Soccer time!

We've been enjoying soccer practice twice a week and 2 games on Saturday for the last month or so. Morgan is old enough this year so we asked her if she wanted to play. She said she did so we thought we'd go for it. Morgan is generally a happy girl and generally up for doing anything. The first soccer practice was great, the first game, not so much. She did great the first half and then didn't want to go back in after half time. I wondered what we had gotten ourselves into by signing her up, but she has come around. With some helpful encouragement and coaching from daddy on the sidelines, as of last week, Morgan now plays all practice and all game without tears! She is pretty proud of herself and so are we. I won't say she is the most aggressive, nor is she always paying attention to what is going on, but she has fun and she doesn't cry. Success in my book!

Ethan is in his second year of soccer. He is loving it and has grown a lot since last year. I think being a year older and playing soccer everyday at recess has helped his confidence and ability. It is fun to watch him and those he plays with. He is the youngest in his league, so he has some pretty good players on his team. He is doing a great job. Our little guy is growing up!

Hodge Podge

A few pictures of what we've been up to.

Despite the fighting the stomach flu (note the large sheet in the background, our attempt to protect the carpet) Hudson and Brooklyn were able to enjoy a couple small presents from us. Unfortunately these presents and a dinner at Papa and Nana's house 2 weeks later is as festive as their birthday was this year. Maybe next year....

We decided to head out as a family this year to catch the annual balloon festival in town. Of course it was too windy again this year so the balloons didn't launch. One of these years we will see them launch. The kids did awesome though ad we were able to hang out a little longer and take in some of the other festivities, including watching the bay area sky divers. They were super cool!

On Labor Day we headed up to one of our favorite little hiking places. It is only a 45 minute drive so our kids are able to make it there without getting car sick. Yes, that is a major criteria for us when making traveling plans!

The kids were troopers and we were able to "hike" without backpacks or a stroller!! It felt like a big accomplishment for us and it was one more step towards feeling "normal" for Kevin and I. Hudson especially loved hiking and led the pack most of the morning.

They have a little museum there where you can check out the local animals, vegetation and Native American History. Ethan and Morgan were really into this. Again, it was a fun step towards everyone growing up.

Morgan and Husdon are wearing animal pelts...nasty, I know.

Videos

I have a couple videos I wanted to share and make sure we had saved for our memories. Both are mainly of Brooklyn. She seems to be my performer.

This first video was taken back in May, I just never got around to posting it. Hudson and Brooklyn's vocabulary has improved tremendously since then, as well as their understanding of what their own names are:)

This second video I just took today. Brooklyn loves to sing, like I stated in an earlier post. She catches on to tunes really easily and sings a long to most songs we play in the van. She has been singing her abc's for about 5 months now and I finally got the whole thing on video. She even performed her song for the Dr. at her 2 year check up. I wonder if she'll be our singer someday.

My 2 two year olds

For Hudson and Brooklyn's 2 year pictures I decided to go for it on my own. I enlisted the help of my friend Kelly and with her backyard and camera and my camera I think we got a couple good shots of these cuties.

Party Time

The day before Morgan's birthday we got to celebrate her! She was very confused as to why her party was on Tuesday, but she wasn't 4 until Wednesday. I explained it several times, but I'm still not certain she understood it:) We did a low key play date party. I had a few crafts for the girls to do and they played dress up.

Spiderman even made an appearance:)

Happy Birthday to You! We've been singing that song a lot this week!

Yum!

Morgan loved all her presents and loved her time with her friends. She was very excited to have them all over to her house.

The girls broke out into a few spontaneous rounds of Ring a Round a Rosie. It was fun to watch their pure joy in such a simple game.

The rainbow cupcakes I made. They turned out pretty good I think, the girls all enjoyed them anyways.

On her "real" birthday Morgan woke up to balloons in the living room and then she got to open a couple presents when Daddy got home from work. (Yes that is Christmas wrapping paper, I need to buy some birthday paper, and no one even noticed:)

This is baby Sally. Baby Sally goes everywhere with Morgan now. I'm just impressed that Morgan's naming ability has gone beyond our family now:) We had a great time celebrating Morgan.

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We never did get to have a party to celebrate with Hudson and Brooklyn. In addition to starting school last week our family got hit with a nasty stomach bug, and Hudson and Brooklyn were hit the worst. They haven't been able eat much this past week. They did each get a gift from us though. I have pictures that I'll post soon.

Morgan Rae is Four!

Happy Birthday to our free spirit little girl. It is hard to believe that you are four Morgan. You have certainly grown up a lot this past year. You continue to be easy going and content with most things. You are definitely expressing your opinion more though and seem to get pretty emotional lately, especially when you are tired. You have such a kind heart for others and you really want to make sure those around you are happy and feeling good. You are very sensitive to people being mean to you or hurting you. You are quick to cry when you feel there has been some injustice done to you. We've had some firsts this year too.

Your independent sense of style makes me smile. You  have been dressing yourself since you were two and I must say that your ability to match is actually pretty good now. You have strong opinions on what you wear so mommy only interferes when something really doesn't match and we are headed somewhere when I want you to match. I love this independence and confidence about you and I hope it never changes.

Morgan, you and Ethan are the best of friends and the biggest enemies. You had a great summer together and you really grew a lot in your relationship. Since you are getting better at communicating with him you two really have fun together. You are the imagination behind most of what you guys play together. Ethan loves to follow your imaginative lead.

Mo, you and your little sister have a lot of fun together. Most of the time Brooklyn follows your directions and plays what you want. You two can disappear for long periods of time into your room. Sometimes that means trouble!

I love this picture because it shows your crazy bed head. You have beautiful curls Morgan and if we don't braid it the night before, this is what you look like in the morning. Everyone loves your curls too. Often you comment that you wish you had long princess hair, so I know there will come a time when you don't like your curls and I'll be spending hours straightening them:)

You love one-on-one time with daddy and mommy. You don't demand it, but you sure get a huge smile on your face when you get to run errands or play a game with just daddy. Daddy has a way with you too and on those rare times you are coming undone about something I usually send daddy in to deal with you.

You, Ethan and Daddy like to have dance parties after dinner. You love to dance and sing.

Your current passion is crafts. You will spend hours cutting, gluing and coloring. When we started talking about preschool you said, "Do we get to do crafts all day? Yay!" Give you a pack of paper and some markers and you are a happy girl.

You have a lot of great friends and you are a social little girl. I call you my extroverted introvert though. You love your time with friends, but whenever we come home from bible study, church, or a friends house you head to your room for about 30 minutes of alone time. You definitely need your space in between all the people time.

You got your first hair cut this year. You were beside yourself with joy:)

Girl you love the dirt. Put you in the sand box and you are a happy camper. You also love the swings and will swing for as long as I let you.

It has been fun watching you and cousin Annika this year. You are starting to play so well together. You will now disappear upstairs at Papa and Nana's house and we won't hear from you for quite a while. It is fun to watch your friendship.

I love you sweet girl. I love your compassion and how you beginning to understand the Bible and who Jesus is to us. I love how patient and helpful you are with your little brother and sister. I love your confidence and your desire to please. I pray that I can be the mama that you need!

Another first was ballet camp. You got to take 4 sessions of ballet this summer and you LOVED it. I think we may be revisiting ballet in the future.

You are also playing soccer this year and you aren't loving it. You start out great, but then after about 20 minutes of running and getting bumped into or knocked down you're done. It takes quite a bit of talking and bribing to get you back on to the field. I'm thinking this may be our only year of soccer. We still have a lot of games left though, so mommy is really praying you begin to like it!

The last first for this year is starting preschool. You love it so far and I can't wait to watch you prosper in that new environment.

Thanks for making us laugh Mo and for who you are to our family. God made you perfect for your place in our family. Love you girl!