Reunion Weekend - Washington Freedom

Washington, D.C

Mommy used to play professional soccer.  Yes, hard to imagine now but she did!!!!!  So she left us with dad for a four day weekend of fun with her old teammates!

Here they are getting recognized at halftime of the Freedom game!

They played in a fundraiser game and beat the police team 6-2.

Night out at Old Glory (the old hangout) after the Freedom game!It was HOT HOT HOT!  It was great to catch up with everyone and visit the old stomping grounds!

Dinnertime!

I found these "alphatots" (tatertots) and had fun with the kids spelling their names!  Amelia just wanted to eat them but Jbird had a blast eating and spelling.  Nothing like eating your name right? 

Swimming!

So when you think of swimming with your girlfriends you might think of cold beers, yummy food and great conversations.  When you have 8 children under the age of 5, it looks like this!

Yup, crazy busy and a few near drownings but overall a good time!

What did Mabel do during all this?

Sat like this the whole time without making a peep!

Our own "Mots for Tots"

My kids go through watered down juice like it's going out of style so I thought I would make it myself instead of paying an arm and a leg.  So....Jeremy and I made it today while the girls slept and it's perfect.  It looks pretty concentrated but it's actually pretty watery!

Neighbors

Not sure why the font is messed up but I am tired of trying to figure it out!

I know I've mentioned the George (Jack, Annie, Bethany & David) family before but I've never said how much

they mean to us. Not a day goes by that I don't hear

Jeremy or Amelia ask to play with Jack and Annie. Not a day goes by without Jack and Annie asking to play 

with Jeremy and Amelia. They truly love each other likebrothers and sisters. They even fight like them at 

times. Rarely, but they do! When we think about wherewe live, our home being a home and how happy we are,they are the first thing we think about. "What would wedo without them" often goes through our minds. It's assimple as borrowing sugar, phone calls to the store 

because we/they need something, advice about life, 

taking care of each others kids, BBQ's on the front lawn...extended family that lives next door. We couldn't 

imagine our lives without them and we are so very 

grateful for their friendship!

Okay, enough blubbering. So, Sunday was spent on ourfront lawn. This is becoming the norm because it's

so easy to see the George's in passing, get to talking, 

pull up a chair and we don't want to get up. We startedSunday morning about 9am with coffee on the front

lawn, turned into lawn chairs, easy up tent for shade 

then In N' Out lunch, inside for naps around 1pm and 

then back outside until 5:00. It was lots of fun and 

they're what makes living here even better!!

Trip to Jefferson City with my dad!

Our big boy in the airport on their way to visit Grandmommy!

Hanging in the creek in Argyle, MO.  This is the SMALL town where Grandmommy grew up.

Fishing with cousin Beck in the same stream.  Uncle Jeremy and Beck came for a long weekend to hang out.

Uncle Bob's Farm (Ryan's dad's brother)

Fishing at the farm.  Jbird caught 4 fish!  You can't tell from his face but he was excited.

Deer Stand (for hunting deer) with cousin Beck and 2nd cousin Ava

Long day at the farm!

City Museum. It's an interactive place for kids to go crazy.  It was designed by an artist so it's super funky and there are tons of weird things for the kids to do.  Example....there was a bus suspended off the roof of the building that people could walk out in.  Here is Jbird with his 2nd cousin Zac, climbing up a skateboard ramp.

A super long slide.  Jeremy and Zac are climbing up and then the white to their right is the slide.  Ryan said there was a 10 story slide but J didn't go down.

Jbird climbed this 4 story sphere (yes, he was 40 feet up in the air)! Ryan said this place was ridiculous!  

They had a jam packed 8 days with grandmommy and we're just happy to have them home.  Amelia was a lost soul without her brother.  They missed each other so much, they needed to wake up a little before 5am to play.  Needless to say, mommy didn't go in to get them until 6:15!

Water Day

Another fun day in the front yard playing in the pools and slip n' slides! Here is a quick video of the latest game!

Rough day!

Mom and Auntie Jess needed a break so we sat outside and actually finished a conversation!

Some Mabel 1st's

Sitting in a bath seat!

Sitting with the big girls in a hippo chair!

Ah, loving the jacuzzi for the 1st time!  She could have stayed in longer but I took her out after 30 minutes.

Best Friends Forever (they don't really have a choice)

A Momma and her Girls

I still have to pinch myself sometimes that I get to say "my girls"! That I have sisters! I hope they are as close as their momma and her sisters are! Some adorable pictures taken at the San Diego Botanical Gardens!

Amelia's 1st swim lesson

Amelia had her 1st swim lesson today and did REALLY well. As expected, she cried when I handed her off to Teacher Mark but he was able to put her at ease enough to play games, blow bubbles, float on her back, jump off the side to him and even dunked one time. That's where it went south. He did one dunk (about 20 minutes into the 30 minute lesson) and she kept crying for "mommy"! I was very proud of her. I didn't want to get in the way so this video was taken from my seat behind the safety gate. Amelia learning to kick...

Kids

Just some pics I took today in an attempt to get a good one of all 3 of them! I'm starting to think that's impossible!!!!!

Ms. Mabel Courtney is moving on up!

She's growing up too fast. She is officially out of the infant car seat! We moved the big girl car seat into my car (backwards of course) and our 1st and only infant seat and base are going away forever. A little sad...this is the seat that all my kiddos have been in. It's tired, old and ready to be retired but it still makes me a little nostalgic.

We've also retired the Bjorn! She loves the red back pack so there's no need for the Bjorn anymore. Plus, my back is ready not to hold 20 lbs on my front.

Happy 4th of July

We had a full day with the parade at noon, BBQ at a friend's house at 4 and the fireworks at 9! We had a few mishaps at the BBQ, Amelia got a bloody lip (thank you Mike for pitching a ball at her face) and Jbird got a goose egg on the back of his head after he fell off a bike and threw up. Minor concussion? It's rare that he gets that upset for a long time. Poor guy still has a huge bump on his head today!

The kids before the Westchester Parade! Mabel looks terrible but hey, they're all actually looking at the camera! :)

We started off the day with American flag pancakes. Jeremy loved it!

My Mabel

Words can't describe how much I worship this girl! She may look grumpy but as usual, she wasn't!