Celebration Park

Today we I let Gina stay home and rest. I figured it was only fair after last weekend's stay in the hospital that she get to rest at home this weekend. For those who might wonder, she was admitted due to internal bleeding and immediately hooked up to IVs to bring her levels back to normal which took 3 days. The culprit ended up being a bleeding ulcer. After she finishes up $300 worth of meds (cost after med ins covered it's portion), she'll be as good as new. :) We are praising God for that!!!!

So back to the fun stuff! We went to the splash park today for Sophia's soccer team's end of season party. The kids had a blast, and her coach asked if she would join her fall soccer team too. We shall see. "Sophia is the best ball handler on the team, and she totally understands the game." "We were so lucky to get her this season." Sophia scored a total of 17 goals this season and assisted in many more!!! She seems to have a natural ability, and she certainly has the drive.

Josh and Sophia were happy to conquer the monkey bars!! Way to go you two!

Zack's growing his hair out again. This is one thing I'm gonna let him do as long as it doesn't look messy!!!

This next pic is an example of messy! LOL

This is a pic of Sophia's soccer team.

Kaylie joined us for some fun today too!

After Sophia's party, it was time to go and get Zack's soccer trophy. For Zack, he was the best one on his team. His team sucked, but he was good. :) NO joke. His coach who played college soccer said he definitely shows promise. All I am hoping for is that he can earn a scholarship in something!!! I am his mom, but I'll just say it, "HE IS GOOD"!!! I wish I had video taped his last game!

We ended our day at the pool, and yes, I am worn out!!!!!!

The Texas sky is gorgeous!

Spring Days in TX

Memory

Sophia still LOVES to play Memory! She kicks our butts every time we play, and I do not go easy on her! Zack beats me too!

I love playing games with the kids, and often Sophia says, "Mom, if you play a game with me and you win, you can relax." "If I win, we play again." :) I typically can't pass up a deal like this, and surprisingly she always chooses Memory first because she knows she will win!

Connect Four is another favorite, and the kids are both starting to enjoy Battleship as well. I do love that they enjoy playing games. The other night we played Wii Fit Plus for hours, and Zack exclaimed, "I just love playing games with family." That kid is so sentimental.

I think games are SUPER important in building so many skill sets for kids. There is nothing like a kid who learns how to win and lose gracefully! And, when I see kids strategizing, it makes me SMILE! I so hope that they use these skills as adults.

No poor sports being raised in this here house. :)

Mother's Day 2010

Showcase Night at School

Tonight parents were welcomed to come into the kids' classrooms and see all of their hard work. This is Sophia's teacher, Mrs. Ray. She said that Sophia continues to be the best behaved student in her class, and she is being awarded a citizenship award on Friday. :) She also said that Sophia is reading and seems to be enjoying it! This is a great stride for Sophia since reading has typically brought on great stress for her.

Zack's second grade class was full of stuff for us to see. First off, he has his own locker this year which is pretty darn cool. Secondly, his class has their own snake! That is always fun!

Above is Zack's self created bio.

Above are his math centers which he loves.

Sophia loves school this year, and was eager to show me the "kitchen" in her classroom. After we were done, we came home and made turkey sloppy joes, mac and cheese and watermelon! Yummy!

Super Soccer Game!!!

Today was the last soccer game in Zack's season. He was pumped up and ready to play. Poor thing...his team lost every game - UNTIL TODAY. In the past, Zack worked the entire field pretty much because the coach had a tough time teaching a group of disobedient kids with the exception of Zack and two others who actually listened to her during practice.

The last couple of games Gina finally convinced Zack to play only his position and let the defensive players succeed or fail on their own. Well, he scored a goal in each of the last two games, and today, he led his team to their first win 4-3. He scored all 4 goals, and they were not easy goals. He worked hard out there, and he looked GOOD! I really got tears in my eyes. He was so aggressive; so driven. It was amazing!

The following photo is as close as I came to capturing one of his goals on camera. He made a breakaway which ended in a goal!!! Yay Zack! We are so so so proud of you! What a fantastic way to end the season!

Healthy Fun

We recently took our Wii Fit Plus out of the box and decided to give it a run. It kicked our butts! Here Gina is doing the hula hoop exercise which she rocked at. Really, she outscored me on every exercise!

As of late, we've started using an iPhone app called "Lose It" and exercise as much as possible. We have a real desire to get back into shape so we can have lots of years ahead of us.

Any of you try the Wii Fit Plus?

Brief Update

The things kids say:

Sophia: Mom can I say the S word.

Mom: (Thinking stupid or sucks) Yes, this one time.

Sophia: I'm gonna kick his ass!

Silence followed by laughter!!!! She had a sad look on her face when she realized that ass is a VERY bad word and is actually the a word!

Zack: Mom can I take my money to Kenny's game?

Mom: Sure knowing he had $5.

Zack: Pulls change out of his wallet amounting to about 47 cents.

Mom: Where is your $5.

Zack: (deer in highlights look) I gave it to Elias so that he would chase the girls with me.

Silence followed by the what the heck lecture. He was told not to take money to school. He has since talked with his friend and teacher to regain the $5. But, he has lost the privilege of being given money for at least 2 weeks. This thanks to Gina. I was ready to eliminate his allowance all together.

A lesson learned at a young age saves valuable time. It is so much easier and less time consuming to instill than to conquer bad habits as adults.

As to the camera, I got another Canon Rebel only faster and with more focus points and higher pixels. I love it!!! Plus I am used to the controls and all. :)

Goodbye Canon Rebel

These are some of the last photos I took with my Canon Rebel. If you follow my blog, I'm sure you know that I pretty much carried this camera with me everyday of my life for the last 3+ years. I'm thinking I had at least 50,000 actuations on the trusty friend. Yes, I had grown so close to that camera that I call it friend.

I have been blessed in a special way. As you know the kids must have 4 post placement reports after their arrival home. These reports are costly, and we had to pay times two. Well, we just finished our last report - YAY! And, we were able to do so without a social worker being involved so I was due a refund for 2 of the four reports. This refund gave us enough cushion to replace my camera with a better one, albeit refurbished. It is not the top of the line by any means, but it will superbly capture, hopefully, the kids journey into their teenage years.

Sure I could use that financial cushion to pay the electric bill, cell phone, car insurance or a miniscule part of one other debt, but my kids have zero baby pictures. For Sophia, no pictures before she was 3 and for Zack 5. I plan to make up for that in a meaningful way, and my camera makes that possible.

It is blue bonnet season here in Texas so the kids and I drove into Garland to find a field that was not on the side or in the middle of a highway. We had great fun even though my camera was on the wrong setting and died before I could adjust it. :(