Spring Snow Day

Go figure - on the first full day of spring we get a snow day!  Since it had only snowed once this past winter, everyone seemed pretty excited at the prospect of some snow.  I would have been happy to trade in the snow for sun and warmth, but the kids had a lot of fun making the most of a spring snow day.  They were off school for two days, so of course they wanted to go sledding with friends.  The question on this occasion was how many girls can get down the hill together at the same time.  They had a blast!

 

Day two of the snow days was already starting to warm up, so the snow on the sledding hills was practically gone.  Nina and Lyla had built this snowman the day before, so they wanted to go out and add another snowman, perfect this one, etc.  However, while they were squabbling over whose snowman this really was, Cayenne took the opportunity to sneak off with the carrot nose.  She ended up evading the girls and ate the whole carrot nose.  They asked for another nose which I got for them, but then the scene played out over and over again for 6 or 7 carrot noses.  

 

Every time they would turn their backs or walk away for a second, Cayenne would sneak up and steal the nose. I don’t know what she liked more, the attention she got from stealing the nose,getting chased around in their attempt to get it back, or actually eating all the carrots (which she did).  Maybe it was a combination of all of them, but she was so funny.  She probably stole between 6 or 7 noses, like I said, and eventually I made her come inside so they could have a little peace, but she just sat by the door and whined to go back out - I think she just thinks she’s one of the kids.  She loves to play!

 

 

March Birthdays

Last weekend we all got together at Mousey and Poppy’s house to celebrate the four March birthdays.  It was a beautiful afternoon, and Pops needed some help taking a tree down that was leaning towards their barn, so he collected Mark and Garland to help him take it down.  The plan was for Pops to cut the wedge in the tree while Mark and Garland pulled the opposite direction on the rope attached to the tree, hoping to pull it enough their direction so that it wouldn’t hit the barn on its way down.

 

It was very close, but surprisingly it didn’t hit the corner of the barn on its way down!

  

The tree fellers returned victorious to golf watching, cold beverages, and appetizers!

The cousins enjoyed the afternoon together playing in the field, down at the creek, and on the hammock.  It’s great for them to spend time together in “the country” just having fun, goofing around, and playing outside together.

 

 

  

Mouse and Pops made a fabulous dinner for us, then we celebrated with present opening and cake.  It was a great evening to spend time together as a family and celebrate Lyla, Bo, Mark, and my birthdays!

  

Spring Tournament

Last weekend, Lyla’s team kicked off their spring season by participating in the Amanda Post Memorial Tournament in Columbia, MD.  They played some good competition, but ended up strongly with a confident win in the first morning game.

  

We camped out in a sunny spot with the back of the car open for Lyla and some other team mates to relax and refuel with food before game 2!

Game two was a little tougher, but they still ended up with a win.  Lyla played defender this tournament and did a great job.  Most of her soccer time up till a part of last season has been in offense, so this has been a big switch for her to play defender.  Even though it’s a little stressful to watch at times, I really think she does a great job in the back, and we’ve enjoyed watching her develop in this new position.  Her coach still likes the fact that she can play either, so we’ll see where she ends up at mostly this upcoming season, but she seems to enjoy both, so we’re happy to see her doing her best and having fun.

 

Nina had a mandatory cheer practice to attend on Saturday, so Mark headed back home after the second game to get Nina and take care of Cayenne, and Lyla and I stayed over in a nearby hotel for the night.  The next day was Daylight Savings, and with her team having the early game, and the fields being 1.5 hours away, it made sense to stay over.  Several other girls did the same, so they had a blast swimming in the hotel pool, then we all ate dinner together, got some rest,  and breakfast together the next morning.  It was a lot of fun for Lyla.  Mark and Nina joined back up with us the next morning.

The first game of day 2 was early and chilly, but we had less wind on the second day, and the sun was out, so it was rather comfortable.  They won their third game and got ready to play another undefeated team from the other bracket for the championship.

The championship game against Baltimore Celtic was quite an even match.  Both teams played to a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation, and the rules of this tournament were to go straight into penalty kicks with no overtime minutes.  Lyla’s team has made it to the finals of a tournament 4 or 5 times and 4 have come down to penalty kicks, and they’ve won once. They were so hopeful to get another win here, but it didn’t happen.  They ended up losing in penalty kicks.  While the other team had a girl in goal who seemed like she played there as her permanent position, our team rotates girls in goal, and that can sometimes make it hard in situations like this.  The girls and the one playing in goal did their best, so they should be proud even though they didn’t come out on top this time.

They did get second place medals and some encouraging words from their coach, then we headed home to enjoy the rest of our day. We enjoyed this first weekend of soccer and are looking forward to the spring season ahead with this great group of girls.

Lyla Turns Ten

It’s hard to believe, but Lyla turned 10 last week.  The baby of the family just moved into double digits, and I can’t believe it!  Time is flying.  Lyla is a funny, sweet, kind, and, one-of-a-kind daugther, and as we call her, “the ultimate badger”.  We are so blessed to have Lyla in our family.  She keeps us on our toes and sometimes gives us a run for our money, but she’s very loving, a lot of fun, and she definitely enjoys keeping everyone laughing. She loves horses and badgers, loves soccer, loves salmon, and loves her family.  It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since she was born.  I remember that day so vividly, but we’re thankful for the 10 years we’ve had together and pray we’ll have many more ahead!

Cayenne didn’t quite accept that the day wasn’t about her.  She loves opening presents and getting attention, so as you can imagine, she wanted to be right in the middle of all the birthday action.   Lyla had a fun day at school for her birthday.  She was treated special by her class then I brought her Chick Fil-A for lunch which she enjoyed.

For dinner, Mouse and Pops and Brittany and Bo came over.  It’s been a tradition that we also have Bo over for dinner on 3/8 as he and Lyla share the same birthday, so we enjoyed hanging with everyone, having a nice dinner together, and some cupcakes to finish. I was saving the main birthday cake creation for the next day when Lyla has having a little party with friends, and I had made 46 cupcakes for that, so for her birthday evening, she had cupcakes in the shape of a “10”.

  

  

Friday was her time to do a little get together with a few friends.  For that she asked for a horse cake, so I found an idea for a pull apart cupcake horse cake that she thought was cute, so I decided to try that for her birthday cake, and she was very happy with it!  I took a few of her friends for jumping at Atomic Trampoline Park, then we came back to the house for pizza, cake, and playing.  Lyla had a lot of fun and really seemed to enjoy her birthday festivities this year!

   

 

Reach the Beach Competition

Last weekend, Nina and I were in Ocean City for her team’s participation in the Reach the Beach competition.

We were excited to be staying at the team hotel right on the beach, but it was so foggy, you can barely see the beach in our background.  The 2-day competition was at the Ocean City Convention Center, and there were tons of teams and people there for the event.

  

FitWize Fearless had a great first day at the competition.  They had fun, did a clean routine, and left the convention center to head back to the hotel where all the fun really kicked off!  The girls had the best time hanging out in the hotel together, visiting the Starbucks across the parking lot, and heading down to the hotel pool and beach for short bursts.  They stayed up late on Saturday night, taking over the hallways and common areas of our floor, and it was like pulling teeth to get Nina back in the room by 10:30 that night.

 

Thankfully, she got a good night’s sleep, and we had some time on Sunday morning before we had to get ready for day 2 of the competition.  After arriving early to meet the team, waiting for warm-ups, and finally watching the girls take the stage to perform, one minute into their performance, the music stopped and an announcement came over the loud speaker that the entire convention center needed to evacuate the building.  It was a little frantic (based on all that has been happening in the news lately), but we all found our girls, stuck together, and made our way out to the parking lot.  We ended up waiting over an hour in the parking lot (along with hundreds of other people) before OCFD deemed it safe to go back into the building.  Once everyone got back in and settled down, the girls got back on the stage to start their performance over again.  After all that drama, we were so impressed that they did another clean routine and looked great!

They didn’t end up winning the competition, and they were sad about that, but they all said that they had such a fun weekend.  The time making memories at the hotel, deepening friendships, and competing together made for a fun and memorable weekend!  We got home super late on Sunday night, so we were quite exhausted by the end of the weekend, but thankfully we arrived home safe and sound and happy to see Mark, Lyla, and Cayenne!