The girls had their final baton performance of the season at the Waynesville High School girls soccer game last week. They both did a great job on their routines and really enjoyed it. They've said that they want to do it again next year...such a unique experience!!!
The warm weather is finally here and we are super excited!!!! Luke and Rachel enjoyed the sprinkler and slip-n-slide one day!
Leila moved from the sun to the shade all day long!
We went out to the Lake of the Ozarks on the Sunday before Leevi's birthday to celebrate and relax on the water!
I got Leevi a 'family' gift for his birthday and got a cockpit style tube for tubing! So much easier and relaxing than the hold-on-for-dear-life-circle tubes!
It was 84, but the water was still a little chilly...the girls swam but Luke didn't have any interest other than sticking his hands in!
He did go out on the tube though!
We went to Outback after the lake and then had cake the next day around 9pm after a full afternoon of soccer (poor Luke was already in bed but he got some the next day!) (and yes, those crutches in the background are Leevi's...he had knee surgery toward the end of April to repair his cartilage and meniscus and will spend a few months on crutches, ugh!)
The turtles have been out in full force in our backyard and the kids will catch them and keep them as a pet for a few hours!
A playdoh snake!
Another turtle with Rachel and Carter...we aimed this one toward the fence and watched his escape!
This was from the end of March, but I've forgotten to include it in a post...Hailey came grocery shopping with me one day and was in charge of my list on my iPhone...I found this a few days later in my 'notes' app! :)
Luke was my laundry 'helper' one afternoon!
And then his animals took over the laundry basket
I got my camera out to snap some pics of Kailee and her toothless smile and got a few of Hailey and Luke too.
I just love this toothless smile because it reminds me of their gummy baby grins!!!
Luke was far from cooperative, but this one turned out alright!
The kids put on a few songs and poems for Mother's Day at church and Kailee had a speaking part for the letter 'm', "My mom is magnificent"
Our church is massive...these are the kids (kindergarten through 5th grade) from the 9:45 service. There is also an 8:30 and 11:00 service!
I had a great Mother's Day and received lots of sweet notes and artwork from the kids (and a new Willow Tree figurine from Leevi) and we had some friends over from church who are getting ready to move to Germany this summer. They also have 3 kids and everyone had a great afternoon!!!
Spring soccer has finally wrapped up and I'm not sure how we survived!!! I coached Hailey's U-10 team this season and Kailee played up a level in U-8. Thankfully I was able to get their practices on the same days (Mon/Wed) but Kai was 5:30 and Hailey was 6:30. The girls got off the bus, had a snack, changed and we were out the door and not getting back home until 7:50 and still need to make and eat dinner and take baths! We started practice the week after spring break and Hailey got only ONE practice in before we had two games (Friday and Saturday...Saturday was in the SNOW!) That's when the craziness started and it didn't stop until the 2nd weekend in May! We were looking at 3-5 days a week of soccer! The girls had fun though and I really enjoyed coaching Hailey!
I was a little worried about pushing Kai up a level, but I knew she'd learn so much more by being challenged by older players. She fit right in and is an incredible hustler!!!
Unfortunately I was only able to make it to TWO of her 12 games this season (yes, 12 games in 4 weeks, ugh!!!!!!!!!!) but I always got a full report and was able to sneak in a few pictures at the games I went to!
They were sponsored by Rocky Top Kennel and coached by Scott Gurley
Goooooo Rocky Tops!!!!
This is her 4th season playing soccer and truly loves it (yay!!!)
Since I was coaching Hailey's team, I didn't get ANY pictures of her in action, but she was definitely my go-to player in terms of hustle and perseverance!!!! I could count on her to track back on defense and never give up! She fought her stomach issues all season and I couldn't be more proud of her resilience!!
I still love reading Kailee's morning work sentences from school!
Luke's pirate face (with a Slick Rick hairstyle from Hailey)
Kailee wanted a mustache for face paint at a birthday party...I love how serious she posed!!!
She's so crazy!!!
This was the reason we bought a king sized bed when we moved, but ironically they don't sneak in as often as they used to. Kai and Leila both sleep with Hailey downstairs in her bed and I usually end up in Luke's bed in the middle of the night if he wakes up so we don't disturb Leevi since he has to get up so early!
A favorite family tradition, Popcorn and Ice Cream for dinner!!!!! The girls both had rough soccer games that night so we opted for our favorite dinner (and added a few apples and carrots!!)
The girls had a sleepover with Kailee's friend, Riley, from school and Luke had his heart set on sleeping downstairs with the girls. They set up their sleeping area on the floor and Luke ran upstairs and grabbed his own pillow and blanket from his room.
My dinner helpers
We've had to stalk the weather channel all of April because of afternoon thunderstorms ruining soccer practices/games. It was pouring before one of Kailee's mid-week games (grrr, I really don't like mid-week games!!!!) but it cleared up right before kick-off and we saw a full rainbow!
I still help out in Kailee's classroom on the afternoons that the girls have baton practice and Luke just loves playing with all of the kindergarten manipulatives! (He got his shirt wet washing his hands and wanted to take it off!)
A new summer hair cut!!! Leevi cut it wayyyy shorter than expected because Luke was wiggly.
It's grown on us and thankfully it'll grow back fast!
A new favorite bedtime story that the girls got from the Buelows when we left Hawaii.
The kids were racing June beetles!
Kailee FINALLY lost this snaggle tooth!!!!!!
So much cuter!!! :) She's definitely NOT a wiggler and (only kidding) I told her she had until the end of the day to get her tooth out or I was going to make Leevi pull it! She let him pull it that afternoon! :)
Lots and lots of worms in the backyard!
Watergun fight!!! It's finally warming up and warming up FAST...it's mid-80's this week!!!
