AJ the Soccer Man

A few days into the trip AJ started Regions. A tournament-like series of games to determine which teams will play in the State tournament. These are a few photos of the Boy in action. This particular game went into overtime, twice then onto a shoot out which Kenai won.




There would be no way for me to tell you what was going on here other than to tell you they gave it their all and in the end it worked. These photos are mostly of AJ-number 18, as I am sure you wouldn't know anyone else on the field. I think there are two photo that don't include AJ however I thought they were good shots and I liked the pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good ones of Barry; I would have liked for you to see him in action as well. They have become men and it is very fun to watch them play. I only wish I had more photos of them in action in their early years; it would be fun to compare them.







The cheer squad was there throughout the entire weekend and grew as the weekend went on. They were brave, committed and loyal. It was cold and windy the entire weekend but they persevered and made a huge impact on the mental state of the team. They were fun to watch and to cheer with.


Cori, Amber and the other girls were there too but none of them would wear face and body paint! Wimps!



I hope you enjoy these. AJ is an excellent player and valued on the team. You will notice many shots of him taking goal kicks and corner kicks. He takes most of them due to his power and precision. In case you weren't aware, I am quite proud.

Enjoy!

~THE FIRST GET-TOGETHER~VISITING WITH GRANDMA, AUNT JERRI & AUNT KAREN

Hi all,

I'm sure everyone is just dying to see photos of all of us together. :-)
I am going to try and do these somewhat in order of the visit. We didn't get home until nearly 2:00 am on the night everyone arrived. Someone had the brainy idea to stop at Red Robin and have something to eat.

Grandma was convinced the trip from Anchorage to Kenai took 5 hours when I'd told her we'd be there in 2 1/2. I think the other 2 1/2 we were at Red Robin.

I think most everyone took a lazy day around the house recovering from the trip, the first day here. I was at school with the kids the whole day. That night we went out to Dad's house for a late dinner.

It was pretty cold that night. It's a good thing Aunt Karen sent Cali that snow suit last month. She has used the heck out of it since it arrived from Florida.

Aunt Karen found the swing right away, go figure!

Cori quickly followed suit and then Cali had a turn.




Cassi spent some of her time showing off her talents on the trampoline. She spends a lot of time there.




Being the competitive sisters they are; Cori tried to make her mark on the trampoline too however... well you get it. :-)



Scott found Grandma making her way down to the gazebo and met her half way to give hugs and kisses.

Cassi took time out from the tramp walk with Aunt Jerri.



As I mentioned it was a pretty cold night (in fact its been a cool start to summer). Even having Grandma by the fire, she had to stay bundled. Everyone else stayed fairly warm although none looked quite as cool as I in my fabulous hat!





It was a really fun night and was just the beginning...

Hope your Easter was filled with all that is special!

We had a wonderful Easter; another year and super egg hunt. We challenged ourselves to think of ways to keep the big kids wanting to participate. We managed. Amber, AJ and Barry decided to hang in one more year. We even had an extra older guy, Brady who often hangs with the group but wasn't expected for this. I think he enjoyed himself as well.

The younger kids, Wren, Cori, Cassi and Cali all had fun and still like doing the egg hunts. I hope they always do. I'm not sure I'd survive the sadness of having them home and not willing.

I managed to get what I believe to be some beautiful pictures of all the kids. I'm not sure I can put into words why I like these photos so much but I do. I hope you enjoy them too.

First, there is a photo of everyone (except Scott-because he took the picture). It is rare that we take an all group photo and even rarer that it turns out all right. I'm not sure any that we took are great, but I think you can make everyone out clearly. That has to be blessing enough! :-)
In the event you don't recognize everyone for all they've changed and grown...starting back left going clockwise...Holly, Barry who is now 16, Rachel in her new glasses, AJ who is also now 16, Brady, Grandpa, who turned 60 this year, Cori who looks incredibly pale in these pictures, Cassi, Amber and Cali, Wren and Me. Some days it is hard for me to believe they are as old as they are.

We did the normal thing this year as far as Easter eggin' (as Cali calls it) goes. We hid well over 300 eggs. We had oodles of silver eggs with lots of cool prizes. We try really hard to make sure all the kids get at least one silver egg, usually everyone makes it pretty fair. The prize of choice this year was $10.00 gift cards for the local department store and a huge wiggly bouncy ball thing that I apparently should have gotten more of.






We always let Cali out the door first and have a little area that only she can find eggs in. Scott hid a silver egg in that area this year and couldn't remember exactly where it was. I believe it was the last egg found and there was actually an offer of extra cash if anyone found it; he was so frustrated that he couldn't find it! AJ looked for the longest time but never uncovered it. Cori finally scrambled for it and unearthed the darn thing after hearing there was extra cash for the taking.

Grandpa gave lots of weird clues this year. It's either that or I am getting more and more dense at figuring them out. It's got to be Grandpa! AJ is quite athletic and thereby finds LOTS of eggs. He also seems to be quite the logical thinker so he's quick too. He doesn't waste time and seems rather business like in the hunt. Barry is much the same; maybe they've been doing it so long it's like spring cleaning or some other job one does once a year or so. Maybe it's just "old hat".

This could possibly be the last year Amber hunts eggs with us for a while. We hope she will drive down from Anchorage next year but things change so we are all trying to wrap our minds around the fact that she could simply decide not to participate. I can't help but think of my Aunt Karen at times like these; when I talk to her about Easter I think she'd still be finding Easter eggs if someone would just hide them for her. :-) The kids are going to leave one by one and I'm going to be left looking for some one to hunt eggs with.







As always, there were treats and just general sharing of old stories and new ideas. It was a peaceful day with little drama. Joy, happiness and peace surrounded us and it was as special a Sunday as Easter should be. We have an awful lot to be thankful for; the sacrifices made through out time are never forgotten. It's my wish that as my own children get older and create their own lives they too will take time to appreciate things as simple as eggs wrapped in foil hidden by adored Daddies and Grandpa's. I hope they remember the sacrifices made so that these days might happen for them and that they continue to value what is most important. It's by the grace of God they have such a large and wonderful family and are so loved there shall never be the need to feel alone.








I hope the day was special for each of you in whatever way you chose to make it so. One of these years we should all gather for Easter. It would be different and fun and a great way to make new memories.

Love to all of you!

The King and I

It has been such a long time since I've posted. Our lives have been just a tad bit hectic. Most of you have heard by now that the two older girls and I participated in the play THE KING AND I this winter.

It was once again a wonderful experience and I believe the girls truly love being part of community theater. This year was a little harder on our family overall as compared to Cori participating in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST last year. They were on stage more and thereby had to attend a lot more practices. I also have learned that some years are simply more intense than others by virtue of the story being told.

This was Cassi's first year and I think she fell in love with the experience also. Both girls are already talking about what the play might be next winter and whether or not they will make the cut. They are also hoping they can participate in the children's summer theater this coming summer. It often overlaps with our soccer schedule but we've heard there may be two summer programs this year so we are keeping our finger crossed.

I ended up in the play this year by accident. I happen to read sheet music and ended being on stage for a very small part playing finger cymbals. The opportunity was fun but I think I will stick to being a stage mom until the girls are old enough to do their own hair and makeup. doing tight little buns and makeup on three was a little hard to manage and nerve wracking at times.

I also think Cali would like to hang around more and being in the show kind of takes away that opportunity since she would be left backstage alone. She is determined she will have a place in the show next year!

Here are a few pictures of the girls in costume. I suppose I forgot to mention they were servants to the king and his wives in the show. They were also in the ballet chorus singing for Uncle Tom's Cabin; the ballet piece that is so important to the show. They both are fine tuning their voices and seem to show some talent in that regard. Their instructor tells me me they show gifts in music, voice etc., etc., etc.

There were a few friends from school who were also in the show as was their music instructor, who sort of ended up being in it by accident like me. I really got to know her a litte better and I think the girls made new friends too.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

~FIT FOR A KING~

This is a break in the time line but I couldn't resist posting these pictures I just took. We had to make a quick trip to the store today and the girls noticed this darling dog bed. They were sure it was just perfect for Booger. Amazingly it was the least expensive bed there. I told them I would get it if they split the cost with me.

As you can tell for the simple fact that I am posting this information; they thought it just that important! We bought the bed. Keep in mind that Booger is only 5.2 pounds and it is all the bigger he will likely ever be.

Here are the pictures...He loves the bed!
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A visit with Santa

We had the opportunity to visit with the real Santa again this year. You may not be aware but last year Santa left a photo of himself in front of our tree for the girls to find Christmas morning. He was eating the cookies we made for him and everything.

We heard that he would be taking time out of his busy schedule to visit Kenai again this year so we hurried over to see him. It was incredibly exciting to see him in person after knowing he'd walked through our house and ate our cookies last year. Wow!

Cali doesn't remember him much and was a little nervous about meeting such an important guy. It took her a little while to move in but she did end up getting close enough to get a couple Christmas card photos.














Cassi was VERY excited about seeing Santa again. She was quite prepared to put on her best face and tell Santa everything she thought she might want for Christmas.




















Cori isn't sure she still believes. Actually she says she is sure but as she gets older she is certainly more wary of people she doesn't know well. She also is thinking she is a little too old to be posing with Santa but I guilted her into it one more year.





















We managed to get a couple of them all together but Cali seemed to be looking over her shoulder the whole time.




For the record, I probably wouldn't have taken the to see that Santa guy had I known they would be whispering in his ear that they wanted a puppy. And even then, I didn't think he would really bring a puppy all the way from the North Pole on a sleigh.

Here's hoping you all had a nice chat with Santa this year as well and that he made your Christmas wishes come true too!

The Story of a Brave Little Girl

You have all probably heard about Cassi Raye and her exciting evening last Thursday.

It turned out to be quite an exciting evening for all of us and except for Cassi's fear and pain, Scott was probably the most emotionally challenged as he was with her when it happened.

Cassi had a scheduled Christmas party at her Cheer gym at 5:30 Thursday. I was due to host a Family Fun Night Roller skating Party for our school from 6:00- 8:00. On my way over at 5:45 I got a phone call from Scott telling me Cassi had broken her arm. She couldn't have been in the gym more than 10 minutes. I couldn't beleive it.

The mom in me came out and I called Cassi. I needed to talk to her and thought she might need to talk to me. It seemed as though Daddy had it under control but my heart was still going crazy. Fortunately the roller skating rink is right around the corner from the hospital so I was able to stop throw the supplies out the door of my car to my friend Misty and run like heck to meet them. Truthfully there were angels looking out for us through out the evening and I sincerely felt my prayers were answered in every way.

Cassi was such a trooper through out the whole process. When I arrived she was calm; a little scared but completely confident in the care of her Daddy. Shortly after I arrived they took her for her first set of x-rays. It was a little painful but we survived it. When they told us there was a need for a second set she got a little shook up. Twisting her arm to get just the right angle really hurt. Still she hung in like a fighter. I was really amazed.

Once she got back to her room they decided to put in an IV or the preparations for one. The first nurse has some trouble and it too was painful but again as soon as they stopped trying she pulled it together. The second nurse came in and put it in her hand which went incredibly smooth. Again, another gift for which I felt we were blessed.

They never did have to give her pain-meds which in the end helped her wake up, from the local they used to set the arm, so much faster. We were there for several hours but I have to say for the most part she was as comfortable as we could have asked for given the circumstances.

Here are a few pictures of her ordeal. Her arm reminded her of a snake she kept saying. It just looked weak and wiggly to me.

She ended up going to school the next day. She was there all day save arriving one hour late. She even had smiles to share for all of her friends who made get well cards for her first thing in the morning.