McCall's Birthday

The long awaited day is finally here! McCall is 6! She hates being the only 5 year old in her 1st grade class. Her big day was filled with soccer games of course. One of the highlights was scoring her 1st goal (!!!!!) of the year and getting the "Player of the Game" award.

Her restaurant of choice was Chili's...surprise, surprise! She didn't want us to tell them it was her birthday because she would get embarrassed. She is so much like me!

She was excited to open her presents...they included a new scooter and helmet, barbies, clothes, webkins, 2 bracelets, a pink SNUGGIE and a few other odds and ends.

With her presents...

Fairy cake with 6 candles...the frosting turned out the wrong colors but it tasted yummy.

Blowing out the candles...hoping for no boyfriends.

We love our McCall. She is one of the sweetest easy-going kids that we know. She helps me so much around the house and with her little sisters. She is very conscious about doing the right thing and is so honest. Rarely, when she decides she wants to do something wrong, she will come to me and tell me before she does it...for example..."Mom, I just want to let you know that I am going to sneak some candy from the candy shelf...I just want to be honest about it!" It is pretty funny because she is so serious about it!

Long day...Ainsley is exhausted!

Happy Birthday McCall. We love you!

Best Friends

McCall and Hayden are such the little buddies. They are only 20 months apart. I remember the day I brought Hayden home from the hospital. McCall was still a baby herself and went balistic when I held her little sister. It was so hard and I thought it would be impossible for them to ever be friends. The opposite is true! They get along...perfectly ;)...most of the time. It is so fun to listen to them play house or barbies or babies. When I was pregnant with Ainsley the popular game was "baby in tummy" and everyday at least one new delivery was made! Hayden does not like McCall being in school all day and can't wait for her to get home. They still fight occasionally...and McCall does give in a lot...but I know they will be great friends forever!

Pre Halloween

I hate decorating for Halloween! The kids think our house is so boring and get mad that it is not scary. I do love to bake for Halloween! We made this fun pumpkin cake one day. Ainsley kept trying to put her hands in!

Crazy! Ainsley is mad because dad is holding her back.

Where we've been...

Soccer has started and consumes all of our time these days. 5 days a week we are practicing and playing. On Saturdays we have 3-4 games! Luckily there are 2 of us to shuttle everyone around. Above is Austin playing on his White Plus Scorpian team. He is #8 in the red.

Here is Parker posing for the picture. Sadly, we have taken very few pictures this year. Parker LOVES soccer!

This is McCall's 1st year of soccer and she is excited that her dad is the coach. She can run fast but doesn't want to hurt anyone. She is slowly coming out of her shell and recently scored her 1st goal!

Trampoline

Ainsley is growing up. She loves to play outside and jump on the tramp. She especially loves it when there are no brothers or sisters and she can "jump" by herself.

I thought this was pretty cute. She is growing so fast and I have to capture every moment! The "noise" in the backgound is what I hear all day long.

Monkey bars

Since school has started, McCall, has been obsessed with the monkey bars. She plays on them every recess and BEGS to go to the park on the weekends. She has not made it all the way across. Everyday she makes a goal to get a little further. Last week she came home and told me she had made it "4 bars"...a huge accomplishment for her. I was excited for her and asked her how it made her feel. She responded with stars in her eyes "It was my wish come true!"

The problem with the monkey bars is the blisters. Her hands are constantly hurting because of her monkey bar obsession. Luckily(?), she is building up some nice callouses and complaining a lot less.

Ainsley loves to play outside. Whenever I try to bring her inside, she runs away from me.

Here is a typical Hayden. Notice her arms...they are often covered in markers. She needs more attention than any of my other kids. She rarely will even go down the stairs if I am not holding her hand...AHH!

McCall's teacher suggested batting gloves for her new hobby. She got these for her birthday and they help a lot at home. She refuses to take them to school.

Somebody stole my camera...

and took these pictures.

any guesses?