Weekly update!

We made it through another week, and what a nice relaxing week it was! Due to a few different reasons Aiden only had 3 practices this week – that gave us TWO week nights that we got to do pretty much what ever we wanted. Granted, one of those evenings Adam and Aiden made the choice to go out and practice soccer – but I really wouldn’t expect any thing different.
I wasn’t feeling too well last week, and ended up taking Monday and Thursday off, because I just couldn’t force myself out of bed. The two days of rest really helped, and I’m finally starting to feel like myself again. Friday I picked up Ryann at 4:30, and we started our incredibly long journey back to Keller. Traffic was crazy – even for a Friday evening in DFW. We didn’t get into Keller until well after 6:00. But, we enjoyed visiting and singing to the radio during our long haul.

We FINALLY got a good bit of rain Friday evening/ early Saturday morning. Saturday’s soccer game was cancelled due to the rain, which actually turned out to be a blessing. Ryann has decided she wants to run for Student Council and needed some help writing her speech and making a few posters, and Aiden had homework that he and Daddy didn’t get done Friday after school. I sat back for a moment Saturday morning and watched in amazement; we had one child on the computer doing homework, and the other sitting at the desk working on her speech – when did these kids get so big?! After all the school work was done we had a ton of errands to run, and then we headed out to Jennifer and John’s for their annual shrimp boil. We had a wonderful time!! I really hope we can get together with them again very soon!!

Sunday Aiden had a soccer game, so we all headed out to the Odyssey fields to watch them fight for a win! Afterwards Adam had to get Ryann back to her Mom, and Aiden and I headed to his end of season soccer party. Below are a few pictures from our weekend.

Weekend Games!

Aiden had his first outdoor game, for both teams this weekend. Barcelona played Saturday evening. They played great, and won their game. I can't remember the score off the top of my head... think it was something like 8 to 2. Adam and I are less than happy with the independent league this team is playing in this season. But, Aiden is having a great time playing with the team, so we are willing to over look the field conditions and refs - at least for this season. If the coach decides to stick with this league next season we may have to reevaluate our commitment to the team.... more to come on that in a few weeks.

As I said before I signed up to be the photographer for the Odyssey club team, so I took about 150 pictures at Sunday's game. Which the boys WON!!!!!!!!! These boys really deserved a win; the final score was 5-2. Here are a few of my favs of Aiden from the game.

I love how he is standnign this kid up! That's the way to defend the ball!!

He can defy gravity too... LOL!

We hope you are all doing well! We're very much looking forward to this weekend. Ryann will be back! (YAY!!) Aiden will have games, and probably my favorite thing... we'll be headed out to Jennifer and John's for their annual shrimp boil! I love my cousin, and am so happy she lives close enough that we can get together, just wish life would slow down a bit so we could do it more often. I'll have more pictures to share after this weekend!

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!!