Teacher's note

Received this email about Carson tonight.  We know that we have three wonderful kids.... But it's always fun to hear it from other people.

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. H,

I apologize for not calling you versus emailing.  Time seems to slip by quickly and I don't wish to disrupt bedtime routines and family time!  I just wanted to take a moment and share with you how proud of I am of Carson and the great work he is doing!  He is a sweet, kind boy who is just a joy to have in class.  He works and tries hard to give his best at all times!  He is truly a role model in our classroom.  Please take a moment as soon as you can to celebrate his first few weeks of school.  

Have a great night!"

First soccer games of the season

Soccer!!! Practice started the end of July and today was their first games.  The boys were playing at the same time, fortunately it was at the same complex.  Daddy ended up reffing but I was able to bounce between games and watch both.  

Carson's team!  I don't know any of the kids' names their year.  The club decided to do a "Micro academy" which I honestly hate.  They have the older kids coaching and have discouraged parent involvement.  It has been very frustrating watching it get started.  Carson has still been having a good time though.  He is the team "Captain" because he's a rockstar, he plays and listens well.

 Dillon played goalie the entire game!  The other team got two goals on him.  One he was practically laying on top the ball but they were able to get their feet in there and tap it just enough to get it over the goal line. They actually kept him pretty busy this game.  He was making a lot of good stops and THROWING a lot.

 Man can this kid through that ball!  I love watching it.  His team takes some time to adjust to the fact that Dillon is going to send it well beyond the center line.

 Look at that ball go!

 Carson tends to be placed in more offensive positions... as offensive as they get on a tiny field with 4 vs 4.  He was a little hesitant today so he wasn't getting the breakaways that he normally gets.  He definitely got plenty of time with the ball.

 Carson's games end a little earlier than Dillon's games so when Carson's was done we all got to watch Dillon for a while.  He is getting really good about trying to direct his defenders to where he needs them.

This is the other kick that got past him.  He dove, ended up doing a cross between a cartwheel and a somersault.  He launched himself a good 5 feet but the ball was another foot beyond his hand.

I thoroughly enjoy watching these kids play soccer!  We're looking forward to the season!

First day of school

First day of school!  The kids were all super excited to be going back.  Dillon was a little nervous because he didn't really know of any kids he knew that would be in his class.  They were all ready to get out the door early!  

We got to walk each of them to their rooms... Though the big two were late because Carson's class didn't open their door until exactly 9 am.

They all came home with smiles on their faces too!  They rode their bikes home quite happily and just hung out the rest of the evening.  Thankfully with all the smoke we've had in the air we didn't have to go to soccer practice so they got to just rest at home.

Dillon ended up knowing a few kids, Kayda knew some (and ended up with some of the troublemakers from last year) and Carson knew a bunch!

Intertubes!

We've been talking about it all summer and we finally made it out on Grandma and Papa H's boat.  Unfortunately they were unable to join us.  We definitely missed their company.

The kids were super excited!  The first waves on the boat had the boy's hands up, ready to roll.

 The kids had to pick a number to go first.  Carson won and wanted Mommy to ride with him.   Carson was really excited, though once the intertube started moving he seemed kind of tense.  After a while he gained some confidence and seemed to enjoy himself a little more.  Kayda and Dillon were great with the flag and making sure Daddy knew if Carson wanted a change of pace.

 Kayda "won" the second turn and graciously invited Dillon to join her.

 You need to watch this sequence of events.  The were caught outside the wake when we hit another wake.  They look terrified!

 Then they got air.  Dillon's face cracks me up.  It looks like he is thinking "what have I gotten myself in to?"

 Coming back down is when you really have to worry about staying on the tube.

 They nailed it and you can tell Dillon had a good time.  Kayda must have too because she kept wanting to go back out. She just looks relieved that it's over.

 Carson decided to have Daddy ride with him this time.  I discovered I really don't like to drive the boat when I'm towing someone.  Especially Carson, he's still so little and scared easily.  That and I'm not very good at getting them back in the wake after I get them out of it.  I particularly missed the company of Papa H right about then.  He's much better at it than I am.

 She landed this "jump"!  The kids all called this the "Great Goliath" and she had immense pride that she made it through.

 We hooked up the second tube.  The yellow tube kept creeping on top of the red tube.  Every picture I have of it the kids look like they're greeting each other.

 Then they hit another wake.  Dillon went flying, then his tube went out of control and kind of knocked Kayda off.

 Bye kids!
 After that we switched their places.  I really wish I'd had my camera out because Kayda got knocked off the red tube, it went flying into the air, seemed to center itself and then dropped right on top of Dillon.  It just bounced off but it was a one in a million occurrence.

 We took a break to swim.  The kids had a fantastic time and, given the opportunity, probably would've happily played that way for quite some time.  As it was, we had a bit of a deadline to get to a dinner with the family.

 Carson has come a long way.  At Lake Chelan he was pretty reserved about jumping off the floating dock.  He was pretty excited to jump off the front of the boat though.

 Then it was time for all three of them.  Carson was finally ready to go on his own but Dillon was really not wanting to ride the red tube (which submerges easily so Carson couldn't ride it alone).  Carson decided it was fine for Dillon to ride with him.

 You could see that Kayda was starting to get tired of tubing.  So we pulled in that tube and let the boys keep going for a little while.

They rode in most of the way to the dock.  Then it was time to pack up and head to Uncle Pat and Aunt Sarah's house.  We had a barbecue as a send off for their eldest cousin Nathan, he's headed to college.  We were also celebrating Grandma H's birthday.  The night ended with Kayda and Ella having a sleep over at Grandma and Papa's house and Chase sleeping over at our house.  I think all the kids were able to have a great last school free night.

Time to turn back time

It's bothered me for a while that the blog doesn't cover all of Kayda and Dillon's lives.  So I'm going to start going backwards.  I'll still have posts about the here and now but don't be surprised to see old pictures show up.  Unfortunately they won't be as detailed but I'll do my best.  If anyone that was present remembers more, or differently don't hesitate to let me know so I can edit and add/correct it.  The blog allows me to "Schedule" the posts so that on the actual blog they will show up chronologically.  It will just email out all willy nilly.

I'm also planning to go back and have some pictures and memories from before the kids, simply because they enjoy going through and looking at/read the blog.  I think it they would enjoy reading it.

Open house

It's that time.  Open house.  I am not ready for them to be back in school.  I like to have them home.  We've made quite the summer this year, besides our camping trips we had baseball, fastpitch, scout camp, a beach trip, trips to the creek, trip to deep lake, activity day and several barbecues and play dates.  Not to mention the hours upon hours in the pool, on the trampoline and in the sand box.  I guess it has to end at some point though.  The fact that I will have them for only half their waking hours during the week breaks my heart a little.  

Anyway, the kids were all REALLY excited to meet their teachers and see their classrooms.  Kayda got the teacher she had been hoping for, Dillon got the teacher last year's teacher recommended for him and Carson got a teacher that is new to the school.  After going to open house they all seem pretty comfortable with going back to school.  Kayda is the only kiddo that has expressed any regret that the summer is ending.  We're hoping for a much better year for Kayda and good years for Dillon and Carson too.