Last Soccer Game of the Season

After six seasons coaching Claire's soccer team, it's time for Matt to retire and turn the reigns over to another parent. The Tiger Lilies had a great season and all of the girls are returning in the Fall. Our original goal to keep the girls together and progressing each year has paid off - Claire did so well this year! She sees the field really well and moves to the open spot. She is also coachable, which is my very favorite quality in an athlete.

Miles loved being on the Sharks - his favorite part was making new friends but he also got the soccer fever once he scored a few goals.  The mob style of play is a bit frustrating for him - I think he will do better once the kids start staying in their positions a bit more. Most of his last game of the season looked more like a rugby scrum than soccer, with just about every kid on the field stuck in a huddle around the ball.

Preschool Recap

Miles' teacher takes pictures all throughout the school year and then makes books for each of her students using one of the digital book printers. I asked for the photos electronically to add to our blog - she does so much for these kiddos, and finding time to make these books on top of everything else is just awesome!

So here is a photo recap of Miles preschool year!

Girls Trip to CHICAGO!

My friend Janel and I flew from Vegas to Chicago to meet up with our friend Avery, who recently moved to Ohio for her husband to attend podiatry school. As she put it, she has basically been a single mom for the past year while he studied and attended class, so she needed a break like she needs cake on fast Sunday! So, we planned a girls trip and it actually happened! We each have 3 kids, and our trooper husbands watched them for four days while we explored Chicago, ate a ton of great food, and just enjoyed a nice break. I felt like it really didn't matter what we did because we just had so much fun hanging out, catching up and doing whatever we wanted to do, when we wanted to. Basically the opposite of being home with kids. :)

Navy Pier

 Architecture Foundation Boat Tour 

 

Lurie Gardens

The Bean and Millennium Park 

Our Favorite Selfie

Everything we ate was fabulous! We had to do the obligatory deep dish Giovanni's pizza and Chicago dogs first, but we also discovered some great popcorn  made fresh every few hours at Garrett's, a fabulous Mexican place called Mercadido and of course a trip to Sprinkles, even though we have one here in Vegas.

 The Art Institute Museum

Top of the Hancock Building

Headed for Home

Thanks to our hubbies for making this trip possible - we appreciated every moment of it! Maybe this should be an annual trip... or maybe we should let the guys recover before we start planning anything...

Claire's Spring Pictures

Why do the Spring pictures have such crazy backgrounds? I let Claire pick hers this year out of the 8 different ones. They didn't have to wear their uniforms this time, which she was excited about. Her new teeth are almost all grown in and she definitely looks older to me.

And here is her Fall picture from First Grade. 

Penelope's Birthday Party

Lady and the Tramp cake, stuffed toy dog (Monte look alike), a teddy bear, books about animals, sand toys for the backyard, bubbles, a baby doll and cute clothes - Penelope even got excited for the outfits! It was fun to watch her be happy over leggings :) She was also leading the music from her leap frog tea set - she does the same thing at church during the hymns. We had to hide the tea pot so she would open up other presents. Spoiled but adorable, and very thankful for the gifts and cards she received. :)

Penelope was trying to blow out her candles but she kept her bottom lip up so she was just blowing up. So Ethan had to help out a little bit behind the scenes... 

The Birthday Unicorns :) 

Penelope couldn't stop looking at her doll, even for a quick photo