Soccer and Dance

Ben and Isabelle

Hailey and her teacher Caelee and Hailey

Ben started outdoor soccer this fall with his "twin" Isabelle. They have the same birthday and have been friends since they were 1&1/2 years old. Isabelle is the only girl on the team, and always looks super cute! Ben has loved outdoor soccer so far. He played indoor soccer twice this last year. The only "oh man" about outdoor soccer is that there are no goalies, and that was his favorite position to play when he did indoor soccer.

I decided it was time for Hailey to participate in some kind of sport. We have put Ben in t-ball a couple of years, and swimming lessons, and soccer. Hailey has not been in anything yet. She is my girly girl so I though dance would be a perfect first choice! I signed her up for a tap/ballet class with her friend Caelee. September 1st was her first dance class and she was so excited to go. They do half tap then half ballet. At the end of her class she came running over to me, and I asked her if she had fun, and she said "yes I had fun but are we going to dance now?" I think she was expecting to rock out to "Party in the USA" like we do at home. Well, since then she understands what tap and ballet are and has loved dance class!

Go, Go Power Rangers!

So, my kids watched the old-school Power Rangers on Saturday morning cartoons a few times this summer and loved the show. So, I checked out a couple of DVD's from the library and they are hooked! They decided to dress up as power rangers (complete with helmets, belts, and weaponry) and show off some of their power ranger moves!

Skate Park

Ben loves his Razor scooter! Here is one of our many outings to one of their favorite parks, the Skate Park. Hailey has done so amazing riding her bike this summer, she is a natural! Ben learned to ride without training wheels this summer also, if we can ever get him off his scooter. In August we asked Ben if he wanted to go on a walk, he said "walks I don't like but parks I like!Yeah, let's go to the park."

We ride by Ben's school on the way to the skate park, and Hailey said "that be my school when I turn 5!" She is so excited to be just like her big brother and go to school, and do everything he does.

Friend's Birthday

We were able to go to Caelee's birthday party, a friend of Ben and Hailey's. Ben is whispering something to another Hailey on the tramp, girl trouble already??? The kids had a great time running around and jumping on the tramp.

Peekaboo with her Kids

Eliza loves her kids (Ben and Hailey). I always call them her kids because she can get them to do just about anything! When Eliza was little, Hailey didn't really seem to notice her too much. But, know that Eliza is getting older and loving to play games and with toys Hailey loves playing with her. Ben and Hailey can always get the best laughs out of Eliza. I don't know what I would do without Eliza's kids to entertain her!

Hailey has loved this I-Spy Christmas book all year. There is this one page that she always wants to look at. One day before naps, Hailey shared her I-spy book with Eliza and they sat there pointing to the Christmas pictures and having a great time.

The Joy of Eating

My cute little Eliza is 6 months old!!! She has now discovered the joy of eating! She has tried most fruits and vegetables and loves them all! We took her to her 6 month appointment and she is doing great. She weighed in at 18.4 pounds, which makes her 85% for weight and height and 50% for head. While we were waiting for the Dr., Ben picked up a Dr. Seuss book and started reading it. Ben started reading in preschool, but he only likes to read his "Bob" books. When he read the Dr. Seuss book it made me realize how big he is getting, my little boy is growing up so fast!

Back to Eliza, she is such a sweet girl. She has the best smile, and can make just about anyone smile back! She can now sit on her own, and can roll over from her belly to back. I think I will have another vocal child, because she talks to us all day long. Her new trick is crinkling up her nose and snorting! Her two favorite people in the world are Ben and Hailey. They can always make her smile by doing the silliest things. Eliza has been my great sleeper, and has slept through the night since 3 months. She sleeps about 10 or 11 hours at night. When she was tiny I would rock her until she was almost asleep, but since she turned 4 months old she just wants in her crib. I sing her a song and she goes to sleep on her own. She is always smiling and talking when she wakes up. We are so blessed to have Eliza in our family, she brings so much joy!

Yuba Lake and Ben's First Day of Kindergarten

This was the craziest weekend! So, Ben's first day of Kindergarten was Tuesday August 3rd. Mike's family was heading to Yuba Lake for some fun camping and boating. I decided to let Mike take Ben and Hailey, since Eliza isn't a big fan of the heat or wind or camping. They headed down on Sunday after church and spent the evening with Mike's family. Monday was all about boating! Ben loves to knee board, and knee boarded all day long! Mike wake boarded and they all went tubing. On one of Ben's knee board runs he flipped over and got tangled up in the knee board straps. Mike's mom jumped in the water to help him get untangled, but in the process caught her wedding ring on the side of the boat, which made her wedding ring embed in her finger to the bone! Ouch! They got everyone in the boat and headed for the ER in Nephi. The blade of the metal cutter at the ER was dull and wasn't able to cut through the ring to get it off her finger, so they had to call in a local contractor to bring in tools to cut the ring off. After the ring was cut off, and about 36 or more stitches my mother-in-law's finger was put back together! It will be a long road to recovery and possible plastic surgery, I still can't believe how crazy this story is! So, they stayed Monday night then helped clean up Tuesday morning. Mike pulled the boat home, since his mom was on pain-killers. Then they headed home. Ben got home at 12:15, just in time for us to quickly feed him and send him off to his first day of Kindergarten (which starts at 12:37). I was able to hang out with my friend Kristy and her cute kids during all this craziness. It was so much fun to see her and her adorable kids!

Ben is in Mrs. McKenna's class this year and loves it so far! He had a fabulous first day of school, and loves going every day. Our neighbor Leah who lives 4 houses down is in his class so they commute the 2 blocks to school together. I take turns taking them to school, then they ride their scooters home with the older kids from our street.

On August 12th he came home from school and said, "Today was the best school day ever! I made 3 light sabers out of blocks and had an extra recess! The bad part was that we couldn't play our tag game at recess anymore because one of the kids pushed the teacher down!" At least it wasn't Ben who pushed her down!

Mike went to back to school night, and got the report on Ben. His teacher said that he is far above what they expect someone coming into Kindergarten to be, but so is a lot of his class. So, she is able to teach his class at a higher level which is great. She said that he is also a social butterfly, and that is great. He makes friends with everyone, and has been able to get some of the shyer kids out of their shells.

This sounds exactly like my cute Ben. He has always been the talkative one, the one you can hear above all the others singing in primary programs!