Nina’s Turn

 

When Sisters Attack

Remember that show, When Animals Attack?  Well, on Friday night, it was an episode of When Sisters Attack at our house.  Friday evening after soccer practice and dinner, the girls were so wound up.  They were in full wrestle mode and having a blast!

 

 

Both girls had soccer games on Saturday, then we went over to our community park for festivities with the Hounds (yes, we saw Fetch!) and the community camp out.  We didn’t sleep over in the park, but we stayed pretty late with some neighbors who had their tent set up in the park.  The kids had an awesome time running around with flashlights, eating smores, and having some outdoor fun!

 

Remember?

Remember our contest last year for the best and worst dresses in our closet?  It was a year ago to the day that the blog post about Jane and her need for dresses was posted.  You guys responded with FIFTY prom/bridesmaid dresses that I got to mail to NYC to the Force Film Foundation then on to Nairobi, Kenya to Jane. 

The Force Film Foundation was the group producing Nicholas Kristof’s Half the Sky documentary that Jane was a part of.  Well, that documentary is premiering on PBS on Monday and Tuesday of next week!!!  http://www.halftheskymovement.org/  Be sure to watch, DVR, etc. – especially those of you who donated dresses.  Maybe we’ll actually get to meet Jane!

Lyla Lately

We’ve been keeping pretty busy in the past couple of weeks, but again, I haven’t been taking many pictures.  With the nice weather, we’ve been just making the most of the beautiful afternoons and getting as much outside play time as possible.  I finally took my camera outside today while the kids were playing and snapped a few pictures of Lyla.  Nina was hard to find in one place – I’ll catch some of her soon.

Sister Update

It’s been awhile since I did a sister update post, so here is a little about what Nina and Lyla are up to these days.  Nina is doing well with the transition to first grade.  She doesn’t like getting up early (6:45 is when her alarm goes off), and she’d rather be at home playing all day, but other than that, she seems to enjoy it pretty well.  She’s getting more used to being at school all day, but still loves to be home.  Lyla and I visit her for lunch every Wednesday, and we all look forward to that.  She still loves dancing, playing with friends, and imagine playing.  She’s a good little reader, she likes to play outside, and she is having fun on her soccer team.  She’s a good little girl, and we’ve been very proud of how she’s developing.

Lyla is spending this year doing preschool at home with me.  Originally, we had her enrolled in the same preschool that Nina went to, but at the last minute we decided to do preschool for her at home.  The plan was to get a few other kids to join us for a small group class, but that didn’t come about, so it’s just she and I.  Although she misses Nina during the day, she enjoys the one-on-one time she gets, and she’s my little companion for errands, grocery shopping, and just doing our thing during the day.  As I mentioned in my last post, she also really enjoys her soccer team.  Mini soccer doesn’t practice during the week, so she is very excited when Saturday comes around and she gets to play with her little team.  She plays hard and has a great time (pictures below are from her game this weekend).

One thing that we love about both girls is that just when they seem like they’re growing up too fast, something comes up that reminds us that they’re still young.  This past week was a little example of that.  Nina has had Froggy since she was born.  He was a gift given to us at her baby shower, and we put him in her crib when she was a baby, and he’s slept in her bed ever since.  He goes with us whenever we travel away for the night, and together with her blankie, they’re her most special “friends.”  On Thursday before school, she was very serious about it being Froggy’s birthday that day.  Froggy generally has several birthdays a year, but for some reason, this time she seemed a lot more serious when she was talking about it. 

So, while she was at school, Lyla and I decided that we would have a birthday party for Froggy.  When we decided that, Lyla also decided that it was the birthday of her horse, Fruit Snacks.  There is no other explanation needed for his name other than the fact that Lyla is completely obsessed with fruit snacks (the food), so why not name a horse Fruit Snacks?  We made cupcakes and made some birthday signs, and when Nina got home we surprised her with a party for Froggy and Fruit Snacks.  It was one of those things that was way low on the priority list that day, but deciding to do it really made them happy, and it was a good reminder for me to sometimes just forget the more important things on the “to do” list and opt for something that will mean something special to my family.

We know we are very blessed to have our two girls, and we’re genuinely enjoying this phase of life that our family is in.

  

  

 

 

(While Lyla plays, Nina enjoys watching her.  Today she brought along her little notebook to read in during the down time, but she likes to cheer Lyla on from the sidelines or help the coaches catch wayward balls.)

Soccer Saturday

Saturday was the official start to the fall soccer season.  Both girls are signed up to play in our local soccer league, and it was a busy first Saturday for games.  Nina’s team kicked off the season with the early game time followed by another game at noon. Nina did great and had a fun time.   She is a little defender by nature, but she scored a goal for her team in the first game which made her very excited.   After her second game, we buzzed home to get Lyla ready.  Her team also started on Saturday, and their first session/game was at 2pm. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me because I was only planning to stay for 30 min. so I could come home and get ready for the wedding Mark and I were going to that evening.  With mini-soccer, they have a practice session and game time combined.  They do some drills and practice for about 30 minutes then play a little game for about 30 minutes. 

I thought I would only be there for the practice session, so I left my camera at home.  I am really bummed I did because Lyla was cracking us up at her session.  She was taking it all very seriously, was playing super hard, and was having a great time.  Being the more shy one with strangers, we were wondering how she would be playing with mostly boys, and only knowing one other person (the only other girls on the team).  But, she had a fantastic time.  Unlike her sister, she doesn’t want to have anything to do with defending.  She is all about offense.  She scored seven goals and keeps asking when she can go back to play soccer again. I think she likes it! 

  

Everyone made it home right before a huge storm came through, but thankfully we didn’t lose power because Mark and I were getting ready to head off to a wedding that afternoon/evening.  The girls got to spend the evening with my parents, and Mark and I got to spend the evening at a lovely wedding, so it was a great Saturday for us all.

Labor Day Weekend at Hartfield

After a full first week of back-to-school, we were ready to head down to Hartfield for a long weekend of relaxing and river fun.  We arrived on Friday evening in time for a late dinner and getting some energy out, but the real fun started on Saturday morning.  Lyla started the day checking for bunnies, birds, fish, etc. around the yard and river.  After a bike ride for Mark and the girls, and some exercise for Mouse and I, we had lunch packed and were on the boat to enjoy the river. 

Nina’s idea of river fun is cranking up the music and dancing on the boat, Lyla likes to drive the boat with Poppy, and Mark likes to sit back and take it all in.  One of the things both girls love doing is riding the tube behind the boat.  We rode down the river to our swimming spot from the last time we were down, and spent some time swimming, jumping off the boat, eating lunch, and taking in the scenery.

 

 

After our boat time on Saturday, Mark and Pops grabbed the kayaks and went fishing in the ponds while Mouse and I helped the girls make little creatures out of pipe cleaners and pompoms.  I wonder who had more fun?   Nina and Lyla definitely had fun making a show with their little creatures, and judging from Mark’s scuffed up thump from catching so many bass, I think the boys had fun too. 

 

 

One of the things the girls look most forward to when down at Hartfield are Mousey’s pancakes.  It started a few years ago with Mousey making “snake cakes” for the kids.  Basically, they were pancakes shaped like little snakes.  Well, snake cakes evolved into all kinds of animal shaped pancakes.  Basically, any animal they ask her to make with a pancake, she makes.  On this particular morning, they had bunnies, dogs, cats, fish, jellyfish, and even a pontoon boat (Nina’s request).  Through the years, the pancake creation requests have become more and more involved, yet Mousey always gives it a try.  It’s one of the girls’ favorite things about Hartfield.

As we were getting things ready to get out on the boat on Sunday, Nina came across this little rock.  She had no idea where it came from, but I off-handedly mentioned that Uncle Bo probably wrote it (teasing).  Nina took it to a whole other level.  She had this whole scenario worked up where Uncle Bo wrote the message on a rock and wanted to give it to a girl he wanted to be his girlfriend, but he’s so secretive about everything (her words but so true) that he didn’t want to say it, and on and on.  She talked about that for quite awhile, so Uncle Bo might have to set the record straight at some point but we’ll leave that up to him.

 

Our fun game in the river on Sunday was trying to balance on the sides of the tube while standing without falling off.  The absolute funniest was when Poppy gave it a try.  It made us all laugh so hard I almost sunk.  Anyway, the Mouse and I did it quite a bit too, but I’m refraining from posting those pictures.  That’s the advantage of being the creator of the blog! 

One of my favorite pictures of Mark and the girls…

The sun and the swimming made for a fun afternoon.  It makes me so happy to see the girls enjoying the fun of the river, laughing and being silly, and enjoying the simple things in life.  We’re very grateful to have the opportunity to make some great memories with family that will last a lifetime.