1st Soccer Game of the Season

Saturday, September 7th was Daniel's first soccer game of the season.  He played last spring, but it was very new to him.  Not only soccer, but playing any sport was very new to him.  Joe worked very hard with him, and Daniel ended up really loving it by the end of the season.  Joe came home from Daniel's first soccer practice this season and told me how much Daniel had improved.  How he remembered everything they had worked on and "Even kicked it all the way down the field and scored once!"  :)  Does that give you any indication of how many times he did that last season?  

Daniel was SUPER excited to show me how he could score a goal.  He really wants the whole family to come to every soccer practice and every soccer game, but that can't always happen.  We make it a top priority to make it to all of his games, and his daddy makes it a top priority to take him to all of his practices.  It is great for Daniel to get that Daddy time.  

It was VERY sunny and VERY hot!  But this kid played his heart out and never complained.  I am so very proud of him.

He ran SO hard!  Water was very important during the game.  He has quite a few kiddos on his team, and they rotate players to give everyone a chance.  So, he played half of the game.  And in that half of the game he scored not only 1 goal, but 10!  Yes you read that right...10!!  I'm pretty sure I had to pick my chin up off the field a few times.  :) 

Look at that KICK!  And, I'm not just proud of him because he scored quite a few goals.  I am very proud of him because he really did his very best.  It was awesome to watch him try very hard at something and succeed.  That has not always been easy for him.  He really wasn't quite sure how to take all of the praise he was getting for his success.  He still gets a little embarrassed to talk about it.  He told me that at his next game he was going to share the ball with his team sometimes.  :)

And of course he can't play without his cheering section!  

Did I mention how HOT it was?  But they were great sports and both cheered for their brother.  David wants to know when he gets to play a soccer game.  Oh goodness.  I can only imagine what that will be like.  :)

I'm so glad that he had such a great first game!  We are ready for game #2 this Saturday!

Rae

Mary Blanche's First Pageant

This baby girl loves to dress up!  And she loves attention!!  So, after seeing so many posts from my friends on facebook about fair queen pageants in other counties I decided to find out some info about the Fair Queen pageant in our county.  It was the next week, so I thought there was no way.  I assumed the deadline had passed and she didn't even have a dress.  So I just let it go and decided we would try for next year.

Well, when mama, Marianne, and I went to the Rhea Lana Consignment Sale mama found an awesome pageant dress!  I love the bright color and knew Mary Blanche would like it, too.  (It might sound crazy that an 1 year-old has an opinion about her clothes, but I promise you she does.  Her opinion doesn't always count, but she definitely has one!  Ha!)  So, we bought the dress hoping the deadline hadn't passed for the pageant, and it hadn't! 

So, Saturday morning August 31, MB made her pageant debut.  :)

She loved the stage and had a great time!

I finally had to pick her up and carry her off stage.  Girl loved it!

She enjoyed clapping for everyone!  :)  Even herself!

She won second alternate.  (Yes, this is a $1 platter from Dollar Tree with a sticker stuck to it.  Really!?!  Ha!)

And prettiest Smile and prettiest eyes.  :)

And, in my opinion, this particular pageant was poorly organized.  It started 45 minutes late.  10:00 am and 10:45 are very different in the life of a toddler.  And, it was burning up!!  Poor girl never gets hot and she was sweating.  But, I'm still glad we did it, and we both had fun! (despite the disorganization and feeling like we were in a furnace)

Mary Blanche says this is definitely not her last pageant.  :)

(But, she promises her mom is not going to become a crazy pageant mom....no fake hair or tan or eyelashes or any of that other crazy stuff!)

Rae

Mary Blanche Gets Her Ears Pierced

I have wanted to get MB's ears pierced since well...the day I met her.  :)  But because of reasons out of my control that wasn't possible.  I kept meaning to take her right after the adoption, but life is busy!  Ha!  So we finally made it on August 27th.

I took pictures with my real camera, but I forgot to put a card in it so now I have to find the cord before I can get those pictures.  Someday.  :)  

Yes, those are band-aids on her ears.  We got them pierced at a doctors office.  I'm sure getting them pierced anywhere would be fine, but it just made me feel better to go there.  They put a numbing cream on her ears so it didn't hurt when they pierced them.  But, of course, she would leave it alone so they had to put band-aids over the cream.  

Sweet baby girl.  Not gonna lie....she screamed when they were done.  But, I really do think it was the noise and not the pain that got her.  She loves her "pretty ears" now.

  She was smiling before we left the doctor's office.  :)  She has already stopped pulling on my earrings.  If she grabs them, she will say "ears owww!"  Ha!  

I do have to admit that I felt HORRIBLE the night after she got them pierced.  She woke up screaming around 4 am.  She has been working on getting her K9s, so I thought she was probably teething.  When I went in her room she had a crocheted blanket wrapped around her earring!  I never even thought about that happening.  But I got it off, gave her some motrin, and she went right back to sleep.  I was worried that that ear might try to get infected since the blanket pulled on it pretty hard, but thankfully not.  The only thing the nurse told me to do is turn the earrings a few times a day.  The one that the blanket was caught on has turned SO easy since the blanket incident, but the other one has been much harder.  And thankfully we have had no problems with infections.  I plan on leaving these earrings in for quite a while, but we can change them after 6 weeks if we want. 

Mary Blanche and I are both very pleased with her "pretty ears!"

Rae

Welcome Peyton Elizabeth

Saturday I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower along with some friends for my college roommate and good friend Maranda.  Peyton Elizabeth is supposed to arrive at the first of October and I can't wait to meet her!

Welcome to the shower!  I think Maranda looks great!

Maranda was not really loving all of my picture taking, but she humored me.  :)

 We had just a little bit of pink at the shower.  :)

I am so thankful that Maranda's mom let us host the shower at her house.  It was a central location and I just love her house!

Crystal and Annslie

Aunt Ima and new cousin Kelsey.

Some of the precious baby girl gifts.

And my precious baby girl.  :)

Loving her cookie!

Maranda and her mama.  Can you tell?!?  :)

Heather did such a great job with the games!  This was "whose water will break first."  They were little plastic babies frozen in ice trays.  Some of the guests had very creative ways of trying to get their water to break!  Ha! 

She got some sweet baby girl presents.  :)

One last picture of the yummy cupcakes.  

Thanks again, Maranda, for letting me help host Peyton's shower.  I can't wait to meet her and I just know she and MB are going to be great friends!

Rae

Preschool, Tubes, Noses, and Blue Jeans

So thankful I found a minute to blog!  I'm really loving it!

I would like to report that Daniel had a great 1st day of preschool!  Everyone who works there asked me if I was sure I told them about the same child that was there that day.  He did wonderful!!  He was very helpful, made good choices, was respectful, and followed the rules.  I am so proud!  When I picked him up his second day his teacher started with, "Now I see what you were talking about."  :)  But she was very positive and she assured me that they did just fine.  I'm so thankful that he has a teacher that expects the same things out of him that Joe and I do.  And I told her that it was a huge compliment that he was testing her on the second day!  That means he already felt comfortable and knows she loves him.  As long as she stands firm I know they are going to have a great year!

This was this morning before preschool.  He was so very excited to get to wear his new blue jeans!  The weather is wonderful!  But, I haven't found a jacket that I like for him and all of his from last year are too small.  So, we just went with jeans and a long sleeve shirt.  I can't believe it isn't even supposed to get to 80 degrees today.  In August.  In Arkansas.  Awesome and unexpected!  

This mess has been asking me almost daily for a cupcake!  I guess with a party in June and a party in July he got spoiled to having leftover cupcakes for dessert.  Ha!  So when I went to the store last night I picked up a small box of cupcakes.  :)  And he has been missing his brother like crazy!  He has a hard time with change anyway, and then he has had ear infections off and on for the last few months (with tubes in his ears).  So I thought when he got out of his bed for the first time ever on Monday night and showed up next to our bed that he probably had another ear infection.  I was so so very tired that I really don't remember what he said to me.  I just remember picking him up and putting him in our bed.  Next thing I know I am sleeping flat on my back and I hear a loud crack and a very strong pain in my nose.  Yes, he some how flipped over and smacked me right in the nose with the back of his head.  Ouch.  But, I didn't want to go put him back in his bed because I didn't want him to wake his sister up crying because I had to get her up at 6 to go have her second set of tubes put in her ears.  Poor girl can't handle not being able to eat or drink anything.  I didn't want to add tired to her list.  So I toughed it out.  And put the baby gate in front of his door the next night.  :)  And we didn't have any middle of the night visitors.

This girl and her looks!  This is the look I got most of the day on Monday.  Girl just did not feel good!  Thankfully the tubes have really helped!

 Here she is Tuesday morning before her surgery.  Girl loved all of the attention!!  Her pre-op nurse fell in love.  Then her operating room nurse's name was Mary.  When she came out to introduce herself , the conversation went like this:  nurse-Hi, My name is Mary and I am going to be with her in the operating room.  MB- MARY??  :)  She was so proud of herself for saying Mary and then of couse Nurse Mary fell in love with her too.  Then when I went back to recovery to see her she had 4 nurses talking to her.  He post-op nurse told me that almost all kids wake up crying, but not MB.  She opened her eyes and said HI!  And was talking their ears off.  She barely slept at all on Tuesday.  I was hoping for a good long nap after my night of no sleep with her brother.  :)  But she just wanted to dance.  She was cracking me up!  She danced many times to music that I couldn't hear.  And she thought she was hilarious.  And thankfully Memama had come to keep her brother while I took her to surgery so I got my nap even though MB decided to dance instead of sleep.

 Not sure what got into me, but I decided to get rid of most of the play yard and let MB be free.  Well, kind of free.  There are gates up and doors closed where she can only be in the living room.  But still, that is a lot more space than she is used to.  I have part of the play yard blocking off the fireplace so she can't climb up there.  Once she gets used to the extra space I plan on moving that out and just teaching her not to climb.  That may be when she is 4.  (Only kidding, kind of.)  She and David are loving it!  And I don't have too many complaints, yet.  :)  It was time.

Wednesday we spent the afternoon with our favorite doctor.  Daniel woke up Monday (of all days) with a runny nose.  I could tell it wasn't going to get better.  And I was thinking David must have another ear infection the way he was refusing naps and the Monday night incident.  Well, Daniel got some meds and David got a diagnosis of "badness" from our favorite doctor.  :)  Ugh.  That boy is going to be the death of me.  His ears were totally clear.  I am glad, but then his doctor said "there is no other explanation but badness!"  :)  She adores all 3 of our kids, but she has a special love for David and she always has.  So I am A Okay with her calling him bad.  Because we all know it is true.  ;)  Maybe after a week or so of our new normal he will get adjusted again and start sleeping better.  (I really am thankful it wasn't his ears.) 

One last picture before I go of David and Mary Blanche enjoying MBs new freedom.  David only went to timeout 5 times in about an hour for hurting his sister.  That's not too bad.  We are getting there.  :)

Rae

1st Day of Preschool

Monday was Daniel's first day of preschool at the Preschool House.  

He was very very excited!  Like so excited he didn't fall asleep until 10 p.m. Sunday night!  Ha!

I decided to dress him in a shirt with his name on it to help his new teachers out.  :)  Thanks for the cute shirt, Aunt Malinda!

He was excited to see Mrs. Dena!  :)

He was very excited to give her her first day of school present!  It is a lunch box with some essentials like sharpies, pens, post its, and hand sanitizer.  Mrs. Dena told him he knew exactly what she needed and he told her, "No, I didn't know.  Mama just knows.  She is smart!"  Ha!  At least he is learning early!  :)

And here is the mandatory 1st day of school picture!  :)

I'll be back soon with a report of how his day went. 

Rae

Preschool House Open House

We are SO very thankful and excited to have Daniel in an awesome preschool this year!  He is 5 and kindergarten age eligible, but just not quite ready.  So Joe and I decided one more year of preschool would be best for him.  We don't want school to be rough for him.  We want him to be successful from the beginning!  

Saturday his new preschool had an open house.  And I am so very thankful that they did!  He was feeling very apprehensive about going until we went to open house.  Then he was just excited!!

He went right in and started playing!  

Side note:  I am loving my new camera!  These are the first pictures I took with the camera.  And they are not edited at all!

He LOVED this bus!

Have to have the cubby picture.  :)

And he enjoyed his snack.

Mary Blanche and David enjoyed the Preschool House open house, too!

Loving it!  :)

And all got balloons!  What is there not to love about that!?!  We are also so very excited that Daniel get to be at school with Mrs. Nancye.  :)

I have a feeling he is going to have a great year with Mrs. Dena!

Yay for Balloons!!

And yay for Preschool House!

Rae