A Different Perspective

As you know, this week, we celebrated the arrival and birthday of Miss Thang! It was a week of busy, crazy fun. Saturday, we finished off the week with a huge princess celebration in honor of Lynleigh Ren. It was a great day. We had about 11 little 2-4 year olds in their beautiful princess gowns. Because it was a Rapunzal party, we served hazel nut soup, bread and cheese and apples for Maximus. After being a grouch for the first 45 minutes (she only got a half hour nap because of a soccer game), she finally warmed up to the 50+ people we squeezed into our new (and we thought huge) house. 50, you ask? Well, that includes the 11 little girls, parents, grandparents, and babies. Holy cow! Brady asked if he could be in charge of taking pictures for his little sister. Usually, this is my job. I love being the photographer in our family.

I think Brady did a great job capturing the moments of his little sister's special day! This next picture is of Gracie and Sophie. They were just too cute in their Mulan and Ariel dresses!

This one has to be my favorite by far! I love how hard she tried to blow out the candle on her own!

All in all, it was a wonderful day!  I have a ton of pictures and will have to blog more later!  Tony and I are about to meet with one of our pastor's about Orphan Sunday.  What an appropriate way to end Lynleigh week!

GOOOOOOOAAAAAL!

Soccer season is upon us and what better way to get into the sport but to sign up a bossy two year old! Lynleigh's first soccer practice was this week and when I met her coach I had a few words of wisdom, "She doesn't like strangers, she doesn't know how to share, she's bossy, she's doesn't know how to talk and she's a little OCD. Good Luck to you!" Within the first 30 seconds, I knew this would be a long season! The coach started out asking everyone to say his/her name and do something silly. This lasted all of about 2 minutes before the eight two to four year olds lost interested. He asked Lynleigh to get in the circle and say her name....um...did you not listen to my words of wisdom? She said no and gave him the hand. Why? Well, there were these orange cones....

Yeah! She couldn't focus on anything because she was so busy lining up the cones. She would get them in some sort of line and this one kid on the team would come over and kick them. Insert meltdown! I had to eventually go out to the field and take the cones away from her because she was never going to be able to concentrate with those dang cones out there!

Once the cones were gone, she was able to enjoy herself a little and play with the other kids. And wouldn't you know it, the coach found where I had hid them and put them back out on the field! Next week, I'll make sure they are "MIA" so she can function!

As much as she liked kicking the ball, it was a lot easier to carry it to where she wanted it to go! Plus she learned that if she held it, then no one could take it from her. Two year old logic!

She did try to kick it into the goal a few times and with a lot of effort, she would make it in!

I think she and her BFF liked digging in the goal for the ball as much as any other part of the practice!

So, she held it and she kicked it, and she complained about the shin guards!

But mostly, she just played with the cones and took a lot of breaks!

Meanwhile, this guy...

Was ready to hit the field! Kaden's an all around great athlete! He's good at almost every sport he tries. And what he's not good at, he makes up for in attitude! If it can be done outside, he loves it!

The best part about soccer for a kid like Kaden, is the running. He has an unlimited amount of energy and soccer really helps wear him out!

I'd say on a scale of one to ten, the first soccer practice was an 8. Hopefully, now that Lynleigh knows what it's all about, she will get into it a little more. As for Kaden, we don't have to worry about him! He was born for this sport!