Easter weekend

Matt had Good Friday off for Easter weekend. We love to have him home on extra days. We took a special trip to OMSI with him. The kids got to play in the sand pit this time instead of the water area. It was a better choice in my opinion. They stayed in there forever. Emma didn't care for it much so Matt and Emma explored everywhere else while I manned the sandpit. 

Ty likedThe digger  trucks. Maylee liked the shovels and colanders.

Emma running around with Dad. 

Friday night my parents came up to visit for the weekend. The kids LOVE it when they come visit. We had a somewhat rainy Saturday which spoiled our BBQ and egg hunt plans. Ty had a soccer game in the morning and he was excited for Grandpa and Grandma to see, even though my Dad spent most of the time running through puddles with Emma. Then we went shopping a little down by the airport. Both my Mom and I bought new outfits for Braden and Pam's wedding since what we both bought on-line won't really work. The kids slept through that part, well except for Emma of course who was leading Grandpa all over the stores going wherever she wanted. After shopping we zipped over to Rose's Bakery and Cafe for dinner. It was pretty good despite somewhat poor reviews on yelp. After that we got home to dye eggs. It was nice to have an extra set of hands, an adult per child is ideal I think. 

My Dad took a break and watched the Giants game. 

Emma nearly put Matt over the edge with her attempt at dying eggs, but I think it was fun and successful forall those involved. 

Maylee's pretty egg, Grandma helped her. 

I was helping Ty, he liked the orange and blue best. 

Emma dyed that one all by herself! Pink! 

 That night after the kids were in bed we watched The Hobbit: desolation of Smaug with my Dad. The following day was Stake Conference so that was nice again to have more helping hands. We woke up, I made waffles for breakfast and we headed to church in hopes the Easter Bunny would have visited while we were gone. Ty was VERY excited about it when we got home from church and he helped everyone (pretty much) find their Easter baskets. 

 The Easter Bunny brought all the kids bubbles and kites! Emma didn't really get the whole Easter thing, but quickly learned that their were treats in her bucket. 

 Ty is at the perfect holiday age right now. He is very excited and doesn't get let down by things. We try not to make a huge deal of this sort of thing so it's nice he is so excited by bubbles and a kite. 

 My mom sewed the girls Easter dresses, so we made sure to buy Ty a bow tie to match. I love all their faces in this picture :) 

 After the kids changed out of church clothes we went out back to find the hard boiled eggs that the Easter bunny hid. 

 Emma found her favorite egg and thought that was good. She dropped it in her bucket, noticed it was cracked then started squishing it in her fingers... Ty was the fastest finder of course. 

 He was very kind to his sister though and started helpig her find an egg or two as well. Both Maylee and Ty were having a great time. 

 All the eggs were found! 

 After the hunt we packed up and headed out to Multnomah Falls. Turns out my Dad had never been there! We brought the kids bubble guns and they had a great time blowing bubbles all the way up to the broken bridge where we couldn't cross. It was super busy, which I thought was weird because it was Easter, but it was a nice day so that would effect that as well. My Dad took some pictures and we headed home. 

We all were making the traditional ham dinner. I was cutting potatoes and my mom was making deviled eggs. She was getting something out of the disposal and I turned it on with her FINGERS in there! She didn't have any bad damage just bruised and swollen finger tips. I felt Soooo bad. I thought her hands were out! Other then that, dinner was very successful and so yummy. My parents went home shortly after to get home for another busy few days before heading out to Utah to see Maddy's graduation and help Suzanne and Preston move into their new home. 

We are anxious to see my Parents, Colton and Maddy and even more family from the Spence side for Braden and Pam's wedding coming soon. I still need to put some finishing touches on the wedding clothes but other then that we are all ready and excited for the wedding! 

Spring break fun in Medford

2 weeks ago, during spring break we headed to Medford for a few days to catch up with Kristin and the Wu kids and Maddy. The weather was lovely and the company was even better! My mom and dad bought what seemed like barrels of bubbles and the kids LOVED it! 

 Jason and Ty liked to race Jason's Hot wheels too. 

We headed to Science Works in Ashland one of the days. The kids really enjoyed it and I think we were there for about 3 hours! 

The bubble room is always a hoot. 

Maddy got a full standing bubble! 

The kids working on their bubble technique. 

Emma and I taking selfies.

Playing in a new tennis ball area, lots of buckets and pipes. 

 A fun wall of colors. 

There was also a flash freeze room that kind of took your sillouhette picture for you, it was too dark to get a picture though. We always knew Ty had a big noggin... 

The kids loved watching movies together in Grandma and Grandpas bed. 

I couldn't find Emma's paci for a long time one day, thinking I only packed one I was feeling like I was in for a long few nap times and nights. I did however find one when I dumped the entire contents of the diaper bag out in desperation. Our first night there was bad news but after that Emma slept just fine. 

We also went to a place called Rogue air. A big huge trampoline filled warehouse kind of thing... The kids loved jumping but it was a little over priced for the little ones. I think 8 and up would be a better demographic. That being said, I still think the kids had a blast running jumping and playing dodgeball with aunt Maddy who was and always is such a good sport to entertain the littles. 

That is Ty Jason and Sierra. 

Emma loved running back and forth as fast as her little legs would take her. 

Ty attempting to dunk, it was a bit too tall for him :) 

Racing, always racing. 

Maylee and Elena.

After Rogue Air we were going to grab dinner then go mini golfing but the kids were wiped out so we just went home watched a little show and put the kids to bed. It was really fun being with Kristin Maddy mom and dad. Nearly every night Ty would say, have a good night mom, have fun talking to Maddy and Kristin! Haha I guess I am a full fledged adult now, talking to pass the time, miserable to a 4 year old, nice for a 29 year old who doesn't get to have long conversations with many adults very often. 

Special Edition Matt Post: Clean up on aisle three

“In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as injustice.” ~ Charles Dickens

At the risk of sounding ungrateful I will share our story of how we were let down by news that should only be perceived as great news.  We are happy to announce that we will be adding another baby girl to our family.  For those of you keeping track, this means girls are 4, boys are 2.  In most competitive sports, we would define the boys as losing.  This feels like an appropriate conclusion, since that will likely be the outcome for every argument I choose to enter the rest of my life.  Mickie’s cousin, Gib, summed it up well, by saying “...sisters are great because whenever I do something stupid I'm never allowed to forget it, its great... wait...”  

For me the reason for wanting another boy was selfish.  There are costs both material and emotional, that I will need to consider.  For me, it is harder to tell a girl to pick herself up, rub some dirt on it and get back out there. I prepare my son to leave my house as soon as he can shower daily, find clean-ish clothes, and zip up his fly 5 out of the 7 days in a week. The dating world tends to be easier on boys and hence on the parents of the boy. If I ask what happened, I expect an answer like, “I don’t know, she’s crazy.”  For a girl, I imagine a time when they are crying about the love of their life and how he wronged her in some way.  If I ask what happened, I’ll likely be told I won’t understand and to stop looking at them like they are crazy.

To make the situation worse, I have Ty and Mickie crying about not getting another boy in the family and looking at me like its my fault. I guess it technically is.  However, that simply hurts the ego to think that I control the outcome, and if it is not the outcome we hoped for, I’m being looked at like I could/should have tried harder in some way.  It’s a confusing place to be.  I ask myself, “Could I have concentrated harder?  Could I have thought manly thoughts? (that’s weird).”  No, I’ve determined I left it all on the field and played a hard ten minutes. 4 kids will be great.  

 The 3D image of the little lady all cuddled up. 

The final Image, (took an HOUR AND A HALF TO GET) proof that it's a girl, I can't see it but apparently it's clear as day that she is in fact, a she. 

Ty's Soccer Team, the Gray Nimbus Clouds

Ty is playing his very first team sport this season. Soccer! I asked him last year which two sports he wanted to play this year, Flag Football, Tee-ball, and Soccer. He chose Soccer for the Spring and Football for the Fall. When I was reading over the info to sign Ty up for Soccer I noticed they always needed volunteer coaches. I asked Matt if he would be willing to coach. He said, "Uhh, sure?" I called and Ty (and Matt) were wait listed. A few days later the coordinator called me back and said both Ty and Matt were needed and if we knew anyone else that wanted to play on our team just have them register and request to play with Ty or Matt. Well we called a few friends and Ty's friends Luke and Adalyn are on his team too. Luke's friend Kai signed up with him as well. The rest of the kids we didn't know.

With some help from my Aunt and Uncle who are soccer coaching pros (actually I think that may be literal... my uncle has taken all the steps to be able to coach at least college level if not the pro's not sure, but fairly sure) They sent over a good website to use as a resource for planning practices. Matt is uber organized with this sort of thing anyhow. He recruited Mark, Luke's Dad to be his assistant coach as well. Every week Matt had a prepared excel spreadsheet of stretches, games, drills, who has snack next game, game time etc etc. He is a really good coach and I think all the kids like he and Mark. One of the parents have all ready told Mark how appreciative they are that Matt and Mark are organized and engaged. I guess their child's last season wasn't like that at all. It is volunteer though, so it's really the luck of the draw.

Speaking of the luck of the draw, I have no idea how Ty's team ended up being so awesome! Seriously every kid has scored this season (besides Ty, he's been SO CLOSE though!) They don't keep score since it is a non-competitive rec league, but of course Matt and Mark have a mental count. In the 2 games we have won about 8-2. Matt is having trouble during games not making it look like we are running up the score because every kid is so good!

Of course, we live in Washington State and that means lots of rain and mud in the spring. Practice has been rainy and cold as well. The first few practices and games Ty wasn't too into it. He didn't dig standing in the cold and rain. He is now used to it and we've added to his uniform (pants, a hat, gloves a coat under his game shirt).

The first game he was really timid. The first half he only wanted to play defense. Then in the last quarter (yeah 4 quarters in soccer? Weird) he went up there and started trying to play offense.

Practice Time. Starting off with calisthenics and stretches.

 Maylee likes to go to Practice kicking a ball around at practice.

 Matt and Mark.

 Emma Maylee and Emmalise wishing they could play.

 Game day #1, Ty refused to wear a coat or wear gloves. Then we got there and he wished he brought his coat and gloves. He wore my gloves.

 This is against the Caribbean Green Crocodiles (each team picks their own name)

 Coach Matt... coaching.

 Ty gettin' in on the action.

 It was so muddy we lined the kids up to get a picture. Left to right, Anna, Anastasia, Ryan, Adalyn, Cecilia, Luke, Kai and Ty.

 Emma fell off the camp chair, straight in to the mud. Yikes. We dumped everything in the wash with 2 scoops of oxi-clean and it all came out clean.

It was a little rainier at game #2, but not as muddy and not near as windy. So it was bearable. We still got to be pretty soaked. Ty got in on the action from the beginning. Matt says it's great to hear him out on the field, he makes noises like HA and He-YA and HO then when he would kick the ball and he would turn to me with thumbs up and say "YEAH! MOM! I DID IT!" We'll need to work on finishing and focusing. He is the youngest on the team, and nearly the smallest.

 There he is after a big kick turning to me to give me a thumbs up. I say, Get the Ball, Get the Ball, Get the Ball! Such a cute little dude out there.

Matt and I are glad he is getting in to it more, we hope he'll be able to score a goal this season some time, that would be a great improvement and very exciting for him. At the end of every game I ask him if he had fun, and if he played his hardest. He has answered yes to both every time so that is all that really matters.