Chill in the air

This is our next to last week of soccer for the fall.  I have to admit, I'm a little bit glad!  I love that both kids are enjoying soccer this year, but the last few weekends we've had FOUR games, plus the fact that I'm back to working every fourth weekend (instead of every sixth weekend).  It's just been a lot of very useless weekends!  However, this weekend, we only had 2 games - both today - one at 8am and one at 11:45, with some time to rest in between.  The 8am game was quite chilly - maybe in the high 40's?  Last weekend was in the 70's, so it was a shock to the system to say the least!  We got everyone's winter weather gear out and everyone seemed happy and warm during Kate's game.

Silly girl, goofy hat!

Brett likes to do warm-ups with Kate's team, especially when there is such a time gap between games.

Pink hat, pink gloves, pink ball - check, check and CHECK!

Our sweet friend, Z, scored a goal today!

Drills... attention spans at 3 and 4 years old are a little lacking sometimes!

Kate and 2 of her friends take a break to say "Cheese!"

The older siblings help out on the sidelines by retrieving stray balls.

Dancing during the game - such girly girls!

Don't be fooled - she is most definitely NOT sleeping!

Post game high-fives... gotta learn good sportsmanship!

GO MONKEYS!

Kinect

Bear with me - dumping lots of pictures off the SD card :) There are 3 posts tonight, so check them all out!

A fun family night playing the Kinect. At least this way the kids can fight without being mean and without hurting each other!

Before and After

I think that most parents of young kids would agree - the toy room (or other place that you store your kids' toys) is a constant battle. For me, it is especially so because it is the first room you see when you come in the front door. Some call it a formal living room, but we call it the toy room. One day, it may be a more exciting space, but for now, it is practical. Every so often, I decide to tackle the mess. Don't get me wrong - the kids are responsible for "cleaning it up" every night before bed, but things get put in the wrong place, get lost, get broken, get forgotten, etc. Every now and then I remove the forgotten toys and rearrange. These pictures are a glimpse of that day!

Before - Transformers, Legos, and cars - here, there, and everywhere!

After - labeled cases, organized cabinets, much better!

All of the signs are the same design - with simple words that the kids have learned to "read" (recognize)

Basic stickers with the same polka dots and lettering

Before - little girly things, thrown everywhere

After - organized animal house, castle stuff, and doll clothes!

Before - kitchen chaos, dress-up clothes everywhere, arts & crafts mess

After - dress-up divided up, labeled, organized art supplies, cleanish desk

Easy access, organization <3

Before - mess everywhere, old art on boards

After - new art up on boards, more organized, happy Mom!

Kick it!

Some pics from the last few weeks of soccer...

Gabe, Kate, and Liliana take a break during the game

Get in my belly!

The sideline is not so important doing throw-ins during pre-K soccer :)

GO MONKEYS!

GO DOLPHINS!  (Thanks, Cullen family, for the Michigan pom poms!)

1-2-3... Goooooo Dolphins!

Stretching out

The frowns are few and far between this season!  Yay!

In the mix - being "aggressive"!

Victory Tunnel