Fall Activities

Treyton dropped dance (sniffle, sniffle) because he wanted to try soccer this fall. So right now I'm a soccer mom. And loving it!

He's had two practices and these are the pictures from his first game. Notice the curly haired kid in the white jersery (below) kicking the ball? Well, call him Pele. He was the star. All the kids, including his own teammates just chased him around. He scored around 621 goals, I think. When they took Curly out we scored.

Treyton said he had fun but didn't seem to like being in the middle of the action. He, being on the younger and smaller side, was a little intimidated, I think. Neither Bryce nor I were into contact sports and I could see him being of that same design. We'll see. However, he really likes to run. Maybe when we get a little more experience under his belt he'll be more comfortable, who knows. This was the best attempt for the two teams to slap hands at the end. You know, good sportsmanship and all. They didn't get the lining up thing very well, but Treyton was sure to high five Curly's hand and tell him good game. I was proud of him! Do they make soccer mom bumper stickers that say something about slapping the hand of the star opponent? There must be something out there....

And Galina started up her dance class in the "good" studio. She has also taken some classes in an inferior place, but this past week her regular class resumed.

Miss Linda has lots of tricks up her sleeve. Like dancing with a feather.

Here she's surprising the kids with a blast of air and feathers from the tumbling mats. No peeking!

Galina loves Miss Linda. On her left is her friend, Libby. Love the tutu, Lib!

Finishing their turns, I caught them hanging out together.

Nigh-night time to settle down before leaving class.

And a stamp to show off to everyone we meet.

I love being a dancer's mom too! Heck, I just love being a mom!!!!

He IS Excited

My husband, Bryce is a pretty even-keeled, reserved person. In other words, the absolute opposite of me. So sometimes it's hard to tell what he really feels about things. But this weekend, I gathered the clues and concluded that he is excited for our new baby.

The first clue was when he went to Sam's club to get a special device similar to a "nanny cam". Sure, he dismissed it as something we could use to get the camper in the garage, to have extra security when and where we need it, yada, yada, yada. But really, he likes to spy on his babies and make sure all is well, protecting them if you will. He set it up in Galina's room and watched it like a movie. He mentioned more than once getting an attachment for each of the kids' rooms so we could spy on all of them. His contained enthusiasm was cute. Really cute.

The next thing he did this weekend was go on-line and order a bucket seat for his truck. Right now the max amount of people who can fit is 5...barely. With a bucket seat, we could fit 6. Did you hear that? Six! I asked him jokingly, "Why? So we can fit all 4 kids and us?" (I have always wanted more kids than him.) He answered "Yes." Simply stated but world changing for me. Four kids (if God blesses us that way) may be in the future. My heart did a flutter as any woman's would who wants to raise a school of children. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the LORD!

For anyone out there in cyberworld who is married to a reserved engineer, you know how to look for clues. The Sherlock Holmes in me may be wrong, but all the clues point to one solution: Bryce is really, really excited to be a daddy again. And he's a good one at that! Him being excited makes me even more excited. I didn't think that was possible! Yea! Yipee!

Wrapped Around His Finger

I NEVER thought I'd see the day...... My big brother, Brent, is NOT a kid person. The only kids he likes is his own.

But Galina is a Brent person.

Somehow, as only Galina could, she used her charms and got to him.

Wrapped around his little finger, I tell ya.

Unbelievable, as my family can attest. Leave it to Galina..... that girl's got talent!

Photo Shoot

Here are some pictures from the last photo shoot. Treyton's 4 yr, Galina's 2 yr.

Last Tuesday

Last week Treyton had a busy day. First, his friend, Seiban came over to play. These two are such great friends.

They play so well together that I hardly know they are around. They have very similar temperaments, play styles, and imaginations. Plus, they are so darn cute I can hardly contain my kisses! After nap time it was off to Treyton's first soccer practice.

He spent 4 days in soccer camp this summer so he kind of knew what to do.

He really loves to run. Doesn't like being in the middle of the group elbowing for the ball, but leave it to him to run fast when he gets the chance. Reminds me of Dash from The Incredibles. He sort of looks like the cartoon too, come to think of it.

Go Treyton go!

Hiking with the kids

About 10 minutes from our house is a hiking/open space that we finally checked out a couple of weeks ago. We decided to test out the kids (and their pregnant mom) before my brother came to town to see if we could handle it. They were excited. Here's Galina on a mission.

And Treyton just took off.

They did great!

Bryce was in charge of Daisy.As expected, she did great too.

And the pregnant mom? Great!

We decided that we have to do this more often.

It was about 1 1/2 - 2 miles and Galina made it through most of it. She's a trooper. Especially in a cheerleader outfit. Treyton had no problems either. Especially with a "pet" jaguar in his backpack.

On our way out, Bryce thought about our turtle. Yes, we have a turtle. Well, Bryce does. I forget about it. A dog, cat, two kids with another on the way, and a husband is enough for me to take care of for now. I'd take another kid or two, but no thanks on another pet.

They caught grasshoppers to feed to the turtle. The kids loved this! I think it was the highlight of the hike.

There was a dog park adjacent to the hiking area. They had an obstacle course for dogs to play on. This was NOT the highlight for Daisy. But Bryce insisted on pushing her through. Poor dog.

Treyton decided to help out by showing Daisy what she was supposed to do.

Unlike Daisy, he had no problems.

A very fun, free, family activity!