Spring Soccer

Today was the start of spring soccer for Gina and my first try at coaching. Her team is called the Ladybugs. For under6 teams, they play five each side with small goals and no goalie. The players tend to swarm the ball; it doesn't look very organized.

Gina was up this morning at 9am, dressed in her uniform #7 and ready to go. Only, her game didn't start until 12:30pm. Every half hour she was asking when it was time to go.

There are 6 girls on the team, but two couldn't make it today so initially we played with our four and a girl from the other team to make it five. The game was a blur of red and white uniforms going after the ball.

For my first day as coach I felt like a fish out of water. I had a plan for the first part of the hour before the game and for the most part it went well, but we also had some time when the girls were milling about while I figured out what to do next. Every so often I would check over at the other teams to get ideas on what they were doing. I think next week I will have a better plan and hopefully we will have all six girls.

When Gina and I arrived home, Vic was in the middle of making play dough with Andrew. They made it a very bright orange. It was a sticky mass that slowly came together and the kids had fun with the dough for quite awhile.

Easter Fun

This past weekend was a big blur of easter eggs, candy, cleaning house, candy, cooking and more candy.

I took Dylan and Andrew over to a friend's house for an Easter party with my mom's group and the kids had fun playing in the yard. Andrew decorated an Easter basket and then he was ready to hunt for eggs. We let the little guys go first so they wouldn't be bowled over by older siblings rushing to grab eggs. Dylan was quite happy to pick up two eggs and shake them, and shake them, and shake them some more. He is going to love music class in a few weeks.

After the easter party it was time to color eggs. I set up the cups of dye and was about to carry them to the table. Andrew decided to help and ended up spilling the yellow all over the floor. So we settled for five colors instead of six.

The next morning the kids were very excited to see that the Easter bunny had left some chocolate and books in their basket. Then it was a rush to get ready for church. We got there in time and sat up in front. Andrew and Dylan lasted until the homily. Dylan was getting antsy and Andrew started to bug Dylan so Nana took them out and I stayed with Gina. About ten minutes later, I looked over and there was Andrew walking up the center aisle, looking for me. I was able to convince him to go back with Nana without any trouble.

Here are the big kids patiently waiting while Vic hides all the eggs in the front yard. We got a photo op with all seven kids, including baby Declan.

Then it was a mad rush to find the eggs. Dylan and Katrina weren't too interested in the hunt, but they all had fun. Katrina had fun trying out all the wheeled vehicles while Declan enjoyed sitting in the shade with his shaker toy.

After every one left, Dylan took his nap and the rest of us had a quiet afternoon.

Lost Tooth

Today Gina finally lost her first tooth. She has been talking about it for weeks as her tooth got more and more wiggly. Then this afternoon it popped out. I wonder what the Tooth Fairy will bring?On the potty training front, Andrew had ten accidents today. Yes, TEN!!! At one point, he was out of underwear so I put some snug fitting pajama bottoms on him. By the time he went though two pairs of those, the first load of laundry was finally done. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Today was also the Easter Party for Andrew's Las Madres Group. It was at a church with a playroom and playground. The kids had a great time playing on the play structure and later listening to stories. Then it was the mad dash to hunt for easter eggs. Even Dylan had a basket and picked up an egg or two. Gina's basket was overflowing with eggs and Andrew had quite a few as well.

New Shoes

Today I finally took Dylan to get some real shoes. He is starting to wear through his Robeez and they are definitely not good when the ground is wet. At the store the women put the shoes on and then we waited for him to try them out. They must have felt very strange because he just stood there, not wanting to move. I was finally able to coax him to take a few steps and that got him going. Then when I got home it was hard to get him to stand still to a take a picture of him with his new shoes.

Last week he had his 15 month doctors appointment. He is 32 inches tall and almost 25 lb. Gina on the other hand is just shy of 48 inches!