has been working really hard on learning to push off on the his own and control his moves.  He says he wants to learn how to go backwards next.  Thank you Tony for telling him that's what he should do next.

Josh is a wild man on his scooter.  Sometimes I think that I should make him wear his helmet when he's on his scooter because he gets going too fast.  He does fall, but mostly he is just amazingly talented.  I also couldn't convince him to put a shirt back on after he changed from his swimsuit.  Good thing he's a boy because he likes being shirtless...or lazy...either way.  Love that kid.

Megan is doing really good with her scooter skills.  She can ride her brothers two wheeled scooter pretty well, but I try to have her ride the three wheeled scooter for now.  I duct taped a piece of a blanket on the handle bars so that it would be softer if she fell on them.  It works pretty good too, until the duct tape starts to come off.  I have since fixed the tape since this picture.  Megan is simply amazing just like her brothers.  I think each kid picks up the scooters fast then the one before.  I am such a luck momma to have such awesome kids.  

Soccer Time Again

Soccer started a couple of weeks ago,  We decided to go back to the West Valley league this season instead of doing the Taylorsville league like last season.  I forgot to bring my camera to the first two games.  I remembered this last Saturday and we got some good pictures of Josh and Tyler playing with their soccer teams.

I thought after last season that I wasn't going to put Josh in soccer this season, but he said he really wanted to play.  He goofed off way too much last season and didn't always want to play and that made it really frustrating to watch.  So I told him if he played this season he had to play and not just goof off.

So far this season Josh has done really well.  He likes to play and doesn't complain when it's his turn to go in and play.  If anything he says he doesn't want to go out and take a break, he wants to keep playing.  It does help that Josh is the biggest on his team and has the most experience so he tends to dominate in every game.  He is pretty good about going to taking the ball and using his good ball control to take the ball down the field and scoring.

He scored four points the first game, three or four the second game, and at least that this last game.  I stop keeping count and just try and enjoy how happy he gets after he scores a goal and he runs back towards Tony (who is his coach) and gives him a big hug and/or high five.  Then Josh also likes to run over to me and give me a high five.  I sometimes feel bad that he is the one that is always scoring and so I try to tell him to let the other kids try too, but at four that is a hard thing to do.

Tyler is the opposite of Josh this season.  Tyler has now moved up to the 7-9 year old group making him one of the smallest on his team and the youngest.  I think that it bothered him a little during the first practice, but has seemed a lot better since.

I am not sure how much experience some of the other kids have, but some don't seem to have much at all.  Tyler has better ball control then a lot of the other kids and does really good to not let the size of the kid intimidate him from going after the ball.

They play on a bigger field and have all 11 players playing in this group.  They have had to learn more about offense and defense and positional soccer.  They still seem to bunch around where ever the ball is, but they are getting better at staying around where they should be depending on their position.

Tyler's couch is pretty good about rotating the kids in all the positions.  I really like they all get a turn to try it all and see what they like.  Tyler likes it all.  He really likes to play goalie and has done it in every game.  In the first game he stopped two balls and only let one ball past him.  This last game the ball didn't even come close to him and he seemed pretty bored in the goal box.

I am not sure if Tyler really likes to play goalie or if he just really likes to drop kick the ball.  Either way, it's a good experience for him.  He isn't a super aggressive goalie and Tony and I prefer to see him as a forward since he's got the ball control and speed to score goals.  He is doing really good with this new older group and it is fun to see him progressing each week.   
One more year and I could have three kids playing soccer at the same time...that should be fun!

I Lost Josh

Yesterday we had an activity at my ward building, outside at the pavilion and for the most part it was a lot of fun.  It was lots of fun until I couldn't find Josh.  He was pouting on the bench across the field where I was sitting, but I had my eye on him.  I was holding my friends cute baby and then Sherri called so I didn't check on him as much as I should have.  I saw him walking towards me and so I thought he was coming back over to where we all were sitting.  Then a couple minutes later I looked again and didn't see him, but figured he was just close by somewhere.  Then a couple minutes later I looked again and I still didn't see him.  So I hung up with Sherri and gave the baby back to his sweet momma and then went looking for Josh.
I called his name over and over and then I went and looked in the church to see if he went in there to go to the bathroom or just hangout in there.  The lights were out in the church so I was pretty sure he wouldn't be hanging out in there because he is kind of scared of the dark.  I called out for Josh and checked the bathrooms anyway.  No response.  I was trying to stay calm, but by this time it was getting harder to keep my emotions in check.  I looked around and started to cry with worry.  Where would he have gone? 
I came back out to where all the ladies and kids where and Josh was still no where to be found.  One lady was walking around the baseball field to see if he was hiding somewhere and then two ladies got into their cars to see if they could find him in the neighborhood, or maybe at my home.  Someone asked if Josh would walk home, and I said no.  Surely Josh knew better then just to leave and walk home...so I thought.  One of the sisters who was driving around called me saying she found Josh almost to my house as he was walking home.  He wouldn't get into her car, so that was good, so the other sister stayed with him until I could get home.
I didn't have my car because it was in the shop, so I rode home with Gwen.  I got a ride from Marissa and it was so nice of the ladies to drive around and help me find Josh.  I asked Josh what he was doing and he told me that he wanted to come home.  I told him that I was very scared that I couldn't find him and Josh told me he wasn't scared at all.  Gee, that didn't really make me feel any better.  I tried to make him understand that he could have been taken by a stranger or something really bad and he better not ever do that again.
I never would have thought Josh would have just left an activity and walk home all by himself.  I was grateful that he knew the way home and that we had walked that way many times before.  I just felt like the worst mother in the world, who looses their kid?  I hope that I never have to experience that again, it was the worst. 

Bubble Blowing

This afternoon while the kids were playing in the backyard, Tyler asked if they could play with bubbles.  I thought that was a good idea so I finished weeding the flower garden and put my gardening stuff away while the kids picked up the toys and balls from the backyard.

I then got out the bubbles (and camera) and we went in the front yard for some bubble blowing fun.  I got out a bubble gun and two bubble tumblers that are spill proof for Josh and Megan.  I also brought out a bottle of bubbles for refills, which I ended up using the whole thing.  Good thing we still have a really big bottle of bubbles that grandma Margie gave Tyler for his birthday.

 At first the bubble blower wasn't working.  Not sure why because I just put in fresh batteries last time we used it.  So Tyler used the bubble wand out of the bubble bottle.  It started working a little later and we had bubbles galore.  Josh did really good with his bubble blowing and I didn't have to help him at all.

Megan, however spent the whole time trying so hard to blow bubbles and really just made a mess.  She would put her wand right up to her mouth and blow it.  Then she would shake up her bottle of bubbles so it was just a soapy mess.  Bubbles don't blow when they are all shaken up.  She kept on trying and had a good time doing it.  I forgot how much fun bubbles are.  We will be doing this a lot more.

Megan's Front Flip

Megan is a mover, always has been.  Lately she has really liked jumping off the arm of the couch and bouncing/falling onto the cushions.  Most the time she does great and is really coordinated, but other times she scares Tony and I to death making us worried she'll fall backwards or flip funny and get hurt.  She hasn't really gotten hurt yet, but she is pretty daring and likes to push the limits.

She does really good somersaults (she calls them front flips) and likes doing them in many "fun" locations.  I would prefer them on the soft floor, but that isn't always where it happens.  She has done them on the church bench, the couch, the chair, onto her brothers while they were sitting on the couch or chair.  Yea, she is pretty talented.

She may be a little bit wild and crazy, but we wouldn't want her any other way.  She has to keep up her mad skills so she can compete with her brothers.  She is out to prove she can do anything that the boys can do.  We love our Megan.

Photo Shoot - Tyler, Josh, Megan, and Koda

We got a fancy new camera and we were trying to figure it out a little bit better tonight.  Here are some really good pictures that Tony took of the kids while he was playing with his new camera/toy.  I think they turned out super good.  I am excited to learn more about he camera so that we can continue to have great pictures.  I must say, I do have the cutest kids ever!

Ring Around The Rosie

Megan loves to play ring around the rosie.  She normally prefers to play with Tyler, but tonight she was all about Josh (she calls him Joshy and Tyler she calls Ty Ty).  I think it hurt Tyler's feelings a little bit that she didn't want to play with him and he was acting a little sad and bored while Megan and Josh had all the fun.

Josh would swing Megan around and then they would fall to the ground.  Sometimes just Megan went down and other times they fell down together.
Megan was loving every minute of it.  Normally someone gets hurt while playing around, but luckily not tonight.  They would swing and fall and then Megan would give Josh a big hug.  Then they would swing around some more.

After they got extra attention after hugging (because it is so darn cute) Josh wanted to hug Megan a lot more.  A lot of times these two fight and Megan really bothers Josh, but tonight they were so much fun to watch playing so nicely together.  It really was so much fun to watch them being so silly and happy together.  A sweet memory I will always cherish. 

Citizen of the Month

Tyler came home from school today very excited to show me something in his backpack.  He had two pencils in his hand and I pulled out a big white folder from his backpack.  Inside the folder there were four different gift certificates for free kids meals from different restaurants and a Citizen of the Month certificate...for October 2013.
I asked why he was just getting it now and he said that his teacher couldn't find it until now.  So I guess he got it in October, but she lost the folder or forgot about it.  I wasn't sure if he would get it again this year (he got it in Kindergarten) because Tyler's teacher always says Tyler is a chatter box.  Maybe he didn't talk so much in October.
We love our Tyler and think he is just the best ever.  We are so proud of the progress he has made this year with his reading and so much more.  He is so helpful all the time.  He is generally happy to help me and doesn't hardly complain about having to do more then Josh or Megan.  He still loves to play soccer and practices all the time.  He has two loose teeth right now and I think that he will loose his other front tooth within the next two weeks.  He is just amazing and we love him very much!

Birthday Luau

My parents decided to have a super awesome Luau for their combined birthday party this year.  My dad's birthday as on May 1st and my mom's is on the 6th.

It was perfect weather for a party in the back yard and we all had such a good time.  My parents got lots of fun party things for everyone.  Everyone got a lei, a straw hat, and the girls got flower clips for our hair.  The kids got all those things plus they got squirt guns that they got to play with, dolphin necklaces, sunglasses, and yo-yo's.  They were totally spoiled and loved every minute of it.

My parents also got a couple beach balls.  One was super big and the other was more medium size.  The kids love kicking the balls around the yard, especially the big one.  They played for a long time with that ball and came up with lots of different games to go with it.  Oh and they had hula hoops.  Megan loved playing with them and she did surprisingly well twisting it around her tummy.

Most of the family was able to come.  Julie was in Atlanta for DECA, Betsy's kids were with their dad, and Wendy was in California, oh and Teagan was in Japan.  I guess we will forgive them for not attending.  But the rest of us were all there parting hard.

The kids all loved the trampoline, as usual.  They all did really good taking turns.  Even Megan and Kimball jumped for a long time.  Josh probably jumped the most.  He loved doing "bums" and having us all watch him do his trick.  He tried a "tummy" but kept landing on his knees.  It was pretty cute.

Megan was a super jumper today too.  Normally she likes it for a little while and then is done.  But today she wanted to jump for a long time and kept wanting to get back on and jump some more.  She also seems to like to jump right close to the edge and freak her mommy out.  She hasn't fallen off yet, but she has giving me a lot of scares.

After we ate the kids found the squirt guns.  I had them all filled and ready to go.  They were so excited to have a water fight.  Even Megan got right in there and squirted the older kids.  She is preparing to be a Hells Angel.  After a couple minutes Megan pretty much just drank the water out of the gun.  So turns out she didn't have much fight in her.  But she looked super cute.

Megan's action shot.  She's all ready for those brothers and cousins to get her.

Megan drinking the water from her squirt gun.  It tastes better this way.

Averee, Tyler, Hayden, and Josh having their water fight in the back yard.  They loved it!

Josh sporting his cool hat before he gets back onto the trampoline.

After Megan got tired of the squirt guns she dropped hers on the ground and played in the sand box.  Yeah for getting dirty.

Megan, Josh, Tyler, and Averee waiting for Hayden and Kimball so they can sing to Grandma.

Megan, Josh, Kimball, Tyler, Averee, and Hayden all ready to sing Happy Birthday to Grandma.  They sure did like all the fun things grandma and grandpa gave them.