Transitioning to a Booster

Des is awfully interested in Stella's booster chair and has been for awhile now.  And since he is a climber, he climbs onto it all of the time.  Which often leads to fights because Stella will say it's her booster, etc.  But lately, Stella has been nice to let Des sit in her booster, while she sits on a regular dining chair.  A few days ago, Mama let Des sit in the booster chair and Stella in a regular chair for breakfast.  Although it's awfully cute seeing our lil' guy sitting in a booster as opposed to his high chair, we don't like it much b/c it means that our little guy is growing up.

Stella's 2nd Soccer Game

Stella had her second soccer game today at noon and they played the entire designated time (four 8-minute quarters) since it didn't rain. Stella is getting better and better and is showing more intensity in running after the ball and wanting it. She still doesn't like it when all of the kids bump into her and "crowd her out" ;).

Here are a few more action shots of Stella for the grandparents to see! 

At the end of the game, they got to shake hands with the girls from the other team and say  "good game"!  So cute!!! 

After the handshake, the coach ends the game with a "Go Galaxy" huddle after which the girls throw their balls in the air and fall down on their backs.  Stella loves this part!!!

Poor Gup has a cold but he did awesome on the sidelines cheering on his sister and her team.

Stella's 1st Soccer Game

Stella had her first official soccer game today. The game ended a little early due to rain. Unfortunately, Stella's team was loosing, but Stella doesn't have a concept of that (which is great) so she had a great time regardless of the final score!

Stella all set up to drive the ball down to the goal.

There are 6 girls on the team, but only 3 play at a time.  When Stella and her buddy, Macy were sitting out, they had lots of fun tickling each other and being silly.

Desmond had fun watching his sister from the sidelines.  He too would try to get in on the tickling action with Stella and Macy.

Go Galaxy

 

 

Stella had her 2nd soccer practice today and she loved it just as much as the first one. She is probably the most excited out of all of the girls playing and she is just giddy with pure excitement and joy when she is doing the games/drills and practice sets that her coach tells her to. We wish she could capture that pure joy and bottle it up and be able to tap into it whenever she needs it in the future.

She said her favorite part is scoring goals and cheering "go galaxy". At certain points, she would come running to us on the sidelines after scoring a goal and would say that it was Gup's turn to score a goal and ask him "Gup, do you want to try it?" Knowing how much fun she is having, it is so sweet of her to think of Des and want to share that fun with him. She and Des having been playing nicely a lot more together (lots of interactive play) at home and sharing too. They still fight but we are seeing that it is lessening and that Stella is getting better at sharing and taking turns.

 Des just hanging out on the sidelines having fun with his soccer ball.

Bend It Like Beckham

Stella had her first soccer practice today. She had such a blast running around the field kicking the ball. She is signed up for the fall and spring semester. Stella's team is the Galaxy and it consists of 6 girls: Stella, Macy, Chloe, Lauren, Callie, and Helena, but only 5 were there for the first practice.

When they first got there, the Coach asked them to sit in a circle for introductions. After they said their names, they played games to help them learn their teammates names.

They then practiced kicking balls into the goal. The next 3 series of pix show Stella making her first goal. Stella is dressed in hot pink and has the hot pink ball. (Each girl brought their own ball, but Stella was the only one with the hot pink ball. Everyone else had balls with subdued colors like white or light blue. Well, Stella's hot pink ball was a favorite amongst the other girls and during various drills when all of the balls were being used, other girls would automatically grab Stella's hot pink ball when the coach told them to get a ball. Even though Stella didn't like it, she was a good sport about it and shared her ball with her teammates.)

Stella scores!

Stella then put on her uniform shirt. She was #4 and she was very happy about that because she is 4 years old (she is still all about matching things)!

Go Stella, Go!!!

Time for a water break!

You guys might be wondering what Des was doing during Stella's first soccer practice. Well, he was on the sidelines being a very well-behaved boy. When Stella first ran out on to the field, Des yelled out to her and said "Stella, come back!" He then played with his own little soccer ball (the orange and black one).

At other times, he was happy to hang out on Mama's lap. Des never ran out into the field or got upset that he wasn't able to play.

Stella had so much fun at her first soccer practice. When we asked her what her favorite parts of soccer were, her answer was: "Kicking the ball into the goal and cheering Go Galaxy" at the end of practice with the rest of her teammates in their cute little cuddle. She can't wait for her next practice (which is tomorrow).

A Trip to Branson, MO

We headed to Branson, Missouri (the Las Vegas of the Midwest) on Sun and came back Mon evening for a short Labor Day mini-vacay. When we first got to Branson, we went to Branson Landing, an outdoor shopping and dining complex on the riverfront. We had some delicious Mexican food and walked around a bit afterwards. The kids burned off their lunch by going down the giant inflatable slides and jumping around on the moon bounces they had set up.

This slide was extremely fast, so we thought it was best if Mama went with Des. Even though it looks like Mama is choking Des in the above pic, she was not.

Des was very sad and in tears when it was time to get out of the moon bounce. He loved it so much!

We then headed to our hotel that had a huge indoor and outdoor pool called the Splashatorium. The outdoor portion had all of these sprinklers, water shooting guns, and other cool water toys set up for kids and Stella and Des just had a total blast. We probably spent at least a good 3 hours at the pool.

Since the kids didn't take naps and were thoroughly worn out, we all went to bed early that night. Of course, Stella insisted she sleep with Mama, while Des slept with Dada.

The next day, we ate breakfast and Dada and the kids played a quick game of miniature golf on the hotel grounds. (Mama stayed back in the hotel room b/c she unfortunately came down with a bad cold.)

After miniature golf, we checked out and headed to the outlet malls. Stella and Des got some new shoes for fall/winter from the Stride Outlet. We had a fun time on our mini-vacation.

Animals on Parade

The kids have been having a lot of fun lately with a variety of animals. First off, our next door neighbor's cat always comes to our yard to play with the kids and the kids just love him. This cat even sneaked into our house when Mama wasn't looking. Today, while we were eating breakfast, Dada saw a turtle in the backyard. He went out and caught it and placed it in a box.

Once we were done with breakfast, we went out to the deck to look at the turtle. Stella and Des thought it was fun to blow bubbles to the turtle.

We released the turtle so that he can go back home to his "mama". The kids were sad to see him go, but took it in stride.

Stella petting the turtle one last time

An what send-off would be complete without some bubbles? =;)

Then later that night when we were coming home after dinner, we saw a frog in our driveway.

The kids had fun playing with him by gently touching him with sticks.