Saturday, March 31, 2012

The Arsenal

Natalie, Heidi and Nokie are all on the same soccer team this year and they had their first game last night. It was so cute! Natalie was a little shy at first. She didn't want to take the ball from anyone. But the second half she remembered she was supposed to take it away from the other team and she did awesome. She made 3 goals. :) Heidi had a blast! She has some pretty good moves for her first time playing. Her only problem is that after she would snag the ball from the other team and then whip around to kick it toward her goal, she would look up to see if we were watching her and then wave. While she did that someone else would take the ball back. It was very fun to watch. :) Nokie did well too. She chased the ball all over the field and even kicked it a few times. Pretty good for her very first time. 
  I took some pictures of the girls before the game
 Heidi was trying to do the same pose but couldn't keep her balance.  
 But she got it. :)
 This was the pose they came up with
 These are their numbers
 Heidi, Nokie and Natalie on the Arsenal
 Heidi diving for the ball
 She wasn't afraid to get right in the mix
 This is her..."Are you watching me" look....the one that distracts her from the ball! 
 One of Natalie's goals

Nokie did so good!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Easter Egg Hunt

They had an Church Easter Egg Hunt today. It was so much fun. They had it at a local residence that had a huge grass lawn and a pond with a playground. Everyone brought blankets and chairs and a picnic dinner. I had never been before so we just showed up. Shane had to study so I took the girls and picked up Dana, Nokie and Gracie and we all went together. We hung out and let the kids play. They had the easter egg hunt divided into age groups. Heidi and Nokie went first with the 3 and under group. Heidi actually got the most eggs...18...and got a prize. Then it was Natalie's turn and we all watched and cheered her on. She got 18 too. Natalie and Gracie watched all the big kids search for eggs too while Dana, Nokie, Heidi and I went back to hang out with the grown ups and the kids ate their candy. :) It was a really fun time. We didn't stay for dinner but next year I think we definitely will! 
 Natalie playing soccer with her friend Luca 
 Heidi was so excited to look for eggs!

  
 I love this shot of Natalie...right before they told her she could go look :)

 Nokie, Heidi and Natalie....so cute!

Then tonight...I just had to add these pictures. Shane was teaching them how to show their muscles. Cutest things ever!
 Thats a starburst in her mouth from one of her Easter eggs. :)
Heidi got shy when I pulled my camera out!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Soccer!!

Today was the first practice of the season. This year Heidi gets to play too. She has been soo excited! She picked out her own soccer ball...aqua of course! She looked adorable in her soccer gear. It actually made Natalie look SO big! My cute little girls are getting old way too fast. This year is really cool because Natalie and Heidi are on the same team. Their cousin Nokie is on the same team too. It's gonna be a really fun year. I'm sure there will be TONS of pictures! Tonight there are just a few from my phone. :)

 Doing their stretches
 Heidi wasn't quite herself tonight. I think she was a little overwhelmed by all the kids. Anyway...she is sitting on her ball looking away from the group. Hope she gets a little more into it as we practice more!
 Practicing kicking the ball into the goal
The cousins...they are gonna be so cute this year!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Zoo Day!

I think it's kinda funny that even with all the reminders you get about Daylight Savings Time...I still totally forgot. I got up this morning and my cell phone was an hour later than my alarm clock. Since we missed church, I decided to talk Shane into taking the kids to the zoo. Who needs to study anyway, right? We had so much fun! The girls are so big now and it was just really different from the last time we were there. We didn't bring any strollers! The girls walked the whole time. It was pretty empty too...I guess everyone else remembered the time change and made it to church on time! They loved being able to run and look at everything they wanted to see. It turned out to be a really fun day. :)

 The merry-go-round is always a favorite
  They are standing like flamingos

 Heading in to see the penguins...Natalie's favorites! I just love these three. :)
 We saw the gorilla exhibit and it was really cool! 
 Sharing their icee. Half aqua (blue raspberry) and half pink (pink lemonade). :)
Every time we go to the zoo we always try the photo booth and every time it is not working. Seriously...for like the past 4 years! Today it worked and we had so much fun with the girls! They kept looking at themselves instead of into the camera...pretty cute!
 Last picture of the day. Such a fun spur of the moment day!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Spring is Here

 It has been so beautiful here lately! Our trees are starting to bloom, the kids have been playing outside and the weather has been perfect. Today we made a trip to Home Depot...yay! Haven't done that in a while. We've been too busy and it's been too cold for any outdoor projects. When we got home we worked in the yard while the girls played. Shane mowed the back yard while Heidi mowed the front with her toy mower. Natalie helped me plant some bulbs. I have never done that before so hopefully they will bloom in a few months! We also bought paint while we were at Home Depot. My last painting project for the house. I've painted every room in the house except the kids/guest room. I'm in the mood to paint so hopefully that will get done this week! 
We also moved Heidi back into her old room today. The girls sharing a room was just not working! I would put them to bed at 7:30 and they would play, or fight, or whatever sometimes till 10 at night! I couldn't get them to go to sleep so now they are in their own rooms again. I'll probably switch them back later when Heidi gets a little older because they love it so much. For now this makes it easier on me. :)
Before I finish I have to show you some pictures of our beautiful Peppermint Peach tree in our backyard. It is my favorite tree and I wish I had 3 or 4 of them so the flowers would be all around my house. 




Sunday, March 4, 2012

Happy Anniversary!

Shane and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on Saturday. Let me just start off by saying I have the best, most wonderful husband ever! Seriously! So he told me on Thursday that we were going away for the weekend. He didn't tell me where we were going just that we were leaving early Saturday morning. Honestly I was expecting to maybe go out to dinner if I was lucky! I had no clue that he had been planning this weekend for us. I felt so special! Okay so Saturday morning we get up at and were out the door by 5am. We stopped for donuts on the way and then hit the freeway. We ended up going to Charleston and it was AMAZING! Really...everything couldn't have gone better. The day was perfect. We got there around 8ish, parked the car and started walking. Shane's mom gave us some money to spend on our trip so we went on a carriage tour which was probably my favorite thing we did. There were about 12 people on our carriage and we got to tour around historic Charleston and learn about all the history. I will definitely do that again whenever we go back! 

Shane and I getting on our tour. I love the iPhone4...it's so awesome to take a picture of yourself and actually see if you're in the frame! :)
 This is Bill. Pretty, right? He was awesome...he had so much pep and had to be told to slow down every 5 minutes! 
 The slave market. They never actually sold slaves here though...just meat, seafood and vegetables. Now it's a cool place where you can buy locally made stuff as well as stuff made in China. :)
 So many beautiful churches in Charleston! We passed this one on our tour.
 The 3rd most romantic bed and breakfast in the United States. Two Meeting Street Inn. I just love that huge tree in front of it. 

When we finished our tour, we checked into our hotel. Shane picked a great hotel right in the middle of everything. The staff was amazing...they even sent us up a bottle of champagne after learning it was our anniversary! We wanted to do some site seeing before the rain hit so after checking in we went right back out. We got a great lunch at a place called Burger Babies and walked around. Good thing we brought umbrellas because it started pouring!

 Having fun in front of the millions of great photo opportunities :)


  


 Our lunch was so good! We both got regular burger babies but Shane also got a chorizo burger and a portabella burger. The portabella was actually his favorite! 

While we were eating lunch it started pouring rain. You can't see that well but inside the restaurant it was cozy and warm and outside it was cold and gloomy and raining. Needless to say, after lunch we headed back to our hotel to dry off. We talked to the front desk and they helped us decide on a restaurant for dinner. She made reservations for us and we went back to our room and actually took a nap. Oh what a treat! That night we went to dinner at this great Italian place. The lights were dim, we sat in a booth and they had live Jazz music. Everyone who worked there came by to say happy anniversary and they gave us complimentary champagne also. After dinner we walked around a bit but it was raining and cold so we didn't last very long. We ended up calling it an early night and slept for 11 hours! AMAZING! 



So after our amazing nights sleep, we got breakfast and then headed out for more sight seeing. We walked and walked and walked. Mostly through all the beautiful houses right on the water. Charleston is such a beautiful city. I loved taking pictures of everything and I really can't wait to go back!

 Rainbow Row 
 I had to take a picture of the aqua house for Heidi :)
 I made Shane let me take pictures of him. :)


 At Battery Park
 Shane's Forest Gump pose :)

  



Our last stop before heading home. A coffee/beer place that was actually really cool. We had to check it out because it was such a strange combination. I wish we had a little more time so that we could see all that there is to see in Charleston! It was such a great weekend and I'm thinking that we will be coming back here often!