First Soccer Game & All-A-Flutter

Makena and Megan had their first soccer game a couple of weeks ago. I took some pictures on my phone and finally retrieved them. It was a chilly morning so the girls wore leggings and long sleeve shirts under their jerseys. Megan was so cold we put her jacket on under her jersey. Makena and Megan both did great at their games. Megan took quite a bit of encouragement and needed either Phil or I on the field with her to play (We weren't the only parents doing this). She's doing much better at practice so I don't think we'll have an issue with this at her next game. She has gotten to know her teammates and enjoys playing with them. I think a part of the reason she didn't want to go on the field by herself was because she didn't know anyone out there. Now that she's made friends it's far more interesting. :)

Here is Phil giving Megan a pep talk.

Here is Makena as goalie. She scored a goal at her first game!

We managed to keep Everett in his stroller during Megan's soccer game but then he was tired of being still. Phil and I took turns chasing after him during Makena's game. Fortunately, there were a lot of soccer balls lying around and Everett had fun kicking one around. He was actually doing pretty good for a one year old!

On Tuesday, we skipped preschool and gymnastics to go to All-A-Flutter. Usually the girls would not miss preschool or gymnastics for the world but they really wanted to go to the butterfly farm. Makena got to go help out during the presentation. You can tell she's a little nervous up there.

Here is a shot of everyone breaking out of their cocoon.

We've been to All-A-Flutter a few times and it's always such a hit. I spent most of our time there getting butterflies on sugar pads for the girls and other kids to hold.

Makena, Megan and Addison

Everett enjoyed watching the butterflies fly around inside the flight house but wasn't very interested when someone would show one to him up close. The butterflies would land on the ground so I was afraid Everett would stomp them if I let him out of his stroller.

Makena got very excited about the butterfly that landed on her shoe.

A Fun Friend Filled Weekend

We had a few friends come to town this past weekend. Our friends Frankie and David were here, as were Phil's college roommate, Joe Zelenka and his family. Frankie and Slade stayed with us so they got quite a bit of attention from Makena, Megan and Everett. The kids LOVED both of them. And David had an Ipad and they were really into that. We've yet to catch up with technology. Poor David was forced to watch Tangled one afternoon with the girls. :)

Here are Megan and David at Jason's Deli.

The girls were supposed to have soccer games and pictures on Saturday morning but they were canceled because of the rain. Wake Forest also had their spring football game Saturday afternoon. It was still pouring down rain at lunch so I decided the kids and I would not be going to the game. And Everett has another ear infection and needed a nap. But Phil, David and Frankie went with some other guys and said not only did it stop raining but the sun came out in time for the game. Phil met up with his college roommate, Joe, at the game. This was the first time he had been back to Winston-Salem since he left Wake Forest. Joe is currently a long snapper for the Atlanta Falcons and has been playing in the NFL since he graduated from WF. I had never met Joe and his family and we were all very excited to have them here.

Here are Joe and Phil with the "Red Devil." The Red Devil was a big deal at the Lake Gaston house Phil's family used to own.

We've decided that we're submitting the next picture to the Wake Forest alumni magazine. Joe and his wife, Reba, have 4 year old twins named Ben and Grace. Here they are, wearing stripes, with Makena and Megan and Adam Cartwright.

 We had a few people over Saturday afternoon. Here is a shot of everyone but the Gallimores, they had just left. We took a couple of pictures but I really liked this one where Joe has his hands on Phil and David's heads. And even little Alex and Emma are looking at the camera. :)

We got a sitter for Saturday night and headed downtown. Here is the group at Foothills. 

 Me and Frankie

And here are Makena and Megan with David and Frankie. We were heading to a dress up birthday party for our friend, Josie, and they were heading home. It was such a fun weekend! We loved getting to see everyone!

Makena's Kindergarten Screening & Silly Everett

We are one step closer to kindergarten! Makena had her kindergarten screening last week. My dad came and hung out with Everett and Megan so Makena and I could go alone. They had said to allow for an hour and I wasn't sure what to expect. Makena was really excited to go. She even dressed up for the event. She picked out a cute Lilly Pulitzer dress (That I found cheap at a consignment sale. I don't even have a Lilly dress!) It was funny to see all of the kids, mostly little girls, so excited to be at the big kid school. There was a guy signing in with his daughter at the same time we were. He told the ladies the girl's name and she spoke up and said, "And I'm going to ride the bus!" It was so funny. We had some paperwork to fill out and then the principal came and took us off the the gym where there were multiple desks set up where teachers would be doing the screening. I left Makena there and went and watched a video about the school with some other parents. The video included what the children would be doing on a typical school day, as well as some other rules and suggestion from the elementary school. I wasn't sitting there long at all before someone came and told me Makena was done and I could go speak with the lady who did the screening. She showed me some examples of the questions she asked Makena. Most of the things were fairly simple and were things she had done in workbooks or at preschool. They had pictures of circles and she had to point out the largest one. There was a picture of a firetruck with multiple pictures below it and she had to choose the one that went with the firetruck. In this case the corresponding picture was a fireman. There were two names like Hannah and Kate and she had to tell her which one was Kate. The didn't really want to see if she could read the words as much as see if she could hear the K sound and know the name that started with K must be Kate. I think she also had to name some letters and numbers and write her name. I asked Makena if she had to recite her address or phone number and she said she didn't. The teacher that did the screening said that she wasn't allowed to tell me her score but that Makena did very well. After discussing the screening, I went into the cafeteria to meet Makena. The kids were having snacks and drinks and were coloring. They were also having the kids put painted hand prints on a canvas so I'm curious to see what happens with that. Once we had gotten back to the car, Makena mentioned taking a picture. So we walked all the way back to the front of the school to take one. She is really looking forward to this big milestone!

I think this next picture is pretty hilarious. You know those kids seats they have in some public bathrooms that look like an airplane jump seat? None of our kids had ever sat in one. One day last week we were at Babies R Us and I had all three of the kids with me and the girls needed to go to the bathroom. Everett had just been riding in the cart so I carried him in to the bathroom. Of course, one of the girls needed help so we decided to use the seat. He loved it. He was laughing while he was sitting in it and the girls were laughing at him. I'm sure if anyone heard us they would have thought we were crazy people. I snapped a quick picture on my phone and made sure no one was in the bathroom at the time. Who is that weirdo taking pictures in the bathroom? :) And yes we did break the no merchandise in the bathroom rule. He was going to lose it if I took it away and we did buy it.

Soccer Practice, Easter Preview and BBall

Makena and Megan are both playing soccer this year. Megan is on a coed team for 3 year olds and Makena is on an all girls team for 5-6 year olds. They are both really enjoying it. This is the first time Megan has gotten to play. And this is Makena's 3rd or 4th time playing and like Phil says, she finally "gets it."  Makena is often the one that breaks out of the pack with the ball. She listens to the coach and loves to play. Here are some pictures of the girls' first soccer practice.

 Makena loves having her friends Addison and Ella on her team. 

 It was a very windy day, as you can see. :)

Here is Megan playing goalie.

 Getting a pep talk from Dad.

 Here is Makena working on her skills.

Our good friends, the Monjazebs, came to visit from California recently. Mitra brought Salem over one afternoon and the girls whisked her off to play. They loved playing with her. Salem is such a cutie pie. Salem put her hands on her face when I took the picture because her mom said, when she hears someone say "cheese!" she thinks they're saying, "cheeks!" And of course Megan had to copy her. :) Everett isn't in the picture because they came over during nap time.

I recently took the kids to a local children's boutique to have Easter pictures made with real bunnies and chicks. We've done this before and the girls always love it. I did it more for the experience than for the pictures. They all looked so cute I had to snap a couple of pictures before we left. We found Everett's super cute outfit at the Gymboree outlet. He looked adorable in his hat! I'm so glad he left it on for the Easter pictures!

 Isn't he the cutest?!

 Here are the girls in the pretty dresses they picked out at Costco, of all places.

We went to Ella's birthday party at Mrs. Anja's last weekend. We took our friend, Addison, to help out since they just added a new baby to their family. To say that Makena and Megan were thrilled to have Addison ride with them would be an understatement. I let them watch Tangled while we were in the car. Addison's family has somehow managed to avoid getting a minivan and the idea of having a TV in the car was amazing to Addison. She wanted to make sure she could see the movie from her seat. :) Now that we have 3 kids, we don't do a whole lot of carpooling. So it was a real treat to have Addison with us for a few hours.

 The kids did owl themed crafts at the party. I took this picture on my phone so it's kind of blurry. Here are all the kids with their creations.

 We have our Little Tikes basketball hoop in the house and Everett loves playing with it now. Again, these pictures are off of my phone and they're kind of blurry. Cell phones don't take good action shots. We have the goal in our bedroom right now and whenever he come in our room he immediately gets the ball and starts playing.



Spring Break

Since we had just gotten back from Disney we stayed in town for Spring Break. Unfortunately, our weather wasn't good enough for outdoor activities. Would you believe we had some snow flurries one day? We tried to hit the gym as many days as we could and did our best to entertain ourselves. On Tuesday, we went to the Children's Museum to see the band, Big Bang Boom perform.

Take a look at the kiddie mosh pit...

 These are the guys they're there to see...

Makena also had her 5 year check up during Spring Break. She turned 5 back in January so it was a little late. Her pediatrician, who we love, only works part time so some of our visits aren't right on schedule. I couldn't resist taking her picture during her hearing test. She looked so cute!

Makena did great on the developmental screening, as well as the vision and hearing exams. She currently weighs 39.5# and was 43" tall. That put her in the 43 & 51 percentiles respecitvely. She had to get her MMR shot so they gave her a sticker that said, "I was brave when I got my shot." I think she wore that sticker 3 days in a row. When we left the doctor's office we went to Chick-fil-a with Nana.

I let the girls trade the books from their kids meals in for ice cream. When they went up to the counter the lady asked if they would like to make their own ice cream. We've been to this particular Chick-fil-a countless times and this has never happened before. They were both super excited to go behind the counter and make their own ice cream (which just meant pulling the lever since it was soft serve.) I told the employee that they were going to expect to get to go behind the counter every time now. :)

 After Chick-fil-a we took Nana down to Concord Mills Mall to look for some deals on Spring and Summer clothes for the kids. I didn't take any pictures there since it was strictly business. :)

On Friday, I took the kids bowling with some friends. They loved it! They've only been once before and I'm sure we're going to have to go more often now just because they like it so much.

On Friday night, we went to Mrs. Anja's Easter Art Egg-stravaganza. I can't believe it's time for Easter arts and crafts! Here are the Makena, Megan and Breiner with their bunny canvases. Breiner wanted to be in the picture, too. He was saying, "I want to cheese." :) So cute.

 Mrs. Anja had some little chicks that all of the kids fell in love with.

Megan kept saying, "I want to hold a baby one!"

 That poor baby!

 That's better!

 And I'll admit that we watched a few movies and tv shows during spring break, as well. We just couldn't help it. And Everett has a thing for Elmo in case you couldn't tell.