On May 15, Brian had his birthday. I don't have great pictures, just ones from my phone. But I thought I'd post on it because the girls made him a really cute cake. And yes, we didn't have any candles so we did the Nancy Schultz thing and used a single taper from one of our candle holders. hahaha.
Our friend Portia and her daughter Iliana who came over to hang with us. Her husband, Anthony (who wasn't there), is a good friend of Brian's and as always, I become best buds with their wives. :) I LOVE Portia. She's one of the most genuine people I know. And if you know me, that's one of the best qualities I like in my friends.
The new soccer season has started this year, so I thought I should finally blog about last season.
The girls were on the team called The Blue Phantoms. This was their second season playing and they were still a little rough. Their coach was named Marco and he was a young guy, totally reminded me of my brother Scott. He was a professional German soccer player, but had hurt his knee so he agreed to coach the American girls' team while his knee healed. He was a little rough as a coach at first, but like the players they all really grew as a team. Towards the second or third game, they were rockin it. Marco taught the girls a lot of really great things, he would bring cut outs of a soccer field and players as a visual aid, and when that got old, he brought an iPad and taught them on that. He brought big bags of gummy candy for all of them, and was just really positive to them about their playing and teamwork.
The funny thing about soccer pictures to me is that when people post them, you can't ever see where the kid is cuz they're like little ants on the field. I tried circling the girls for you.
The girls played defense (which I was so blatantly told off for calling it by the old name of "Fullback"). They were really great at covering the goal and became known as pretty fierce. They followed the ball every time they kicked it, which is not something most soccer players do. They also shocked a lot of the parents when both of them, each at different times, ran from midfield all the way back to the goal, passing 4 players on the way. They have gotten pretty amazing. The main guy of the sports services over here wants them on a special team to play against German teams, which then will move on to be invited to play on a world team in Austria next year. We're hoping that will all go through.
The girls aren't in the next picture but I liked this picture for their memories.
This is their friend, Jazmine. I'm sure you'll recognize her from previous posts. They loved being on the same team, and I loved being able to hang out with Jazmine's parents. They're super cool people.
At the end of the year, the coach helped us organize a BBQ, separate from the main community's BBQ so he could talk to the players individually and spend time playing more soccer with them. We had a great time at the BBQ. Here is Coach Marco talking about the girls when they received their trophy.
I'll post pictures on the blog of their new season once I start taking them. :) They're team is now called The Golden Chaos.
Our awesome friends, the Hancocks, had this sandbox, a Thomas couchbed and a push bike that they gave to us the day before Easter. We decided to stop by the store on the way home from her house and pick up some sand. From that point on, this little boy has not wanted to do anything else except go outside into his sandbox. He is in heaven. You know that he's addicted when it's raining and he wants to go out even with no clothes on, or he hates shoes any other time except for when he wants to go outside... and then he'll go get his shoes and bring them to me to put them on.
(Sorry about the bad pictures. Again, cameraphone)
Thank you Felicity. You, as one of his church teachers, know him all too well to know that these gifts (especially the Thomas couchbed) was a perfect gift for him.
Yes, every quarter the girls have gotten an Honor Roll award. Are these posts becoming boring for you? Well, they're becoming boring for me to post, but I still have to do it, so you still have to read it.
Can you tell how "over" the whole hoopla was by the fact that I didn't even bring my camera? Girls, I love ya, but I just can't just keep taking the same picture. Well, when all was said and done, I felt guilty for not at least documenting the moment, so I took one on my iphone camera. There ya go. And scanned in their certificates which I've never done before, so see! There's something new for ya!
Great job girls! I'll never get bored of you getting good grades. Just promise me I can spend your free food coupons and I'll keep coming to your awards ceremonies. :)
(You all know I say this tongue-in-cheek. I have gotten a couple of criticism emails when people don't "catch" my sense of humor. Yes, I LOVE going to the awards ceremonies cuz I'm very proud of them. There! Now don't email me if it's hate mail. But you CAN leave a good comment. We like those! :) )
For the girls,we made the hunt much more difficult and 12 of those eggs were money eggs... in different denominations- Euros, Dollars, some a lot of bills and some only a couple of coins. While I was finishing up our booyah Easter breakfast, Brian and Brittany hid the eggs really well, and some of them were in high places. The girls had to get creative to find them.
Brian wanted me to caveat these pictures of why our grass was so long. It wasn't because he was negligent to our yard, we had just had a rainstorm and the rain just shoots up really fast after one of them. haha. Okay, Brian, we don't hate you cuz of our long grass. It actually made the hunt more fun.
Spencer was very funny about the Easter Egg Hunt. He only wanted one of each color. Brian kept helping him find other ones but he would take them out of this basket and go put them back where Brian had picked it up from. He also didn't even want the basketball or baseball ones either. I should have bought ones in the shapes of trains, trucks or tractors. haha.
I know there are lots of pictures of Spencer in the grass, but I just love his face and personality in them. These are definitely ones I want to remember. :)
This is my kitchen window. The funny thing is that all Brian did was reach his arm up and set the egg up there. It was every man for himself to get that one down.
A little black shed house we have out back.
He wasn't happy that there are two greens and two yellows so he took them out and put them back in the grass and on the house ledge.
Love this picture.
Wanted me to follow him.
Checking out his finds. He didn't eat anything except the chocolate peanut butter candies. The M&M's and the Peanut Butter Cups. The other ones went into our family pot of candy. Woohoo! I'm not sure how the basketball one ended up in there because he was adamant about not wanting one.
Check out the look he's giving me. :)
Spencer was trying to crack the egg open.
I didn't get pictures of the rest of our day but we had a great day at church. I hope you all had a great Easter.
