First Day of Soccer!Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Today was Elisabeth's first day of soccer! She's very excited to be playing soccer with her church friends again, and I must say she's made a remarkable improvement since last year, as evidenced by this photo taken approximately one year ago.
I am also excited to officially be titled a "Soccer Mom" again, because with this impressive title comes the gift of being organized in life all while having fun with the kids! I gathered our gear, which now includes 3 soccer balls, and headed out the door to pick up the girls at daycare. I couldn't wait to show you pictures of Elisabeth's soccer practice, so I made sure to pack my camera as well.

When Elisabeth and I arrived in Sydney's room, we were greeted by three little girls with the cutest matching hairdos I have ever seen! Sydney and her friends Abby and Sydney (#2, of course) were all treated by Miss Vanessa to a day at the baby salon. Apparently when Miss Vanessa started doing one girl's hair earlier in the day, the other two lined up grunting asking to have theirs done as well! So when I saw the three of them, I ran out to the car to grab my camera. This was one memory that could not be missed. After all, this was the first time I had ever seen Sydney #1 (or #2. Or Abby.) in pigtails, and oh what a sweet site it was to me.

Sydney is on the right. And the left. But ours is the one on the right. Abby is in the middle, in case you weren't sure. Sydney #1 is crying because she didn't want to sit - she wanted her mommy! Which is also why the photo is a bit blurry. I had a very short window of opportunity here. Don't they look like triplets?

Just for fun, here are two more pictures from the evening. Some of you may know that Sydney's pet name is "the live-in raccoon" which we chose because we felt it was slightly cuter than calling her our "human garbage disposal". Well my friends, the proof is in the pudding meat. Do you see how her cheek is already filled and she's ready to insert the next piece? Thatta girl!

And Mark has commented that my girls are turning into their mother (more on this later) - here is one of Sydney snapping away just like her momma does. Elisabeth was doing this too. I love it!



What? You want to know where the pictures of Elisabeth's soccer practice are? Oh. Well, this totally organized soccer mom forgot to charge the batteries for the camera. I ran out right after taking pictures of the triplets. Score one for mom.

There is a reason I don't wear a lot of makeup

Because when I cry (which happens quite frequently, for those of you that don't know me that well), it just ruins the makeup. I mean really - what a waste!

Now, in all seriousness:

Are you ready?

Are you sure?

Okay, here goes.

Guess who was discharged from the hospital?

Yep! You guessed it, Stellan was given the okay to go home!!! He and his (Mck)Mama will fly home -- on a commercial flight mind you -- tomorrow. I can hardly believe it.

STELLAN LIVES!

I have to tell you, and you probably won't be shocked by this, that I bawled my eyes out like a baby when I read this good news. (Hence the makeup reference.) What I found strangely coincidental - no, appropriate actually - is that the song "How Great is Our God" was playing on my computer playlist when I opened her blog today and read the post. Do you know that song? It's amazing. We sing it in church quite frequently. And, of course, I cry every time. (This past weekend I was able to wipe my tears without any tissues - I think I'm getting better!) Anyway, here is a clip of the song:



AMEN!

I have learned quite a lot through MckMama and baby Stellan. Of course, I am crying as I write this, because the song is playing again. MckMama has helped me learn so much about life, about love, and about trust in God. I am not an overly "religious" person. But I am starting to understand why we should put our trust in God. I learned a saying from MckMama the other day: God is not on Plan B. This is still Plan A. God knows what he is doing, and he will provide! Stellan was put on this world for more than the MckFamily. I truly believe that he was put on this world for a much greater purpose. God bless you Stellan.

God Bless the Neighbors the Beer and the Rainbow Play System

What started out as a simple Friday night out at McDonalds,

and playing for free on a bunch of fancy swingsets,

later turned our backyard into a huge party, starting with a sea of wood.

Thankfully, we are blessed with 5 sets of great neighbors. Also thankfully, beer works on men as a dangling carrot does on rabbits.


Similarly, a slightly constructed playset works on children much like that dangling carrot!
I will stop to tell you that once the playset reached this point my stomach sank. You see it in the picture above? It was literally taking up the entire yard. The entire yard! Okay, fine... It only took up close to the entire yard (I'd like to say that I never ever ever exaggerate, but that would be an exaggeration).

So after asking the men repeatedly what my options were and hearing that I had a whopping no options, we decided to chop down our baby tree. This was, as you saw in an earlier post, slightly difficult for me and extremely difficult for Elisabeth. In any case, here are some pictures of the tree-chopping incident that are sure to put a smile on anyone's face:

I'm no expert here, but I think there may have been some kind of display of testosterone going on during the battle with the tree which at the moment, appears to be winning.

Ahh, yes. An axe! I've heard that helps when chopping a tree down. At this point I stopped taking pictures of the tree incident. You're welcome. But you'll be happy to know that the tree did in fact succumb to the men and the axe.

Day 2 started with a bit of very sweet father-daughter bonding, which Elisabeth loved.

Look carefully at the picture above. How much work do you think is actually being done? This picture was taken shortly after I brought out the cooler of beer for my beloved neighbors and husband. They quickly sprung to "action" when they saw the camera aimed at them. It was too funny to not share with you. Hope they don't mind.

Check it out! We're so close to being done! The kids had a blast testing everything out as soon as they could. Even the neighborhood ghost got in on some swing action.

Finishing touches for the day, before the rain started (which by the way, has not let up since! I think we have been able to play on the swingset twice.)

Once the rain started, we all came inside and enjoyed a celebratory bratwurst dinner. We were also rewarded with a very entertaining fashion show! Here is one of the samples, which will be in stores next season. Giggle giggle.

The finished product, minus a few details that we hope to take care of next weekend. As long as Mother Nature cooperates. Maybe I should have titled this post "April showers bring May play towers" (Hey - I tried.)

We are truly blessed to have so many great neighbors. It's nice that what could be considered a daunting task was actually fun!

Happy Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day, we chopped down a tree:

To say the least, our sweet sensitive Elisabeth was upset about it. I had my moments too, but it had to be done.

The good news is that this company is planting 5 trees for every 1 tree they harvest.

And boy-oh-boy does their harvested wood look good in our backyard!

I will post pictures of the swingset being put together in a bit. It was a complete neighborhood event, and was so much fun! Aside from the tree being cut down of course.