Turkey Tournament

Earlier this fall, Ryan was asked to play on a competitive soccer team with some other girls from our league.  The team has been practicing on Sunday mornings for several weeks now and just participated in their first tournament over Thanksgiving weekend.  Ryan playing on this team has been the absolute best thing for her soccer skills.  The team has by far the best coach I've ever met and the girls Ryan is playing with and against really pushes her to improve.



Referee check-in before the first game of the tourney.  Can you guess which one is Ryan?  Well, let me give you a hint.  Each girl got to pick any number they wanted for their jersey.  Ryan picked the same number that was her mommy's number growing up.  14.




Silly girls better get serious before game time!! 




Team Los Al with Coach Ken (right) and Coach Ryan (left)




After day one of games.  They played great and tied both games that day.




Half-time strategt chat with the coach...




The girls did great in their first tournament.  We got 2nd place (but fair to mention that there were only 3 teams) so the girls got a medal.  They were so proud.




You can't miss Ryan in her flourescent cleats!




Nice job Team Los Al!!




Ahhhh.... this sucks.  I hurt my knee on the Friday before Thanksgiving.  In order for me to see any of the games, Steve had to wheel me out in the red wagon.  Totally humiliating but totally worth it!



Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we spent Thanksgiving at the Houghton's with Steve's family. What a fun, fun night.  The food was amazing and the company was even better.  The decor was super festive and it certainly put everyone in the holiday spirit.

Steve and Bubba "breakin' it down!"

Aunt Casey and Big Steve fillin' up their plates with all the goods.

Me and Bubba breakin' it down (our break down was better than Steve's...lol...j/k)

Big Tim telling Katie random jokes... it always takes me more than the alotted time to get the punchline.  I'm lame.

Papa got to sit next to Ry-Ry

Aunt Ginny and I got to sit together for dinner.

No holiday would be complete without a performance by the Stinkin' Farmer!

Lindy and Big Tim... I wonder if she gets his jokes faster than I do?

Ahhh... this might be a FB profile pic!  Super cute guys!



Darling.  Our gracious hostess with the little angels.

Thanks to Casey and Bubba for a great night!  We are so thankful for our wonderful family.

Giving Thanks for Kindergarten

Charlie had her kindergarten Thanksgiving Show and Feast last week.  They were so adorable.  The funny thing is that Charlie is probably the tallest girl in the girls and her dance partner is possibly the smallest boy in the class!  So cute.

Gobble, gobble, gobble!!!

Blush Crush Team Party

 Coaching two teams means you need to make time for two team parties!  So... we had our Blue Crush Team Party on Monday night at Ruby's.  It was a great idea.  Our team mom organized and the girls and families had a great time!

 As with all my teams, each girl gets to stand on a chair (while simultaneously laughing at how short coach is) and get a trophy and little speech about how great they are.  Here is little Miss Ry-Ry! 

GO BLUUUUE CRRRRUSH! 

(and siblings, of course!)

Last Game Day

Last game day of the season...  The Blue Crush and Fire & Ice teams finished strong!  Some last minute coaching on and off the field and the little darlings were ready to roll!

 right after our Fire & Ice game on Saturday, we had our team party!  Look how awesome our cakes were.  Blue Crush had a party a few days later... more pics to come!

Last Soccer Practice

It's a very busy time of year in our household!  The soccer season is coming to an end.  I have always turned the last soccer practice into a surprise outting.  This fun tradition was created by my dad many years ago when he used to take his teams to Foster Freezes for ice cream cones during our last practice.  I used to love it and decided to do the same thing with my teams.  This year, having two teams, turned into one big ice cream (well, frozen yogurt) party!  All the girls on both Fire & Ice and Blue Crush were totally surprised and had a great time.

I even brought markers and paper and the girls made me some wonderful drawings for me to hang in my office.  So cute.  I hope the girls remember these fun "last practices" for their whole life just as I remember mine!

The Harvest

 Steve and I did our annual produce lesson for Charlie's kindergarten class this week.  Thanksgiving seems to be the perfect time to teach the kids about where different types of produce grows and how it is harvested and gets from the farm to the grocery store. 

 To show the step-by-step procedure on how the produce gets from the farm to the grocery store... it makes sense to start with a farmer as one of our actors... a "STINKIN' FARMER" to be exact!!

 Here is the "call sheet" of famous actors...

Charlie - Farmer

Evan - Trucker

Chas - Produce Broker (aka "Steve")

Avery - Trucker

Hannah - Grocer

Ava S - Grocery Checker

Ava F - Consumer (not pictured)

 Afterward, the kids get to shop to help their parents with Thanksgiving Day shoppingQ

 A shot of teacher, Mrs. Grace with the kiddos and their bags of produce.

 Can anyone notice the sneaky likeness to a Twilight movie in this picture???

 Teaching 50 kids with loud paper bags and lots of fun "objects" to play with is no joke...  good thing I'm a "Professional"... haha

 Last reminder... "Don't forget to wash the produce before you eat it boys and girls!"

This might be the last time for us to do this lesson... we are going to have to come up with another "show" for future classes...LOL.

The Au"Fish"tion

At the very last minute (on the morning of), Charlie decided to audition for the school talent show.  They call it an Au-Fish-tion because we live by the beach...lol...

Anyway... here she is in all her glory.

Charlie.

Taio Cruz.

Dynamite.

That says it all...

"I came to dance, dance, dance. 

I hit the floor cause that's my plans, plans, plans."

I'm wearin' all my favorite brands, brands, brands.

Give me space for both my hands, hands, hands 

Cause it goes on and on and on.

and goes on and on and on... 

I throw my hands up in the air A-O

baby let's go...

I wanna celebrate and live my life... sayin A-O sayin A-O

We gonna rock this club, we gonna all night, we gonna light it up like it's dynamite

cause I told you once and I told you twice

we gonna light it up like it's dynamite.

Yep... that's my 6 year old.  LOL... go get'em Charlie!