Labor Day recap, and Summer II soccer standings

I guess when I said I’d update on Tuesday I meant Thursday… We had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. It was wonderfully lazy! Saturday and Sunday we stayed close to home. Aiden was scheduled to have an outdoor game on Saturday, but it got rescheduled so we were able to enjoy three full days of quality time together as a family! Monday we headed over to Gamma and Papa’s house. That was a nice treat. With Aiden’s soccer schedule we see them most weekends, but I can’t remember the last time we were able to go out to their house. We enjoyed a nice lunch, and time out by the pool. We were blessed with much cooler temps… we were actually a bit chilly out by the pool – and that was such a blessing. Here are just a few pictures of our Labor Day.

Playing cars with Papa 

Adam and Courtney being lazy 

Adam and the kids playig sea saw in the pool 

Daddy and Aiden flipping over! 

Gamma and the kids working on an art project.

On Tuesday Aiden played his last games for both teams, for the indoor season. His Barcelona team won! Actually they didn’t loose a game this season, they tied one – so they finished up this season in first place. The Odyssey team didn’t do quite as well. This season was very hard for this team. First all the boys are 6 years old, playing in a league with 8 year olds, (because last season they played against 7 year olds, and won every game). Second, their coach was changed mid season – and the two coaches have VERY different coaching styles. SO- they actually only won one game- and finished the season in last place. Both teams move outdoor, with their first games being this weekend. I’ve signed up to be the team photographer for the Odyssey team – so expect lots of soccer pictures very soon.

We did have the opportunity to talk with Ryann about her school year so far. She says she likes both her teachers, and her classmates. So far all her school work has pretty much been a review of what she learned last year, and she likes that. Ryann moved to a new building this year, and before school started she was concerned that she would get lost, but was excited to report that on the second day of school she knew exactly where to go! Right now Ryann is not involved in any extra curricular activities, but she has told her mom that she wants to play soccer – so HOPEFULLY I’ll have some soccer pictures/stories to share from her soon!

Two weeks down!!!!

The kids finshed up week two of school!! Here are a few pictures of Aiden taken by his teacher... I LOVE that she takes photos and shares!!! It's a tiny peak into his school life... Hope you enjoy!!

Aiden and Marisa working in their poetry notebooks

Aiden and Trevor. These boys spend a LOT of time together. They're in the same class and Trevor also plays on Aiden's two soccer teams.

Hard at work!

Just Aiden.

We are having a wonderful Labor Day weekend! I'll update more on that on Tuesday.

Fall Odyssey Schedule

Below is the schedule for Aiden's Odyssey team. All of the games are on Sunday, which some weeks is going to make life dificult for us - but we'll manage. The location of the games change, and I do not want to post the date and times where we'll be on the web... so if you are interested in coming to a game just let me know and I'll send you the address!

9/11/11, 2:00pm VS Quest United Strikers
9/18/11, 3:00pm VS Solar '05
9/25/11, 2:00pm  VS Dallas Kicks SC
10/2/11, 1:00pm  VS GSSC Thunder
10/9/11, 1:00pm  VS Fever United
10/16/11, 3:00pm  VS Raiders
10/23/11, 4:00pm  VS Dallas Texans Red South
10/30/11, 3:00pm  VS Dallas Texans South

Rain out phone # 972-355-3788 ext 411

SEPTEMBER?!?!

Is anyone else sitting in amazement that it's already September?! This year is flying by!!! I’ve got my fingers crossed that this means we’ll have some cooler weather coming our way. This summer has been ridiculously HOT. When it’s too hot to enjoy the pool – it’s just too hot!

I don’t really have an update, just wanted to see if anyone else woke up today wondering where this year has gone?!

Adam and I attended the first grade curriculum night on Tuesday. I can easily see why Aiden loves his teacher. Mrs. Ries is so sweet! I love that she refers to her class as a family. She explained how her class room will work, and things to expect through the year… I feel confident that Aiden is going to have a wonderful first grade year!

More updates to come soon!
Happy September!!!!

School, Soccer, Bed - Rinse and Repeat.

We all survived the first week of school! It was a super busy one, but honestly they all are these days. Luckily for all of us, we all stay on pretty much the same schedule year round. So we didn’t have to worry about getting Aiden used to an earlier bed time, or getting up early – he wakes up at 6am year round. Aiden is still very happy with his teacher he says, “She is the sweetest 1st grade teacher in the school.” I’m really happy he feels that way. I have to say I LOVE how informed she keeps us parents. We’re 1 week into school and we’ve already received at least 5 emails from her with information to help keep the parents plugged into district and school wide news as well as things that are important to all 1st graders and things that only pertain to her class room. She even has a blog that she is going to update weekly. This blog will only be viewable by our class, but I will share as much of it with you as possible.

Aiden had soccer practice after school Mon and Tues, Wed he actually had practice for both teams, Thurs and Sunday he had games. Friday the PTA hosted our first event; Dinner and a Movie. We had a phenomenal turn out!! I haven’t heard the exact amounts, but I’m guessing we profited at least $800. I’m really hopeful I will enjoy being apart of our PTA this year. Due to rezoning we lost our president from last year, and the new one and I don’t exactly see eye to eye on a lot of school issues. I seriously was ready to quit the PTA after our first meeting, but I decided to stick it out....... wish me luck!

Adam and I have been beyond busy with work. Adam had to work late almost every night the past two weeks. In case you didn’t hear on the news his company had a rather large lay off targeting engineers. Luckily Adam was not given his “walking papers” but his group did lose a lot of folks, and therefore his work load has grown exponentially. My group at work has been short handed for months, due to illnesses; and it there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight… However, we both feel so blessed to actually have jobs – given the current job market, so enough complaining about that!

We’re all very much looking forward to the upcoming long weekend. We’ll have Ryann, and hopefully I’ll be able to update you on her first two weeks of the forth grade! Until next time!!!

Picture update

Our photo hosting site went out of business, so I obviously haven't added any pictures in some time. I'm still searching for a good site - so if you know of one, send me the link.

I figured a picture post would be a good way to share some of our recent memories with you!

A few weeks ago Adam and Aiden headed out to Cowboy's stadium to watch FC Barcelona play Club America - talk about a dream come true for both my boys!!

Daddy and Ryann, just being cute this past Sunday,

My little Jaxie boy- all shaved for this crazy 100+ temps we've been dealing with all summer,

Daddy and Aiden being silly - LOVE this photo!

On Saturday Ryann and Aiden were invited to the most over the top birthday party I've ever seen! We all had a wonderful time. This party was carnival themed, it had face painting, fortune telling, hair coloring, balloon artist, dance contest, petting zoo, pony rides, and about a dozen carnival games, not to mention a true carnival food selection that included, cotton candy, snow cones, corn dogs, funnel cakes, BBQ sandwiches, popcorn, candy and so much more! Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying all the festivities!

Also, here are the two pictures from Ryann's first day of forth grade that I was able to get from her mom. If you would like to read a little more about her first day you can read it on her blog at http://melk8879.blogspot.com/ 



Our first graders, first day!!!

Here are a few pictures of our little first grader, on his first day of school!

Daddy and Aiden walking to class....

Already hard at work :)

Aiden said his first day was good. He really likes his teacher, and class mates. He loved that he got to have lunch with is best bud, Drew... the only thing he didn't like, they had to skip recess- due to the heat. I think he is going to enjoy being a first grader! For me this year was even harder than last. Our little guy is growing up too fast!! I hope to have some pictures to share soon from Ryann's first day of school - just waiting for her Mom to share.

We hope you are all having a wonderful week!!!

Meet the Teacher!

Meet the teacher was a success! After getting into the school Aiden started to show some real excitement about the upcoming year. He was THRILLED to see that our school did end up with a GT specialist, but was a little bummed that she wasn’t at the school for him to meet. Even though he understands he will not be pulled out of class for GT, it really seemed to calm his nerves just to know that he would have an actual specialist on campus to meet with. While Aiden did not get the teacher I was hoping for, he did get the teacher I expected, Mrs. Ries. From what I've heard, she generally ends up with the majority of the GT kids, and with the homeroom teacher now having to offer the extra GT work in class; it just made more sense for him to be placed with her. Since the GT kids are clustered, Aiden knows nearly all his classmates and he is really excited about that! We made sure to swing by and see Mrs. Whitsell, Aiden’s teacher from last year – we’re all really going to miss her! However, I’m sure we’re going to grow to love Mrs. Ries too. I’ll update again soon. I’ve got to get off this computer – we’ve got a BUSY weekend ahead of us!

Little update........

I guess it’s time for an update, but honestly we don’t have much to update on. Our lives still consist of family time, work and soccer. Aiden practices Mon/Wed with one team and Tues/Thurs with the other and has at least one game a week for each team. So the soccer fields have started to feel like our second home. For a while I really worried he would get burned out, and we would have daily talks about how much he is playing… but the truth is when he isn’t at practice or a game he is at home – playing soccer. He plays soccer every chance he gets a day care, and it was the same way at recess at school last year. The boy just LOVES soccer! His req. team is still doing great, we’ve had a few tough games, but the boys are doing incredibly well. Aiden’s academy team is struggling a little this season. I think the 2 main contributing factors are 1) they are playing a year up and 2) the boys original coach was released from the club, and they are now having to deal with getting to know a new coach, and his style of coaching. Tonight Aiden’s two teams face each other! This has already happened once this season. Aiden has made the choice to play for his req. team again. I’ll try to get some pictures.


Speaking of soccer, Adam and Aiden got to go watch FC Barcelona play Club America at Jerry world a few weeks ago. Both of my boys had a wonderful time! Adam took my camera and got some pictures. I’ll try to remember to post a few of those soon.

School starts on Monday. Aiden is less than excited. Our district, (just like so many others) lost a lot of money from the government, and one of the programs that faced huge hits was the GT program. Our school will no longer have their own GT coordinator, instead the GT students will be “clustered” and do extra work in school and home…So Aiden is majorly bummed he won’t get to spend as much time with the older GT students. Last year a huge portion of his class time was spent with 1st and 2nd graders, and he really liked that. We’re hoping and praying Aiden ends up with a teacher that will challenge him……… fingers crossed! Meet the teacher night is later this week, and we’re really looking forward to seeing who he is placed with. I’ve got my fingers crossed for one teacher in particular.

Ryann also starts school Monday. I think she is a little more excited than Aiden, but for social reasons. She has missed her friends so much this summer. Her one wish this summer was to have a few sleepovers, and while she did get to do that with her friends here, she did not get to see her school friends – which was a big disappointment for her. She has an orthodontist appointment Thursday afternoon, and we’re hoping for good news. Last we heard she was 1 to 2 months ahead of schedule!!

I guess that’s pretty much it for us right now – I warned you there wasn’t much updating to be done.
I’ll try to update again before school starts.
We hope you all had an amazing summer, I know we sure did!!

Good Morning!

Ryann and Aiden had another sleep over with their good friends again last night. Adam and I are so happy that they've found such good friends in Melissa and Drew, and the fact that they are siblings- and both of our kids can spend the night together helps with the anxiety I would feel letting them sleep at a friends house alone. I received this picture form Melissa and Drew's mom this morning w/ a text that read, "Good Morning from the kids!"

Wish I was hanging out with them. Looks like a great breakfast!!

Last weeks soccer games were so intense! The Odyssey team is new to the U7 division - and the team they played was TOUGH! Our boys didn't win the game, but they didn't go down with out a fight either. Aiden scored the first goal. It was AMAZING, I really wish I had video to share with you - or just audio of the crowd. The cheers were so loud and lasted for what felt like forever. Seriously an amazing goal, the final score 5-7! His rec. team had a really great game too! They did win, 4-3. It was a close game - neither team ever gave up. Our boys had several shots on goal - the other keeper was REALLY good! Aiden scored during this game too with another rather impressive goal.

This is our last week with our little Princess before she heads back to her mom's. We're all going to miss her more than words can say. Before she heads back though she has another dance class, 2 more track practices, a trip to the circus and another sleep over planned!

Sunday before taking Ryann back to her Mom, we'll be cheering on Aiden. His two teams are playing each other - should be interesting and FUN. Aiden's made the choice to play for his rec. team, FC Barcelona. If you get a chance to come out and cheer him on, this game should be rather interesting!!

I guess it's time to start our count down for school - 28 days - and other than new school shoes we're all set!!!

Until next time, we hope you are all doing great!

Coming down from our Sugar high...

I think we’re all suffering from birthday cake withdrawals. We all had a wonderful time celebrating Ryann’s birthday!! The word for that weekend was “amazing”, except she said it “A – mazing”. The hotel was A – mazing, the Cheesecake factory was A – mazing, her gifts were A – mazing, and Hurricane Harbor was A – mazing! Adam and I were so happy she had such a wonderful time! I took July 13th, (Ryann’s actual birthday) off. Both kids had a friend spend the night the night before, and we spent the 13th doing whatever the kids wanted. It was a great day!

Ryann and Aiden at the hotel

the "amazing" Hotel

Opening Gifts at dinner

Reading her new book back at the hotel - she looks SO grown up!

Kids leaving Hurricane Harbor

All the kids watching a movie in the living room, the night before Ryann's bday.

The kids spent the night of the 13th and 14th with Gamma and Papa, Ryann then spent the 15th – 17th with her mom. More birthday celebrating for her. While she was gone Aiden attended two friends’ birthday parties. Maybe now you understand why we’re all suffering from cake withdrawals!

My birthday, (which means MORE cake!) was this past Wednesday, I’ve entered the last year of my twenties – and fully plan to make the most of it. I’m starting this year off with a new car. We’re really happy with our purchase, although honestly a car was not something we were looking to purchase anytime soon. The A/C in my old car went out, and the cost to repair that, on top of few other high dollar maintenance repairs, we were looking at sinking WAY too much money in car a that had nearly 100,000 miles on it. I decided I wanted something smaller – with both kids now big enough to sit in boosters, I don’t need such a big back seat. I also wasn’t looking for a car with all the bells and whistles my old car had. It had the top trim line – and that stuff while really nice, isn’t all that important to me. I wanted something almost brand new, (since Adam will not let me get something brand new – he doesn’t want to pay that 1st year of depreciation- SMART) with little to no miles. I opted for a 2011 Ford Fiesta Hatchback with about 4k miles. It’s so CUTE, and actually has a lot of really cool features- a lot of which I still haven’t learned to use! Ryann and Aiden LOVE the new car, and Adam and I are really happy with our purchase too. The dealership gave us over Kelley Blue book on my old car, and came down a good bit on the price of this one – really making it a no brainer.

Switching gears, here are a few pictures of Ryann at track practie, I think I promised some a few weeks ago:

See, she is a natural!

Sorry they aren't closer up, they practice on the oposite side of the field.

Aiden is still playing soccer - I don't expect that to change any time soon. Summer II season starts this weekend. Below are the schedules for both teams:

 

If you look closely you'll notice that his teams are playing against each other TWO times. Our goal is to have him play for each team once - we just need to talk to the coaches and get all of that figured out. We hope you can come cheer him on!

Any who, I think that gets you pretty caught up on us. We hope you are all having a wonderful summer!!



Let the Birthday Count Down Begin!

I don’t know if Ryann got much sleep last night. She cracks me up with how excited she gets about upcoming events. She is so excited to start celebrating her birthday tonight. Because Ryann spends so little time here we opted not to throw a traditional birthday party again this year. Our thought was, only family would be invited, so there is really no need to spend $300-$400 on a party; so instead we’re staying in a hotel this weekend, meeting up with the fam and taking Ryann to Cheesecake Factory for dinner and gifts tonight, (she thinks it’s like the fanciest restaurant – LOL!) and spending the entire day tomorrow at Hurricane Harbor! We’re all going to have so much fun celebrating our little princess’ birthday!!

Although this weekend will be busy, and a ton of fun I’m hoping we can squeeze a little bit of time in for a little R&R too. We have been going almost non-stop this week! The kids didn’t get home from their sleep over until late Tuesday afternoon. They both had a really great time, and really were not really excited about coming home, safe to say their first sleep over w/ friends was a HUGE success. Tuesday evening Ryann started her dance class. She had a lot of fun, and really did a great job. She caught onto the choreography really quickly! I mentioned before Ryann was going to get to play soccer, however, that turned out to be a bust. Since she’ll only be here for one month we couldn’t put her on a team, because she wouldn’t have been here for even half the season – so I was really excited to find that our subdivision puts together pick-up games every Tuesday night. However, with these high temps we’ve been having, and the games scheduled to start at 5:30 no one showed. So, instead she started track Tuesday night. I didn’t get to go, (I had to take Aiden to his soccer practice) but Adam said Ryann did a really terrific job. Other parents were even asking him if she had had any formal training before now. She is definitely a natural runner. I think she is really excited to be involved in something that she is naturally great at. I know it’s already been a tough transition for her- staying this active, but I also know she is LOVING it! Track practice is 3 days a week, dance is once. Put that on top of Aiden’s minimum of 2 soccer practices and the 3 field trips a week they take with the daycare – these kids are most defiantly making the most of their summer!

I don’t have any pictures from track practice, but I hope to get some next week. Here are a few that I got at dance class. Sorry the quality is so bad – I only had my phone.

We hope you are all doing great! I’ll post again soon :)



Happy 4th!

We hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend – we sure did!! I picked up Ryann Friday afternoon, and we haven’t stopped since. Saturday mid morning I took Ryann and her friend Melissa to see Monte Carlo, it was really cute, and the girls had a wonderful time. While we were at the movies Adam and Aiden spent some time together. Aiden had a Toys R Us gift card that was burning a whole in his pocket, so Adam took him there, and then they came home and played. Afterward we headed to Dallas to help Gamma celebrate her birthday. Followed by an evening of playing at Gamma and Papa’s house. Sunday we headed out to the pool, then shoe shopping for Ryann, finally landing in Southlake for their Independence Day festivities and fireworks. We always enjoy the show they put on out there! The McOmber family joined us again this year – we all had a wonderful time!

Yesterday Adam and the kids went back out to Gamma and Papa’s house for lunch, and swimming. I stayed home and slept. I guess the extra full weekend had taken its toll on me; I didn’t wake up until 2pm! When Adam and the kids got home we headed over to the Mata’s house for dinner and swimming. We just adore this family! The dad is one of Aiden’s coaches. The son is one of Aiden’s good friends from school. The daughter and Ryann have become very close – this family is just the sweetest! Ryann and Aiden were both invited to stay for their first sleep over,(with someone outside our family), Adam will pick them up today- I can’t wait to hear all about it!

This month is going to prove to be extremely busy! Ryann is participating in Dance, Soccer and track- and Aiden is continuing to play soccer for both teams… Ryann is BEYOND excited to get to participate in so many activities, and we’re thrilled to see her so happy. She has dance and soccer today. I’ll try to remember to bring my camera along and snap some pictures, (remember when I use to be so good at that?!) I’ll post Aiden’s soccer schedule once it’s released.

I guess that’s about it for us now. We hope your summer is going as good as ours!!

Summer I, final standings

Last night Aiden has his final game of the Summer I season. He had the opportunity to play with two amazing teams this season. Aiden certainly did his part to land the teams in 1st and 2nd place. We are so proud of our little soccer star!!

These are the final standings for Aiden's Odyssey team, this team is an Academy team, and will be moving up a division, in hopes for a bit more competition. The boys really did an outstanding job!

These are the final results for Aiden Tigers FC team; this team is a req. team that is already playing "up" in the U7 division. They were only beaten by one team. They had to play that one team twice- the second time they played them; our boys REALLY wanted a win, unfortunately that didn't happen. It was so sad to see a few of them in tears after the game - it's so easy to forget these boys are only 6 years old.

So, Aiden ended this season feeling pretty good about his coaches, team mates, and his own skills.

Summer II season will start in a few weeks.

Tomorrow we pick up Ryann to start our 4 week summer break!!! We are all SOOOOOOO excited!! I'll be sure to update as much as possible.

Until next time!

Happy Father's Day

These two kids really lucked out getting Adam as their Daddy. He really is one of the best I know!!!!

Checking in

I'm really trying to better at this whole blogging thing! I don't have much to report, just wanted to do a quick little check in.

Other than work our lives have consisted of mostly family time and soccer. If we're not at practice, then we're at a game - and I don't think any of us would change it; especially Aiden.

This weekend we were lucky enough to get to spend some time with Aunt Kim, Joe and all the kids :) They made a quick trip into town, and we were lucky enough to be one of their pit stops! We were all so excited to see all of them. Colton is nearly as tall as me!! These kids are growing up TOO FAST!

Ryann was here this weekend too. She was SUPER excited to get to spend some time with Aunt Kim and the kids. I can not put into words how excited she is for July to get here. She can not wait for our summer visitation- and neither can we!

Aiden had two soccer games this weekend, and won both. He even scored a goal for his Odyssey team, while playing defense! That kid is such a natural when it comes to soccer. Below are both teams standings.

Odyssey is in first place!

Tigers FC is in second!

We hope you are all doing wonderful! Until next time.........